Iron Knight - Clan of the Rim Chronicles #2

16

CALDER WAS IMMEDIATELY RUSHED to the infirmary, and I wasn't allowed to see him. I stood outside the closed door, pacing and shaking with Thorne trying to keep me calm.

"He's going to be fine," he would say, and each time I would shake my head without a word and make him sigh.

He stayed with me the whole time we waited, and at one point when the healer came out he informed me of Calder's current condition.

"How is he?" I asked him urgently, trying to peer inside the room but was unable to get a view of Calder.

"He has lost a good amount of blood over the course of his imprisonment," he began, "But being of partial human descent, transfusions of full faery blood will not help. He will be very weak until his bloodstream recirculates. One rib is also broken, but I did not feel any sharp break so it will set back on its own."

"What about his burns and wounds, and his leg? Are they treatable?"

"I have covered his injuries with serum soaked bandages that will help with healing and pain. They will need to be changed every few hours for at least a week, though. As for his leg, it is fractured in the fibula, splintered agaisnt his skin. I will have to take the splinter out and fuse the bone back together with a silver splint of my invention. It will form the bone back together and remain there permanantely."

"A-Are you sure it'll work, have you done these. . .fusings before? Will he still be able to walk normally?" I asked, a little unconvinced.

"Yes my dear, I promise you everything will go fine," the healer assured. "Think of it like a rod being fused to a curved spine of a human on Earth. We fey have adapted so many ephemeral attributes since the times have grown. We learned much from them before we were forced to keep ourselves apart from them and be forgotten. Mr. Hansen will be ok."

I nodded, letting out the shuddered breath I had been holding in. I thanked him, not just for informing me but for looking after Calder even though he was still seen a traitor.

"I will begin the surgery in just a moment. I have given him morphine and ale to help numb some of the pain of this process, but he will still be concious and endure some. I suggest you wait in your chamber or someplace else, out of earshot. Hearing. . .a person's agony, it can truly take an affect on someone, especially a loved one."

I quickly shook my head, "No, no I want to stay."

The healer slowly nodded, stepping back in the room and gesturing to who I assumed was his helper. The door closed behind him and it was silent for what felt like ages until Calder's scream rang out from inside.

"Oh my god," I whimpered, covering my mouth to hold in my sob as he continued to wail in pain from what I knew was being cut open.

"Thorne," I cried, the towering man pulling me into a strong embrace.

"Shh," he cooed to me, "He's going to be alright, Eerika. Everything's going to be fine."

Calder's cries hit my eardrums like hammers were beating at them, and I had to place my palms hard agaisnt my ears to drown it out. I couldn't part from him. I would never let that happen again. I just had to wait it out and only hope the screaming would stop.

I didn't know when it finally did. Somehow I had fallen asleep, cursing myself for doing so when I was lightly shook awake.

"Eerika, wake up," Thorne softly spoke, crouched next to the wooden hallway bench where I laid.