Francesca moved to my side while Ryker and Evie saw to the princess.
"Fuck, Nate... your ribs are broken," she began, as she peered into my core.
"Hard... to breathe," I mumbled, and she cast a panicked look around.
Alva moved to join her, and she helped me onto my back.
"Help remove the covering," she said, and Francesca nodded, as Jordan and Cameron joined her at my side.
"Is he okay?" Cameron asked, her voice tinged with worry, and I tried to shoot her a reassuring smile.
"Stay... armed. Alert," I said, and she turned to Jordan, who nodded.
"I'm on it," he said.
Cameron and Alva removed my armor, then my shirt, though with some difficulty, and Alva began to examine my side.
"The pieces are intact," she said.
"Then why... can't I... breathe?" I panted.
"Easy, Auslander. Steady the breath. Deep, long drafts, and no movement. We will find a goddess to spur the healing."
Francesca shot me a quick look.
"I can," she said, and Alva studied her with a look of confusion.
Did she think that Francesca couldn't heal because she was a fighter?
It was a curious reaction, and one I would think about when I wasn't in so much pain.
"Nate! Do you need a heal?"
I shook my head, and Casey studied me worriedly.
"If you won't... use one for... a stab, then-"
"Christ, will you stop fucking talking?" she shot, moving to my side.
Francesca was studying her with a curious smile, but even as Casey caught her look, her eyes remained teary, and she held onto my hand.
"Can you heal him?" she asked, and Francesca nodded.
She moved to my side, and placed a hand against me as she began to focus, and I turned to Casey.
"There's someone... with unique... ability. Find, before... she leaves."
"I'm right here," a voice called, and I winced as I turned in the direction of the unfamiliar voice.
She was a young Kobalt girl with pretty, silver hair, and a cute round face, but the expression on her face revealed a maturity that strongly contradicted her youthful appearance.
"Astrid, you do not understand!" Gert called out, but the girl quickly waved a hand dismissively at his objection.
"Looks my prediction came to pass," she said, casting a tentative look around, and I winced again, as I smirked a little.
"Was it worth it to laugh at that?" Casey asked, shaking her head at me.
"A little," I conceded, but as the girl's eyes swept past me to where one of the Kobalt hunters had been killed quite brutally, in our fight, she frowned.
"How many died?" she asked.
"Just the one," Casey answered.
"Two," Bianca corrected her, as she gestured to the now fallen, former queen.
I'm not sure she was still human
, I thought, but as the Kobalt girl; the real Astrid I think, followed Bianca's gaze, a horrified expression replaced her already worried look.
"Oh Gods... how could we have been so blind?"
She moved to the woman, and bowed in a show of respect, before rising up with an angry expression on her face.
"Palancar has strayed; the roots which anchored our people is now a vine which threatens to suck all life from our groves!"
I studied her, as her eyes flicked to me.
"But you. Some see you a savior, when may just as well be the doom of us all."
I bit my lip nervously, as Casey stood up beside me.
"Some position you're in to judge when your people laid a trap here to kill us!"
The girl scoffed, then raised her hands to show rope burns.
"I was tied up in a room in that tree right over there; and that's where I've been ever since I'd decided to come seek him out! So, direct your misguided scorn somewhere else."
"You... sought me?"
She nodded, approaching me as she spoke:
"This rot will fester, with or without your hand... and do not think me so silly as to abandon the hope that lies with you, simply because you possess the potential to do great harm."
I swallowed with some difficulty, as she moved past Casey, and crouched down at my side, next to Francesca.
"Here. This rib presses to his lung; fix it, before moving on to the others."
Francesca nodded, as Casey continued to eye the girl.
"Whoa! Back up," Raul called out from somewhere behind me, and I heard a series of shouts in the Kobalt language quickly follow.
"Tell them to stand down!" Astrid yelled, and Gert seemed to cower at the sound of her voice.
"We cannot know their intent," he began, but she cut him off with a venomous stare. "Stand down..." he mumbled, a little timidly, and I studied the girl with some appreciation.
"I don't like this," Casey began, and I eyed her, slightly amused.
She was always so slow to trust, wasn't she?
"He said stand down!" the girl yelled in German, and the Kobalt hunters who'd come pouring out of the grove tree all turned their spears away at the command.
I was still studying her with admiration when a loud horn-like sound echoed to us from Palancar's direction.
"Casey, should we... try to get out... of here?"
She clicked her tongue in annoyance, as she studied me.
"I don't even think we can move you that far..."
"Ugh," I groaned, as I tried to move-
"Tell him to stop moving!" the girl chided, and Casey shot her a dirty look.
"What does it fucking look like I'm doing?" she asked, and I snickered a little.
"Pater, we must raise the plague emblem," Astrid said, turning to Gert, and he frowned.
"Astrid, this is too much! What if Palancar means to send aid?"
"They sent us a monster! Do you truly believe that that thing would have spared any? Besides, look at the road... where they approached from. Tell my pater, Auslander... did you always intend to come to this grove?"
I shook my head, then nudged Casey.
"We decided on it yesterday, basically," she said.
"-the last day cycle," Alva explained, and the girl nodded in response.
