By the time I’m getting Hades and Persephone out, we’ve got a system going. River, as I had hoped, was able to help me with the others. He wasn’t as badly off as Bastet or Lathani, probably because he’d curled himself into a ball when the first lot of webbing landed and had used his spear to partially shelter himself.
That had given him a good position to fight against the constriction of the webbing after the second attack had landed and less exposure to the venom itself. Plus, it seems like his scales had been a pretty good defence against the deadly substance, the only access to his flesh being offered by places where his natural armour had already been pierced.
He was certainly much better off than either Lathani and Bastet whose skins seem to have relatively easily absorbed the venom. The fact that Lathani is still Tier one is probably a good reason for why her health declined even quicker under the web trap than Bastet did. Honestly, her good-sized health pool is probably the only reason she was any better off than Bastet at all – at eight hundred and ten health units when full, her pool is better than Bastet’s had been at Tier one.
I therefore headed towards Lathani straight after. A quick check of the condition of my Bound justified my decisions – Bastet was down to her last fifty health points, Lathani only just above that. I figure that the kiina’s scales protect them as much – or better – than River’s did. It’s fortunate that it’s worked out that way – I would hate to lose any of my Bound, but if I let Lathani die, the rest of us wouldn’t outlive her for long due to Kalanthia’s vengeful retribution.
In a choice between Lathani and any of my other Bound, I would be forced to choose Lathani – and I don’t think I’d ever forgive her for putting me in that position. I recognise the hypocrite that makes me, but emotions aren’t logical.
Persephone was otherwise worst off, currently sitting at just over two hundred health points, but Hades is still at more than half-health. Probably the main reason for Persephone’s lower health is to do with the blow which hit her soon before the grand finale of the fight.
Still, as the last ones entangled, I work as quickly as I can to get them free, finding that Hades has, as expected, shielded Persephone from most of the attack. His position crouched over her with his wings spread means that there’s actually little poison coating the female kiina’s scales, though a lot coating those of Hades. Like River, the small cuts he picked up in the fight are the access points for the venom.
I could probably pick the kiina up with my increased strength, but it would be a strain. I don’t have to, though – like River, Hades and Persephone are both capable of walking out of the mess, though Persephone with more than a little pain.
All my Bound finally free, I tiredly set to dealing with the actual injuries.
Lathani is my first target. With only fifty health points remaining now, and the health potions River keeps feeding her barely keeping up with the continued ticking down from the poison circulating around her system, she’s the most clearly in need of healing.
I do take a moment to do a quick scan of Persephone’s body, though – since she’s pregnant I’m aware that there could be dire consequences of her being poisoned on the eggs growing inside her. From Hades’ concern that shows in his shifting movements and leaks down our Bond, he’s aware of the same.
Fortunately, it appears that Persephone has some degree of internal control and is managing to keep the poison away from the eggs. That’s at the expense of more negatively affecting her own body than it normally would, but it’s nothing I won’t be able to help heal. When I have the time and mana.
“You’re doing well,” I say to Persephone soothingly. “Just keep at it and I’ll be with you as soon as I can, OK?” I lift my hand and stroke the side of her neck. It’s instinctual, but the kiina presses into my palm, closing her eyes. I turn my head to see Hades giving me an unreadable look, even the Bond not giving much of a clue. “What?” I ask, impatiently, then decide to ignore it when he just turns his head away. I don’t have time for this.
Going to my knees next to Lathani, I pull at the pitiful amount of mana still left in her. After healing her earlier, and more recently using the mana to flake off webbing twice, there’s not much for me to work with.
Fortunately, River has some more stored within him, so I pull at that to be able to work with more than just fumes.
I flush out the poison from Lathani’s body, working methodically to shift it bit by bit. Perhaps saturating the venom itself and then manipulating it directly would be a good idea, but that would take more mana that I have to spare. As it is, even just working with Lathani’s body to force all the poison to a slit I cut in one of her veins takes almost everything I have. The last of my mana, I use on healing damage that could potentially cause her lungs to fail.
As it turns out, the venom attacks the central nervous system. It probably is the same venom as was used on Fenrir, but in a much higher dose since sleeping pills tend to do the same thing. However, just as too high doses of sleeping pills can have serious effects, the same is true of this poison.
“I need to Meditate,” I say wearily after quickly checking on Bastet. Her system seems to be more robust than Lathani’s – because she’s a Tier two? Either way, the healing the potions River keeps pouring down her throat are helping her natural healing to almost keep up with the damage the poison is doing.
She’s still unconscious, though, and I hope that that’s just because the venom is designed to first send its targets off to sleep and then kill them rather than because some serious damage has been done which I haven’t yet been able to detect.
I only have three more healing concoctions, River warns me. I nod.
“OK. Space them out, please. But I need to Meditate.” Not only do I need the mana regeneration, but I also need the clarity of mind and a break. The battle has been hard on all of us, physically or mentally.
As I drop into the third level of Meditation, trusting in my Bound to protect me, I realise that the frenetic situation meant I didn’t think of doing something which would have helped: using at least Light Meditation to bolster my mana regeneration while working on healing my Bound.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I don’t think it would have worked in my battle with the danaris – it required just too much focus and mental activity for me to do any level of Meditation. Not at this point, anyway. But healing my Bound? That, I should be able to combine with the lightest level of Meditation. And that means I should be able to do more at a time.
Once I sense that my mana pool is full again, I shift to Light Meditation and open my eyes. My mind feels refreshed and a headache I didn’t even realise I had is gone. I still feel strained, like I’ve over-exercised a muscle that’s not used to being used to that extent, but it’s better than before.
It’s amazing what a little meditation can do! Or Meditation, at least.
“Right,” I say to no one in particular. “Let’s do this.”
*****
By the time all of my Bound are healed and awake, night has fallen and I’m completely exhausted. Not so much physically as mentally. I’ve used my magic more today than ever before, I think. Yes, I technically might have used more mana in total when I was practising saturating different carcasses and hides, but that was a completely non-stressful situation. This, where it’s the wellbeing of my Bound in question, is a different story.
But finally, everyone is fine, including Persephone and her babies, which has allowed Hades to finally settle down. While I was healing her, I had a feeling that making the wrong move and hurting any of the beings I was working on would lead to him doing his best to kill me. I mean, I don’t think he’d have succeeded, but it would have been uncomfortable for all of us if he’d tried.
The danaris, fortunately, is definitely dead. I’d been half-worried that even with the connections between its brain and its body completely destroyed it might find a way to repair them sufficiently to keep living. Or, worse, that it might have some back-up organ which might allow it to survive. But no, it’s gone.
Unfortunately, none of us feel like eating it – as a Beast which I’m sure had to have been near the top of Tier two its flesh must have been full of Energy. But as it is, even Sirocco turns her beak up at it. I suppose that with the venom I controlled still flooding its system, its meat might have been spoiled anyway, but apparently no one wants to take the risk of being poisoned once more.
Instead, I pull a couple of carcasses out of my Inventory. Although Sirocco and the kiinas accept the Energy-less meat reluctantly, they’re obviously hungry enough from the battle to eat it anyway. For myself, I pull out a nice bowl of thick stew, containing meat, potato, and a couple of the plants I’d found. Seasoned with salt and that basil-mint leaf, it’s satisfying both to the mouth and the stomach.
As I eat, I eye the danaris carcass again. Poisonous or not, I do want to harvest a few bits from it before we go. A good bit of that chitin for one thing; its venom for another. But for now, there’s something more important to do – rescue Fenrir from where he’s waiting patiently for us to come. Seeing that my raptorcat companion seems to be satisfied for now, I speak to her.
“Bastet, can you go and scout the cave, please?”
Can I go too? asks Lathani brightly. She was rather subdued for a bit after the battle. I’m not sure exactly why, and didn’t want to invade her privacy too much by diving into the Bond between us – unlike Sirocco, I sense that I could do that with her. Perhaps it was because of being part of a fight which was far more desperate than anything else she’d seen before. Except perhaps the fight with the salamander, but then she hadn’t really been a part of that one.
“Sure,” I say after a moment’s thought. “But,” I continue, a serious expression on my face and a stern tone in my voice, “do you realise how close you came to dying there?”
My heart almost breaks at the slumping of her posture. But this needs to be said. “You got down to forty-one health points, Lathani. Forty-one! Out of eight hundred and ten! That’s five percent of your health left!” I stare at the nunda juvenile as she looks away from me.
Her posture is subdued, but I know better than to believe that – the Bond between us reveals the rebellious undercurrent to her current attitude. “Have you thought about what would happen if you’d died there? Because you honestly came close.” That startles her a little. I don’t know if she doesn’t realise just how close she got – if I hadn’t already been practised at removing poison from a body, if I hadn’t had Meditation to help regain mana, if River hadn’t shoved health potions down her throat….
I wasn’t going to die, she says finally. And if I did then…I don’t know. You’d have taken my body back to mother? She seems far too blasé for the situation.
“And you think that your mother would just accept that?” I chuckle humorlessly. “She’d have killed us, Lathani. Heck, she might still kill me for Binding you at all, but we’ve covered that one already. But if you died? Under my watch?” I shake my head. “I should have kept you away from the battle entirely,” I murmur more to myself than anyone else. I should have known better. Rather that Lathani is angry at me for keeping her safe than dead.
Yes, I know she somehow managed to survive all that, but frankly, that’s more to do with luck than anything else. I should have benched her, tied her to the back of Persephone; kept them both safe. But then we might not have won this. I don’t know how much damage Persephone did while I was attacking the danaris with venom.
I sigh mentally. Hindsight is apparently twenty-twenty, but even that’s not enough to tell me if I made the right decision here.
She wouldn’t have, Lathani interjects weakly, startling me out of my thoughts. It takes me a moment to remember exactly what she’s responding to. I give her a long look until she shifts to avoid my eyes. She doesn’t believe her words herself, even. Fine. She would have been angry. Lathani sighs. I just…I just wanted to be part of the group. It seemed like it might be…fun. I want to shout at her – what about this was fun? – but refrain. That’s not what she needs.
“And was it fun?”
I mean…. She hesitates. It was nice to work as a team but…no. It wasn’t fun.
Nodding slowly, I feel more satisfied that she is making progress on this.
“That’s because survival isn’t fun,” I say quietly. “We’re here to save Fenrir, not because we want the…glory of the fight.” Finally, I sense the right kind of emotions coming from her side of the Bond, the rebelliousness finally absent. “But Lathani,” I add, not wanting to leave it on that note. The nunda juvenile looks up at me with wariness, as if expecting another reprimand. “Well done on that fight otherwise.
“Bastet and River have told me that they almost didn’t need to order you at all – you worked well as a supportive team member. That’s exactly what you should have done,” I praise. Surprised pleasure floods down the link from her side and I reckon that she’d be blushing if she could. She turns back to Bastet and pads off towards the cavern without another word, but I know she’s happy with the praise.