“ “
And air stilled.
The Aberrant who was charging towards them, suddenly dropped in the middle of it’s charge, crashing into the earth and kicking up a storm of dust. It tumbled over, sliding towards Keldon and the other two before barely coming to a stop at Keldon's feet. He coughed, accidentally breathing in a bit of the loosened soil in the air when suddenly, his arm burst into a deafening cacophony of shock. Keldon howled as the pain that had shot up his arms was unlike anything he had ever felt before. The skin on his arms had blackened and rotted, falling off in flakes as dark blood seeped through the cracks. He reeled in absolute agony as the pain he felt was akin to shoving a red hot iron needle under his toe-nail then kicking a door... times a thousand. It was akin to being strapped to a bed of nails on the back of a horse on a journey of a thousand miles.
Pure pain.
Keldon mind dizzied, growing delirious as he ripped off his tunic with his other hand, wrapping the bloodied shirt around his arm to prevent the bleeding. His chest huffed up and down as he panted heavily, mind still muddied from the sensations as he turned his attention back down towards Bertram, who was still bleeding out on the ground.
“Oh fuck...Bertram!” He said, pulling Bertram off him and rolling him onto his back. “Bertram…Bertram!! Can you hear me Bertram?!!” Keldon said, shaking him by the shoulders.
Bertram mumbled incoherently, still not opening his eyes. Keldon looked at Bertram’s bloodied stump of a leg, still leaking life-giving blood into the earth as he went into a panic.
“Oh gods, oh fuck. What did the Field Medicine Vol.4 say to do again?” Keldon muttered to himself as he overlooked his surroundings.
“Right right. First, elevate the leg.” Keldon said to himself, looking around for something to elevate Bertram’s leg with. He looked around, finally grabbing the leg of the unconscious recruit with the ring, pulling him under Bertram.
“Sorry.” He uttered quickly. “Next, disinfect the wound…but with what…” Keldon said aloud, looking around the glade. A few feet away, he locked eyes with his backpack as an idea sprouted in his mind.
“Right, the booze I was supposed give Bertram.” He said, getting up. A sharp pain shot up Keldon’s leg as he winced, limping over to his backpack as he rummaged through for Bertram’s whiskey. The alcohol content in the whisky wasn't high enough for a proper disinfection, but it was better than nothing.
He hobbled back over, pouring the contents over Bertram’s leg as he ripped off the shirt from the recruit, planning to use it to stop the bleeding.
“Next… the bleeding.” Keldon said, turning back towards Bertram. However, Keldon froze, staring at the stump of the leg which continued to pour blood into the earth. The realization dawned on him, that the book had only told him what to do in case of an open fracture. Not the utter obliteration of a leg. Keldon’s hand shook in fear.
“W-What do I do? Healing magic? I can’t. Ice the wound to constrict blood vessels? I don’t have any. And the wound’s too big… Oh by the gods what do I do. What do I do??!” Keldon said in a panic. Keldon looked at Bertram’s face as he saw that he had opened his eyes, as Bertram stared emptily into the sky. Keldon stumbled over to Bertram’s face, hovering over top of him to get a good look into his eyes, to see that his pupils weren’t focusing and Bertram couldn’t look him in the eyes.
Tears poured down Keldon’s face as he wept into Bertram’s shoulders. “Please Bertram… Please don’t go. I’ll buy you all the fire whiskey you want. I’ll…I’ll come clean your house every day for the next century. I’ll never complain about a day’s work in the Hissings again. Please Bertram… Please don’t leave me.” Keldon begged, as he sobbed over Bertram.
He shuffled over, putting his hands on top of each other over Bertram’s heart in an attempt to perform CPR. He leaned into his hands and gave it a thrust, sending shocks of pain straight up his arm as blood seeped from underneath his makeshift bandages. He pushed down again, leaning into the weight as he was trying to keep Bertram alive as another wave of pain shot up his arm. His mind was sent spinning, only keeping himself conscious out of shock and sheer willpower. Keldon pushed and pushed, each time sending pain shooting up his bloodied arm as eventually, it had become too much. His mind reeled, his vision failed him and he fell over, panting heavily on the ground. He stirred, trying to will himself back up. He needed to save Bertram. He HAD to save Bertram. But instead, he laid collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes in exhaustion, blacking out.
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