Revery of Silence (Doctor Who)

I - Blood and fire

The Master feebly sunk together at the tree, blood leaving his body in alarming gushes with every breath.

Roka's instincts awoke immediately. Now was not the time for emotions, but for actions.

"Lay down," she ordered and squatted down next to him.

Her heart was racing, adrenalin pumping through her veins like ice. Hastily she rummaged around in her jacket pockets and found a small metal box and a flashlight, that was barely as long as her index finger.

Panting the Master slid down and rolled onto his back, not even protesting. Roka shone the small light at him, finding his pale face covered in sweat. The light wandered to the wound and once more she sucked in a sharp breath. The cuts reached deep into his flesh, bleeding heavily and revealing things that clearly shouldn't be visible.

"Well... I always wanted to know what's going on inside you," she remarked in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

The Master managed to let out a weak chuckle, making Roka hope his superior biology would help here.

"I need to stitch you up... but I can't see if there are any internal bleedings..."

"Don't you dare," he groaned. "Not letting you operate on me!"

Roka sighed and opened the small metal box to get out a stable needle and some thread. She always carried it around with her... just in case.

"Give me your laser screwdriver. Don't have time to start a fire."

"Not... gonna... happen." His voice was barely audible, but apparently he still possessed enough strength to make a fuss.

Roka grunted, took off her gloves and pulled up his shirt to have better access to the wounds. "Well, then I'll have to do this with a cold needle. Not very pleasant, believe me. And I'm rather sure not even a Time Lord can survive a too severe blood loss... which can't be too far away, judging by the mess you're creating here."

With shaky hands the Master finally reached inside his jacket and pulled out his laser screwdriver. Two times he almost dropped it, before he managed to change some settings and then handing it to Roka. "Don't mess me up," he ground out.

"We'll see about that," she shot back while heating the needle. "Maybe I stitch the Doctor's TARDIS onto your belly."

To her surprise there was no snarky remark, showing her that the situation was probably a lot worse than the Master tried to make her believe. Roka handed him back the screwdriver. "Bite down on it. This will hurt."

As soon as he did she took her flashlight between her teeth and hurried to get to work, setting the stitches carefully, but also fast, while more and more blood gushed from the wounds, covering her hands in no time. The beast must have caught a really bad spot. Luckily not an artery, but still bad.

Finally she was done, seeing with relieve that her work had the intended effect. If not, she additionally would have cauterized the cuts, but for now it seemed to suffice.

"Done ruining me?" the Master pressed out through gritted teeth, pocketing his laser screwdriver. He hadn't let out the slightest whimper even though this must have hurt badly without any narcotics.

"For now. Can't do much more, I'm afraid."

Grunting and panting he heaved himself onto his elbows, throwing a sceptic glance down at her work. Somehow he managed to drag himself backwards against a nearby tree, leaning against it, half sitting, half sunken together, still not looking too god.

"Definitely internal bleedings," he grumbled after a moment. "Hell, that sodding thing really got me."

Concerned Roka wiped her hands and the needle clean at some grass and pocketed it, before she took another look at the Master. She didn't need her flashlight to see how pale he was. It was not unlikely that her effort had been in vain, leaving Roka with a weird, unpleasant feeling she couldn't quite name.