Sachihiro
Sometimes people die and there is nothing to do but praise them for the life they lived even as you mourn their lose from your own life. Sometimes people you know peripherally but other times it's people you know personally, for us at the Tundra a lot of the time it's people we know personally so we've learnt to be efficient with our grief.
A warrior needs not be ashamed of tears of grief shed for a brother, mother, father, sister, son or daughter. He need not be ashamed of openly being filled with joy and pride that their loved one died in battle instead of by sickness or in a meaningless death. That is the real reason we fight so hard and so frequently, death should have a meaning for it to be honoured. Die doing something, die moving forward, die having lived.
I look around at our dead and nod my head in acknowledgement of them, yes they died a meaningful honourable death in battle. We will all be together in the ever-after soon enough and be brothers that have shared a battlefield.
I walk to one of the fallen and place a hand on his chest as it rises and falls slowly, foam bubbles out of his mouth like wet soap bubbles as he tries to speak. I sit him up and I place my waterskin to his lips and let him swallow a few times, I don't personally know him but he looks familiar and this 'fucken' scene is reminding me of the War with the South not too long ago, lost a lot of good people there.
"How many dead?" Gerard asks no one in particular getting back from following the retreating creatures.
"We have 7 dead and 14 on the brisk of joining them if we don't get them treated soon." Haiga says doing triage and checking on everyone as the dedicated healer on this trip, though he has no mana.
Magic healers are few and far between for very few people Awaken primary as healers making them a scarce resource. We have not been spoilt into disregarding injuries in battle because of the resources of the Conclave or even Paradisum and as such we all know the basic battlefield wound treatment methods.
I don't know the young man trying to inflate his lung before me personally but I plug the bleeding in his chest with a battle dressing and hold his hand tight keeping him awake. He tries to reach for something a few times and I get the idea and bring his two headed axe to his grasp were he holds it tight.
I understand, I really do and I sit with him as everyone gets the fallen ready to travel to the nearest town or city. We shouldn't be more than 800km from the border to the Eldritch Foothills were the dark skinned Aldermen people make their homes, but they are a simple arcaic people and may not be able to help.
At the same time the next closest humanoid settlement is Nexus some over a thousand km away and they would sooner rob us there than help us, unless we paid of course. A cesspool of human and half-eleven innovation that is a conglomerate of six cities working together to fight off would be invaders and bandits. Six cities dedicated to trade, luxury, neutrality and wealth is the Nexus.
Yea, the merchants might be on our way but going towards them will prove a sure death for some of our injured. Haiga isn't an Awakened healer even with his vast healing training he can only stabilize some of these injuries and the Alderman will definitely have a medicine man though I'm not sure how he/she could prevent dark affinity caused wounds from festering, or whether they will even help us at all.
"Lets head towards the hills," I advise to Haiga as he kneels next to me and helps stabilize the man I've been watching. He just nods but mostly ignores me taking care of his primary duty.
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I get up and go looking for Teà even though I have little doubt she is safe at Ava's side. I won't lie, Ava has become a terrifying opponent even though we haven't spared together since before we left the Tundra I'm not sure how well I'd do against her. A testament to her dedication and discipline because I've improved in all facets of my life by leaps and bounds, it's just that I'm not alone in my improvements.
"You guys alright?" I ask Teà giving her the once over even as she leans over the wood she has chopped in preparation or making splints, Dustin isn't far off and he gives me a nod.
"I'm good Sachi, you need to stop worrying about me so much." She says with a sigh, I shrug and let it go at that heading towards Gerard, Om, Victor and Wagnar the leader of this expedition.
"We need to head towards the Foothills." I say as I get to their little huddle, already being joined by the silent Gaia and the competent Astrid.
"Why?" Wagner asks immediately.
That's what I like about the practical tribesman, he is about 50 years old and one of the tribesmen without a berserker that came to Pangaea for the distant possibility that they may learn other skills or even manage to Awaken. He has a brilliant mind and takes all suggestions seriously and considers then before making a decision.
"The Merchants are too far away for some of the worst affected by the festering and of course they will want money, they always want money."
"Yes but the Aldermen are an unknown, they may not be able to heal the poison while the Six Cities have access to elven medicines and have healers living in the city. We have more than enough money amongst us." He responds to my statement looking at me directly in the eye.
Another thing I like about the man, he is very good at digging words out of people forcing them to think about things.
"This black blood festering is an unknown even to the elves I sure. According to the travel briefing there shouldn't be dark mimics out here so I'm guessing it's a recent development, and though the Aldermen are an unknown they are sure to have some sort of medicine man." I nod towards Gerard who nods taking my queue.
"They do have a witch doctors that deal with most physical and spiritual ailments, and their society isn't very aggressive to outside most of the time though they are known for attacking everyone that tries to build permanent structures there." Gerard says helpfully.
"We need to rest anyways, they have ambushed us twice now in two nights and stole one body away for spirits know what. They seem to be able to retain the skills of the people they take from what I've seen and almost everyone here is a competent warrior, imagine what they would do to our numbers if they stole another body." Astrid says in her sweet low voice, who said being a none combatant meant not being a great analyst?
"Alright then, legs head towards the Aldermen and hope they can help us. Sachi, you and Gaia will go on ahead to speak to them if you can. Warn them of our coming and none aggressive intentions, Algara will follow behind you silently in case something happens to and you can't return. You both know the signals for when things aren't going well, Gerard will head towards the Nexus and see what he can learn about these mimics and if are treatment has been found.
"You are able to travel fastest amongst us Gerard and the only Awakened, Om you organise a rear defense in case we need to retreat and keep an out out. We may be out of the forests but these grasslands aren't the Tundra. Get that uncanny friend of yours Volvox to join the scouts again, they tell me he's really good. Ok let's go, let's get to it."
And like that I find myself leaving most of my pack for others to carry as Gaia and I prepare to head Nort West West towards the lean, tall, dark skinned Aldermen people known as the grass hunters.