The Family Business [M]

[DragonSong]

"No no no no no no no." Shyla knelt with him, unable to support his full weight with both of them standing. "Hey, Fell, c'mon, you're okay," she muttered, pressing her hand against the wound and wincing as she felt the flow of blood.

Oh, damn. This was bad. This was really bad.

"Just hang on," she muttered to her friend, carefully maneuvering them so he was half cradled in her lap as she twisted to try to reach her kit. "You're--you're gonna be fine, okay? Just keep--keep talking to me."

Gods, she had to hope the others had been close on his trail. They needed to get him back to the rest of the pack; she could slow the bleeding, prevent infection, but he needed proper care: stitching, and probably magic.

[MadEmperor]

"Shyla... I have to... tell you something important..." He coughed violently.

"I..."

Logar and Riza galloped into view, moving much faster when they saw what had happened. "What the hells happened here?!" the usually angry shewolf asked in shock.

[DragonSong]

"Shhh." Shyla laid a hand on his cheek. "It's okay, Fell, it's okay." Desperately trying to keep him conscious, she tried to lighten her voice and asked, "What do you need to tell me, huh?"

Then Riza and Logar were there and oh thank every watching god.

"He was stabbed," she said quickly, looking in the direction of their voices. "We have to get him back—get Whiskey, he can carry us both!"

It would be a hard ride for her dog, but she knew he was up to it. And they didn't have the time to hike back up to the Howlers' command base, not with Felan in the state he was.

[MadEmperor]

"On it!" Logar responded quickly. He immediately broke into a run to go retrieve the dog.

"What do you need me to do?" Any hint of antagonism was gone from Riza's voice as she spoke; she was all soldier at that moment.

[DragonSong]

"Bandages," Shyla said quickly. "And here, hold him so I can get some salve on the wound."

She passed Felan's upper body to Riza's hold and moved down to probe at the edges of his wound with her fingers. "Keep talking, Fell, keep talking..."

[MadEmperor]

Fell's eyes fluttered back open. "In case I... don't make it... Shy... I want you to know... I love you... I have since we were kids."

"You're not going to die on us. You hear me?" Riza sternly chastised him for even thinking it.

[DragonSong]

She didn't have time to parse through the burst of emotion that confession sent flooding through her.

"You--" Swallowing thickly, Shyla glowered at him as she spread an antiseptic salve on his wound and began bandaging it. "You listen to Riza," she ground out. "You are not dying, Fell."

Logar returned, Whiskey in tow, and Shyla got quickly to her feet. "Help me get him up," she told the other two wolves. In most situations, it would have made sense for her to ride behind Fell to help secure his seat--but considering how much smaller she was than most Ulfars, they would have to secure Felan to her back while she road front. That would also let her use her Sight with Whiskey to get them back.

"I don't know if he's alive," she added as she mounted up, gesturing in the direction of the man who had stabbed Felan. "But if he is, bind him and bring him back for questioning. I'll get Fell home."

The wolf's weight against her back was both a comfort and a terror as Riza and Logar fashioned a makeshift harness to keep him secured to the saddle. "Just hold on," Shyla murmured to him. "Pleae, Fell, just hold on..."

[MadEmperor]

It was a long and terrifying trek back to the war camp. Fell kept talking to the best of his ability, but he was making less and less sense as his blood loss took effect. And the constant movement didn't help much in keeping the rest of the blood.

Fell was still breathing by the time they returned to camp; however, the exhaustion of the ordeal had caught up to him, and he had fallen asleep. Her fellow medics instantly rushed into action, asking what happened as they helped whisk him to the medical tent.

[DragonSong]

Shyla was near frantic by the time they made it back to camp, but she relayed what had happened as concisely as she could.

Automatically, she tried to follow them to the medical tent but Jennah--one of their few other healers--stopped her.

"You have to report to Aeris," the wolf said pointedly.

Shyla swallowed and nodded. Right. Right, with Felan unconscious, she was the one who had to make the report. "You--"

"We'll let you know if anything changes," Jennah confirmed briskly.

[MadEmperor]

Word traveled fast in such a tight-knit family. And so, having heard of the emergency, Aeris had already stormed out of his command tent and was halfway to the medical tent by the time Shyla emerged to come and find him. Abandoning decorum, he swept her up in a great, big hug.

[DragonSong]

The young medic went stiff in his hold for a moment--and then she sort of collapsed in on herself, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging tightly as the storm of tears she'd been holding back since realizing how badly Fell was injured surged to the surface.

"I-I'm sorry," she gasped out, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. "I'm s-s-so sorry..."

She'd just wanted to help. But she'd made a stupid decision, and now her friend might be dying. He might be dying after he'd said that, and she might never get to talk to him about it.

Tears streamed down her face, wetting Aeris' fur, and she held on tight; it was oddly reminiscent of when she was a little girl with a skinned knee, running back to her big brother so he could tell her everything was going to be okay.

Except he couldn't tell her that. Not this time.

[MadEmperor]

Aeris wished with every fiber of his being that he could tell her just that. It broke his heart that he couldn't, almost as much as the thought of burying his younger cousin. They died young enough as it was; dying as young as that, though, was excessively cruel. It was enough to make him question the family business, a business that sent the young to die.

"Shh... Shh... I know you're devastated, but I need to know what happened."

[DragonSong]

Shyla swallowed thickly and nodded. She was still shaking a bit, but she forced herself to step out of the hug and draw her shoulders back into something like proper attention.

"Yes, ser." She swallowed again, then launched into the story as professionally as she could manage--her voice still wavered a bit, but she managed to keep herself from dissolving back into tears.

She told him what she'd learned in the village: how the zealots seemed to be part of a local militia, led by Elgin and egged on by the local churchfolk--specifically a Father Nazan. How the innkeeper had said the militia were bringing up something from the Draconi with "a taste for wolf", and how all signs seemed to indicate the next attack would come before the full moon.

She stammered when she got to the last bit--how she had had such a clever idea of leading an "escort" into an ambush from Felan's squad. But she got the words out, the slight tremble to her frame the only betrayal of how scared she still was.

"I made a bad call, ser," she finally murmured at the end of her report. "I made a bad call, and Fell got hurt. It's my fault--he...he protected me."

[MadEmperor]

Aeris took in the story like a professional, keeping his temper from exploding at how she had ignored his order to be careful. And his anger at Felan's failure to never turn his back to an enemy. But, more than that, he was disappointed in himself. He should never have allowed her so much leeway on her first mission. She was lucky she was alive, and Fell would be lucky to survive, let alone ever fight again.

"This is why I told you to be careful and to keep to your role. That said, Fell knew the risks when he went along with your plan. However, right now I'm more interested in his survival than trying to assign blame; the gods know I bear my share of it."

[DragonSong]

That had been exactly what she was worried he would think; that he would blame himself when she knew this was her fault. Part of her wanted to argue with him--but she was too tired, guilt-ridden, and terrified herself to put any real effort into it.

"Can I--?" She took a breath, forcing the threat of tears away. "Do I have your permission to assist in the medical tent, ser?"

She knew the packs' other healers would be doing all they could, but if she didn't do something to try to help Fell she was going to burst.

[MadEmperor]

"Can you keep it together if things get worse?" he asked, watching her closely. He would know if she was lying to him. "If you can't, he's safer if you sit this one out."

[DragonSong]

"I--" She swallowed and licked her lips. "Yes. I can."

Though she wasn't using her Sight, she was nearly able to meet his gaze with hers, expression open and pleading in a way it rarely ever was. "And if that changes--if something happens and I can't handle it, I'll leave. I know better than most how important a clear head is for healing work. I won't--I won't put him in more danger than I already have."

She took a shaky breath, forcing her pounding heart to quiet. She could do this. She could be calm, she could help.

[MadEmperor]

"Then go. I'm sure Lira will appreciate your expertise. If anyone can keep him with us, all of you can." He gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "Now go; time is of the essence."

[DragonSong]

Shyla spared one moment to press her cheek into his hand, grateful for the contact, the support. Then she nodded quickly and turned to race to the healers' tent.

"Oh!" She didn't pause, just shouted back over her shoulder, "Riza and Logar have the man who stabbed him. They're probably a couple hours behind us."

Poor Whiskey would need a good long rest after a run like that--but the massive canine didn't seem all that much worse for wear, sprawled out on the ground not too far from Aeris and waiting patiently for someone to remove his saddle while he panted.

"What can I do?" were the first words out of Shyla's mouth as she ducked into the tent, followed quickly by, "Jennah, I need--"

"Of course," the other healer said quickly, easily accepting that Shyla would be most useful if she was allowed to use her Sight. "My eyes are yours."

She let out a quick, short breath, extending her senses into Jennah's and then taking a brief moment to adjust to the new perspective before she crossed to Felan's beside. "Thank you."

Jennah nodded, already handing her a full mortar and pestle. "We need more feverfew salve, start with that."

[MadEmperor]

"We've already cleaned the wound. He's incredibly lucky the blade missed anything vital aside from collapsing one lung," Lira, an older healer who had married into the pack, reported briskly. "Do you want to use my eyes to look at it before we proceed?"