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Broken Lines (ChuckelesX Akatala)

KelpieCepter

Singularity
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Gaisse rode along on his horse his body slumped over as he held his stomach. His shirt is soaked with blood as his hand as he tries to stifle the flow of blood around the arrow embedded into his stomach. His sword once shiny and fully sharpened hangs at his side covered in blood from the recent battle with the elves. He coughs softly pain surging through his body. He nudges his horse once more trying to keep it moving to give himself distance from any pursuit.

At his full height Gaisse stands just alittle over six feet with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His vision seems to fade in and out as the horse slows feeling his body start to slide from the saddle slightly. Gaisse clings to the horse coughing once more clenching at the broken arrow in his stomach.
 
Rhi'drae had been out plucking wild berries, fruits, and other useful wild foods into a large basket in the forest when she first heard the distant sound of hooves drumming the ground. She noted the sound and the direction of its origin, but then resumed her task as well as the soft tune she had been humming. However, when the sound grew louder and closer, she stopped, placing her basic in the nook of a tree's thick gnarling roots before turning to investigate the sound. Her pale skinned hands brushed lightly at the lazy harvest orange dress she wore over her white chemise and underskirt before gathering handfuls of the fabric. A bow and quiver hung over her shoulder at her back for defense purposes. Holding her skirts and keeping a watchful eye on her footing, she made her way through the forest in her simple light tan doeskin cross-laced boots that were as practical as they were elegant in design.

Her hair was waist-length, spiraling in thick loose curls of shiny raven black while her eyes shone as bright blue as a cloudless summer afternoon sky. Her height was a little on the tall side at five feet and eight, but she had enough curve both in bosom and wide voluptuous hips that her tall frame was less noticeable with such a natural hourglass torso.

Her ears, pointed like a forest leaf, listened keenly as the sound of thundering hooves grew louder and closer. She was cautious as she meandered through the thicket to a thin lane where she could just start to make out the dark form of a horse running for its life with its rider hunkered down and teetering in the saddle. A frown traced across her elegantly boned face with its high cheeks, pert nose, and plump pink lips. Drawing her bow, she notched an arrow as she hid in bushes up the embankment to watch for the runner's possible tails of pursuers. Pulling back on the string until it was ready to fly, she sighted along the shaft of the arrow, aiming the small, poisoned tip at the road just behind the horse as it closed the distance to pass. Her aim did not waiver as she waited for her prey to slip into target.
 
Gaisse spurs his horse to move faster clenching to his stomach feeling the arrow twisting inside him. He gasp crying out as he feels himself starting to slide out of the saddle as he nears the pass he was making for. Just before he reaches the pass he slips fully from the saddle hitting the ground hard as he slides a few feet injuring himself even further. His face is covered in blood as he groans softly lifting his head as glances around for his sword.

His numb fingers reach for his sword coughing harshly once more. He crawls towards his sword slowly as he grasp the sword hilt. The other other hand moves to grasp at his stomach trying to crawl towards a few bushes that he sees trying to get into them to hide. He slips into the bushes rolling on to his back propping himself up as he glances back down towards the road coughing once more. His finger tremble as he barely can grasp the sword hearing the pursures coming up the road slowly.
 
Rhi'drae focused tightly on the riders following the runner, then let her arrow fly upon locking her sights on the closest of them. In the time it took to replace the breath in her lungs, she'd pulled and notched another arrow, arm pulling back on the string to cock the bow. It was a fluid well practiced movement, returning to ready, aiming, and firing the second arrow. The third arrow narrowly missed, which caused her to utter a phrase best not heard in polite company. Yet her arrows out of no where seemed to have the desired effect. The band tailing the runner were wheeling their horses, trying to sight her as she aimed a new arrow high that would let it drop out of the sky at them instead of flying straight. In a blink, she did this again, which though it allowed her to miss her targets by larger margins, it still let them know they weren't the only ones with a bow and a descent shot. Her last shot was a straight one that pegged a guy in the ass as his horse reared. She then relaxed, letting the band flee into retreat.

It was only then that she was finally able to focus her attention on the rider who had fallen and was crawling toward bushes to hide. She stowed her bow on her shoulder, then picked up her skirts to dash towards the horse, whistling a call to the beast while the wind picked up to dance through the trees, sending a curtain of falling leaves to spook the horse into turning around. She met the beast on the road, speaking in soft calming tones as she took the reins. She briefly meet the animal, nose to nose as she shushed it, then she brought him with her as she walked back toward the bloody mass of rider.

Her voice rang clear and calm as she spoke in a womanly tone in the low soprano end of the spectrum, "Easy warrior. You are safe here. They have gone. Let me help you." Yet she kept her approach cautious seeing as she only knew that the rider was a wounded escapee of some sort. Knowing nothing of a person nor the reason why they were chased could get one in trouble very quick if one weren't careful. This, she knew keenly.
 
Gaisse blinks as the first couple of arrows fly from some where over his shoulder. He coughs softly still holding his stomach as he watches the riders wheel about in confusion. His eyes glance around searching for the source of the arrows. His numb fingers clench on to the sword tightly as he tries to crawl further back into the bushes. A soft smile graces his lips as he watches the riders turn away. Gaisse almost laughs as the last arrow hits the rider in the ass shaking his head.

He continues to bleed out once more glancing around as he hears the soft whistle and his horse coming to whoever whistled for it. His vision blurs slightly as he sees the figure approaching him from the road his horse at there side. He shakes his head trying to clear it as he attempts to study the woman before him. His numb fingers clench on the sword watching her. "W...who are you maiden?" He coughs harshly blood on his lips as he attempts to stand but his body refuses to work as well as he wishes for it to.
 
She sighed softly and shook her head at the man. Then she closed the distance as she spoke, "My name is Rhi'drae. I am a healer that lives nearby. You're lucky to have run into someone how might have a snowball's chance in the Fire Realm of keeping you alive. Hold still, you're only making the bleeding worse, trying to move so much."

She tethered the horse to a small tree, then started tearing scraps from the layers of her white underskirts. She laid the scraps across her shoulder while she knelt. She was swift, with no warning, in breaking off the latter half of the arrow protruding from him. But then, she followed up by placing a compress around what was left and wrapping it tightly in a temporary binding to hold the compress and keep the arrow from moving any more. She made no protest to the blood that coated her in the process of this.

"Now, can you still stand at all? If not, we can hide you while I ride for a stretcher and draft. My house is not far."
 
He blinks softly as he coughs watching her move closer to him. "Rhi'drae...that sounds like an elvish name." He sighs softly as he keeps his eyes on her. "Those men you drove off will be back later." He coughs harshly as he watches her still his fingers clenching on the sword as she moves closer. "My name is Gaisse. I was part of an army. I may be the only one left." He sighs softly his head jerking up as he hears the ripping of her underskirts.

Gaisse's mouth opens as she breaks the arrow off feeling it shift slightly. He closes his eyes shuddering as she wraps his stomach. His hand grabs hers with a sudden renewed strength. "Thank you maiden." He smiles at her question as he uses his sword to push himself wearily to his feet. He takes a few hesitant stumbling steps towards the road his head hanging down slightly. "I think I can make it to your home. Ill try not to slow you down."
 
She makes a face at his reckless macho attitude but says nothing of it. Instead, she unties the horse and leads it with one hand while striding forward to wrap an arm around him to steady him. "Yes, I am elvish. And I expected as much from that lot. Do not worry over much of them. I have friends who can play sentry."

She lead him slowly toward a smaller split in the road that led to a riverside hamlet. Her home was on the back side up against a bluff not an acre from a small waterfall. The house seemed to have been constructed with a living skeleton of trees spiraling together. The rest was log and mud, all cleverly crafted. A stone chimey rose from the right side, and nearby were gardens, and a pen with a stall for a horse and live stock. A bay and white draft horse stood there nickering. Rhi'drae tied the man's horse to a hitch rail, then eased him up to and through the wooden door to a cozey cabin-like interior. She stopped at a quilt and fur pallet along the back wall near the hearth. "Here, rest yourself while I fetch supplies."
 
Gaisse coughs as they walk shaking his head as he feels her arm around her waist. "I didnt know anyone else lived out this far." He leans on her heavily as his sword drags the ground behind them. His head turns hearing the waterfall nearby. "Youll have to excuse me if I seem cross Rhi'drae." He coughs almost losing his balance as they walk along.

His eyes glance up catching sight of the house looking around all of it slowly. "You have a fabulous house Rhi'drae." He coughs softly as he spots the small gardens letting a gentle smile on his face. He steps into the house stumbling over the door step slightly. He lays back on the pallet closing his eyes as he coughs harshly once more. "I promise I wont go anywhere while you go fetch your supplies." He keeps his eyes closed still holding on to his sword his numb fingers clinging to it desperately.
 
She frowned at the sword, but left it knowing how strong a warrior's bond was to his primary weapon. Nodding, she grabbed a bucket and headed outside. She stopped at the horse and took a few minutes to remove the tack from him before turning him loose in the pen with the mare. She put the tack in the little stable, then retrieved her bucket to resume her trip to the river. After filling her bucket, she reentered her house and set the water up in the cauldron over the hearth to heat up. She also set a special poker into the fire. She moved to a separate little room beside the kitchen where she filled a basket with herbs and jars of medicines. She sat these near the pallet then left once more to retrieve a large bucket full of rags and bandaging materials. A dark bottle and wooden tankard were placed with the supplies, then she quickly dipped a rag into the hot water at the hearth and wiped her hands clean. She returned then to use a small but sharp dirk to slice open the binding she had made earlier. She frowned at the sight of it.

"This is bad," she said softly. She stopped to grab the tankard. She filled it with liquid from the bottle, poured in some kind of syrup, then mixed it with a stick of bark. She then held it to his lips, "Drink this. It will help with the pain."
 
His eyes open slightly as she leaves the small room glancing around taking all of it in. He shakes his head as he tries to roll over slightly wanting to get every detail he can. He slumps back down on the pallet as he hears her coming back inside. Once inside he keep his eyes on her studying her movements as she works. "You live out here alone maiden?" His eyes continue to watch her noticing all of the herbs she seems to be gathering. He seems to glance at each of the supplies she lays out swallowing softly.

Gaisse lifts his head to watch her cut the bandage free, his eyes narrowing slightly as she seems to say something. "Whats wrong? Is it that bad Rhi'drae?" He lifts his free hand to seemingly assist in holding the cup as he takes a slow drink of it. After a couple of gulps he pushes it away his face curled up in disgust. "What in the Fire Realm is that stuff?" He shakes his head coughing as he seems to try to banish the nasty taste from his tongue.
 
"You've lost a lot of blood. It's a wonder you are even still conscious," she told him. "That stuff is a special mixture of willow bark, a few things that help blood to clot, and a syrup used to dull senses so that pain isn't so noticeable. I warn you though, this will still hurt when I cauterize it."

She proceeded to remove his most of his clothes save his loin cloth, sometimes opting to simply cut it away were fabric is stuck to a wound with blood. She then examines how the arrow has penetrated him. She would have to be extremely careful in simply removing it. "It seems to have just barely missed the liver, which is good, but the bleeding inside worries me."

She got up to retrieve the hot poker, leaning it against a stone close by. Then she picks up a thick role of leather half a foot long, "Bite on this. It will keep you from biting off your own tongue. And I apologize ahead of time for what you're about to go through. If I don't treat it this way, though, you'll bleed to death when I remove the arrow."
 
He smiles softly as he listens to her words laying his head back. "I honestly thought you were an angel for a moment when you shot those men." He coughs softly as he lays as still as possible as she works at cutting off or removing most of his clothing. HIs eyes slip shut as he feels her working.

He opens his eyes once more hearing her command him to bite down. He watches the thick leather for a moment before taking it and sinking his teeth into it deeply. "Just try to hurry healer." He lays back biting hard into the leather closing his eyes slowly. He begins taking deep slow breaths trying to prepare himself for the pain he knows she must inflict in order to heal his body of its wounds.
 
She twists her face into a sort of sour expression, "I should think that if I were an angel, I would not have missed so much. Clearly I need more practice."

Once he'd bitten down on the bundle of leather, she took a deep breath, then focused on the task at hand. Rising tall on her knees, she gently placed her hands on the remaining shank of the arrow. Her fingers prodded the wound just enough so that one forefinger could find one of the wings of the tip. She frowned at how deep it had gone. Letting her forefinger guide her, she carefully turned the tip so that it wouldn't puncture anything more than necessary. She paused to shove a large wad of rags under his back, then moved to straddle him. "My apologies for this," she said a moment before she moved her palms one over the other to shove the arrow straight through to exit through his back, just missing spine and rib. Immediately, she rolled him towards the center of the room so as to swiftly remove the arrow. The old wad of rag was replaced by a new one, then he was shifted to his back again. "And this too," she amended as she picked up the poker, made of a strange metal with a long crystal like a unicorn's horn at the end. The metal holding onto it glowed slightly red. She then thrust the smooth yet searing hot icicle-like crystal wand into the wound, cauterizing it while she murmured words of an ancient tongue. Was the crystal pulsing?

Just as quickly as she had placed the stave in him, she removed it and moved aside to set it down. She worked quickly now, placing several different herbs in a bowl, mashing them with a stone pestle, then mixing in several resins and two different liquids, one milky, the other dark purple. She whisked these together with a rolled small bundle of another plant, then let it soak before moving to stuff it into the hole in his stomach. It smelled like honey mixed with some awful potion worse than he'd been forced to drink. She only hoped he wasn't lucid enough to feel the pain anymore.

She grabbed the rag from the cauldron, rung it, then used it to gently cleanse the edges of the wound. After packing another pre-made poultice over the bundle in his stomach, she placed a thick square of fabric over the wound then held it tight to the still bleeding hole as she placed her free hand under his shoulder blade, which she pushed on, with her own chest and shoulders for extra bolster to roll him on his other side. She used her free hand to swab the edges of the exit wound with the hot wet rag, then she dipped another square lightly into the bowl before placing it against his back. Her knee kept it in place while she swiped bandaging from the waiting basket against her hip. Then, she shifted to kneel on the pallet so that she could roll the man back against her chest, which became a prop while she swiftly wrapped the material tightly around his mid section. Over and over she wrapped until she was satisfied, then she tied it off on the side facing the room.

That done, she gently returned him to the pallet. Rhi'drae finally turned her attention to seeing to the less worrisome nicks, scrapes, and bruises.
 
Gaisse keeps his teeth hard into the leather swallowing softly as he continues to prepare himself for what she must do. He winces slightly as he feels her fingers probing along the edge of his arrow wound. His teeth sink deeper into the leather as she begins her work. His eyes open as he feels her straddle his lap blinking in surprise before his eyes squeeze shut as the pain hits him fully. A slow yell comes from his throat as her healing fingers begin to push the arrow out. He throws his head back biting harder into the leather. The leather almost falls from his lips as he feels the poker drive into his wound.

His muscles seem to relax slightly as he begins to lose consciousness from the pain. His head lolls to the side seeming to be barely awake as she works on the rest of his wounds. He barely feels her body as he presses into it to wrap his midsection. The leather slips from his lips as he slips fully into unconsciousness. His body lays limply on the bed seeming to rest slightly as she works on his body cleaning up his smaller and less sever injuries. He coughs softly as he shifts slightly on the pallet.
 
After finishing the tending of his wounds, Rhi'drae covered him with a thin blanket, then worked at cleaning up. Afterward, she resumed household tasks while keeping a close eye on the sleeping man. In nightfall, she prepared a broth along with the stew for herself. She let the broth sit just close enough to the flame to keep warm. Then she fixed a rollout pallet on the floor for herself. Her sleep remained light throughout the night, waking every few hours to check on her patient and the fever she had expected to come with a wound like his. With luck, her blend of herbs and such would help his body fight off the fever in a couple days or so. In the meantime, she stayed close and vigilant, sometimes filling the silence with soft songs sung to the tune of a small harp. She wasn't sure if he could hear the music or not, but she hoped it soothed him while it helped her pass the time.
 
Gaisse groans softly after sleeping for a few hours. His nose curls slightly as he smells the broth curling up slightly as his eyes open seeing the light gone from the room. He glances around quickly his eyes filled with panic for a second before realizing where he is. He coughs softly shivering despite the warmth from the blanket and the fire. His eyes are only open for a few moments before he slips out once more. He wakes up again a few hours later hearing a soft song filling the room. He starts to push himself upwards coughing again. "Rhi'drae h..how long have I been out?" He pulls the blanket tighter shivering from his fever.
 
She blinked, startled that he'd woken so soon. "Only long enough for the sun to set while I cleaned up and fixed supper. I have broth waiting if you wish for it. it should be easier on your stomach right now." She grabbed a rag from a bucket of cool river water and bathed his face with it. "You have a fever, which is to be expected. The faster the medicine takes, the sooner it will break. Though it will likely be at least dawn if not a couple of days for it to run its course," she told him. "You're handling surprisingly well, all things considered."
 
He smiles at her softly as she begins to bath his face. "I figured the fact I was undressed was cold but I see now." He swallows as he reaches up with his hand to touch hers softly. "Thank you for your help." He glances towards the hearth and the fire. "Ive always been a quick healer usually." He drops his hand to his stomach holding it as he tries to sit up slowly. "I could use some of that broth." He offers her a gentle smile coughing.
 
She moves to prop him up on extra pillows. "I am glad to hear you are normally a swift healer. Your body should take to the medicine better than most." She fetches a bowl of broth and returns to sit beside him. "Do you wish to hold this yourself or shall I spoon it to you?" she asks, fully expecting him to be stubborn about trying to seem self-sufficient even in this condition.
 
Gaisse offers her a gentle smile as he props himself up on the extra pillows. His eyes follow her around the room as she returns to him holding the bowl. He hesitates as he glances down at his hand noticing how badly they are trembling. "I think perhaps it would be best if you spooned it to me. My hands dont seem to be in the best of shape." He offers her a weak smile.
 
She nods and begins to spoon the broth to the man carefully. She breaks the awkward silence by trying to get a little more information about her patient. "How was it that you ended up with such men trying so hard to take your life in the first place? That is, if you do not mind my asking, of course."
 
Gaisse hesitates for a moment taking a few slow bites of the broth as he considers his answer for her. "I..I was in a calvary company that was ambushed before we could meet up with the rest of the army." He sighs softly as he shakes his head at the memories. "Our commander called a retreat just as he was cut down. I think I was the only one who made it out."
 
She listened to him with a grim expression. "They must have been a blood thirsty lot to have chased you down as they did. The village has sentries watching the roads. I saw to warning them through a fisherman when I was out gathering water." She continued to spoon him the broth as she spoke.
 
He nods softly as he tilts his head between bites studying her face slowly. "How is it you were out there beside the road when I came riding through? I appreciate your help but most maidens dont go wondering off into the woods by themselves." He coughs softly before taking another bite holding his stomach.
 
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