Chapter 42.

The beast was dead but did not take the panic with it. Rose was still in a difficult situation, her legs weak, her wild and fire magic depleted, and her two companions in uncertain states. "Fuck fuck fuck ! What do I … ?!". She had no idea how one should react in this kind of predicament, so she went with her instincts : dragging herself to … who ? Which of her friends should she try to save first ? She did not wonder about it, going for the nearest one.

Of the two, Enora was only a few meters away. So she propped herself on her sensitive knees and immediately checked the victim's pulse, finding it very hectic. Remembering the way the tall warrior was injured, Rose went for the head first just in case. Then the most obvious areas were hit : stomach and chest. Enora's head appeared relatively fine, but the rest was a mess, broken in many ways. She, however, could not afford to give all her light energy to the first patient before checking Nick, so the young woman spent a few minutes making sure nothing critical was left and approached the man.

He was in an even worse situation : bones could be seen poking out of his body, notably his ribs and his right arm. His head bled profusely, and his waist was bent unnaturally. "Fuck what a mess !", inwardly cried Rose. It felt like too much for her, and yet she tried her best, beginning by manually forcing the bones to get in their natural place, inside the body, and used strength on the waist to pop it back in place before using the light energy to reattach everything together. Then the head trauma, the bleeding areas, and soon not an ounce of light energy was left inside her. She tried harder, forcing herself to squeeze her appendix dry, but nothing came out other than pain from over-exertion.

So she did the sole thing she could, comfortably settling her two friends on their pelts, covered with blankets near a soft coal fire. Only then did she realise how exhausted she was, physically, mentally and magically. Her entire body was actually screaming at her to stop and rest before it would shut down by itself against her will. The first second she laid her head against a tree, leaning on it, sleep took her in its mellow embrace.

Hours later, probably, the young woman was woken up by sudden pained moans, feeling sore from the uncomfortable position she had chosen before rest. Opening her eyes, she saw Enora struggling in her makeshift bed. Rose dragged herself closer, trying to find out what she could do while talking softly :

- What's the problem ? Where does it hurt ?

- Everywhere !, cried the warrior.

- Please try and be more specific, I cannot help you if I don't know exactly what I'm doing !, insisted she.

And so went the examination, Enora doing her best to indicate the worst areas of her body, Rose applying the little bit of energy she managed to recover. It was a difficult experience. The small blond quickly realising how unreliable patients were in those times : pain made them confused and incoherent. But, eventually, the tanned warrior finally settled, whispering how much better it was before getting back to sleep.

However, what worried Rose very much was the fact that, by that time, Nick had not woken up or made a single noise. He was still alive, beating heart and all, but he never opened his eyes. It came to a point where the young blond felt incapable of resting, as she feared having missed something crucial and let him die by mistake. That would have been a wide-awake nightmare for her.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour. Yet no movement. The simplest solution was chosen then : using light magic on every part of the man's body, trying to heal every problem she could think of that would be the result of the hit he took. It was a rather extreme and wasteful option, but she could not do it any other way as he was not waking up, and she did not know what was wrong ! So she did that, assuming any possibility as true and applying magic to the areas one by one, slowly 'repairing' the body. She could completely focus on Nick too, as she knew that, now that Enora woke up, she could use her own light energy to heal herself. It would be a long but effective process.

Hours later, interspersed by very short naps, all the stamina Rose had recuperated was gone, and once again she had a hard time thinking straight. Her vision was blurry, and she could only drag herself a few meters before passing out in the middle of the camp, not even realising that, this whole time, she had not thought of taking care of her own injuries. She had not been hurt that much, but her legs were definitely not in good shape.

…

A warm feeling enveloped Rose's body, and all the pain was gone. Only comfort, softness and peace. She could feel her weariness disappear little by little, unconsciously, while time flew by. Finally, her body felt invigorated enough to let her rejoin the world. A dark, far away ceiling, weird-looking grey and orange forest, a campfire and two other simple beds around it. People were there too, a woman with sun-kissed skin laying on the side, gazing in the flames, while an average man of semi muscular build slept, almost motionless. His chest rose regularly.

Seeing Rose's opened eyes, Enora slowly came close, frowning a bit at every move while clutching her upper belly. She sat next to the young woman and stared at her with a complicated expression plastered on her face. She then smiled warmly and caressed her cheek, saying :

- You did good Rose. You saved my life.

That was the first time the tall woman had told something of the sort to her, at least it was the first honest time. Honest, definitely, with profound affection overflowing from this usually serious face. Rose felt her cheeks reddening a bit under this dark brown shining gaze and, after ten seconds, she panicked a bit.

- What about Nick ? How is he ? I have to check up …

- Calm down, gently interrupted Enora while easily pushing her back under her blankets. Don't worry : I did it, he is fine. He woke up for a few minutes earlier and gave me a message for you.

- A message ?, asked the young woman, confused.

- Yeah., answered she. Here it goes.

Enora leaned, touched her forehead with her lips and kissed lightly. Then she whispered while retracting her head.

- Thank you, sweetheart.

Rose got wet eyes. She knew 'sweetheart' was how Nick called Enora all the time, not as an insult or anything, and him using it with her now felt like he finally recognized her as an equal. It did not change the sexist side of the name, calling women that manner felt quite demeaning in general, but the situation did not allow for that kind of debate. One had to have a very comfortable life to worry about such details. Then the tall warrior said :

- Thank you, Rose. I won't underestimate you ever again.