Page 40 of Artemysia
Probably should’ve been less graphic, because poor Delphine passes out again.
The outpost in Limingfrost is a small cottage house well stocked with supplies. Normally, Academy guards would reside here, but since the entire town has vanished, it’s empty. The door is open. Luckily, the cottage is outfitted with the newer gas lamps, so I don’t need to bother with candles.
I slump Delphine sideways over the arms of a chair, knife-side up, and sterilize the first-aid implements I need to extract the dagger and sew her up. I inject a slew of antibiotics and painkillers. Thank gods this outpost carries the latest equipment and medication. I don’t question how someone came up with the medical advancements we most neededrightas the Syf began to attack two decades ago.
An irony and a mystery for another day, although the coincidence of it nags at the back of my mind like a conspiracy theory waiting to bloom.
Luckily, Delphine wakes up again, and I’m able to give her an extra anesthetic pill.
This is going to hurt.
“Painkillers should take effect quickly.” I try to be soothing, but my voice comes out rough. I’m worried.
“I know. I’ve had all these before. The combination of meds—” she points to the used syringes beside her “—makes me loopy and chatty andwaytoo honest.”
“They might make you sleepy. I need to cut you out of your leathers and clothes. You’re going to be okay,” I lie, because there’s no way of knowing yet what the knife has hit. I offered the same words to my previous comrade as he lay dying in the woods.
She nods, and I hope it isn’t because she’s in too much pain to talk.The painkillers should have numbed her by now. I hand her a blanket to cover her front side, then I untie the bindings of her leather armor. With a sharp pair of scissors from the first-aid kit, I’m able to trim off the leather around the dagger. Next, I cut up the back of her shirt and peel it off. Her skin is smooth, broken up by old pink and white scars.
“I have to unhook your bra. It runs into the edge of the cut where I need to sew.”
She turns to me with a look, as if she’s about to say something quick-witted or sarcastic, but the movement must hurt her. She tenses and whimpers, choosing to bite her lip and nod again instead.
“You were amazing in battle,” I grind out, steadying my hands to avoid hurting her more.
She and Ivy fended off two dozen Syf. They held their own like no man or woman I’ve ever witnessed. The incredible thing is that they’ve never fought together. Yet Delphine coordinated their maneuvers in a way that leveraged Ivy’s strengths. She somehow ascertained Ivy’s skillset either before or during the attack and exploited it to their advantage.
I’m certain Delphine was disgusted by my killing frenzy. It’s effective, and it keeps those around me alive, but I turn into someone else.
An unstoppable, uncontrolled killer.
“So were you,” she finally says.
I slip off her torn shirt and bra, and she covers herself with the blanket.
I try not to look. Of course I don’t look. I’ll be the first to go to the deepest circle of demons under the mountains if I look and accidentally become aroused while she’s hurt like this.
“I’m not the hero of any story.” I grit my teeth. “Are you shocked at how good I am at murdering?”
Perhaps it looked as if Ienjoyedit?
Maybe it’s the only way I feel useful, and I enjoy not dying.
“We were all doing the same,” she replies.
That’s a very generous assessment. She sacrificed herself to save our team. If this dagger had hit a little lower or a little deeper and punctured her lung or her heart…there would be nothing I could do to save her.
I tap the skin around the dagger next to her left shoulder blade. “Are you numb yet?”
“Yes.”
I ask a few more questions to ascertain it hasn’t hit anything deadly that would require extra repair.
“The curved blade entered at an angle between your shoulder blade and your spine, so it isn’t terribly deep. I’m going to yank it out and pack it with this black stuff that should stop you from bleeding out. Throg already applied some of it when you were out. I’ll have to go back into it layer by layer to sew it up so you don’t lose use of those muscles.” This is why I needed a sanitary location with sterilized equipment.
“Okay, but keep talking while you work. I don’t want to imagine what you’re doing. Where’s Throg? And Ivy?”
“They’re okay. They’re scouting the area for Syf and will meet us here.” I pull out the dagger. Blood begins to pour but doesn’t spurt in pulses as it does when it’s hit an artery, so I’m thankful for that. I apply pressure and already have in hand a ripped-open package of the black stuff—quicksand, it’s called. I pack it in as fast as I can.
