Spears of Redriver

By Kostavo

1.2K 65 1

Carthus, a young orphan trained to be a warrior like his father before him, is considered to be one of the be... More

Part One - Hunt in the Hills
Part Two - Captured
Part Three - Friends
Part Four - Morside
Part Five - Deeper into the City
Part Six - Laying Low
Part Seven - Plans and Preparations
Part Eight - Blood in the Dark
Part Nine - Darkness before Dawn
Part Ten - Caught in a Blaze
Part Eleven - The Prince of Swords
Part Twelve - Reunited
Part Thirteen - Good News and Bad News
Part Fourteen - Murderer
Part Fifteen - The Spear at the Feast
Part Sixteen - The Scarred Ordethi
Part Seventeen - New Charge
Part Eighteen - Desperate Measures
Part Nineteen - Friends and Enemies
Part Twenty - Ythara and Isidore
Part Twenty-One - Bitter Blood
Part Twenty-Two - Black Hemlock
Part Twenty-Three - Spears of Redriver
Part Twenty-Four - The Welcome Back
Part Twenty-Five - The Catacombs
Part Twenty-Six - The Shadows in the Deep
Part Twenty-Seven - The Guard and the Faceless Man
Part Twenty-Eight - Think Before You Speak
Part Twenty-Nine - Between Death and Shadow
Part Thirty - The Master and His Pupil
Part Thirty-One - Tension
Part Thirty-Two - Departing
Part Thirty-Three - Stories on the Road
Part Thirty-Four - Through the Storm
Part Thirty-Five - The Fire Valley
Part Thirty-Seven - Into the Valley
Part Thirty-Seven - The Threat Above
Part Thirty-Eight - Three Left
Part Thirty-Nine - Tassos
Part Forty-One - The Dead
Part Forty-Two - Fighting Dead Men
Part Forty-Three - Among Assassins
Part Forty-Four - The Ancient Ones
Part Forty-Five - The Rebellion
Part Forty-Six - To Morside?
Part Forty-Seven - The Dead Tower
Part Forty-Eight - Into the Darkness
Part Forty-Nine - Shadows
Part Fifty - Through the Dead
Part Fifty-One - The Caves
Part Fifty-Two - The Stone Beneath the Tower
Part Fifty-Three - The Stone Man and the Crystal
Part Fifty-Four - Facing Death
Part Fifty-Five - Not a Spear
Part Fifty-Six - Worthy
Part Fifty-Seven - Across the Chasm
Part Fifty-Eight - The Paths Ahead
Part Fifty-Nine - In the Valley of the Dead
Part Sixty - Back in Morside
Part Sixty-One - Swords at the Crossroad
Part Sixty-Two - Revelation
Part Sixty-Three - Betrayal and Honor
Part Sixty-Four - Setting Bone
Part Sixty-Five - Old Friends
Part Sixty-Six - So It Begins
Part Sixty-Seven - I Am Still Here
Part Sixty-Eight - Preparations
Part Sixty-Nine - Silent March
Part Seventy - The Bitter Prince
Part Seventy-One - Honorable Man
Part Seventy-Two - An End

Part Forty - Burning Hands

18 1 0
By Kostavo

 "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. 

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