Desperation II

Morning came and she had remained at his bedside throughout the night.  When she awoke she checked his wounds.  His arm would mend well enough.  There would be some scarring, it would be faint.  The hole in his side however, still worried her.  He had shifted back into the other form in the night.  She remembered in the past him telling her that the human form was one he had to at least keep part of his mind focused on holding.  To her this was not a good sign.  Still he did heal faster as a wolf than a man.

She had poured nearly all of her strength into healing it.  The young girl she found with him had even made a makeshift poultice, which aided in the healing, but the wound was still bad.  Blood was still seeping from some parts of it.  Xeress wished she had trained more in the healing arts as her brother had asked her many times.

Her mind drifted to the night before, after she had reached him.  She had help the other carry him here, to his workshop.  Here, she had told him that she regretted leaving him.  He had asked her not to leave him, but with the loss of so much blood, she wasn’t sure he even knew he was talking to her.

She had sent the young one to find Josie, his current mate.  Xeress did not know what to say to her.  She had told Josie that she was happy he had found someone else, but she knew even then that she lied to herself about it all.  What would she say now?  What would he say?  She began to regret telling him how she felt.  With any luck he would not remember any of it.  She only cared that he was happy.

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Nora arrived later that morning.  She brought her largest satchel she could carry.  It was filled with everything she could find to make salves and poultices for him.  She had no love for Kor, she didn’t even really like him, but he was part of her pack.  She knew that she would be in sore trouble with the lady if Kor passed on while she could have done something to help.

The blue demon was still there at his bedside when she entered.  It was holding his hand.  Nora thought it odd, but it must be part of her healing ritual.  She knew some of the priests and priestesses in the cathedral used to place a hand on someone’s forehead to bless or cleanse them, it must be something like that.  Still, Josie would likely not be happy about it.  She might tell her about it later.

The two women spoke briefly, then Nora checked his wound.  She bit her toungue and tried not to be sick at what she saw.  The poultice had helped some, but it was apparent that much of his flesh had been ripped away.  She didn’t want to know how much pain he was in.

Nora stepped back and shook her head “I can heal a few wounds, but this is beyond me.”  The shaman groaned slightly.  Xeress knew that it would require more help than either of them could provide.  She asked Nora if she could find another healer.

Nora shook her head “there aren’t many in the city who will treat our kind, and he is still in his other form.”

Xeress thought a moment, “Josie?”  Nora shook her head and told her that she could not find her or any of their pack.  Xeress frowned and went to the chair near the cot upon which Kor laid.   Where were all his friends?  What good are they if they do not care for him...she thought to herself.

She spied an old tattered book in Nora’s bag.  “It can’t be,” she said in surprise as she grabbed it and opened it.  The handwriting was all too familiar to her.  “This is my brother’s codex on flora.”

“I looked in it already but most of it is illegible to me,” said the priestess.  Xeress leafed through the book a bit and stopped at a dog-eared page.  She handed it to the priestess.

“If you can find these plants this gives directions for a potion that should help somewhat,” Xeress said calmly.  The priestess looked at the page.  On it was a language she could not read, but she recognized the drawings on the page.  The plants would be easy enough to acquire for her as they all were in her shop.

“I can get them, but I’m not exactly a potion maker.”  She thought for a moment as the shaman grunted in dissatisfaction.  “I could try to make a salve with them though.”

Xeress nodded to her and said it might work.  “I can use my bond with the spirits to regrow the flesh that is missing.  Earth spirits are good for that, though I’m used to dealing with those of the wind and water.”

Nora left and found the required herbs in her shop.  She spoke with the woman who ran the store.  Nora simply told her that a friend had been hurt while out hunting by a wild wolf.  The woman gave her a few random potions to help ease the pain, to ward off infection, and to aid with his healing.

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He was in pain.  It felt as if something dark and monstrous was crawling through his body, eating away at him.  He knew the wound was infested.

The world around him was barely coherent.  He knew someone was with him, but not who.  He simply assumed it was her, his reluctant wolf.  He couldn’t smell her over the scent of his own blood, but the hands on him were caring ones. “Don’t leave me,” he had told the one who owned the hands.  It didn’t matter to him who it was.  Kor believed he was slowly dying.  He just didn’t want to do it alone.