Ranger's Apprentice - Rescue

Chapter 16

"Will?"

Will winced, squeezing his eyes closed tighter.

"Come on, Will, please wake up."

He moaned. He didn't want to wake up. He'd waited so long for the sweet release of unconsciousness. Waking up meant he'd have to feel that pain again.

And even as he thought it, his leg began to throb in agony. His breath caught in his throat and he writhed.

"I know," George's miserable voice came from beyond Will's closed eyes. "But I need you to wake up Will! I don't know what to do, I don't have medical training. Will, please! Please don't die!"

Will grit his teeth. He forced himself not to throw up as he opened his eyes. Thankfully, it was dark wherever they were.

"Will!"

George's dirty, worry-filled face came into Will's view.

"George?"

"It's me Will. I'm here. Tell me what I need to do! You're bleeding!"

"Where are we?"

George's face was a mixture of urgency and confusion and fear and hysteria. Through his pain, Will considered the fact that George was not the most ideal person to be with in a crisis. He didn't exactly have a level head. 

"How bad is it?"

George hesitated, and his expression told Will all he needed to know.

"Okay," the Ranger apprentice said, forcing himself to sit up. He nearly passed out as he did. Luckily, George moved to hold him up, and a there was a wall behind Will which the boy leaned on now. He took a few minutes to steady himself. Then, taking a deep breath, he glanced down at his leg.

He fought to keep the bile in his throat from rising. He felt himself begin to panic. There was blood all over his leg, so much that he wasn't sure how he was awake and conscious at all. At some point, George had cut away the leg of his breeches at the knee. Still, Will couldn't see anything but blood.

He took another deep breath.

"We need to clean it," he said. George's eyes widened.

"You mean-"

"Yes," Will said firmly. "You have to do it. I can't do it myself. Where are we?"

George was frozen.

"George," Will said sternly, and the scholar flinched, returning his eyes to Will's face.

"We... I think we are in a dungeon."

Will frowned.

"A dungeon?" he asked. "Where at?"

George shook his head.

"I don't know. They shoved a sack over my head so I couldn't see where we were going. It isn't too far away from where they took us, though. We didn't travel for that long."

Will processed this as he glanced around him. There was a bucket in the corner. He had a good guess of what it's intention was. There was another pale nearby with water in it. Will assumed that was meant for them to drink.

"Alright," he said. "Take off my shirt, carefully please. Then you'll need to soak it in that pale of water."

"But that's the only water we-"

"I know," Will said. He tried to keep the acid from his tone, but it was difficult. He was in a great deal of pain, and George's habit of questioning of everything Will said was beginning to annoy the boy. "Just do it."

George hesitated. Then, carefully, he removed Will's jerking and undershirt. As he did, he glanced once at Will's stomach.

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed. "You've been working out, haven't you?"

"George," Will growled. "The water."

"Oh, erm... right. Sorry."

George rushed to the pale, soaking Will's shirt in the fresh liquid. Then he returned.

"Now what?"

Will took a shaky breath.

"Now you'll have to wring it out over my leg, and then use the shirt to clean the blood off. I can't see how bad it is with all this blood in the way. I'll probably scream, and I may even pass out. You have to keep working. Don't stop until you've got it as clean as it can get. Understand?"

George's face paled at Will's words, but he nodded.

"Good. Now, hand me my jerkin. I'll shove it between my teeth to muffle the screams."

George gulped but did as Will ordered.

"Okay. When you're ready," Will said before biting down on his jerkin. He closed his eyes so as not to see when the pain would start. That would only multiply the pain, he knew.

Then he felt the first cold, stinging drops of water on his leg. At first, it was rejuvenating. Then it began to sting. Then, as George used the shirt to wipe the blood away, the pressure sent agonizing waves of pain up Will's body. He tensed, crying out into the jerkin.

The pressure lessened, and Will knew that George had ceased his cleaning, aware that he was hurting his friend. Angrily, Will waved him on. He wanted this to be over as fast as possible.

For several minutes, George continued the process of soaking the shirt, wringing it out over Will's leg, and then wiping away as much blood as possible. There was a moment when Will felt himself slipping away again, but he forced himself to remain conscious. If he passed out, there would be no one to tell George what to do next. It was incredibly painful, but somehow, Will made it through.

"I can't do anything else," George's frantic voice came. "It just keeps bleeding, but I've cleaned up all the old blood."

Will nodded, taking the jerking from his mouth.

"Tie the shirt around my thigh, please," he told George. Slowly, the scholar wrapped the shirt around Will's thigh and gingerly began to tie it.

"No," Will said. "Tighter. You've got to cut off the blood flow."

"But if I do that, you could lose-"

"I know that, George," Will spat. "But if you don't, I'll bleed to death."

George hesitated, and Will glared at him.

"Get on with it!"

The scholar jumped again, yanking on the shirt until Will winced, nodding. Then George tied the shirt. Will sighed heavily, relaxing back against the wall.

"Thank you," he said. George, despite his lack of training, had done well. George eyed his friend warily.

"Don't die," he said. Will laughed, a sound that shocked George.

"I'm trying not to, I promise," Will replied. "I need stitches, but we've got nothing here for that. I'll just have to make it without them for now."

George swallowed heavily. Then he scooted to Will's side, leaning against the wall as well.

"Now what do we do?"

Will set his jaw. He remembered days ago when he'd wished that there had been some way of telling Baron Phillip not to send for Halt. Now, he was praying that the baron had.

"Now we wait," Will said miserably. "And hope that Halt finds us."