Chapter 113 - A Painful Burning Sensation

This was definitely not turning out to be my night.

I had forgotten my dagger, like an idiot, and I had a giant, horrible monster thing bearing down on me, all shadows and fire and all that nonsense.

I could run, but I felt like it would catch up in no time. I had to think of something quick, or I was going to be another name on a memorial wall somewhere.

Gods above and below, I wish I hadn't been forced to leave Ice Moon back home.

I had to try a spell. I searched my memory for something that might work. Fire was right out of the question, as I had no doubts this giant wolf thing had some kind of resistance to it, judging by the increasing ring of fire around it.

Lightning? No, I didn't have the right kind of shoes to properly ground me from any feedback, and I didn't want to do myself in. Ice? Maybe, but ice was hit or miss against fire creatures. It either worked great or it did nothing.

Think, Alta! C'mon, you've fought monsters before! Bigger than this, even! Why are you so damned scared?!

Because monsters in the dungeon don't hunt you with hunger in their eyes.

The beast started to move towards me, carefully, its eyes glowing balefully. It was sizing me up. I knew it. I could feel it in my bones. I was like a mouse in front of a very large cat that was also on fire.

I had to face it. I wasn't going to fight my way out of this. Or run.

"Spirits great and spirits small, defend my form with a mighty wall!" I shouted, forcing my mana out of me in a gush of power, each syllable of my words guiding it into the world, forming a barrier of pure light around me.

Just in time too, as the beast lunged and bounced off the barrier spell. It roared in defiant anger and tried clawing and biting at it. My barrier was holding, but I could feel my mana draining quickly.

The problem with a barrier was that if you didn't take extra time, you ran into the problem of trapping the air inside with no way to get it out. I was using part of my mana to push the used air out and keep a fresh supply coming through, but also keep the monster out. It was tricky to balance, and I was still somewhat tired from my training.

It was a race to see if the creature would get bored, someone would come to save me, or I'd lose my concentration and become monster food.

I just hoped Eira was safe. I wanted to be by her side. So I could protect her. So she could protect me.

Gods above and below, I swear if I get out of this alive I'll...do something. I don't know what gods want!

My thought was interrupted as I saw something above the wolf creature. A bright burning light. And it was approaching quickly. I couldn't tell what it was.

And then it hit me. Rather, it hit the wolf. It was Eira! And she had her arm wreathed in some kind of energy, and as she plummeted from above, she drove her elbow directly into the wolf's spine, and I could hear a sickening crack, even through the barrier.

The wolf let out a high-pitched roar, one of pain and rage, and a torrent of burning spittle sprayed from its mouth along with luminescent blood.

The burning liquid splashing my barrier was enough to make it flicker for just a moment. I felt a burning drop land on my shoulder, and I gritted my teeth, refusing to let myself scream.

The problem with pain is it makes concentration very difficult. I couldn't hold the barrier up any more. As the protective light around me finally gave up, my nostrils filled with the acrid smell of smoke and blood, and I coughed bitterly at how it stung my lungs. I felt an arm around me as I was thrown over someone's shoulder. Despite the stink of the wounded beast, I knew the smell of Eira.

"Thank you." I managed to say between hacking breaths.

"Don't talk. We need to get to safety. The mercenaries are on the way. That beastie wasn't the worst of them." She ran fast and hard, carrying me like a grain sack. I would be embarrassed if I didn't hurt so damn bad.

Eventually she stopped, and helped me off of her shoulders, and I steadied myself.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" She checked me over, and I heard her breath catch in her throat as she saw the burn on my shoulder. "Oh gods above, you are hurt! Oh, I should've never left you alone!"

She held me tight, and as much as I loved it, I needed air.

"Can't breathe, sweetie! Air please!" I patted her back to try to get her attention. She let me go, and I could tell she was on the verge of tears.

"Sorry sorry sorry! Let's uh. Let's get you to a medic or something." She looked around in a panic. I had seen her so steely and calm in the worst situations before, but now she was more frazzled than I had ever seen her.

I pointed at a tent nearby that had the universal symbol of the healer on it. Two wings framing a leaf. As we made our way over to it, I made a mental note to look up that symbol when we got back to school.

We entered the tent, and we saw Langhurst, her blonde hair completely out of sorts. She even had some kind of sleep mask plastered to her forehead.

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"Oh good, we heard that a couple of passengers might have gotten caught by the beasts. Is everyone in the carriage ok?" She asked brusquely.

"Just us two. I don't know about whatever their name is." Eira responded.

"Caru. Caru. I don't know if she actually made it back to the carriage. She talked to me, disappeared, and then everything went to shit in a big hurry." I said and coughed again. Whatever that smoke was hurt.

"We need a healer!" Langhurst called out, and helped Eira get me to a cot.

Now this was right proper uncomfortable, but it beat falling on the ground.

Soon, someone in a green and white robe was to one side of me, and Eira was holding my other hand.

"Ooof dear, this doesn't look amazing, does it?" The voice said. I turned and looked at the mousey-looking healer. He reminded me a lot of Cori. Human, sandy colored hair, freckles for days, and the thickest glasses I had ever seen.

"Some of the wolf monster's saliva got on her, I think. And she breathed in some of the smoke." Eira explained. I was grateful. I was exhausted and was having some trouble keeping my eyes focused. Damn, this hurt. A lot.

"Fireheart Canis. Saliva both burns and poisons, but it looks like it didn't make it into your bloodstream. Combined with the grass in the area, it makes a weird poison smoke; thankfully, it looks like you didn't take a very big hit of it. Nasty, thrice-damned beasts. They shouldn't be in this area this time of year. They usually keep close to the coastlines, for the fish." They continued, their hand hovering above me, glowing a soft green.

"Those things eat fish? They'd need to eat a lot of fish, I'd imagine." I laughed before wincing in pain.

"The fish this time of year are a bit on the big side. The really big side." Eira said with a squeeze of my hand.

"Well, thankfully this won't be too bad. Drink this." The healer handed me a small black bottle. I grimaced, as I had a bad feeling it was going to taste like liquified death.

"Dare I ask what it is?" I groaned, unscrewing the bottle and gagging at the smell.

"Universal anti-poison. It works on just about every poison, but you're gonna feel like death for a few days. And you'll have a nasty taste in your mouth for a while. And your piss will smell weird." They rattled off as they dug around in a satchel next to them.

"Oh joy of joys. Just what I always wanted." I coughed again, this time my lungs hurting from a growing pain. Well, gross potions are better than death, I suppose.

I chugged the whole bottle, and nearly vomited from the taste, but I felt a soothing warmth spread from my stomach to my lungs and throat, and felt the pain ease. Even the burn on my shoulder felt better.

If Myth could make stuff like this one day, I was definitely going to want to stay friends with her. I mean, I would anyway; despite earlier issues, she was still a friend. A friend with benefits. Potion benefits, that is.

"Good, good. This next part is gonna hurt like three sons of bitches on tax day. I'm going to try to cut down on the pain as much as I can, but it's still going to hurt like hell, as I can't knock you out first." He explained, as he pulled a little case from his satchel.

I felt a creeping dread fill my heart.

"Oh please gods tell me you're not going to cut off my arm? I like this arm! I like both my arms! I need those!" I felt a panic start to wrap around my throat, and it became hard to swallow. I could almost feel my eyes threaten to pop out of my head.

"No, no, no sweetie, no! He's not going to cut off your arm." Eira squeezed my hand tightly.

"Well, not if you let me get on with this. The Fireheart saliva poison was slowed but not removed. Thankfully, it hasn't gotten deep at all. Pretty much just skin and fat layers. I'm going to have to cut it off of you." He held up a hand in front of me. "Don't speak yet. I'm not done. I'm going to cut it off, and put some potion gel on it, which is going to feel like glass on your nerves. I'll be using some healing magic to lessen the pain, but there's only so much I can do all at once."

I took a breath. "Ok. Get this over with. I'd rather deal with pain now than die."

"That's the spirit. So what's your name? My name is Bartius. I'm a healer with Kildjan Aeronautica normally, but the Scarlet Aegis hires me during tourist season, which thankfully is our slow season." He said casually as I felt his healing magic deaden the feeling in my arm.

I appreciated the distraction. As much as I adored Eira, and her hand was quite comforting, the stress on her face was not calming me down one wit. I focused on Bartius' face as he worked.

"Oh, my name is Alta, and I'm a student at HOLY SHIT ON A HALBERD OW FUCK!" I screamed as the small knife in his hand separated the infected flesh from my shoulder.

My arm screamed in agony at the sudden removal of part of it, and screamed again as an icy cold liquid poured into the missing area, and it felt like winter itself had a personal vendetta against my nerves. The next thing I knew, someone had put a piece of leather in my mouth to bite down on.

"Sorry, missed that step." He said, as he held his hands over the wound, and they glowed with that same pale green light as before, the pain quickly passing, and I felt the pain ease off me.

I let the leather piece fall from my mouth.

"Gods above, below, sideways, and backwards, that was awful, holy damn," I said with a tired gasp. This entire evening had been excessively stupid.

"Ok, it looks like you'll be ok. Get some rest. Someone will be by with some blankets in a moment. If you start feeling more pain, take these immediately." Bartius said, handing Eira three green vials before moving on to another cot nearby.

I sat there and just breathed, trying to get my body to calm down. Eira continued to hold my hand, rubbing it gently with her thumb. Neither of us said anything.

We just sat there, listening to the sounds of bustle and sounds of pain from others in the tent. There were still a few sounds of fighting, shouts, metal clanging, and the defiant roars of beasts, but they quickly quieted down, punctuated by cries of victory.

Eventually someone brought us blessedly warm blankets.

Despite the warm summer night and all the fire, I was kind of cold. I didn't like being cold.

I huddled in the blanket, only my hand outside of the cover, holding onto Eira's like it was the only thing keeping me from floating away.

"You elbow dropped a giant wolf," I said, breaking the silence between us.

"That I did. Haven't really had to use that set of techniques in a while." Eira shrugged.

"You trained with someone that taught you how to fist fight monsters?" I said incredulously.

"Technically, it was fighting anyone bigger than me. But that applies to monsters too, I guess." Eira smiled, which made me glad. I know I shouldn't, but I felt kind of bad for worrying her.

"It was pretty badass, I'm not going to lie. And thank you. Once again, you've pulled my arse out of a fire. Literally this time." I blushed a bit.

"And that, my dear beloved, is why you need to learn to fight with your hands." She stroked my hair.

"You are crazy if you think I'm going to fight giant flaming wolves more than I have to." I snorted.

"I am crazy. Crazy about you. Now rest, and stop trying to be brave and funny. I'll be right here." She squeezed my hand, and I started to relax.

"Yeah. I think you're right. Wake me for breakfast, yeah?" I said, feeling myself succumb to the combined exhaustion and the aftereffects of the concoctions that coursed through my body.

"You got it, sweetness." She smiled at me. The last thing I noticed before I fell asleep was her lips on my forehead.