Chương 45

No good deed goes unpunished. Harker caught her—or tried to.

"Gah!" He strained against the weight of her armor, but at least he cradled her head.

"Adhira? What hit you? Where?" She blinked slowly, her eyes unfocused.

"Damn…badger…got my right hip."

"Sovereign Sight." It rolled from him in a straight line toward her pelvis. The dangly bit of her armor had been punctured by what he could only imagine was a single massive tooth, and the hole was leaking fluid. He plumbed the depths of the wound, checking the extent of the damage.

"How does it feel? Burning? Numb?"

"Numb. All down… right leg…" The conversation wasn't for his benefit—he could see plenty with his Talent—but he had to keep Adhira lucid for as long as possible. Something that could put her down was strong and couldn't be underestimated. Talented didn't get hurt often, and when they did they were susceptible to shock and the issues that came with it. Harker had seen it more than a few times. The badger's saliva must have had some sort of venom. Harker wrinkled his nose. This scent… It's the same as Lydia's wound.

It wasn't whitecowl and scarrow at all. The bandits were using the Aberrant's saliva. Harker could attempt to use the Last Grace again, but there wasn't sign of infection in Adhira's wound. So long as he could neutralize the venom, she would be fine. He pulled three scales from his pack and set them into his cauldron before crushing them with the pommel of his dagger. Separated from the coralsnout the scales had lost a lot of their toughness and flexibility, which was good—it made them easier to turn into powder.

Less than a minute later, the biggest lumps were gone, and a pink dust lined the cauldron. With a gesture, Harker poured a measure of Water in, just enough to soak it without overwhelming the powder. After a vigorous stirring, what resulted was a simple paste riddled with glimmers of blue-green.

"I need to take this off." Harker tapped Adhira's waist, where the metal flaps hung down over the tops of her thighs.

"Buckle and…dial," she said through her teeth.

"Folded into the… the top… of the tasset." Tricky. Aside from the infused leather set at Garon's, Harker had little familiarity with armor. The dangly bit—the tasset, apparently—was just as complicated and engraved as the rest, but it seemed relatively straightforward. That is, until he looked at the top. Small bits of metal and leather were curiously folded together, forming an odd hinge-like shape where they attached to the bands at the bottom of the breastplate.

He couldn't quite make heads or tails of it, but those same geometrical lines were etched across its surface. He just followed those, and soon found a buckle that was secured by a small knob. He fiddled with it and it came free instantly. Easy enough. Less simple was the thick cloth beneath it. Adhira wore some sort of padded jacket beneath her armor and it descended almost to her knees. The tooth had punctured straight through.

With some effort, and very little help from a half-numb Adhira, he managed to roll the bottom up and expose the thick trousers she wore beneath. Harker pulsed his Talent and fought against the recoil. The taste of the venom was so much stronger without the competing sensations from her armor. Unfortunately, he could see another problem.

"Adhira… the cloth is getting into the wound." Harker took a breath.

"I'm going to need to remove your pants. Slightly." She gave him a sharp look, but Harker just held her gaze.

"... Fine." Careful as could be, Harker loosened her belt and tugged the very top of her trousers down. The fine cloth stuck to the wound, but firm pressure peeled it free, revealing the full extent of the injury.

"The tooth punctured the top of your thigh, but only just. Your armor kept almost all of it away." She sucked in a breath as he prodded.

"It's…quality work." Harker only nodded. He laid out a set of thick bandages Denar had provided and slathered the centers with pink paste. Once coated, he lifted the dry ends, testing their weight.

"This will hurt but the coralsnout scales will draw out the venom faster than any other remedy I can make."

"I am not…a child." Adhira gritted her teeth, her wound weeping that pale liquid and blood alike.

"Do it." Harker slapped the first poultice against her puncture, and it was accompanied by a sudden, violent hiss. Flesh sizzled like grease in a hot pan, and Adhira gave a choked scream before clamping her teeth shut. For his part, Harker was gripped by his own uncertainty. Miriam's notes hadn't mentioned a reaction that intense. Still, the poultice went from pale pink to something more like burgundy in a matter of seconds. When it began to blacken, Harker peeled it off and added the next one.

The sizzling renewed and Adhira flinched. But it was working. Two more changes and the rest of the paste later, Adhira's breathing had steadied and she stared up at him with clear eyes.

"Has the numbness faded?" he asked. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I can feel everything again." She moved her leg and winced.

"And it feels like someone is riddling me with an embroidering needle."

"That'd be your bloodflow returning to normal. The venom was eroding your nerve endings. Had we waited much longer you'd be permanently numb." Harker tilted his head.

"Actually, I'm unsure how refined flesh would affect that. Perhaps it would only be a temporary ailment."

"Most things are for us." Adhira shifted again, gritting her teeth.

"Don't move. I still need to secure this." Harker reached down, tying the ends of the final poultice.

"You'll need to keep this on for a day. At least until the swelling goes down."

"Ahem." Harker finished securing the bandage and looked at her face.

"What?" Adhira's lips were taut and her cheeks were flushed.

"That's quite enough. I can handle it from here." He rolled his eyes.

"We need to be thorough. Unless you want to walk around wounded?"

"Why not?" She tugged the side of her trousers back up, but couldn't quite get them fastened.

"Could make this a real challenge."

"Surprise Aberrants aren't enough for you?"

"Were they too much for you?"

"I'm not the one that got bit." Harker sat back with a nod.

"You're clear." She tried to sit up but winced and fell back as a cramp clutched down her thigh. Harker reached out. She looked at him, confused.

"I'm helping you up." Reluctantly, she took his hand. Her grip was sure, but her palm was sweaty and colder than he expected. He hauled back, and at the same time she shoved upward with her powerful legs—all of which resulted in the pair of them smashing together, breastplate to tattered sweater. Her face was entirely too close. He dropped her hand immediately.

"I'll give you a moment to cover up." She just realized her hip was exposed, along with a swath of tanned thigh. She flushed anew, and Harker turned away, busying himself with putting away his implements and reagents.

"Your arms are cut up." He glanced down.

"The bandit leader was better with a sword than I expected." It was a superiority owed to skill rather than refinement. He'd already run over the moves the man had used, committing the shape of them to memory. It wasn't a perfect accounting, but Harker was fairly confident he could face him again…under the right circumstances.

"Don't you need treatment?"

"Scrapes and grazes. I'll clean and bandage them shortly to prevent infection."

"Let me." Adhira approached, her trousers back on and even her punctured tasset returned to its original position. The poultice was working well, because her hands didn't shake at all when she snatched the supplies from him. Harker pursed his lips but let her. He couldn't reach some of his injuries anyway.

"Take this off." Harker raised an eyebrow.

"You want wool in your wounds?" A faint smile ghosted his face. He stripped off the remains of his cloak and sweater. He discarded them both in a pile on the ground—they were useless now. Adhira whistled.

"He got you good." Harker turned his arms, checking out the angles he could view.

"I think his Talent was something to do with momentum or flexibility. He moved far too fluidly for a man of his age."

"With Talented, you learn quickly that age doesn't mean much. In fact, some of the most dangerous people you'll find are twice as old as you'd expect. Thank you." The merchant brought over a bowl of clean water, still steaming from where he'd apparently boiled it.

"My pleasure. Anything for the man who saved my Lydia." Denar bowed his head and fled, returning to the nook nearby where his wife still laid on a makeshift bed of rags. Adhira followed him with her eyes for a moment.

"What did you do while I was battling venom-based delirium?" Harker shrugged.

"My job."

"Herbalist. Healer." She dabbed at his wounds, cleaning the blood and grim from his forearms first.

"And an expert combatant. How is it you don't have more injuries?"

"Would you believe that I'm simply lucky?" Adhira snorted.

"Luck. A deceptive word for an opportunity seized."

"What would you call being born with Dual Talents?" She hesitated. Frowned.

"Fair enough. But it wouldn't matter much if I didn't put in the work to develop them." And what of the luck of being born to nobility? Of easy access to resources few could imagine, or the training of exceptional teachers? Harker fought the urge to roll his eyes. Aloud, all he said was, "Discipline is important." Adhira grunted.

"Still, I'm surprised. A band of Talents, a pack of Aberrants, and you're barely scratched." Adhira poked him.

"Why exactly aren't you on the leaderboard?"

"Hard to climb the ranks when you're in the backline." Understanding dawned.

"So you stepped into the dust cloud." He shrugged.

"It seemed like an…acceptable challenge." Adhira grinned.

"That it was." For reasons Harker couldn't place, her toothy smirk conjured a matching one of his own. The cloth in her hand paused where it cleaned his shoulder, her fingers trailing across the back of his arm. He was suddenly very much aware of how close she stood, and the way her small frame radiated heat like a furnace.

"Human!" Stillwater stomped into the cavern, his shoes squeaking against the stone.

"We got a problem!" Harker swallowed and stepped back from Adhira. She blinked, hands still up where they had been resting against his back.

"What—did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm—" Harker cleared his throat.

"I need to piss." He didn't wait to hear what she had to say to that, and instead hustled back through the cavern. The air was cool, reminding him that he didn't even have a shirt on, let alone his pack, but both were back past Adhira…and there was no way he was going back in yet. Stillwater was waiting in the luminous tunnel, wringing his claws.

"About time! Did 'we have a problem' confuse you?"

"What is it?"

"Did you let a survivor go?" Harker narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. A bandit got away."

"I wouldn't consider 'riddled with arrows' as gettin' away."

"What?" Harker stepped closer, lowering his voice.

"Talk plainly."

"Your friends are here." Stillwater sneered as he jerked a finger toward the entrance of the cave system.

"Two of them. In white cloaks."

"Black tides." Inside Harker's chest, he felt the second life debt flutter and flare.

"Show me."