"What happened ?" He asked. "How did I get here ?"
Maya looked almost as bad as he felt. Her face had a nasty cut that went from the top of her forehead to her chin and would almost certainly leave an ugly scar. She was also favouring her right side, as though everything on the left side of her body was sore.
"You were under the body of that thing, barely alive and covered in wounds. I've no idea how your leg was broken. I brought you here, carried you out of the catacombs." Said Maya. "It wasn't easy. Bailig had been injured and couldn't help. It's Bailig that I'm most worried about."
He turned slightly and saw Bailig lying on a nearby sofa. He looked filthy, but so did they all, otherwise he looked unharmed.
"That..... monster did something to his arm." Said Maya. "I must find Galla, but I don't want to leave him alone, He's said little, but what he does say scares me."
"Yes of course Maya, prop me up a little and I'll keep an eye on him."
"Thank you."
She found a couple of cushions and used them to sit Tarin up, so that he could see most of the room and the sofa where Bailig lay. He could see the window now and the curtains being blown by the morning breeze. Everything looked so normal. Maya was pulling on her outdoor boots, but there was so much he wanted to know.
"What of the others ?" He asked. "Babaef, Muzzie, are they safe ? Did they escape the catacombs ?"
He'd thought that Bailig was asleep, but he turned towards him.
"It doesn't matter now." He said. "None of it matters."
"Be calm my love." Said Maya. "I'm going to find Galla, she'll be able to heal your arm."
Bailig had knocked his blanket onto the floor. Maya picked it up and covered him up, making soothing noises, as though he was a child.
"The others, I must know, are they alive ?" Asked Tarin.
She had her coat on and a blade on her belt. Maya looked as though she was expecting trouble in the City.
"I came to find you, while Muzzie was trying to wake up Lilleth. Bailig was behind me, I hadn't even realised he'd regained consciousness." She said. "We found you and then the tunnel collapsed. It took ages to walk out of the catacombs, but nothing else attacked us. Muzzie was alive, but I have no idea about the others."
"The City, is it safe now ?" He asked.
"I have to go !" Shouted Maya. "I'll tell you everything when I get back, the little that I know. I have to find a healer for his arm, I really have to go."
She was gone, leaving him to wonder if his friends were alive or dead. He couldn't move and the servants had gone, so he had no alternative other than waiting for Maya to return. Bailig was silent and seemed lost in his own thoughts.
"She won't be long." Said Tarin.
"No use. I've been touched, seen it before. No one has the power to help me."
"Bailig, it's just an arm. You're alive, that's what matters."
Bailig threw off the blanket and held up his arm.
"You call this just an arm ?!" He shrieked.
It may not have been Yam Kermul, there had been a lot of other creatures of chaos in the catacombs. Somewhere, at some point, one of them had touched Bailig's arm. It may not have been a blow, sometimes a gentle caress was enough. Or it might have been a consequence of that much chaotic power in the City. Bailig was holding up not an arm, but a green tentacle. It was as thick and muscular as an arm, but he was right. It wasn't anything that any sane person would call, just an arm.
