Chapter 306

Brain looked down at the girl who was by his knees, her body was still, he no longer held his hand over the wound. "I killed her. You said 'don't' and I didn't listen… I've never… I was trying to save her." Zesshi said from over his shoulder.

Brain didn't look up at her. "You didn't know. You couldn't have known what I even meant. It was an accident, just bad luck. This kind of thing happens every single day. Just don't think about it. Don't think about it at all and it gets a whole lot easier."

"Don't… you mean forget what happened?" Zesshi asked, aghast, "How… she was just a-"

Brain looked over his shoulder at her, "A runaway slave that died by a monster. You think she's the first one? There's a reason most don't run away, there's a reason most don't make it. There's a reason beyond just the half elf slave catchers… it's because close to the border, the monsters ironically enough, help keep the prey in."

"I didn't know…" Zesshi said in a tiny voice.

"Yeah, I know, there's a lot you don't know." Brain retorted. "That's for damn sure."

Zesshi's eyes narrowed, going from the girl to the kneeling swordsman.

"What the hell does that mean… I'm sorry…" Zesshi demanded, and then kept her eyes on the pale body.

"We'll get her over the border and bury her there." Brain said, and with a trembling hand, he brought his fingers over her eyelids and began to close them. "I can do that much for her."

"Brain… you… might have to wait on that burial." Zesshi said, her eyes widening ever so slightly.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his eyes following the half elf warrior as she came around to crouch on the opposite side of the fallen girl.

"She's not dead." Zesshi answered and pointed to the trickle of blood that was still oozing from the wound.

Brain snapped his eyes to the ugly gash in Layali's thigh. He took a close look, tearing away a clean part of his shirt, he shoved the cloth into the wound, wiped the blood clean, and sure enough… a very slight oozing of crimson continued to dribble into that spot.

"Get my pouch!" Brain barked the order as if to one of his old idiot bandits, but Zesshi, far from showing umbrage, quietly did his bidding, though she moved with all the speed she could muster, so it was back in his hand before he could even finish extending his arm to take it.

He thrust his hand within after tearing open the drawstring and yanked out a needle and thread, and under Zesshi's confused but intense eyes, he began to sew the wound shut. "What are you doing?" She asked as his bloody hands flew up and down in a constant undulating motion like a swimming serpent.

"Sewing the artery closed. Somehow… somehow she's not dead, if I can close this fast enough… Zesshi, take my sword, rub your hands on it fast enough to heat it like a glowing fire poker." He gave the command, and eminently confused, she carried out his instructions. Her hands closed over the flat of both sides of the blade and began to rub.

Nothing happened at first, nothing at all, but gradually the metal warmed under her hands, the heat began to build and grow, she moved her arms faster and faster, but kept an eye on what Brain was doing.

Then before she knew it, the metal was glowing red as a torch in the pitch darkness, and Brain's bloody hands stopped moving.

"It's done." Zesshi said, and pulled her hands away.

"Good, bring it here!" He ordered, and Zesshi carried his blade to him, the skin was sewn shut but the gash beneath was clear.

"Slap the hot part on it, right here." Brain said, pointing to where the sutures held the wound more or less closed.

He looked at the face of the unconscious girl, "It's a good thing you're not awake, or this would hurt like hell." He said, and Zesshi did as he said, slapping the metal against the girl's skin, the sick smell of burning flesh rose up instantly as the hot metal connected with it, and Layali's unconscious body spasmed involuntarily in response to the pain.

Brain leaned back with a sigh of relief, his hands caught him against the grass so that he leaned against the strength of his arms. "That… that was something." He said.

"What was… what was the point of all this?" Zesshi asked, furrowing her black and white brow down at him, and then stabbing his sword into the soft ground before putting her hands on her hips.

"That's how you treat wounds when you've got no potions and no magic caster." Brain explained. "She'll have that scar for the rest of her life, just like the other ones the potion couldn't get rid of, but if she doesn't die of shock from the burn, or blood loss from that wound… she'll survive. She's far tougher than she looks."

His face turned pensive. "What?" Zesshi asked.

"Yeah… she is a lot tougher than she looks… impossibly so… she should have drowned in that river, died of her head wound, gotten infected through her eye socket, been torn up inside from what Cerebrate did to… everything. Not to mention the broken ribs, arm… and I've seen grown men die of that exact wound in a minute or two." Brain's mind raced.

"You think she's got a talent?" Zesshi asked.

"It'd be the craziest talent I've ever heard of… but she's got no business being alive without it. The wounds certainly happen but… they just don't kill her. Maybe… maybe if we did nothing at all, she'd still survive if she just had time to heal." He shuddered, "That sounds like some sort of personal hell, no amount of pain would end it…"

"Maybe you're right… but on the other hand…" Zesshi rubbed her chin in thought, "She could do a lot with it, survive a lot… a lot of learning hurts, and potentially the process of learning things the hard way can lead to death. If she doesn't have to worry about that?"

Brain's face went pale all over again. "Listen to me, Zesshi… if she survives this, if we're right… the wound wasn't as bad as she thought. It looked worse than it was, we stopped the bleeding and sealed the wound, do you understand me? She has no power, she has no talent or gift, she's just a girl who got lucky more than once. Tell her nothing else."

Zesshi looked down at the unconscious girl, she'd begun to breathe visibly, though still unconscious, 'The herb, if it weren't for that, maybe she'd already be awake… how does somebody just… reject death, that way?' There was no clear answer, and the truth was, Zesshi knew without a doubt that if there was a reason, some way to know, she wouldn't be the one to find it.

And as to Brain's instructions… he put a hand out to her, grasping her still burning hot hand as if it caused him no pain, even though it must have, "Promise me. If a place like this learns about her survival of injuries like that, about her simply 'not dying' they'll tear her little body apart to find the answer. They'll torture her, not because they enjoy it, but because she's not human, so they don't care, all that will matter is finding out how to capture that talent in magic form. Do you understand me?"

Zesshi wanted to protest. But having seen the crop eared slaves in the manor, having seen the way her own brother had his ears sawn off just to break his spirit, having seen the wounds on the girl herself… She had no room left for doubt.

"I won't say a thing. It wasn't as bad as she thought, she just had to be unconscious for you to help her." Zesshi promised, and meant every word.

That finally allowed Brain's body to relax, he allowed himself to lie on his back with his arms and legs splayed out, the stink of blood finally noticeable in his nose, he said, "You can't cook, I'm guessing?"

"No… no, I can't. Raymond always did the cooking." Zesshi said, and Brain chuckled like a man half mad.

"Okay, I'm drained, so it's time you learned. Go grab the monster, chop him up with… whatever is left of my damn sword… and I'll talk you through how to cook this one. Luckily enough, this particular monster is delicious if you know what you're doing. A little chewy, but a lot of flavor." Brain turned his head to the side, resting his cheek in the grass, and Zesshi went to follow his instructions, taking out his sword, and finding it largely reduced to slag.

'Great… now I need a new sword. Oh well, worth it.' He thought with indifference, and gave a genuine smile of relief to Zesshi's back.