Groaning, I woke up to stinging pain rising from all the cuts on my body, and as I blearily opened my eyes; I saw Sir Liam bending over the massive student as his fingers danced and invisible blades carrying threads stitched together the cuts on the student’s body.

Pushing myself to a sitting position, I gazed on as Sir Liam glanced back at me.

Remarking, Sir Liam said, “I can’t believe you woke up in less than an hour after that stunt you pulled.”

Confused, I asked, “What stunt?”

Rolling his eyes, Sir Liam pointed to the tear in his sleeve and said, “When all of you jumped on me and allowed that girl to land a blow on me?”

Slowly, the recollection of that desperate moment came back to me.

We were blood-soaked, barely able to stand or think. Yet apparently, all of us had had the same idea as we jumped on the man together.

Suddenly, concern hit me as I searched for Sia.

Only to see her grimacing as she carried the rest of the Maidens before laying them together on the ground carefully.

Rising, Sir Liam took a deep breath before he walked to each of the students before starting his ministrations.

Painfully getting up, I glanced at Marrok, whose teeth were still bared as he lay breathing in deeply, his wounds already stitched. Then I glanced at Apollo, who looked ragged but significantly better than us, given that the massive student had taken most of the cuts for him.

Looking at the massive student, I felt respect. In the last desperate attempt, he was the one who had blocked the most blades with his bulk and given us the chance to get close enough to try that stunt.

Walking to Sir Liam, I held out my hand silently.

Looking at the outstretched hand, Sir Liam shot me a quizzical look.

Impatiently, I said, “Needle kit. I’ll help you stitch everyone up.”

Shrugging, Sir Liam held up a finger on top of which the air warped as an invisible blade formed. “Sorry, I don’t carry needles.”

Incredulously, I looked at him, and said, “What kind of a doctor are you?”

Grinning lopsidedly, Sir Liam said, “I’m a surgeon boy. I open people up and put them back together.”

Grunting, I made my way into the log house and grabbed my sewing needles and thread before I went outside and started work along with Sir Liam.

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All the while, I left a trail of blood behind me as my own wounds wept blood, but the ten thousand ants were working away, and I gritted my teeth through the constant pain and continued my ministrations.

Nodding to Sia as I passed by her, I looked at the next student as I asked Sir Liam casually in a low voice, “Why did you have to push us that far?”

Without looking at me, Sir Liam asked, “What do you mean?”

Working, I said, “Your blades. They avoided all our vital areas and left only flesh wounds which will heal.”

Snorting, Sir Liam said, “Of course. This is an academy for Bal’s sake, boy. I’m not going to cripple you, am I?”

Letting out a snort of my own, I said, “If those blades had been off by even a bit…” trailing off; I looked at the man, who looked back at me seriously as he said, “Indeed, they could have been off. But I had confidence in myself.”

Grunting, I kept working as I said, “That’s some high confidence you have in yourself.”

Softly, Sir Liam said, “a surgeon needs the most stable hands there can be.”

I paused for a moment before I nodded and carried on with the work.

Two hours later, we were done with treating all the students and they lay there, utterly spent and swathed in bandages.

Rising, Sir Liam looked at all of us before he said loudly, “As the main teacher for Year 1, I declare that the three requests of the… the maidens.... Have been granted. You are free to do what you wish in your community. The monster attacks will be decreased, and you are free to hunt the monsters in the forest with the weapons and armor that we will provide.”

Pausing, he said with a wry smile, “I hope that those things were worth it.”

Then, narrowing his eyes, he left us with the words, “Time is precious. Remember what I said before.”

Looking at his retreating back until it vanished across the bend of the trail, all of us let out a muted cheer before coughing and gasping out as pain wracked our bodies.

We let out another cheer as black uniformed people came and laid out a veritable feast in front of us.

Drooling, we inhaled the smells of the various dishes greedily, and attacked them with more fervor than we had when facing Sir Liam.

In a short while, the dishes were wiped clean, and our hopeful gazes must have softened the black uniformed people’s hearts because they brought us another round of food.

Devouring that too, we went back to the log house, where we collapsed gratefully and passed into oblivion.

I was about to, too, when I noticed Sia standing at the doorway staring inside with a strange look on her face.

Rising with a groan, I made my way to her and took her hand.

Silently, I stood there with her as she bit her lip and looked on at the Maidens as they slept.

No words were spoken.

Everything was understood.

We had made our stand.

And we had forged our bond.

We were no longer loose sand.

We were truly the Maidens.

And the maidens?

That name would resound in the future across the land.

But none of us knew that.

I just had a feeling that it would.

Time would prove whether I was right or not.