In a silent throne room, a witch defied death to save her friend.

Autumn knelt beside Nelva with her blood-slicked hands pressed into the chevalier’s side, heart pounding with yet-to-fade adrenaline. Violet magic pulsed in tune with her heartbeat as it surged down her hands and into Nelva’s body, seeking to quell the other’s bleeding. And when it finally snapped into place and halted the flow, Autumn rocked back on her heels with a heavy sigh and sweat on her brow.

Nelva groaned in pain, the sensation of a sword through her gut not dulled in the slightest. She felt like a bug pinned to a board by some cruel collector.

Autumn hadn’t removed the iron blade as she feared unduly aggravating the wound before they’d the means to close it. Not only that, but the force of the blow had sucked shattered bone armor and silk behind the blade. So, even if they had a grand healing potion in their possession, they’d still have to clean the wound before applying it, lest the magical healing seal the contaminants inside her.

“Where are you feeling pain?” Autumn asked as she wrapped her spare shirt around the sword blade, pressing the cloth gently into the wound to stem any further bleeding.

“In my stomach.” Nelva joked, although she regretted laughing as it swiftly turned to pained coughing.

“You still have your humor, I see. That’s good.” Autumn smiled weakly. “I need to know what the blade cut through. Can you wiggle your toes for me? Does it feel like the blade hit your spine? I can’t tell from this angle.”

Nelva’s pale face screwed up as she concentrated on moving her toes and, ever so slightly, her boots moved as she grunted in pain. She sighed in relief. “Yeah, I can move them.”

“Good, good. Do you think you can hang on for a moment as I check on Liddie?” Autumn asked as she anxiously looked over at the pirate slumped against a pillar.

“Y-yeah. I’ll just sit right here,” Nelva chuckled before hissing in pain.

Autumn turned to Eme, who was loitering behind her. While she really wanted to give the catgirl a once over as her eyes were disturbingly bloodshot, she had to prioritize right now. She needed to go into a triage mode.

“Eme, look after Nelva for me. If her wound starts bleeding again, press down on it and call me back. I need to go check on Liddie.”

“What about you? You got stabbed, remember?” Eme pointed out the wound in Autumn’s shoulder.

Autumn rolled her shoulder slightly, only to wince in pain as her shirt pulled at the clotted blood. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”

“How is that a flesh wound?!” Eme growled.

“I’ll deal with it later. For now we need to save Nelva. Can you do that for me?”

Eme nodded reluctantly before kneeling down next to Nelva. “Go, you can count on me!”

Turning away from the pair, Autumn rushed promptly over to where the pirate lay slumped against a broken pillar. Edwyn was already there by her side, carefully checking Liddie over. As soon as she arrived panting, Autumn fell to her knees and instinctively laid her hands upon the Inferni woman and pulsed a casting of Delay Death into her.

An action that proved unnecessary despite her worry.

Edwyn chuckled. “She’ll be awright; got a head ‘arder than any pillar. She’s juist napping it off.”

“Nothing broken? Are we able to move her?” Autumn asked in a rush, relief pouring through her.

“Juist a broken nose ‘n’ wrist. I’ve awready checked over her neck ‘n’ back, but other than some mighty bruises, nothing feels broken. We’ll be all gentle-like movin’ her either way. Other than that, there is her horn.” Edwyn gestured to the tip missing from one of the Inferni’s inch-long horns. “Let me tell her when she wakes; I’ll break it tae her gently.”

Autumn just absentmindedly nodded, her mind preoccupied with more immediate concerns.

“Did any of the others survive?” Autumn asked, looking over the carnage.

Edwyn shook their head sadly. “Doesn’t look like it.”

Autumn spared a brief glance over each of her fallen allies, just to make sure that none still lived. Certain ones needed much less checking, as their guts or brains stained the dusty floor. However, Autumn spared a second longer to thank Nizana, the assassin still smiling even in death.

After double checking on Nelva’s state, Autumn and Edwyn carefully carried the unconscious Liddie back over to the others and settled her upon a bedroll that Eme had hastily unrolled.

Eme milled around anxiously. “Will she be alright?”

“Yeah. Just need to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t swallow her tongue.” Autumn reassured her. “More importantly, we need to save Nelva. Are you sure nobody has a healing potion? Did you check their bags?”

Eme looked shocked. “Isn’t that dishonorable? Aren’t we meant to return their gear to their party or family?”

Turning from where she was rifling through her own bag for her sewing kit, Autumn gave Eme a hard look. “Not when it means losing someone.”

“Aye, Autumn has the right of it.” Edwyn nodded. “Come on, lassie. Let’s go see if we can find anythin’ that the others were hidin’ away.”

Autumn popped her head back up as a thought crossed her mind. She called out to the pair as they were walking away. “Be careful of the assassin’s gear; it’s likely they had traps or poison on them.”

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Edwyn waved to her in acknowledgement without turning back.

Autumn’s expression turned grim as she looked down at her hands, coated as they were in blood. She wanted them as clean as possible before she even attempted to sew the stricken rabbit-kin up, as the last thing they needed right now was an infection. Luckily, she had a solution right below her. Autumn flinched as she plunged her hands into the icy black waters of her shadow.

A pale Nelva raised her head up to look askance at her as she did so. “Are you sure that’s clean?”

“We’ve been drinking it, haven’t we? Clear alcohol would be better, but I doubt we’ll find anything around here.”

The pair’s eyes naturally drifted over to Liddie’s pack.

“You don’t think…?” Nelva asked.

Autumn shrugged slightly, careful not to pull too much on her wound. “Only one way to find out.”

Shifting over to the unconscious pirate’s gear, Autumn rifled through her belongings and shook the bottles she found within. All but one was empty.

Nelva coughed as she chuckled. “That bitch was holding out on us.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing she did.” Autumn said as she cleaned off her hands and tools with the alcohol.

Nelva looked pained at the loss. “Hey, give me some. I’m the one dying here, haha–ow.”

Autumn denied her. “No, we need it to sterilize and clean your wounds.”

Slumping back down with a groan, Nelva stared blankly up at the bone ceiling high above. “Hey, Autumn, can you promise me something? If I die—no, don’t interrupt me—if I die, please burn my body. I know it’s not what my people would want for me, but I don’t want to come back as a zombie or something worse.” She swallowed heavily. “If-if my ex-fiancé finds me…I don’t know if you can turn the dead into a vampire, but I don’t want to come back like that.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Don’t talk like that. You’re not dying here, not if I can help it. When you’re all better, we can go vampire hunting whenever you want. It’ll be a walk in the park for us,” Autumn reassured Nelva as calmly as she could.

Nelva’s eyes burned into Autumn’s dark orbs. “Promise me.” She pleaded. “Please.”

“...I promise.”

The tension drained out of Nelva and she turned her gaze back up. However, Autumn wasn’t done.

“But, and I’ll say this as nicely as I can, you can stuff it up your ass. You are not dying here.”

Nelva chuckled before groaning in pain. “Stop making me laugh; it hurts.”

Rolling her eyes, Autumn hovered the bottle of mosswine above the Lepus’ bloody lips, careful not to contaminate the only alcohol they had. “Fine. Here, have some, but only a sip.”

Nelva gratefully swallowed the liquid, only coughing slightly as it burned going down. Her face screwed up as the flavor of sugar and wet moss coated her tongue. “Urgh, it still tastes like licking soil. Fuck, it’s the best thing I tasted in so long.”

Autumn chuckled. “It’s a good thing you like it as Liddie brought about 130 crates worth of the stuff to take back with us.”

Nelva started. “That much?! Where did she get the cash for that?”

“Me.” Autumn gave her a deadpan look. “She roped me into springing for half of it.”

“Sounds like her.” Edwyn grunted as they returned, an empty potion vial in hand. In the bottom of the glass swirled a miniscule amount of red liquid. Autumn took it from them carefully. “That's all we could find. I hope it’s enough.”

“It’ll have to be. Alright, let’s get to it. No sense in delaying things anymore.” Autumn turned her eyes back up to Edwyn and Eme. “First, we need to unpin Nelva from the floor without shifting the blade around too much, as we can’t risk widening the wound with only a dreg of healing potion left.”

Together, the three of them worked to pry the blade gently from the bone floor without removing it fully from Nelva. The stalwart defender screamed as she bit into a piece of leather. Thankfully, the iron blade wasn’t firmly stuck in place. And as it eventually pulled free, Autumn rolled Nelva onto her side to access the exit wound.

Autumn gave Nelva another drink for the pain.

“I’m sorry, but we need to cut away your armor.”

“Just do it.” Nelva croaked out. “I’ll buy ten more that are far better later.”

Swiftly and with surety in her hands, Autumn cut away the leather straps that held the broken armor still to her friend’s form until she could gently remove it. Opening up the gambeson doublet beneath with her knife, Autumn now got a good look at the wound. Much to her relief, Nelva’s meticulously sharpened blade had left behind a clean entry as it sliced through her.

“There, that's not so bad. You good there, Nelva?”

“Just get on with it please.” Nelva groaned around the leather as she held Edwyn’s thick hand in a white-knuckled grip. The Manus didn’t complain as they helped hold her down.

“Ok.” Autumn breathed. “Eme, I want you to help me. I need you to hand me things I ask for. Make sure you clean your hands first.” She got a nervous nod in reply.

Autumn shoved all her fear into the deepest, darkest corner of her hat, leaving her with rock-steady hands. “I’ll remove the blade on three. One, two—” She pulled the blade free in one clean pull.

Nelva screamed.

Not wasting any time, Autumn examined Nelva’s wound.

While the blade had missed her spine, it’d cut straight through her lower intestines. Autumn plunged her slim fingers into the wound and pinched together the severed sections even as Nelva thrashed, only held down by Edwyn’s iron grip. Using a sterilized needle and thread, she stitched the pieces together temporarily before taking the healing potion from Eme’s hands. With steady hands, Autumn measured out each drop until she was happy that the severed intestines would hold before removing her stitches.

Autumn glanced apologetically towards Nelva. “Sorry, but this’ll hurt alot.”

Nevla rolled her eyes towards Autumn, her brow sweat-laden. “And that didn’t—Argggh!!!” Nevla screamed as Autumn lightly splashed alcohol in her wound.

There was little else Autumn could do to remove what'd leaked from the Lepus’ guts into her stomach cavity, but she tried her best. Alcohol-soaked bandages soon turned red with gore as she cleaned out the wound, picking out the pieces of shattered armor to the sound of Nelva’s swearing screams. Finally content that she'd gotten everything, Autumn quickly stitched up the entry and exit wounds and used the last of the potion to make sure it held.

Autumn rocked back on her heels as soon as she finished. She cast a mildly amused look over Nelva as the chevalier chose now to pass out.

“Will she be alright?” Eme asked anxiously.

Autumn sighed heavily. “Yeah, my spell isn’t working anymore, so she’s out of the woods, so to speak. Now it’s on her to pull through. I just wish we had some antibiotics or something for her. All I’ve got left is a bit of healing cream, but that’s only surface-level stuff.”

Eme looked at Autumn with sparkling eyes. “That was amazing! How’d you learn to do that?”

Autumn shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve been wrist-deep in a girl’s guts before.” The witch paused as her words caught up to her. Turning to Eme, she flushed bright red in sync with the catgirl.

“Umm, t-that’s not what I…I mean…forget I said anything. I should go help Edwyn; I think they said Liddie broke her wrist or something!”

“Not so fast!” Eme halted Autumn. “Fix your own injury first, idiot.”

Autumn grimaced at the reminder. She’d been trying to block out the pain. She huffed. “Alright. Help me get my robe off. Damn chainmail did jack shit.”

Eme giggled. “Maybe it did; you still have an arm, at least.”

“Ah shit, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine.” Eme waved Autumn off. “I can joke about it if I want. Now, teach me how to sew you up; it’ll be easier if I do it.”