The Master of Names

Chapter 24- A bright sunny day

 Salem!" yelled Keldon, rushing over to him. Keldon released the momentum of the name of fire, slamming his fist against the ground as it burst into a plume of smoke and dust.

  He dashed to Salem's side, giving him a panicked once over to find that Salem was unconscious.

  "Oh nonono. Okayokayokay, remain calm Keldon, this was covered in Field medicine Vol.2. Salem, you awake?" said Keldon.

  No response. The panic started to sink in.

  "Uhm, okay. This is bad," said Keldon, pinching Salem on the cheeks.

  Again, no response.

  "Fuck.. Fuck fuck fuck shit," said Keldon, he hovered over Salem's mouth, listening to his breaths. They were raspy and short, but he was still alive.

  "Okay good. Now, to check the pulse difference between the limbs and the heart," said Keldon, putting his ear to Salem's chest. Irregular heartbeats. Not good anymore, not good at all.

  "Check the radial artery," muttered Keldon, placing two fingers on the inside of Salem's elbow. Weak pulse. Very not good.

  No choice now, he had to give Salem chest compressions. The medicine kit that they'd taken from the prison cart would only treat external wounds. Odds are, this had something to do with the poison.

  Keldon placed his hands over each other in the middle of Salem's chest, leaning in with his body weight and administering quick compressions.

  "One.Two.Three...One.Two.Three..." said Keldon, repeating the rhythm in his head. He needed at least 100 compressions a minute.

  *crack*

  Keldon winced as he felt Salem's ribcage crack underneath the palm of his hands, but it was better than being dead.

  One two three... One two three...

  A couple of painstaking minutes later, Salem awoke, gasping and wheezing for air as Keldon breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Salem, are you alright?! What happened?!" asked Keldon.

  "Sorry," said Salem, wiping spittle from his mouth.

  "Don't just "sorry" me. You almost just died! I thought you were making an antidote," said Keldon.

  "I am, I am. It's just taking some time after all. Don't worry, I'll get better soon," said Salem.

  "...if you say so,"

  Salem gave Keldon a weak smile,

  "I'm sure, don't fret about it too much. On the plus side, I caught a glimpse of what happened just now, not too shabby pup, not too shabby at all," said Salem. "Sudden unconsciousness aside though, you really couldn't have eased up on the ol' ribs huh"

  "Um. Yeah, sorry," said Keldon.

  Normally, Keldon would have been over the moon to receive such high praise. But Salem nearly just died. Why wasn't he more worried?  Something didn't quite sit right.

  An awkward silence filled the air.

  "Let's head back," said Salem, breaking the tension. "Can I count on you to help me fetch ingredients for the antidote again?"

  "Yeah. No problem."

#

  It had been a few days since the incident. Afterwards Salem and Keldon had a small talk, but it wasn't particularly reassuring. There was still a bit of space between the two of them and Keldon didn't know how to address it. He tried to bring up what had happened as seamlessly as he could into their conversations, but Salem shot him down each time. It was frustrating.