The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 25 - Blood and Water

Lhara didn't know what to do. Should she try to save the leg? If she did, what if rot set into the limb and poisoned the poor man? How ought she to know if it was even worth trying?

"Is he going to die?"

The tearful question came from one of the man's friends. The two, struggling to hold their injured comrade down between them, looked nearly as stricken. All three were covered in blood and dirt and sweat.

"I don't th-"

That was when Lhara noticed, past all the grime and gore from the leg wound, that that was not the only place where her charge was hurt. There was also a tremendous amount of blood on the upper thigh of his opposite leg. Moving quickly Lhara reached up and tore open the inseam of his pant.

Whatever had sliced through the man's left leg, it must have slashed across the top of his right on an arc. The wound Lhara found there was short, small, and very, very deep. His skin was cool and clammy to the touch. Between the left leg and now the right, Lhara knew then, with a dread and unexplainable certainty, that she could have started working ten minutes ago and this man would still be beyond help.

Trying not to cry, because her crying would be of no comfort to these men, Lhara hung her head. That seemed to be answer enough. The wounded southerner's struggles had grown weak, his cries diminished to groans.

"Lhara! There are more coming!" Oesu called out. With only three of them to tend all the wounded, and Kiiss and Oesu without any real knowledge of healing, Lhara could not be spared to linger at anyone's side. Inexplicably though Lhara did not want to leave this young man in particular, even with his friends close at hand. No one this badly injured had lasted long enough to reach her before.

"Go..." The dying man spoke, barely louder than a croak.

His friends protested. "No! Stay! Tell us what we can do, what if we-"

"I don't need...a healer...anymore," he said, clutching each of his friends' hands. His big brown eyes were unfocused, sad yet calm when he blinked up at the leafy green canopy overhead. "I just wish...I had...a shaman."

"Lhara!" Now Kiiss was calling too.

Lhara knew precious little to nothing about the shamans of the sea folk. She knew the Wise Women and High Elders' blessing for the dead though, and that was all she could offer. She had no woad with which to trace the lines either, but she had a skin of spring water which she hoped might suffice for one of the sea folk. Stretching up onto her shins, Lhara dipped two fingers into the water skin and held them above the man's face. She saw the remains of the Factionists' mark; the dark smudge of ash, smeared and half-invisible on his sweaty brow. When no protest came Lhara spoke the ritual words.

"Where there has been laughter, there is now silence. Where there has been sun, there is now starlight. Where there has been the breath of life, there is now the kiss of death," As Lhara spoke she lightly traced the water down the middle of his lips and chin. Realizing that the last part about earth and stone would likely not suit the sea folk, she amended it quickly. "From the sea we came, and to the sea we all return. Go gladly into the dark..."

When Lhara had no name or other words to add, she trailed off into silence.

"From the sea, of the sea, to the sea," the two Factionists on either side intoned, bowing their heads.

It wasn't much; a brief blessing cobbled together from mountain and sea. It was enough though, if the peace that settled across the dying man's face was any proof. Lhara could stay no longer. She climbed to her feet and rushed to rejoin Oesu and Kiiss, leaving the young southerner to die in the company of friends.