Exill awoke the next morning feeling incredibly groggy and tired. He summoned the Card to find his vitality below 90%.
‘That gluttonous leech... how much did she feed last night? At this rate, I won’t be able to hunt in the Labyrinth today.’ A discussion about personal boundaries and limits appeared necessary.
He couldn’t remember anything from the night before. Beyond entering the room, he had no recollection of climbing into bed or even taking off his boots. He sat up, attracting the gaze of Envy who had barely slept that night.
“Do whatever you want today. I need to visit a few clinics and... help a friend.” he said, tying the laces of his boot.
“Where did you go yesterday?”
“Savta’s clinic.”
“That... elf girl who came here?”
Exill nodded carefully. He didn’t know how to interpret her expression just then.
“I’ll be coming with you.”
“No!” he exclaimed, startling both of them with his sudden outburst. In a much quieter tone he continued, “Sorry, I have a lot to deal with right now, and so does she. Another time.”
“Are you ordering me not to come?” Envy examined him with an inscrutable gaze.
“Do I need to?” he shot back, mildly annoyed by her pestering. He was in no mood to entertain one of her mind games. They were left at an impasse as Exill quickly packed his equipment and left the Inn.
Visiting the various clinics he had contracted to, he personally apologised for a sudden leave of absence that was expected to run for a couple days.
“No problem old fellow! I hope you get a well-deserved rest and feel free to drop by at any time!”
Exill thanked Perg, and finally headed to the slave market to notify Diallo’s assistant of the temporary change in address back to Savta’s clinic. He didn’t expect the Slave Trader to summon him during the brief stay with Luna, but the contractual terms stated otherwise.
“Good, You’re here.”
Exill turned around to find Diallo standing behind him. The Slave Trader looked him up and down, “Do you have your equipment? Good, row C, human female.”
Diallo gestured his Assistant to guide the Witchdoctor there. Inwardly swearing, Exill followed the hunched man into the warehouse.
'What stinking luck to be here at the wrong time.’
He passed by a familiar face in one of the cages. The girl with the horrible burns was drooling out of the holes in her cheek, her eyes vacant. He quickly walked past before she recognised him.
The Assistant gestured to a woman laying prone on her knees, her belly distended and in obvious pain. Slow realization dawned on him. ‘I’m not an expert but... is she pregnant?’ he stared at the hunched assistant with incredulous eyes. ‘Did Diallo expect me to deliver a baby?’
The Assistant looked suitably apologetic and haltingly explained, “Witchdoctor sir... we don’t employ midwives here... they either give birth or die. This woman is likely to die.”
Exill blinked.
‘I’m not only expected to deliver a baby, but he wants me to perform a C-section?!’ he thought in disbelief. However the groaning woman quickly returned him to his senses “Send a messenger to Savta’s clinic and tell Luna I need her here. Bring warm water and towels. Also inform Diallo that if she survives I’ll be charging him 300 denars!”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“W-would that be before... or a-after your contract discount?” the Assistant stammered.
“After! and open up this cage, she won’t be going anywhere soon!” he snapped, brought on edge by the gargantuan task ahead of him. However, his worries were soon washed away as Luna arrived with her equipment, looking reluctantly around the dim fetid warehouse as she approached.
“Why did you call me here Exill?” There was a haunted look in her tired eyes.
She had barely woken up when a messenger had clamoured at her door claiming the Witchdoctor needed help. She had always hated the slave markets and to be summoned here while grieving was insensitive at best.
It appeared the messenger failed to inform her that the patient was pregnant, so he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly as he filled her in with the details.
“I’m sorry to call you here but I needed your help... how do you deliver a baby that is late?”
Luna questioned the Assistant on how long the woman had been in labour, then turned to provide her assessment, “I’m sorry Exill, but I agree with him. This woman will likely die.”
Exill nodded, “Then I’m going to need your help, I’m going to try and cut out the baby.”
He sounded confident but he was privately shaking in his britches. ‘Do I just cut down until I reach the baby? Should the cuts be lateral or vertical?’ A hundred questions raced through his head. Putting aside his reservations, he cleaned and scrubbed around the woman’s belly with dwarven spirit and prepared to make the first incision, the scalpel glowing a dim red as mana channelled through both the paralyzing and fire enchantments. His hands trembled softly; the scalpel poised mere millimetres away from the woman’s taut belly.
“What will happen to the baby if I paralyze the mother?” he asked, suddenly doubting what he was about to.
“I-I don’t know.”
The runes on the scalpel dimmed as the channelled man dissipated into the air, wasted by his indecision. He racked his brains and came up with another analogy, “Let me rephrase this. If a leech was feeding on your arm and I paralyzed you, would it be affected?”
“... No? Are you calling the baby a parasite?” Luna looked both confused and affronted by the strange comparison.
Without bothering to answer, he channelled mana into the blade again and made the first cut. The blade sizzled as it cauterized the incision. The patient sighed in relief as the cramps from her contractions dissipated as paralysis set in. He didn’t see the baby, so he made a deeper cut, and this time he saw a foot!
“Grab it!”
He quickly set his scalpel aside and held the incision open as Luna dragged the baby out by the heel. It was limp, not breathing.
While she worked on the baby, Exill panicked. His job was to close her up again, but the umbilical cord was in the way. He held the cord limply, mind blank as Luna washed and gently massaged the baby.
“Waaaagh!”
They both sighed in relief. She set the wriggling baby aside and started working on the umbilical cord.
“Exill! You did well, I’ll handle it from here.” Luna’s face was flushed with excitement, her eyes bright and hair in disarray. She pressed her palms against the woman’s lower belly and appeared to tug the umbilical gently, successfully peeling the placenta away from the uterine walls. As soon as the opening was clear, Exill leaped into action and started suturing up both incisions. Just like that, they had successfully delivered the baby.
Luna channelled healing magic into the mother’s womb after handing her the baby, and gave instructions to the hunched assistant who had stayed throughout the whole procedure. Exill reminded him as well of the 300 denars due.
Buoyed by their success, she clung to his arm on the way back to the clinic, excited about what they had achieved, “That was amazing! Do you know how many lives we can save?”
“You did all the work, I think I spent most of that time kneeling there with the umbilical on my hand.”
“That isn’t true! You called me for help, knowing your limits and seeking assistance takes courage. Although, I did notice you charged 300 Denars for the operation...” Luna teased him gently.
Exill didn’t respond to her teasing and remained silent as they walked along the cobblestoned street. Eventually he asked the question that had been haunting him, “Say Luna, what will happen to that baby?”
“Will you go purchase him as well?” Luna watched him shake his head before continuing on, “You can’t shoulder the World’s burden, no one can live like that. It’s not that I don’t understand how you feel, but you need to learn to let it go and celebrate the small victories.”
Exill nodded, yet he couldn’t help but think their ‘victory’ was strangely hollow. It was compounded by the fact that Envy had overfed the night before, leaving him weak and listless. Crossing the entryway of Savta’s clinic, he stumbled upstairs, collapsing on the visitor’s armchair.
“You look tired... why don’t you take a nap in my bed? I’m sorry, but Nana threw away your mattress when you moved out.”
Her kind eyes glistened momentarily at the mention of her grandmother. Yet, she stayed strong and guided the tired Witchdoctor to her bed. He fell asleep momentarily while she tidied up her belongings on the desk. It might have been the residual excitement from the successful delivery but seeing Exill lying vulnerable in her bed set her heart fluttering.
‘... should I remove his shoes to make him more comfortable?’
She unlaced his boots and pulled them off one by one, then stood there for a moment examining his prone form, thinking of ways to make his sleep more restful.
Pressing hands to her reddening cheeks, she swiftly exited the room before she was tempted to remove any more articles of clothing.