A Silverback's Discovery

Two: Out of Commission

Han opened his eyes. He was no longer lying in the shadow of the building. Instead, he was lying in a comfortable yet narrow bed with railings and white linens. It was the hospital wing at the Mage Collective headquarters. He'd recognize those lifeless beige walls anywhere.

Han tried to sit up, but his ribs protested fiercely, and his head wasn't too happy about it either. He went to move his hands to massage his temples to ease the pain, but realized that one of his arms was in a cast from just above the elbow down to his hand.

Han was only awake for a minute when Orion came through the door. "Hey," he said, coming up to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Han thought back to what had happened. "Like I got shot with a ball of light and thrown into a building."

Orion gave a nod. "That sounds about right."

"Is that college kid okay? Those witches were about to perform a sacrifice, I think."

"Just a concussion. He'll be fine."

Han rested his head back. He supposed that was all that mattered. "And am I going to be okay?"

"Yeah. You're lucky. You didn't break any ribs, but you'll probably be a bit sore for a while. Also, you fractured your arm pretty severely so it's going to take a little while to heal, even for an animal mage."

"How long?" Han asked, alarmed. He had never had an injury serious enough to need more than a few days to heal.

"About two weeks, the doctor said."

Han blinked at Orion, disbelieving. "That's like, a normal person healing time. That can't be right."

"No, with a fracture like yours it probably would take a norm more than six weeks to heal. Like I said, it was pretty severe."

Han stared down at the accursed cast in disbelief. "What the hell am I supposed to do with a stupid cast for two weeks?"

"You can help me with research," a female voice said. Han looked up to see Rand entering the room. She came up to the bed and grabbed his hand, worry on her face. Her curly brown hair bounced as she leaned over me, looking me over. "What's the damage?"

Orion filled her in on the situation with my broken arm. "Guess Han's the invalid now," he said with a smirk. "Karma."

Okay, so maybe Han hadn't been so gracious when Orion had been laid up in bed after a bullet wound a few months ago. But Han was a big believer on levity making any situation better. He was just trying to help when he had called Orion names and made fun of him the whole time.

"I really do need help with the research if you want," Rand said. 

Rand had been pulled from active duty with the Collective a few months ago after she had gone a bit rogue and made some bad choices. Now she was on desk duty, trying to show her obedience and earn her way back into the field. She wasn't quite like Liam, who always seemed itching for a fight, but she certainly wasn't content with desk duty. She was a warrior, more so than Han, that was for sure. She probably wouldn't have been knocked out going after a few witches.

"So wait," Han said, remembering the night's events once more. "What happened exactly? You guys came and saved my ass?" He sat up with a groan, trying to ignore the pain in his ribs.

"We didn't save you," Orion said. "We figured you killed most of the witches and then one got in a good hit and ran away."

"Killed? I didn't kill them." Not that Han hadn't killed some witches in his time. But he couldn't take credit for this one.