"Goblins?"

The word pulled a large part of Lucas's attention, but he remained focussed on getting the arrows out of the man's thigh. Still, he tried prompting him to say more while Lucas worked, but the man faded back into his daze immediately. It was slightly disappointing, but it only served to redouble Lucas's efforts.

Only one arrow had made it through the tough layer of leather armor on the guard's thigh, the other was stuck within it. That meant he could snap the shaft of the penetrating one, and completely remove the other with the armor. He was careful not to jostle the arrow as he did so, but between his STR, and the poor materials used to construct the arrow, Lucas didn't have any trouble.

After that, he moved to the cords stuffed into the top of the piece of armor. The thigh armor was made up of two distinct pieces of leather bound and tightened on their inner side by these cords so that there were no effective gaps that an enemy could exploit. Lucas was familiar with it from inspecting Eugene's similar set, but that familiarity did not extend to the way this man tied his cords. It was a jumbled mess that did not yield to his efforts, and Lucas had to hurriedly grab a small knife off he counter to cut through it to avoid wasting time.

"Is he going to be ok?"

Lucas looked over for a heartbeat to take in the woman--another member of the patrol seated near his patient--before refocussing. "Yes," he answered without looking over. Two arrows to the thigh wasn't that bad even if the amount of blood was a bit worrying, it was something he could easily handle as long as he didn't let the man bleed anymore. "How are your injuries?"

"I'm fine," the woman replied, "just exhausted. Little shits didn't get me--only had me running around to hold them off."

The armor piece Lucas was working on came loose just then and he was able to slide it down the guard's leg, over everything, and remove it so he could get to the other arrow. "How many were there?"

"A lot," the woman told him.

"It was a horde," another guard answered from behind Lucas--the one that had been watching Mary work had come over.

"It was not a horde," the woman Lucas was talking to corrected, "hordes are much larger. Large enough to trample everything in sight."

"Well, there must be a horde nearby, then," the standing guard said. "The number we killed was too much to be just a hunting party from an invasive tribe."

"No point in guessing. Quiet, please," Lucas hushed them so he could concentrate on removing the arrow head.

It was going to be a mess--the point had fully entered the man's thigh and stuck there. Using the small knife he'd gotten earlier, Lucas made two small cuts the extend the wound just slightly, then spread it. It predictable started bleeding more, but as long as he was fast that wouldn't matter. It paid off, too, as Lucas noticed upon removal that the arrowhead was pointed such that tugging it out would have torn the wound open worse than he'd carefully cut it.

He wasted no time in tossing the object aside and channeling [Arclight Renewal] from there. His mana shaped to repair the damaged muscle layer and skin, and Lucas channeled some toward the man's nearby blood vessels just in case they had been damaged as well. The wound closed up before his eyes and the man let out a sigh of relief, and Lucas moved to the woman.

"I said I'm fine, you should check on Reggie," she tried to push Lucas past her, but he held firm.

"I'll be the judge of whether you're fine or not. Hold still."

She really was a mess, covered in blood and bits. Lucas had to swallow his bile as he checked her over. It was the most gruesome thing he'd ever seen up unto that point. However, the woman was right, and none of the gore belonged to her. She was in fine shape, and Lucas moved over to the next guard--Reggie, apparently--shortly.

This one wasn't covered nearly as much as the woman was, but there was a clear wound on his arm that had been hastily covered by a cloth. Lucas removed it and dumped the last of his regenerated mana into sealing the injury, exhausting his reserves once more. Further inspection didn't reveal any other injury, and yet Reggie remained unconscious. The cloth that was on his arm had nearly been soaked through, but that wasn't enough to knock him out like this. Lucas kept looking him over before turning back to the woman.

"How else was Reggie injured?"

"I don't know," she shook her head, "I was a bit busy."

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"One of them clubbed him in the head, I think," the guard hovering behind Lucas said.

Shit.

The head could get complicated. Lucas didn't have enough mana for that kind of injury.

"Mom! Blunt force to the head, need you over here!"

Lucas's mom was instant by his side, as if she had always been there. "I just finished, move over."

He backed up and let her handle it. Mary put her hands to both sides of Reggie's head and a soft light started flowing from them. It wasn't as strong as he knew she could do, but there was such a thing as too much strength when it came to head injuries. A slower, more precise heal tended to handle them better without exacerbating any harm.

Satisfied that the man would be fine in her care, Lucas moved back and further out of the way. He turned around to see Eugene still at the outer door, but the guard from before that had nearly run Lucas over had apparently returned and was conversing with him. Lucas joined them as Eugene addressed her.

"I'll head right over when this situation is handled," Eugene said.

The woman looked over Lucas's shoulder at the rest of her patrol, then nodded at Eugene and ran off again.

"What was that?" Lucas asked Eugene.

"This group didn't get all of them," Eugene nodded at the wounded patrol members. "I'm being pulled to go with another patrol and hunt down the goblins that escaped. Maybe track down the rest of their tribe while we're at it."

Lucas's face scrunched up a little as he couldn't help but worry, but he knew Eugene would be fine. Goblins couldn't compare to the [Warrior] in a fight--never in a million years.

"Don't worry kid," Eugene tousled his hair, "the Commander will be in this patrol as well. I won't even be able to do much."

Lucas nodded. "Ok. Everything should be fine here, Mom can handle a hit to the head, and everyone else is fine already," he wrapped his arms around Eugene in a hug.

"Let me say bye to your mom real quick before I head off," Eugene patted his back before separating from him.

Suddenly finding himself with nothing to do, Lucas followed behind him and went to check in on each of the patients. His mom was taking care of the very last of the injuries, but he knew there was more to caring for a patient than healing their wounds.

"Excuse me?" Lucas approached the standing guard. "Can I get you some water, maybe a rag to clean up a bit?"

The man bit back the instinctive rebuke that seemed to come to him. He closed his eyes and force out a sigh. "Sure. Thanks, kid. Why don't you get some rest afterwards and leave the rest to us grownups?"

Lucas might have issued his own rebuke for the patronization if he didn't know it came from a kind place. He wouldn't be retiring until all the patients were taken care of and dismissed, and likely not till Eugene returned at some point after that. But he didn't tell the man that and simply nodded before running to fetch the water.

Back in the kitchen, Lucas grabbed a couple old rags he knew his mother wouldn't mind throwing out and filled a bucket from the barrel of water. He set that load down on the counter in the clinic, making it clear to the conscious and moving guards that they could help themselves, then returned to the kitchen to grab a load of mugs and another bucket of water--the other was likely already thoroughly contaminated.

His mom was finished with Reggie by the time he delivered the second load to the counter.

"There," she stood and nearly brushed her hands off on the front of her clothes before remembering the blood that covered them. The man Lucas had spoken to quickly handed her the soaked rag he'd been using, and she gave him a nod of thanks as she accepted it. "Ok, everyone will be just fine, but at least these three will need to rest here for a time," she gestured at the guard in the chair, the one Lucas had removed an arrow from, and Reggie.

"Thank you for this, we all are in your debt," the woman beside Reggie spoke.

"Nonsense," Mary shook her head, "this is what I do. You can pay me back by staying out of harm from now on."

"Gladly," the woman laughed, and it seemed like it worked some energy back into the rest of them.

"Teri, we need to go report in," the standing guard told the woman, "Sarah needs to know, and she will probably be headed out again anytime now."

The woman on the ground leaned her head back against the wall and groaned, then started to rise. "Ok, let's go. Can't have her leaving without us. We'll check in as soon as we can," she turned to Lucas's mother, "but it probably won't be till morning. Thank you, [Healer]."

"Get out of here," Mary waved them on.

When Teri and the other guard Lucas hadn't managed to catch the name of departed, his mom sunk into the couch and laid back, exhausted. Lucas took another seat, but he wasn't able to let go of his stress nearly so well. He just sat there and...thought through everything.

That was not how he had expected the rest of the night to go. In the mess, he'd forgotten all about dinner, but if he was honest, that was the last thing he needed now. It wasn't the gore that bothered him, though that was certainly gross and a bit disturbing as well. Lucas had encountered arguably more gore when he killed the skaven. It was just all the stress had suddenly been dumped on him and now here he was, sitting in a comfortable chair and not out there handling the remaining issue.

"Come here, Lu," his mom leaned up and beckoned him to sit beside her.

She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.

"I wish there was more that I could do," Lucas spoke honestly. "It doesn't feel right to relax when there are other people that could be in danger."

"Eugene, the Commander, and the rest of the patrol they gather will deal with the rest of the goblins," Mary rested her head atop his and rubbed his arm. "Maybe when you're older and better prepared, you will be able to do more. But for now, you've done your duty as a [Healer] and all that is left is to wait for news."

Lucas nodded, accepting her words. He knew, of course, that he wasn't ready to go charging off into the night, hunting down an unknown number of goblins. He had to take things one step at a time.

[*ding [Rapid Regeneration] has reached level 23!]

[*ding [Arclight Renewal] has reached level 32!]

One step at a time. But one day soon, if he had anything to say about it, he'd be out there right alongside Eugene and the rest. Lucas leaned into his mother's side as he was finally able to relax.