Deathless

Deathless Chapter Thirty-Six: Burning

Chapter Thirty-Six: Burning

Risselyn felt the arrow strike his body with such a force that he toppled to the ground, a flame erupting in his side as his sword and shield toppled to the floor.

He dimly heard shouting around him, Lindale yelling in frustration and striking the man's head off completely, the sickening sound of metal cutting through flesh and the decisive thud as the man's body and head thumped against the ground.

But for the most part, Risselyn was in his own world; the pain branching out from his side until his entire body seemed to be engulfed in flame.

He felt hands, rough and calloused, yet warm and sure-handed, gentle and experienced, grasp his side, ripping off the ruined clothing until the wound came into full view.

Lindale swore when he saw the wound, the arrow buried two inches neatly into Risselyn's side, the wounded area brimming with a strange green liquid - probably the Renerin poison he had heard so much about from that bastard Tyrellius.

He sat back and wiped sweat off his brow. He heard Risselyn grunt in pain and saw that the captain was still conscious.

Vanya was beside him now, in utter shock, her hands quivering as she saw Risselyn's wound.

Risselyn's eyes were watery and glossed over with fear and shock, but suddenly they widened as he looked at each of them in turn.

"I-I'm not going to make it," he realised. "The wound's untreatable."

Lindale only gave him a solemn nod. 

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Vanya shouted in anger and swung her mace into the hut's wooden wall, penetrating right through it as if it were straw.

"No," Vanya said. "Not again. I swore to myself that I wouldn't have to leave someone like...like this again. I won't have it."

"Vanya," Lindale began, but Vanya interrupted him sharply.

"Shut up," she snapped as tears fell from her eyes. "Just shut up."

She swung her mace again, this time obliterating the door hinge and knocking the whole thing ajar.

"Isn't-isn't there something we can do for him?" Vanya said, almost pleadingly. Lindale could see the hurt in her face. She had already been forced to leave three comrades behind on this journey. She was wont to do so again, but he knew it was the only choice. "He-he's not going to die, is he? We can...we can take him with us and try to...try to heal him."

"He won't die," Lindale explained carefully. "But the arrow pierced his lung. There's no way around that. He won't be able to breathe, let alone stand up. And who the hell knows what was in that Renerin poison. We don't have the knowledge, nor the time to heal him."