The Shadows Of Lucidum

Wounded

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Just how was I supposed to get this monstrosity of an animal into the village? I checked whether I had injured myself. Neither on my arms nor on my legs were any new wounds, but there was blood on my dress. Not knowing whose it was, I checked on my stomach. Due to the adrenaline I hadn't noticed getting hurt. It had probably happened while that thing dragged me around like a stuffed toy. The blood had been caused by the still gaping wound, going across my whole stomach. At least it wasn't deep enough to have injured any of my organs.

Putting the last one of my filberts in my mouth, I began the search for something of use. There just had to be something useful lying around. I so did not want my risks to have been for naught and die of bloodloss or an infection. There definitely wouldn't be any bandages lying around in the middle of the forest, but I was used to similar injuries. The herbalists would always put something around it to prevent infections. Finding something with the same effects at least was more likely than finding something aseptic to cover it with. The bleeding would have to stop at some point...I hoped. If not, I had another problem.

There were all kinds of herbs, but nothing I could recognize as the herb I was looking for, in the scanty light the forest was offering me. To me, everything looked the same. What else was I able to remember about the herb? It had black buds, which contained the fluid I had to put around the wound. It had a distinct, but faint, smell... One that resembled... that of... was it aloe and thyme? That ought to have been it. I used my nose again. There was nothing. Not wanting to waste time, I went on to the next thing on my checklist. If you can't do anything about what might kill you first, do the less necessary things. At least until you actually can do something about them.

How to transport something thrice as tall as you? Ropes. Lianas should be able to do the same job, I figured. Seemed like I'd have to climb another tree. Just what I wanted... Great... I roughly measured how much I'd need. I wouldn't climb any higher than I had to. Not. Any. Higher. If the animal's stomach had a circumference of three metres and each leg that of one, I'd need about 15 metres if I wanted to be able to properly drag it back into the village, without hurting my back that was. Just why did it have to be so tall? Couldn't I simply have encountered a boar or a deer? No? Didn't think so...everything always had to be made way more difficult than it could have been. Why not ever let others do everything for you? At least once in a while. But no, didn't work for me. I always used to be the dumb one, doing everything for the others.

How was I supposed to know it would, some day, be too much for me to handle?

Surprisingly, I got up the tree fairly easily. All I had to do was to keep my torso straight. Otherwise, the bleeding would have gotten even worse. At about the height I had planned on cutting the lianas at, I tried to work my way onto a branch crouching... Not quite my most graceful action. My pose was utterly distorted, for I was trying to not open up the wound even more. I got my knife out of my pocket, stood up and reached out for one of the lianas reaching the bottom. Too far away... I dared go a little further. One foot in front of the other.

Careful... Slowly... Aware of the hazard it meant to slip.

I breathed out and in through my nose, trying to collect the energy I'd need to lean forward and risk losing all my balance in order for me to reach those lianas. I stopped. What was that smell just now? Could it have been? I had a look around. There mighn't have been any herbs on the tree I was standing on, but on some of the others around it. Just how had I forgotten the most important fact about how to find the plant I'd been looking for? Forgotten the fact it grows solely on trees... in vertiginous heights. Even if it meant climbing another tree, I had to do it.

I didn't know how much longer my wound would have let me do as I pleased.

But before climbing down again and going up the next tree, I had to get what for I had even gone up there in the first place. This time, I even managed to cut off a liana and let it fall down without any obstacles. I started to crouch my way back. The same odd pose as before, aswell as the exact same route I had taken on my way up. At least I still remembered the edges of bark, the erosions here and there and the places the tree branched at, which I could put my foot on or bury my hands in.

It didn't take long for me to get down... Maybe 3 minutes at best. It really helped to not have the constant fear of falling down or being stuck because you can't seem to find a way down. Once I could feel the forest's grass and tiny plants under my feet again, I already hurried up the next tree. I didn't want to waste any more time because my wound sure didn't look nice and I had already lost enough blood for me to feel dizzy. I couldn't waste any more time. None at all. Well, at least if I didn't want to pass out in the middle of the forest, left to die and unable to ever be found.

As soon as I arrived on a branch, which had some of the herb growing on it, I collected as many buds as I could carry in my pockets and climbed down again. I put some of the fluid on my wound and wrapped the liana around the animal, ready to begin my journey back.

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