(Path of The Dragon Mage: Nomad) 41. Un-Whole (Patreon)

Note: Two chapters today and a shorter one tomorrow!

The sound that Roan made on seeing his horse… Corvus never wanted to hear it again. It was part gasp, part cry, part soul-deep pain that cut deep through his own heart.

A detached part of Corvus watched himself run to the downed horse and draw out a Knit Flesh rune using the horse’s shockingly hot blood. One of her hind legs looked cleaved in half lengthwise from hoof to forelock. There was a lot of blood to go around.

He was low on pre-drawn runes and using her blood would provide a secondary link.

He could stop the bleeding, replenish the blood, reconnect bone, purge any infection… But he couldn't replace what had been lost from the limb.

Nevertheless, he had to try.

Corvus got to work, pulling from every single skill that he had acquired through his previous Witch Doctor class: Bedside manner to keep the horse calm, Healer Lore to know which runes to apply in which order.

Unfortunately, everything he’d ever learned about veterinary medicine told him that a horse’s weak point was the legs. Even a minor wound could prove fatal. Something like this…

Several of the commoners gathered around to watch the process. Some of them shook their heads in pity, knowing what a wound like that would mean for a normal horse.

Someone had the bad grace to suggest putting the horse down. Roan, who’d been at CloudStrike’s head comforting the horse, snapped up to his feet and almost got into a fist fight with him before the others managed to pull him back.

CloudStrike lay there, oblivious. On one hand, that was a good thing. She could have made it worse by kicking or thrashing about, but she lay on her side, heaving like a bellows. On the other hand, it wasn’t natural. She might be in shock.

Corvus shut out his doubts and the noise from around him and worked feverishly on the leg.

The Knit Flesh rune was only minor charm and took care of the ratkin bites and scratches, leaving new pink skin behind. The skin over the ruined back foot was thin and kept reopening almost as soon as he healed it over. He periodically stopped and sketched a Replenish Blood rune. A horse required much more blood than a human being, and it made the rune more expensive to use.

His mana pool dropped fast.

Corvus didn't care. He didn't care if he had to use his Second Wind, or his mana reservoir tattoo. He had been saving those, knowing that the battles he faced today were skirmishes for the night to come.

But he would not — could not — let CloudStrike die.

"Here."

Slim hands pushed a pearl white scale into his hands. The scale itself was beautiful, freshly plucked from Charm’s back and threaded with silver and gold.

He looked up to see Charm had regained her human illusion — possibly to put the commoners at ease, though the smart ones were avoiding the side of the building where the dragon's true form lay crouched.

Corvus touched the scale and felt magical power flow through him.

“Help me with her," he croaked. And in through the connection, he sent: "This is my fault..."

Charm’s illusion briefly touched his shoulder. What were you going to do? Leave her down there to be torn to shreds by ratkin?

Before he could find an answer Starella sat on his other side. She looked pale at the sight of blood, but also determined as well. "Is there any way I can help?"

For a moment, she was truly his cousin again. The one he had left behind in the palace and not this scheming young woman who he had grown to know.

Corvus took in a shuddering breath and let it out, reestablishing his Emotional Control.

"The sun is setting. The ratkin are dumb, but the Queens are not. They’ll send their retinue up the walls if they sense we’re up here."

He wanted Charm by his side as a bulwark for his own shame. But there were better uses for her time. "Charm, can you carry these people to the noble towers?"

He sensed a flicker of displeasure through the bond — not at him, but the idea of letting strangers ride her.

Then she sighed. "It will take several trips."

“Do it. Just get them to the towers and return. Starella, I need you to watch the walls. Warn me if the ratkin start to climb.”

Starella rose without complaint, and Corvus got back to work. He used the magic in the scale to power the rune — Charm's affinity was to pure magic which gave her an extra edge. It was as if he had drawn the rune sharper; the lines became that much more efficient.

However, there was a danger in using medical runes on severe injuries. Skin could grow back too tightly — bones could heal wrong if they were not set correctly.

There were joints and cartilage in the leg, too. Corvus applied the same soothing runes he used to ease arthritis to the leg to help ease any damage to the joints. Then he redrew the knit flesh runes over and over. The skin would partially heal, but part of the wound stretch and break open. He interspersed this with another replenish blood.

Suddenly, the mare twitched — coming more alert.

"You can fix her, right?" Roan demanded. He'd calmed down enough to be released by the commoners and had instantly come to Corvus's side. His face was white with shared pain and shock.

"I'm trying," Corvus said through grit teeth. He was only guessing, and while the missing part of the leg and hoof were healing, it wasn't healing whole. The leg was suspiciously skinny as if the muscle wasn't growing back as it ought.

That detached part of him reminded him that, had he chosen the Runic Combat Medic class, he would have come to Roan's aid earlier. No doubt, so he could discover a way to make CloudStrike whole.

"You fixed NightShade's broken leg," Roan insisted. "Gwen told me—"

"That was a simple fracture. This—this is worse."

It was the wrong thing to say. Roan grabbed his shoulder in a steel-hard grip, desperate and frantic. "But you healed that baby. It had the blight — no one lives from the blight! You’re telling me you can’t do this?! "

"Roan!" he snapped. "I'm trying. Give me space to work!"

Though Roan was built roughly on the scale of a brick house, he shrank back from the look in Corvus's eye. Swallowing, he went to crouch at CloudStrike's head to reassure and calm her. The mare was waking up and it was important she stay still.

Corvus returned to his frantic work.

Distantly, he heard Starella commanding the commoners to ride the dragon. Charm had dropped the illusion, and not all were happy to see her true form sharing the same rooftop as themselves.

Starella was convincing them — well, ordering them — to approach and mount up.

She could be a pain and wasn't entirely trustworthy, but she knew how to use her authority as a princess to force people into doing what she wanted. No one wanted to face her wrath.

With the addition of Charm’s scale, the wound was finally closing. The hoof was whole, but oddly small. The leg was a shriveled, thin thing without any muscle definition.

If it couldn't bear her weight...

"It's done." Corvus sat back. His previously broken wrist throbbed with phantom pain and although his mana well had started to recover, he was exhausted to core.

Roan finally looked away from CloudStrike's head to the back leg. "What do you mean? Will she be able to walk?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Damn it, Corvus. Fix her! You’ve done it before!"

“I can't snap my fingers and restore a limb!” He knew he should be gentler with his friend — he was terrified for his horse — but he was frustrated, too. "This is what I can do for now."

"Don’t you have some magic, some spell—"

Roan was cut off as CloudStrike suddenly heaved up from prone to a half standing position.

Both Corvus and Roan backed away as the mare got her legs underneath her and heaved back up to stand. She kept the bad leg up and only gingerly put it back to the ground.

"Any pain?" Corvus asked.

If the mare responded, Roan didn't say. He put his hands on the horse's head and guided her to walk — limping, at first, but then with more surety, though there was a hitch in every step.

"She says it doesn't hurt." Roan's voice was rough, and he scrubbed his arm over his eyes. "But she can't run like this... Corvus, she can't—"

"I'll keep researching," Corvus said. "Just because I don't know of a way to fix the leg now doesn't mean there isn't a way. After the ratkin..." He trailed off.

He half expected Roan to punch him. Instead, his friend seemed to crumple in on himself. He said nothing, just turned his back on Corvus.

It would have hurt less if he had punched him.

I did what I could, Corvus wanted to say. He felt a mix of grief, anger, and frustration. I'm sorry I couldn’t do more. I screwed up. This is my fault — if only I'd taken more time with the transport rune, but we didn't have time. I'll fix this. I'll...

His thoughts spun round and round, mixed in with the unsaid worry that if the city did fall... CloudStrike and Roan would no longer be able to run away.

Starella came to his side, twisting her fingers together in anxiety. "Your dragon has managed two trips so far. She took the last of the women and children."

He nodded. “Roan and CloudStrike are next. Charm should be able to manage to fly the horse a short distance.”

“She’d better be quick about it,” Starella said with a glance to the roof’s edge. “The ratkin are beginning to climb the walls.”