PART II - UNEXPLAINED INJURIES
Lhawni was the first Healer to get to Callie, and then saw that Jesca had fallen to the seating floor. Off to the side stood Artemis, with Iris sitting on the unicorn’s back, both looking concerned. “What happened?” she asked Callie.
“I don’t know. One second she was fine, watching the fight, and then she just fell down.”
Other Healers had started to rush over, while those without those abilities followed their training and backed off to make room. Lhawni pointed to Jesca’s legs, motioning to Swopik to straighten them while she turned the Cheetahkin to her back. Twin rivers of blood were trickling out of Jesca’s nose, and there was a bloody wound of some kind on her head where she’d hit one of the seats. Lhawni quickly called up a Diagnose spell and started running her hand over Jesca’s body.
“Back up,” Natala called, her voice commanding while herding people even more out of the way. She parted the crowd, clearing a way for Xera to get into view, Thorn and Pelidri right behind them.
Lhawni was now focusing the spell on Jesca’s head, her green face scowling.
“Initial report,” Xera asked.
“She’s breathing. Big gash on her head, but nothing broken. No concussion. Bleeding from her nose. What the hell? She has mana exhaustion?” Lhawni scrunched up her face. “Really badly too.” She looked at Callie. “What did she cast?”
“Nothing!” Callie replied. “She just … collapsed. Is she going to be alright?”
“I’m going to need a Rejuvenation potion!” Lhawni called out generally to the crowd, ignoring Callie’s question. “Probably a couple of them, actually!” Then she glanced up at the group of Healers. “Shamans, line up,” she ordered, gesturing to a spot a few paces away and firmly in charge of the scene. Focusing back to Jesca, Lhawni concentrated, pushing her Rejuvenation spell into her friend. Jesca’s body jerked as if hit by a defibrillator, and Lhawni moved to kneel above Jesca’s head.
“Swopik! Rejuvenation,” Lhawni ordered, snapping her fingers and pointing. The Goblin rushed in, the spell already forming in his hand as he did. Jesca’s body jumped again, before Swopik moved to make way for Chown, who did the same.
“Her head?” Xera asked, seeing all the wet blood now on Lhawni’s clothes.
“It’s bloody, messy, but just superficial. It will be fine.” Lhawni said absently as she gestured to Xin. The Lizardkin called up a fourth Rejuvenation, and she likewise hit Jesca with it. The spells were now on cooldown for each of the Shamans.
Lhawni looked around, and then gestured to Artemis. “Get in here. She needs you.”
Carefully, the unicorn stepped forward, before lowering her head and touching her horn to Jesca. You could feel a sense of intense magic in the air as the magical creature’s power came alive. After only a couple seconds, Artemis backed away as Iris worriedly took up a spot on the unicorn’s head.
Casting her Diagnose again, Lhawn snarled. “Damn! The horn doesn’t seem to work with mana drain!” Then she yelled out, “Where’s that rejuvenation potion!”
“That’s … that’s a unicorn, right?” Pelidri whispered, his mouth agape. “In all my years I’ve … I’ve never seen one. It’s magnificent! Smaller than I thought they’d be, though.”
“Her name is Artemis, and she’s just a foal,” Xera answered. “It’s Recruit Jesca’s other Beastmaster Companion.”
“I’ve got a purple potion!” someone yelled out before Pelidri could ask more.
It was quickly passed through the crowd before finally being handed off to Koda, and he moved forward to kneel close. “Do you need anything?” the big Bearkin asked, his voice low so as to not interrupt.
“Um…” Lhawni replied, looking up at the crowd. “We’ll need to get her to Medical once I have her stable.” Then she called out louder, “Someone let them know we’re coming, and get both Trainer Maugra and Trainer Cheena there with all haste. Tasi too!”
“I’ll go alert them!” Pixyl, who had been hovering overhead, called out. The Pixie flew over the crowd before landing on the ground. As soon as she did, there was a crackle of sound and she Flashstepped across the open field to the top of the hill. Once there, she leapt back into the air and continued on, this time using her Airborne Dash, the magenta streak in the air slowly fading behind her.
“I’ll fetch something to carry her,” Koda said with a nod. He handed the Shaman the potion and stood, the way parting for him as he walked through it.
Sitting Jesca up, Lhawni pulled the stopper off the potion with her teeth, spitting it out to the side. She pinched Jesca’s mouth open, pouring it in and then held it shut, using her other hand to cover her nose. She just hoped Jesca didn’t inhale it. The potion wouldn’t hurt her if she did, but the last thing Lhawni needed was her patient gagging.
“Alright,” Xera called out, getting everyone’s attention. “If you are not needed here, then disperse. The bell for breakfast should ring any time now, so go and prepare for your day. Also, a reminder that the Arkan will be continuing his inspection of you all in training, and he expects to see you demonstrating your capabilities, not showing off. Remember that.”
Lhawni eventually looked up at Thorn. “Sir, if you could track the time? If we get another potion here, tell me when it’s five minutes. I want to put one more in her before she’s moved.” Jesca had said he had the same senses perk she had, which included excellent timekeeping.
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“One minute and eight seconds,” both Thorn and Pelidri said in unison.
Most of the recruits quickly departed, although nearly all the Healers stayed, on the off chance they were needed for something, and in general support of Lhawni.
“Heal head?” Tazrok asked, pointing to the top of his own.
“It’s fine. It’s just leftover blood. Artemis took care of it with her horn,” Lhawni said. She shook her head at herself in irritation. “I had wanted to heal it slowly and carefully, so as to not leave a scar. I didn't think about her healing being total-body. Her fur might not grow back there.”
“Battle scars are sexy,” came a chorus of at least a half-dozen people.
Another Sprite soon arrived with a Rejuvenation potion. He had apparently been watching the goings-on and raced off as soon as the call went out. Koda also arrived with the litter, taking up station to wait until it was called for. Callie was finally pulled away by Xin, just to clear the space, and they both moved to be close to Lena, who had refused to go with the rest.
“That’s five minutes,” Thorn and Pelidri finally said in unison.
Lhawni administered another potion, Jesca again thankfully not gagging. She wanted to give another round of Rejuvenation spells, but they were still on cooldown for a bit, so best to get moving so that Maugra and Cheena could do their thing sooner. “Alright, bring the litter,” she called out. It was a little tricky to work in the confined space, but Jesca was soon set in place. Lhawni pointed to Koda and Xin to carry, and the three of them set off, Artemis and Iris trailing, leaving nothing behind but a drying puddle of blood.
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Callie sat on the edge of Jesca’s bed, holding her hand, while Pixyl sat close. Both wore worried expressions on their faces as they looked down on their sleeping friend. Tasi and the others had said she’d be fine, but the two were still worried.
There was eventually a groan, and Jesca raised a paw to her forehead. Pixyl’s eyes went wide and she hopped down, running out of the alcove to notify the Master Healer. “Where am I?” Jesca groaned again, reaching for the cloth over her face.
“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Callie hushed in a whisper. “Close your eyes before you take that off.”
“Callie?”
“It’s me,” she replied, still whispering, taking hold of Jesca’s paw. “You’re in the medical tent. You suffered from mana drain. Really bad, in fact.”
“I don’t …” Jesca started to say, squinting in even the low light as she removed the cloth. “I have a terrible headache.”
“Yeah, I remember that. Don’t worry, Tasi will be here in a moment with something for it.”
“Did … did Thorn win?”
“Um, not really. He got a hit in, but then you collapsed and the fight sort of ended. Lhawni did get to you right away, though, and the other Shamans, too, and that saved you. You had it at least as bad as I did when I got Bronze.”
“Mana drain? How? I didn’t cast anything.” Jesca groaned again just as Pixyl returned with Tasi.
“Headache?” the Master Healer asked in a whisper.
“Yes, a bad one,” Jesca said. Then she got a bit of a panicked look, sitting partway up as her eyes went wide. “Where’s Artemis and Iris?” Then she squinted and moaned again, putting a paw back to her forehead as the pain spiked.
“Shhh,” Callie hushed again, putting her hand on Jesca’s arm and trying to calm her friend, pushing her back down. “The Druids are taking care of them since they can talk to animals. They’re fine; they’re safe.”
Jesca nodded weakly hearing that, obvious relief showing on her face.
Tasi shooed Callie out of the way and sat on the edge of the bed. “Here, I have a potion for the pain. Drink this.” She pulled the stopper and then poured it into Jesca’s open mouth. “There you are. You’ll need a Rejuvenation potion once you are able, but you’re going to be fine. Thankfully, four Shamans were on you almost instantly. That, plus two potions, kept you from doing any permanent damage to yourself before we could properly tend to you.” Tasi took on a firm, lecturing tone. “You know better than to cast anything beyond your mana, Jesca, so let this be your one and only lesson. Don’t ever do that again, understand?”
“But I didn’t cast anything!”
Tasi looked skeptical. “You can’t exhaust your mana without casting something. Whatever you did, never do it again!”
“I understand,” Jesca replied, her face still confused. “I just don’t know what I did.” At least the headache was gone, and she pushed herself upright slightly.
“Alright,” Tasi said with a nod. She looked to Callie and Pixyl. “Both of you get going. Thorn and Reynard are outside, so let them know she’s awake. Remind them to keep their voices low.”
“How long will she be here?” Callie asked.
“Less than an hour, but she absolutely needs to take it easy the rest of the day. No mana usage until at least late afternoon, or as little as possible if it can’t be avoided.” She turned her steely eyes to Jesca. “If you go up to training, maybe just be an observer for the rest of the day. If you can, just relax and do nothing. At least Midsummer starts tomorrow.”
“I’m supposed to practice shapeshifting with Trainers Maugra and Rowani at the end of the day. Would it be alright if I did that?”
Tasi frowned in thought. “Sure, a little bit. You’re Silver, so by then you should be mostly recovered, and shapeshifting doesn’t use much mana from what Rowani’s told me. I’ll send you with a purple potion, though, just in case. Don’t overdo it, understand? If you do have to use it, you report back here immediately!”
Jesca nodded, but her mind was still preoccupied trying to figure out how she possibly could have exhausted her mana, when she hadn’t cast anything. She just remembered cheering Thorn on, stomping and clapping in time with everyone else, and then … waking up here. What had happened?
Tasi handed Jesca a wet cloth as Callie and Pixyl reluctantly left. “Here. Lie back and put this over your eyes and rest for a bit. Ten minutes, and I’ll be back with another potion. Then you can leave after I do an examination.”
Jesca leaned back in the bed, squirming a bit to get comfortable, before putting the cloth over her eyes. What had happened to her? Once, not long after she got her class and first skill, she’d run her mana dangerously low, but she’d been warned several times by many people in the village about the dangers, so saw it happening and didn’t completely run out. It still was awful and a bad memory, so she’d made sure to be extra careful ever since. Knowing that she’d crossed that line without even realizing it, somehow putting herself well into dangerous territory, was actually frightening.
In the distance, Jesca heard voices, and strained to make them out. One was immediately identifiable as Reynard, and a second as Callie. Soon a third joined that she was fairly sure was Thorn. Unfortunately, between the wind rustling through the trees, and the thick tent canvas, everything was muffled and she couldn’t decipher the words. Nobody was yelling. If Jesca was in trouble, Callie would definitely be yelling at someone. That was good, at least.