Cole had been laid out in his tent, being tended to by his mother. For a young man that had only hours ago been in the peak of physical condition and the prime of his life, he looked now as if he had been kissed by the grim reaper. His silver skin was sallow and like fire to the touch as his body burned with fever. Much of his armor had been stripped from him and Kyandria cleaned the blood from his skin and wounds with a cool cloth, trying to soothe him as much as she could.
A gaping wound slashed across his left hip and down his thigh, whatever had caused the wound had exposed bits of his hip bone and nearly tore his thigh muscle clean off his leg. He was extremely lucky he'd not been disemboweled. As it was they were worried if he would ever walk normally again. A mercenary with a distinct limp was hardly marketable. One that couldn't walk at all was even worse.
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. No one understood how things could have gone so very wrong. Of course someone had to take the blame, and right now Cole was definitely the easiest target. After all, he was the youngest and newest working man. The fact that there was no way he could argue, defend himself, or fight back was a huge bonus as they poured out their side of the story to the boss. It was quite the fanciful explanation, and entirely bullshit, but their scapegoat wasn't about to counter their tall tale.
They all came to the most logical conclusion: Cole had to go.
Three men were dead, two had substantial wounds, and Cole was in such poor condition they were certain he was a dead man anyway. If the boy was just going to become dead weight there was no point in keeping him around.
Half the men in the company suggested putting him out of his misery – and taking anything he owned, little as that might be. The other half just wanted to get out of Zantaric.
In the end the only thing that saved him from having his throat slit and his body dumped in the jungle was Kyandria. Even as a slave, she browbeat his father into helping her remove him from harm's way, even if his father agreed with the men that suggested that he was dying and a quick death would be kinder.
Together they moved him to a litter and dragged him through the streets. Kyandria was the one that found out about a supposedly gifted dryad healer with a tender heart; a rare thing in Zantaric. Most would have turned him away as too expensive to help without some form of compensation.
As soon as they reached Lavender's home, Kaleb took a last look at his son and left since he had fulfilled his obligation of dragging him there. Kyandria knelt down next to him, smoothing a hand over his burning forehead tenderly, a flicker of some undefinable emotion in her red eyes as her baby boy didn't so much as stir at the motherly touch. She had resented him all his life, but he was still her child. Her only child. She couldn't let him die without trying to save him.
It was the very least a mother could do for her son.
"I should have left you on a doorstep years and years ago." It was the only apology for raising him in such a life that came to her. She removed the pendant from around her neck and carefully placed it around his. He tossed his head fitfully to the side. Rising up she banged her fist loudly against the door and then left to return to her master. Kyandria felt she had done all she could.
It was said a Dryad didn't need much or any kind of sleep, provided they were exposed to enough sun beforehand. And while Lavender always tried to get as much sun as possible, the skies of Zantaric were grey and filled with water. So, sleep was now a requirement. And it was such a bother. But one she had needed to accept. The vines that made for her roof had grown shut over the past days at her command, incase of rain, her furniture wouldn't get wet.
It was a frustrating thing to have your free time halved. And the bad weather affected her outlook, normally, her skin was bright and her hair was fair, but now, everything seemed faint about the dryad healer. But her mood never changed.
She was halfway through a cup of water, which was spat out against the wall, when she heard a loud banging on her door. Who would disturb her at this ungodly hour of, she frowned slowly, unsure what time it exactly was. But nevertheless, she hurried to the front door. One who knocked that hard either had a nasty surprise or was in need of desperate help.
And today was one of those days it was a mixture of the two. The small dryad pushed the door open, before her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in shock. Softly gasping before she rushed to the half drow's side, kneeling down next to her as her hands got a soothing golden glow. This man was dying, so she had to tend to that first before she moved him.
The dryad looked at his face as she healed his most severe wounds from their critical state, to at least stabilize him. "Can you hear me?!" She called out with a light and airy voice, still healing him as she did.
Cole's only version of reality had been heavily skewed by the fever. Nightmare landscapes muddled like looking and hearing through a layer of water. He had no memory of what had brought on this dreamlike state and was only dully aware of the agonizing pain that wracked his body. Words being spoken that he couldn't understand and movements that his mind fled from.
At least, that was everything that he could grasp before a painfully glowing gold light pierced the foggy darkness. He wanted to retreat from that too, but found that he couldn't as his body groggily responded to it.
His head turned as his eyelids fluttered open briefly. There was someone beside him, but his vision was too cloudy to really make them out very well, but he could hear them speaking to him. The voice was unfamiliar and he might have been afraid if he could think clearly enough to truly understand that he was with a stranger.
"I'm sorry." It was all he could manage to mumble out as his eyes fluttered closed again, head collapsed to the side as he lost what little consciousness he'd been able to muster.
Lavender didn't listen to his words, whatever he said didn't matter to her, the only thing that mattered was that he could still speak. It told her that he wasn't going to die just yet, she glanced towards him as he seemed to lose consciousness once again. That was bad.
And she doubled her effort to have his flesh knit together again, making sure he at least didn't bleed to death.
And as soon as she realized it was safe to transport him, she pulled him on her back with a soft groan, moving to walk inside her small residence, where she immediately put him down on the table, knocking aside plates and glasses, it didn't matter, she could always buy new ones. The stranger took priority.
And she proceeded to heal him inside. Most of his major wounds were not as severe as before after half an hour and she sat back, pale and with dulled eyes as she went about to find bandages.
The body was willing and pliable to the dryad's magic, muscles slowly fusing themselves back together enough to remove the threat of death.
Cole groaned in pain when he was moved from the ground outside to the table within the healer's home, but otherwise he didn't show other signs of having much life in him at first. As Lavender continued healing him as he lay on the table he did become more animated, at least in the fact that his head would move from side to side, a plethora of expressions crossing his face as he murmured incoherently to people who weren't there.
When she eventually sat back Cole had begun shivering, a thin sheen of sweat coating his body as the fever that had consumed him finally broke.
She returned with bandages and frowned softly as she saw the sheen of sweat on his body, immediately turning around to hurry and find a blanket.
She returned rather quickly, starting on bandaging his wounds, using several poultices as she did to keep them from infecting. As she was done, Lavender spread the blanket and let it descend on Cole, before slumping back in a chair next to the table, panting softly.
Cole's body twitched while she worked at spreading her medicines over his wounds, and he tossed his head with another pained groan as she wrapped the bandages in place. A string of words left his lips, but they were barely intelligible and in the drow language of his mother.
His eyes had begun fluttering again, until they finally opened about halfway. Staring up at the ceiling only produced a very confused expression as he had no idea where he was or how he got there.
"Laurent? Mikhail?" His eyes were unfocused, obviously still quite dazed and not fully grasping his surroundings as he asked for two of the men that, in his mind, he should still be with. He had no idea that both men were dead and he was lucky to be alive.
She ignored his feverish dreams and proceeded with her work regardless.
As he opened his eyes and spoke however, she sat up, standing on her toes to leanbforward enough so he could see her face. "I do not know those names. You're safe here," she answered, giving him a.weak smile.
"Here?" Cole questioned, blinking at the strange face before looking at his surroundings more closely as it slowly dawned on him that he absolutely was not in camp. No one from camp was nearby either. He was alone in a strange place with a strange person. That didn't seem safe to him at all.
A look of panic crossed his face, eyes darting here and there looking for someone, anyone that was hiding. Maybe the boys were playing a great joke on him. Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny! They could stop now.
She rested her hand on his shoulder, her magic flowing through his body to ease his pain, aswell as calm him down. Yet she visibly paled even more as she did, and soon, she was forced to withdraw, since she was on the brink of passing out. "You're safe here," she repeated in a hushed voice, tryi to atleast comfort him, her eyes sliding closed again.
"You were severely wounded.. I found you at my door," she explained, before swallowing heavily. "Your life isn't endangered.. But you're not completely healed.. Rest."
Well Cole could confirm that she wasn't lying about being severely wounded, even shifting his weight on the table had him gritting his teeth, hissing out a pained breath as he instinctively tried to clutch at his left leg.
It was hard to try to put the pieces together of what had happened, exactly.
At least until he realized there was something around his neck. Cole lay back on the table, bringing a hand up to wrap around the small pendant. He couldn't ever remember seeing his mother without the little trinket. If he was wearing it then his mother must have been the one to bring him here. That only half made sense.
None of the men would have considered hauling him there worth their time, but he was a little surprised his mother would bother either. She had never shown a particular love for him, but he had always had a sort of...understanding with her. If she gave him the necklace then he knew something else - no one was coming back for him. He didn't know if he should laugh or cry about that.
"I'll...try." Cole swallowed thickly, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to relax. The woman was obviously a healer. He hadn't really looked at her too closely in his panic, but she sounded exhausted to him. "I think I'm okay now."
Well, maybe okay was a stretch, but he wasn't going to try to run away and hurt himself more on accident.
She hissed a soft scolding under her breath as he tried to even just move around a little. "Just stay still," the dryad added with a faint grimace. "I need to recover.. So I cant heal you when your wounds open," she murmured. "It took everything to save you, so don't be stupid," she murmured softly.
She glanced up at him as he told her she was ok. "You aren't," she murmured faintly again. "Else you wouldn't be here," one eye cracked open at him. "Just sleep.. I'll stay here."
"I'm not..." Cole's eyes were still closed, but his face screwed up into a bit of a childish pout at being told not to 'be stupid'. Of course now that he realized how bad moving, even a little bit, hurt he had figured out that laying still was probably the smart course of action for the time being.
He turned his head just enough that he could crack his eyes open and look at her again. "You don't have to stand guard like I'm an unruly child, you know. I promise I ain't moving, lady." Cole heaved a great sigh and closed his eyes again. A few minutes ago he couldn't stay conscious, but now his mind felt too busy to simply fall back asleep like everything was fine and normal.
His body was exhausted and disagreed with that.
"You're not an unruly child," Lavender croaked in response. "You're a hurt young man," she opted instead, smirking faintly. "And I need to take care of you."
She took a deep and pained breath, before exhaling again. "So rest. I'll be right here."
"Can't take care of me if you don't take care of yourself." Cole mused, eyes still closed and voice sleepy despite his reluctance to go back to sleep. Honestly he was afraid he wouldn't wake up again. Or that he'd have more strange nightmares.
It didn't matter how much he didn't want to sleep, within a couple minutes his face smoothed as his breathing became the deep, even rhythm of sleep as his body demanded rest.
The Dryad didn't respond to his words. Even though she whole heartedly agreed with him. It was a matter of being unable to, rzther than refusing to answer.
Anf as soon as she heard the shift in his breathing, she leaned back in her seat, drifting pff aswell to get some much needed sleep.
Cole remained passed out for several hours, his body working very slowly on the process of recovering from his near-death experience. Eventually he began waking slowly, making small movements in his sleep which caused him to whimper in pain.
He groaned softly before turning his head with a gasp, eyes fluttering open as he remembered some of what had happened earlier. It wasn't any better waking up in a strange place this time, really, but at least he didn't start panicking like before. His first instinct was to look around for the weird woman that had been caring for him.
"Hello?" Cole croaked softly, his voice a little hoarse.
Lavender, who was positively exhausted did stay out as long as Cole did. Past experiences however, taught her to be a very light sleeper. And when her patient stirred and called out faintly, she sat up weakly, her skin having regained some of it's natural colour.
She sat up with a faint murmur and a deep breath. "I'm here.. I'm here," she shushed faintly.
Cole still wasn't entirely sure where 'here' was. Yes, her house, but where was her house? In the middle of the jungle? The middle of the city? A temple?
Sighing at the sound of her voice, he relaxed back on the table. "How long do I have to lay still on this table?"
"Long enough," Lavender responded as she tried to get to her feet, before slumping back down. No good, still to weak. She didn't like that at all, unable to properly move with a patient right next to her. One in severe condition, which was just another added risk.
"How.. Are you feeling?" She croaked the question weakly.
"Great." Cole grumbled sourly. He knew he should probably just be grateful he was still breathing, but he couldn't help but hate the idea of being stuck like this for any length of time. Just lying there like a useless lump made him feel helpless and vulnerable. Not pleasant feelings at all.
"Sorry, I should thank you for saving me instead of complain." It wasn't her fault he was crippled right now, he shouldn't take it out on her. Especially since she seemed very frail to him.
Lavender sighed softly at his rather bitter remark. It xasnt like she couldn't help it either. She healed him to the best .of her abilities. "Then don't get hurt, you idiot," she answered with a soft sigh, getting to her feet again.
She smiled weakly as he expressed some form of gratitude, before glancing around. "You hungry?" She inquired, still smiling weakly. His stomach wasn't hit, nor were there other circumstances that would make him unable to eat.
A pity the only thing she had to offer was food.
"Gee, wish I woulda thought of that." Okay, he was being a smartass, but it wasn't like he'd planned on it! Actually, the details were kind of fuzzy. Cole remembered being on a job with a handful of the guys. It was supposed to be a simple little job, very low key and not particularly dangerous.
Supposed to be. Obviously that hadn't worked out so well.
"Yeah, actually." Hungry wasn't really the word, more like starving. What he wanted even more than food was something wet. His mouth and throat felt dry and cracked. "Uh, did whoever left me happen to leave some money behind too?"
Someone had to pay for his care, and if they hadn't left money for her then everything she did for him was coming out of her own pocket right now.
"Well, you obviously didn't," Lavender rasped as she got to her feet, weakly stumbling towards the cupboard, pulling it open, pulling out a basket of fruit. She lifted the thing with.. Quite some visible issues. A dryad was weak by nature, but she was only weakened.
"Nope," Lavender responded as she put the basket down, picking out an apple and holding it out to him. "Eat."
Cole hated to think he was sulking, but he knew it was true. Being mule-headed was just part of being young and dumb, at least his father had told him that more times than he cared to try counting. His expression changed a bit as he watched the healer struggle just to get around, and couldn't even lift the basket of fruit properly.
"Hey, you okay?" He took the apple with a frown, internally cursing his busted leg. Even after resting the odd-looking woman looked ready to fall over. If she went down he didn't think there was much he could do to help.
She shook her head, the purple hair and leaflets swaying with the movement. "I am by all means not fine," she replied as she slumped down in the chair. "I'll recover.. But I transferred a lot of my lifeforce to save you.. And the sun hasn't been out for.." She took a deep sigh and leaned further back, while slumping slightly more in the seat. "For quite some time.. Now," she managed to murmur weakly.
"You shouldn't have, er, transferred so much." Cole didn't fully grasp what she meant by transferring her life force to save him, but it sounded like a very big deal. It made him uncomfortable to think a complete stranger would be helping him so much. She wasn't even getting paid for it.
He would have to pay her back somehow, once he could. Being indebted to anyone was always a bad idea, if life with his family had taught him anything at all, it was that.
"If I didn't, we wouldn't have this conversation," she answered with a soft, tired sigh. "I appreciate the worry, but this had to be done, else you would've succumbed."
Cole didn't know if it had to be done. She could have let him die. His own people had been willing to see that happen. It seemed reasonable to just let a complete stranger die. At least to him, but he hadn't exactly been raised by saints. He supposed he should just be grateful that she didn't seem to have the same dubious morals as his family.
He stared at the apple in his hand with a frown. "I'm going to pay you back when I'm better. Don't know how yet, but I don't believe in something for nothing and I don't like owing people. Especially not as big a debt as my life."
Lavender gave him a ghost of a smile, shaking her head. "You worry about that when you're better," she answered with the same faint smile. "Just eat, you'll feel better."
Cole shifted slightly on the table, wincing a little as his leg was slightly jarred, with a sigh he bit into the apple, the fruit crunching slightly with how crisp it was. He was watching her still. She looked kind of terrible. It made him feel guilty. "So, uh, I don't even know your name. I'm Cole."
"Lavender," she easily answered with another faint smile, eyes sliding shut again. "The circumstances could be better," she added. "But nice meeting you."
"I dunno if I'm all that nice to meet, especially how much bother I've been." He didn't even have to be conscious to be a problem to others. Cole's leg might have hurt, but it was nothing compared to the blow to his ego. In his very first fully fledged assignment he'd managed to completely blow it, get himself hurt bad enough where they decided to abandon him rather than help him, and he'd nearly killed some poor healer lady who was nice enough to save him.
"Hey, I know you're worried about me and all," not that he knew why, "but I think I'll be okay for a little while if you want to go lay down and have a proper rest. I'll probably end up sleeping again anyway."
Lavender only sighed faintly and shook her head. "You were mortally wounded. Now you live to tell the tale. Improve on it," she oçmnly adviced, before looking up at him, almost feeling offended at the offer. Another weak shake of her head.
"Your concern is appreciated, Cole," she started. "But I'll be fine. I much rather not have you out of my sight until you're out of danger."
Mortally? As in, he was as good as dead when they dropped him here? Cole's ashen grey skin paled even further. He could tell it was bad when he woke up there, but he honestly hadn't thought it was that bad. "You mean I'm not out of danger?"
He thought that the worst was over and all he had to do now was heal up.
She shook her head. "Those wounds can still infect," she answered with another soft, tired sigh. She still felt horribly weak, but it was improving. Though it was damn inconvienient the sun wasn't out. It would all be so much easier if it were.
"Yeah, but not if they're kept clean, right?" Cole honestly didn't know a lot about healing. All he knew were the very basic principles such as keeping wounds clean or putting pressure to stop bleeding.
He sighed and decided it was probably no use arguing anymore, especially not with the person keeping you alive. Instead he took another bite out of his apple, eating with a contemplative frown as he wondered how long he might be stuck on the table.
"Yup," she answered. "But, they're still.. Open wounds. So I need to make sure the bandages don't stick, nor it actually gets infected," she answered, before sitting back again, closing her eyes briefly. "It'll be fine.. Just rest. So I can do the same."
Just rest.
"Fine." What else could Cole even do? Huffing softly he finished his apple and set the remains aside as much as he could, then folded his arms as he tried to relax. A table wasn't a comfortable bed, but more than anything he just wished he could move - even just to roll over.
Lavender closed her eyes and she also fell asleep for several hours.
The dryad looked a tad better when she woke up again. Her skin and hair had more colour, her eyes had their shine back. She pushed herself up and moved to Cole again. Her hands flakkered up in a golden glow as she proceeded to heal him, aiming to have him at least able to move around properly after she was done.
Cole had managed to slip back into a fitful sleep, body still exhausted from the trauma. When Lavender woke and moved to his side, he tossed his head to the side, murmuring softly in his sleep.
A soft, pained moan escaped him, his brow furrowing as she began healing him once again. Slowly he opened his eyes, looking around in confusion again. It took a moment but he turned his attention to the glow of her healing and had to squint his crimson eyes, going so far as to raise a hand to partially shield his vision. "What are you doing?"
It was probably a dumb question. Obviously she was using magic on him, but she'd said that she'd drained herself to heal him before, why would she do more?
"Patching you up," the dryad replied easily, eyes turned towards one of the wounds she was currently healing. She felt she had enough energy to at least do most of the patch work so he could autonomously move around. Because she was still too weak to take care of a patient who couldn't even walk around. But, her reserves were replenished slightly, so she could heal him, without worrying of dying to it now, she'd still feel weak, but not as exhausted as she was before, she glanced up at his face. "I've been.. Doing this for years.. I know my limits, don't worry.."
It was hard to really argue with that logic, but the look on Cole's face clearly indicated he was trying his best to come up with a convincing argument against further healing. It was a wonder smoke didn't come out his ears the gears were grinding so hard.
"Please just stop. I owe you enough already." Cole really couldn't grasp anything more than objecting to how much he did or didn't owe her for her services.
Lavender was momentarily stupified, he might feel a sharp pain in his leg due to the unstable flesh detaching again, but she immediately went back to patching it up, soothing his nerves with her magic. Silently so, not saying a word when she did.
After a short while of looking for the right words, she sighed. "You owe me nothing, I'll take whatever you want to spare, but you wouldn't be the first to not give me any compensation. Nor will you be the last."
Cole hissed softly, it felt like someone had just stabbed him. Wasn't she healing? He bit off any protest with a grimace, letting her work because there wasn't much else that he could actually do. It wasn't as if he could fight her off in his condition.
Not that he would if he wasn't still hurt.
"I think I kinda owe you my life." He pointed out, not comfortable with the idea of not repaying someone for saving him. In his life you always paid what you owed. "I don't have a thing to my name right now, but I'll find some way to pay you back. Once my leg is better I can find some work. It'll take a while to make enough, but I'm not a bum."
"I saved more people's lives," she quipped easily, before glancing at his face as she healed, feeling slightly bad for dropping the numbing of his nerves momentarily. So she poured an extra effortin to make him feel way more comfortable. It'd feel like he was on a soft matress now, rather than the hard, wooden table.
"You're a mercenary? Or a grizzled adventurer, aren't you?" She inquired. "I'd advice you to find work that incurs less danger to your life," she sighed softly. "Don't want you on this table again."
"A mercenary, but I don't know about grizzled." Cole murmured, looking a bit embarrassed. "It's why I have to repay you. Nothing is free, it's how I was raised. Besides, I'm a terrible mercenary. The first time they trust me with real work and I end up laying on your table."
It truly was an embarrassment. No wonder they left him here to live or die without another care.
"Then quit altogether," she ushered while still healing his wounds, hands passing over his side to relax the muscles and nerves again. "Find work that poses less risk of being stabbed," she sighed softly. "Do you really want to repay me?"
"I might not have a choice. The people I worked with probably won't take me back. They probably didn't expect or want me to survive." If he couldn't even do a job right with a group of seasoned veterans then it was probably safe to say working solo was a bad idea. "Of course I want to repay you."
"If they didn't want you to survive," she murmured softly. "Why would you end up on my doorstep? You were taken here by someone." Lavender sighed softly, before finishing up and sitting back. "Firstly, stop constantly repeating you will. I understand. I will be paid back," she answered, standing up straight now.
"And I'm going to need to restock on herbs soon, you can help with that, if you want."
"It had to be my mother. Honestly I can hardly believe it. I never thought she cared much for me." Cole brought his hand up to touch the necklace that now hung around his throat. Even knowing his mother had saved him, he found it hard to believe she had left the trinket with him when it had obviously been so important to her.
He sat up on the table slowly, wincing slightly, but it felt much better than before. There was a dull twinge of discomfort in the limb, but it seemed remarkably well-healed all things considered. Maybe he could make a full recovery after all. Cole had been sure he'd be lame after that.
"Herbs? I don't know anything about herbs, but sure, I can help with that." If he couldn't earn money to pay Lavender back then he could at least do some work.
"I wouldn't know, all I found was you," she gave the man a faint smile. "Sorry," she said as she walked over to pick up some tealeaves from the ground, covered in several splotches of of blood. "Care for some tea?" She asked, not minding the blood on them. It'd be boiled off regardless.
Regardless of his answer, she'd stoke the fire and throw in the leaves on the kettle, enough tea for the both of them. Or for herself if he declined. "I'm not the strongest around," she added with a soft giggle. "So you'll mostly do the heavy lifting."
"It's okay." Of course they wouldn't have stuck around. Cole would have been surprised if she had found anyone else.
"Uh...sure?" Now that he thought about it, his throat was a bit dry. As for the blood on the leaves, well it was probably his blood anyway and he wasn't a stranger to blood in general. When you killed someone the blood tended to splatter on you sometimes.
"You were strong enough to get me on this table." He pointed out, not that he knew how she'd managed it. Lavender was a small person and he wasn't huge, but he wasn't little either. "But being a mule is easy enough work."
Lavender glanced over her shoulder, blinking slowly. How she did it? Oh, right, she thought her magic to be so normal, she didn't really consider it explaining to him. "I'm by no means strong enough," she answered, snapping her fingers. Thick vines and roots slowly dropped down from the roof and started to creep up on Cole, before turning to Lavender and starting to assist her in making tea, lifting the hot kettle, taking two cups and putting them on the table, next to Cole and pouring it in.
She moved over to the cups, with a small jar of honey, putting it in both, before looking up at him. "Give it a minute or two," she stated, sitting down on one of the chairs. "Well, I can do it alone. It'd just save a massive headache to do so."
Cole's eyes widened as he watched the plants come down, creeping up on him. He actually tried to flinch away, but thankfully they quickly moved away from him and over to her. If he'd ever doubted the ability of one's heart to pound out of their chest he had just been made a believer.
Red eyes watched the vines work warily. "Neat trick..."
Cole didn't really have any magic, and neither did the other mercenaries he grew up with. They didn't trust magic, people having that much and that kind of power made his skin crawl just a little.
"No, if I can pay you back with a little hauling, then I'll be happy to do it." It was easy work.