Wounds

Neither wound bled like or stung like I expected them to. When I felt my cheek, it was unmarked, which lead me to believe that I might have imagined the arrow cutting my cheek. But the arrow sticking out of my shoulder was unmistakable.

I walked a short distance from the camp, so as to not wake the others with the magic that I would heal myself with. I prepared the statement in my mind, then yanked the arrow out. It hurt. It burned with a fury I had never known. Then it was gone. Before I could invoke the healing spell, my wound had healed itself, and the pain disappeared. It seemed to rewind, undoing the damage in an inverse order of how it had been dealt.

I had no explanation for it. I could tell I had drained my mana, but I had not uttered a command or request.

I would have to ask a mage about it. Or a specialist of some sort.

I returned to camp, musing for myself what could have happened. I was still the only one awake, so I returned to my watch post under the tree.

Why was I so numb? So aloof? Injury didn't faze me, I didn't get tired or hungry, and I could go days without sleep without being worse for wear. In my last life, if I didn't go to bed by a specific time, I had a cranky morning.

What had happened to me?

The answers eluded me as I kept watch through the rest of the now uneventful night.

I let the others wake themselves up in the morning. I had interrupted their sleep, so I would let them be their own judges for how much sleep they needed.

I instead prepared a simple breakfast, stepping between bedrolls to reach the fire. I had to reignite it, which I did manually. Warming rations was all I could really do, but it was still something.

Mayliam shivered under her blanket. It was cold. I didn't care like I had in my last life. But that gave me all the more reason to heat breakfast.

Elengail was the first to get up, shortly followed by Kendalyn. They woke the others. Faivere turned over in her bedroll as Mayliam sat up. To those who had admitted they were awake, I handed warmed flatbread.

Mayliam nodded her thanks, and the others took theirs without reaction. I could read it in their eyes. They were tired.

"You sleep longer."

"We should get going, though." Elengail replied.

"I not argue. You can sleep, if want."

"We'll walk it off. We're on our way to the capital. We can sleep all we want when we get there."

"If so say."

Elengail bent over Faivere again. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We should get going soon."

"Five more minutes," the other muttered, burying her head inside the bedroll.

"You've had your five minutes already!"

"But... five more."

Elengail sighed in exapseration, then turned to Kendalyn. "Can you help me here?"

She shook her head, then shrugged. "I would just do what you would, but nicer. I can't help here."

"I put away breakfast. If not awake before done, no breakfast." Then I stood up.

Faivere poked her head out. "You wouldn't."

"I am."

She flopped and grumbled, then scrambled to her feet as I started moving away with her share of breakfast. I turned around and handed her the piece of flatbread. I might have deserved the glare she gave me, but I had acted in favor of the greater good.

We were packed up quickly after that, and were on our way north.

While on the trail, Kendalyn sidled up next to me. "Did you take proper care of the arrow wounds?" she asked in a whisper.

"I not have wounds now."

"I'd still like to have a look over them, specifically your shoulder, when we stop for lunch."

"It no problem." I had Mayliam's and my pack still. I had taken it while she was too tired to beat me to it.

"If you say so. Just don't overexert yourself. You're our only able-bodied fighter. If that were to change..."

"It not change."

"Just be careful." she finished before moving back ahead, alongside Elengail.

We continued until lunch with an autumn breeze ruffling our cloaks.

As Elengail warmed up some jerky rations, Kendalyn approached me.

"I want to see the arrow wound."

I sighed, but took off my shirt. There was no indication that I had even been scratched. She rubbed her fingers along the muscles under my right collarbone, where the arrow had hit the night before.

"How? I haven't heard of any blessing from the gods that heals wounds like this. Unless I imagined it last night..."

"You not imagine. I hit. I pull arrow. I heal. No blessing."

"Could it be?" she muttered, looking at my bandaged arm.

"Chaos scar?"

"That seems to be the only explanation I can think of. Chaos scars have all kinds of powers. They manifest differently for each person, or that's what the rumors say."

"I believe."

"Faivere is beginning to rub off on me. I'm kinda getting bored." Mayliam noted after we were back on the road.

"I know game."

"Don't games require dice or cards? We have neither, and sitting around a game would delay us."

"No," I answered Elengail, "many type game. Some game cards. But some game words only."

"What do you have in mind?" Mayliam asked.

"It game where you look. One person pick color, and when other person find thing with color, that person pick color."

"I've never heard of anything like it." Elengail said.

"I make now. I play many travel game in other world."

"Wow! I never imagined!" Faivere said, having stopped complaining for just a few minutes.

"I start. Red. If see red, point at red and say." I said, starting the game.

The second half of our day seemed to pass much quicker, with everyone playing. Kendalyn had the keenest eyes. She hadn't gotten the chance to pick the most. Rather, she hadn't taken the chance to pick the most. I could tell she held back to let Faivere and Mayliam get more. Elengail played off-and-on, often fretting over the map.

When colors had been exhausted, I suggested free reign of objects, such as birds or berries. There were a number of things they named that I had never heard of. That wasn't hard, considering I hadn't learned very many animal names.

It was the longest we had gone without Faivere complaining about the trip the whole trip.

She approached me as we made camp. "You'll have another game for us tomorrow, right?"

"Yes."

"I can't wait!"