Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 2

Boss would have preferred if they could have traveled a day or two before stopping for too long, but they needed to get Poppy looked at in a proper medical post. Her temperature was rising, and her heart rate was slowly increasing. When they passed through the next town, they asked the first local they saw if they had a physician or at the very least a healer who knew a thing or two about poison. No luck. Maybe they should have taken a couple of saddles, because the next stop was at least a few hours out.

They collected some water from the town well and traded Butcher's knife for some food. Pepper insisted that they needed to keep Poppy hydrated and well fed if she was going to survive, and they needed to keep her temperature down as best as they could before it started to do permanent damage. Their next stop was a few hours out. It wasn't the next town over, but the locals insisted that it was the best place to go. Apparently, there was a good doctor there, one who would help those in need without payment so long as they were not already busy or if the situation was desperate enough.

Sniffles was quiet the whole ride. This was the first time any of them had lost so many people, and all at once as well. The poor boy wasn't even a man yet. No one had even suspected that things might turn out like this. Their team had primarily been involved in information gathering, sabotage, and 'asset seizure', meaning that while most of them had some combat experience or training, they were hardly warriors. So, they were slaughtered, and by their own people no less.

"Hold in there, Pop," Pepper whispered to the girl on the horse in front of her. She kept her propped up with an arm wrapped around her waist, while using the other hand to hold on tightly to the horse's mane. Traveling any faster than a trot would mean tiring out the animals, and risking Pepper and Poppy falling off due to their precarious positioning. They would probably reach their destination sooner this way regardless, without having to slow down for the horses to rest.

Since they had started the day early, it wasn't noon yet by the time they finally reached the promised town. They were directed to a two-story building in the middle of town, where Boss and Sniffles dismounted. Sniffles caught Poppy as she slid off the horse and helped her inside. The area around her leg wound was furiously red and splotchy, while the wound itself was truly disgusting.

"Can somebody help us?!" Boss called out after slamming the front door open. "Please, our friend is going to die!"

A young woman hurried down the stairs to come take a look. "I'm the student doctor here, tell me what's wrong."

There were patients writhing in cots and waiting on chairs for their turn. Those who were lined up glared at the new arrivals but kept quiet. Clearly they didn't appreciate the prospect of having to wait longer for treatment though thankfully they must have also known the way things worked around here. Sniffles gestured to Poppy's festering wound, and Pepper stepped forward.

"It's a deep gash through the calf muscle. It's been stitched and washed but I'm afraid the blade used must have been filthy. I've done the best I could with what we had, but I'm only an herbalist, and we didn't have many supplies. She's running a temperature and her heart rate is accelerated. I suspect the wound is leaking poison into her blood." Pepper wrung her hands nervously. She must have felt some shame in not being able to save her friend, despite having some medical knowledge herself. She simply had no idea how to fight back an infection like this. If she had only had the time to clean the wound properly before closing it. If only she knew how to fight it.

The student put her hand to her mouth in thought and crouched down to take a closer look at the gash. Instinctively, she held her nose when she got close enough to smell the infection. "Take her upstairs to the first room on your left. I'll get the doctor. I might try leeches, but I'm not certain we can save the leg. It could very well be dumping poison into her bloodstream just as you suspect. If she isn't yet delirious, then we still have some time to save her. Has she been eating and drinking well?"