Spears of Redriver

Part Forty - Burning Hands

 "Tassos!" Carthus shouted up the cliff face, "get down here...help Enlief with his wound."

"Aye," Tassos replied. He stayed up top for a moment, searching through the dead assassins before starting his descent.

"How about you, Carthus?" the Nord asked from where he sat leaning against a boulder. There was a small pool of fresh blood under him, mixing into the dust of the dry valley.

"I'll manage" Carthus limped to his side and dropped to the dirt carefully. As the adrenaline of the fight began to pass, the pain hit hard, throbbing up and down the Maad's leg. He gingerly gripped the arrow and snapped the feathered end off, wincing with the sharp twinge that rushed up his thigh. Enlief watched him as he gripped the rest of the shaft and pulled.

"Gah!" he let go quickly and slammed a fist into the dirt. He realized that he began to breathe hard as if trying to catch his breath.

"Let me do it!" Enlief leaned in, waiting for permission.

"Okay, get it out..." Carthus grabbed a dagger from his belt and bit down hard on the handle with a nod to the Nord.

"Here goes" Enlief took hold of the arrow and with one sharp motion, yanked it from Carthus' thigh.

"AHH!" the Maad commander screamed through the dagger handle in his mouth and slammed a fist into the dirt again, reeling back in pain. He sat up and threw his pack aside, digging in it quickly as blood freely poured out of the two holes in his leg. He pulled out a small pouch with medical supplies and emptied it on the ground between him and Enlief.

"Do you have anything to clean the wound with?" Tassos asked as he approached, having climbed down the cliffside.

"No," Carthus replied, "but we can at least wrap the wounds and stop the bleeding."

"And get it infected, huh?" the young man asked. He knelt beside the two men and extended a hand toward Carthus' leg, "sit back and relax."

"You know healing magic?" Carthus asked in disbelief, remembering how Chars the Black Flame healed one of his men after an attack in the streets.

"No, it's not healing magic...and you might want to bite down on something," Tassos replied calmly. Carthus starred at him for a moment, wondering what it was he wanted to do but decided to let it happen, bitting down on the dagger handle again.

Tassos put one hand on either side of Carthus' thigh, where the arrow punctured through and closed his eyes. Carthus and Enlief both starred silently as nothing happened. Tassos frowned, eyes still closed, and a low red-orange glow pulsated from under his hands. Carthus screamed through his dagger again as a searing pain burned into his leg. He reared back his head, starring at the gray skies above and Tassos calmly stood.

"It's done," the young swordsman said. Carthus looked back down and saw the wounds were closed, cauterized by magic fire. His leg was red, and the smell of burned flesh rose up into the air, but the blood had stopped flowing, "wrap it up to keep it clean, and I will help Enlief."

"Looking forward to it," Enlief joked.