“I must save my Captain,” Keshira said, her robe in tatters that lacked any sense of modesty. Her skin was likewise scratched and torn, but she did not bleed freely from any of her injuries.
“Fine, save him,” Jenna snapped, too exhausted to argue. “Get him back to the ‘Hawk!”
“What about the others?” Keshira asked, looking to her for direction.
“I’ll get them, they… wait, why do you care?” Jenna asked, confused. She coughed as she breathed in a particularly smoke filled lungful of air.
Keshira looked at her strangely, “My Captain has feelings for you, my bond tells me as much.”
Jenna’s mouth opened and closed, then she shook her head, a tear running from her eye. She pointed to the way out. “Take him and go! Help me get them if you can, if not, save him!”
Keshira nodded and was gone, hauling Dexter gently and with incredible speed. Jenna hurried back in, laying her hands on Rosh and struggling to drag the huge man away. Finding him too heavy in his armor to move quickly, she grabbed Bekka instead and pulled the half-elf clear.
Jenna’s lungs burned for fresh air. Her vision was dark with lack of oxygen and she could hear her heart hammering in her ears. She gasped in air from outside, although it, too, was tainted with smoke it tasted as sweet as honeyed water. People were gathering to watch the fire, and a few ran to help her. She waved them off and ran back in.
The smoke was thicker, foiling even her elven vision. She stumbled several times, running into objects in the house. Her lungs ached for air, but she dared not breathe. Finally, having found the study again, she dropped to her hands and knees and dared a quick gasp. The smell of burning flesh, wood, and cloth was overpowering, and sent her into a coughing fit. She knew she had to leave, but she caught site of Rosh again from her improved vantage point. She moved towards him, fighting the burning agony within her body.
Her hands upon the warrior, she managed to pull him a few paces towards the door, then blinked in surprise when she found herself sitting on the floor beside him. She tried to get up but instead ended up staring at him sideways. She wondered how she had ended up laying down on the floor. Her hand once again found his chain shirt but she had no strength left. Her head dipped against the floor, knowing she needed just to rest a moment and take a few breaths; surely she could do that much before trying again?
Jenna fell into the blackness as the smoke overwhelmed her. Her last recognition was that of the smoke swirling above her and how it resembled the shape of a human.
Chapter 4: Out of the Fire
Dexter awoke to the sound of someone coughing. The wracking spasms in his back, neck, stomach, and chest cleared up any confusion as to the source of the coughing; it was him. Eyes watering from the pain, he gasped for air and tried to look around. Moving his neck caused him no small amount of pain; it felt considerably thicker than it should be due to its stiffness.
He was able to see from the flickering torchlight in nearby halls that he was in a cell. And, on top of that, he was not alone. The other members of his crew were present as well, with the sole exception of Keshira. He almost chuckled, realizing he had come to think of the woman as part of his crew.
Painfully, he pulled himself to his nearest crewmember, Bekka, and gently shook her. She groaned and moved, though it took another shake to get her to open her eyes. Much like him, she coughed and grimaced as her tortured muscles remembered how to move.
Blinking away the confusion, her eyes cleared and she stared up at him. With a grimace she sat up to take in their new surroundings. “Where are we?” She asked, though it took her two attempts due to another coughing spasm.
“Jail,” Dexter said, not caring for the taste in his mouth. It was a mixture of smoke and something coppery.
“Are you hurt?” Bekka asked, looking at him. Dexter shrugged, then winced at the pain the motion caused him.
“Let me see if I can help,” she said, rising to her knees and trying to push him back to lay down.
“Rosh,” Dexter said, using all his strength to fight her gentle push. “He’s hurt worse, tend to him first.”
Bekka relented and looked over at the large warrior. The bone protruding from the skin of his leg was proof of Dexter’s claim. She hurried over to him and studied at it carefully before looking back to Dexter.
“It’s a clean break, help me and we can set it, then I’ll try to wrap it to keep it in place.”
Dexter almost nodded, but then he thought better of it. He dragged himself painful step by step over to them, not realizing that the groan he heard as he approached was not his own but came, instead, from Rosh.
“Shh, Rosh, you’re hurt pretty bad,” Bekka said, drawing Dexter’s attention to the fact that the man was waking up.
“That why I feel like I bedded a void dragon?” He whispered, surprised at the weakness in his voice. “My leg’s the worst, I think.”
Bekka nodded. “It’s broke bad, I’m going to set it, the Captain’s going to hold you, okay?”
Rosh barked out something between a cough and a laugh. “Only one that’s holdin’ me is a pretty woman!” He glanced back at Dexter and grinned. “No offense, Captain.”
Dexter smiled in spite of his misery. “None taken,” he muttered, relaxing a little instead of crawling the remaining few feet.
“Go ahead, Bekka, I’ll be okay,” Rosh said, using his hands to brace himself on the damp stone floor of their prison.
Bekka watched him take a few deep breaths and she nodded. She gently touched his foot, then let her fingers glide up his leg, letting him get used to her touch. She moved a little closer and arranged herself so that she could maximize her application of force in as short a time as possible.
“Do it, already!” Rosh started to growl, but he was interrupted as she made her move.
She yanked on his foot, trapping it between her side and her upper arm. The bone pulled back inside the skin, causing blood to well up and spill out of the hole. Rosh’s face went white, which was unseen in the poor lighting, but he made no noise nor did he move. With her other hand she felt along his shin, then wrenched against him again, pulling the foot while her hand aligned the bones. The bones set, she maintained only a slight amount of pressure to keep them in place while she glanced about the cell.
“I need something to wrap his leg with to keep it in place,” she said.
Rosh remained silent, gritting his teeth and enduring the agony. Dexter cast about, looking for something. His leather was too tough to tear, and all of his weapons had been taken from him.
“Here, use this,” Jenna said, surprising them all from where she lay. She stood up slowly, still dressed in only her leather leggings and walked over to Rosh and Bekka, handing them an old bone she had found. “I don’t think he needs it anymore.”
Dexter glanced to where she pointed and saw the skeletal remains of someone that had been left to rot in the cell they now resided in. Bekka took the bone and tore off a strip of cloth from her cloak using her teeth and one hand. She directed Jenna to hold the bone beside his leg while she wrapped the cloth around it. She tied it as best she could and looked over at the skeleton.
“Let’s do it again,” she said. “Without a proper splint he’ll need as much reinforcement as possible.”
Jenna hurried over and grabbed another bone, the humerus, and returned so they could repeat the maneuver, though this time on the opposite side of his leg. Finished, she stepped back and Bekka gently lowered Rosh’s leg to the floor.
“How’s that, Rosh?” Bekka asked him softly.
“Next time remind me to bring the whiskey,” he said. He reached up and wiped some sweat from his face before looking down at his leg. “It feels better,” he said. “I think.”
“You’ll need a proper healer to keep it from festering,” she said. “But this should save the leg.”
“That’s a start,” he muttered, then began to pull himself across the floor on his butt until he could rest his back against the wall of the cell.
“Did the wizard survive?” Dexter wondered once Rosh was situated and the immediate danger seemed to be over.
