Dark Cut

The Captain

Her job was simple. Follow the royal guard's orders to heal the sick and wounded. A knocking sound alerts you to a visitor at your door. It's not in the uniform 1-2-3  pattern that you've come to known from your usual guests. Stretching as you stand up, you crack your back, sore from reading scripts hunched over with candlelight as your only guidance in the dark shack you call a home.

You walk curtly to the door and open it, revealing none other than a member of the royal guard, and your half brother, Dave Strider. He hands you a letter, sealed with the royal guard's crest, and you read it quickly. His face is kept with a scornful frown and you know by it that you have no time to fiddle in your usual antics with him.

Dear most humble Scholar,

With Haste, please remove the arrow from Captain Jake's right leg. We need him on the battlefield by tomorrow morning. Please hurry, and remember, we want the least amount of pain as possible.

Regards, the royal guard.

You quickly accept and Dave makes a gesture to behind him. Two other guards carry in who you can educatedly guess to be Captain Jake himself.

You hurriedly guide them to your table, still a bit damp from when you cleaned it of blood from your previous patient. Caption Jake was coughing and breathing heavily but it was apparent to you that he was trying not to. You took his bigger hand in yours and tried to comfort him.

"That'll be all gentlemen, please wait outside." She said to the guards. They didn't budge until Dave had to order them out. Yet Dave himself decided to stay, right in front of the door.

"Please be careful Rose." Was all he said.

Odd.

You examined his leg before takin your knife and gently cutting off the rails of the arrow. A small sigh of relief came from you, at least that didn't hurt. Jake was shaking but you tried to calm him down by petting his head.

Taking the saw next, you chose a spot about two inches above his skin and began cutting the arrow. Jake held onto the table in pain, a staggering gasp as the arrow slightly moved with the saw. You barely heard Dave behind you, the fabric of his clothes rubbing together as he twitched and squirmed in his spot uncomfortably.

You take a little bit of soap and a cloth and clean the blood off his skin. He hisses a bit but he's it's clear he's breathless. You should hurry this up before he passes out. You pulled out a small mallet and aimed it at the arrow.

"Feel free to scream, keeping it in will hurt more."

You say before bringing it down.

A high pitched howl comes from the man as the arrow is lodged deeper in his thigh. Blood spurts out and splatters against your face. You hit the arrow again and again til you can't hit it without hitting Jake.

With a clamp, you take the other end and slowly pull it out of him. He's shaking violently and has a lot of trouble breathing. You quickly rush to him and start unbuttoning his coat. Dave protests but you already have it open.

Bindings. Ah.

You take your scissors and swiftly cut them off.

With them off, Jake finally calms down, taking deep breaths and lies on the table, weak. Dave hurries by their side, muttering apologies and words of kindness. You don't question them or their relationship although you really do want to. You'll have to later.

You walk towards your cabinet with a cloth, wiping some blood off of you. Opening and reaching up, you grab one of the jars of human tissue and bring it back.

They're talking to each other as you take a long thin metal rod and heat it over the candle. Once it's hot and smoking, you take out an appropriate piece of skin and apply it to the wound before burning it against their skin. You do so to the other side too.

Jake clenches Dave's hands in pain as you finish. You gently clean up their skin.

"There, finished."

A moment of silence before Dave decides to speak up.

"Rose... I know you may have questions-"

"Many, naturally."

"...But please don't tell anyone of what you saw here."

You fake pondered it, of course you wouldn't mention that a captain of the royal guard happened to be born biologically female. You just sighed.

"Fine. But please use tight clothing against your chest instead of bandages or tapes, you can crush your ribs... and don't sleep with them on! I can already see scarring on you..."

You chastised lightly, worried seeing them. You paused for a bit.

"So, what is your name?"

Your patient takes another sweet before pulling themself up. And looking at you with their green eyes.

"Jade. Jade Harley." They said.

You took a chair for Dave to sit on and another for you.

"So Jade, tell me the story of how you became a Captain of the Royal Guard while I wrap your leg up."

They blinked at you before weakly smiling. It was a cute, sharp, buckteeth smile. You briefly felt your heart jolt before calming down, quickly turning back to your mission at hand.

"Well, I am a girl, I still am it's just that you can't really become part of the royal guard if you're a girl, let alone a captain. My cousin, the real Jake, was drafted but he wanted to be an explorer instead. Really loved adventure, you know?" She giggled and your face became a shade more crimson. She lowly moaned as you wrapped the bandage around her wound slightly tightly.

"S-So I offered to take his place instead! I dressed up as him and took his name. I'm really good with guns and one of the other captains noticed and soon after showing my skills in many battles, I became a captain!" Dave held two fingers up, reminding her of his existence.

"Oh yeah! That's how I met Dave! We fought in many battles together. But I guess I kinda screwed up in this one" she laughed as you finished up binding her leg.

"What a fascinating tale. Your leg should heal up good but you'll need to keep off of it as much as you can. I recommend trying to shoot longer distance with your gun instead of being in the shooting range of an arrow." Jade giggled at that, moving her leg a bit to test it out. You get up to get her a piece of clothing to act as a binder.

"Thanks Rose! But it's kind of hard when the archer can teleport towards you." You rise an eyebrow at that.

"Vampires." Dave comments. Ah. Yes you heard about the rumors of vampires, raiding small villages but you didn't think it true til now.

You come back with a modified shirt. She's bigger than you so this will work on her.

"After your battle tomorrow, please come back so I can check on your wound"

With a nod, Jade slips it on and buttons her cloak back before walking out the door, being supported by Dave. He looks back at you briefly and gives you a thumbs up. You return it.

As your door shuts, you wash your hands before returning to your readings. The candle being stubborn to show the text. Until you make it so.