“If you’re famous, it’s best to go out in disguise to prevent annoyance from people who recognize you. Be wary of using the same disguise too often, however, as people would grow wise to it over time.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“Which ones are the worst off?” Aideen asked, her eyes taking a quick look at the patients in the wagon. Even through the blanket that covered their bodies, she noticed how some of their limbs ended prematurely, the stumps noticeable despite the covering. Clearly the patients in this wagon were far worse off compared to the previous ones.

“The ones on the right side, ma’am,” replied the old dwarven healer promptly. By that point another dwarf, similarly clad in the frocks of a healer but notably younger, had joined them and looked at Aideen questioningly. The older dwarf shushed him with a single gesture, though, and made the younger one watch quietly at the side.

Aideen knelt by the first patient, an older dwarf male who had his head wrapped in bloody bandages, a sure sign of head injury. Besides the obvious head injury, the dwarven man’s left arm also ended at his shoulder, and both of his legs had been similarly amputated above the knee. Aideen laid her hands on the patient without a second thought, and immediately went to work.

Fortunately, the patient was a dwarf, and their physique was far more robust compared to humans. Mortality affinity healers like her couldn’t actually magically regrow body parts, as what they actually did was to “borrow” bits and pieces from healthier parts of the body to recreate the missing parts instead. That required quite a bit of body mass to spare, though, and with humans, regenerating three missing limbs would not be a safe thing to do in a single session, as that would have needed them to take too much from elsewhere in the body.

With dwarves, Aideen had leeway and easily got what she needed by skimming off bits that would not harm the patient much at all. The bits she took away would recover naturally after a day or two, and while the limbs she recreated would be weaker at first, they too would regain their strength after several days of rest.

To others, though, it looked as if a miracle had taken place before their eyes, as the bandages around the patient’s stumps tore apart, pushed aside by the new limbs growing from them. Before a minute had passed, the dwarven patient looked hale and hearty once more, if in deep sleep. His missing limbs recovered, as if they were never lost.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“He will need proper rest for at least another two to three days,” said Aideen to the two gawking healers who watched her work on the patient. “If you have any available, I’d prescribe some thick bone broth once he regains consciousness. I don’t think he should have any solid food for another few days, so soups and porridges would be best to go with it.”

“Understood, Ma’am. We’ll arrange for it,” said the older dwarf. He already moved towards the patient Aideen had just healed with obvious wonderment in his eyes, his hand trembling as he touched the sleeping patient to check what she had done. The younger healer with him had the same google-eyed stare, and was in so much of a daze that he did not even notice that he laid his hand on the floor instead of on the patient.

As for Aideen herself, she moved on to the next patient on the line. Most of the patients in the wagon had either missing or crushed limbs, or internal injuries that threatened their life, which was one reason the dwarven healer had prioritized them for treatment. The dwarven healer was much less skilled with his mortality affinity, however, and the number of injuries meant that he was forced to spread out his magic over all the patients.

He managed to enact passable emergency care for the group, but the healing he had done was by no means final, nor sufficient in the long run. Aideen took care of those issues at the same time as she simply tapped on to her own much deeper mana reserves to heal every injury she ran across without care for the cost.

The result showed itself, as within a mere ten minutes, every single patient in the wagon had been healed back to good health, all signs of their prior injuries done away with under her ministrations. Aideen stood up and flexed her arms to unlimber them after she was done with the final patient, before she turned to look at the two dwarven healers who were still checking up the patients she already took care of with increasing awe on their features.

“Are there more injured to take care of?” she asked to the older dwarf, her tone completely nonchalant as if she had done nothing of note.

“Y-yes, Milady, the wagon to our left contained those with serious but non-life threatening injuries,” replied the older dwarf as he gulped with some nervousness. Aideen could clearly see that one part of the man wanted to ask her many questions about her healing methods, but he held himself back for the sake of his patients.

A good healer, that one. As such, Aideen kept a note in her mind to discuss some tips and tricks about healing with the man after the present situation was taken care of. She gave the older dwarf a smile and a nod for his answer, and quickly made her way down and out from the wagon, waving goodbye to the dwarven healer as she left. “Thank you, I’ll deal with the rest as soon as I can,” she said as she walked away.

“Mentor… Who was that woman just now?” she heard the younger dwarf ask as she walked away.

“Shush, lad. If me thinking be right, mayhaps we’ve just met with the Silver Maiden from the songs herself,” replied the older dwarf. He spoke quietly, but it was still within the range of Aideen’s acute hearing. “Me thought those tales were exaggerated… but me stand corrected… She was beyond the tales, by far.”