A Stranger In The Grasslands

She held her stomach and slid down to the floor, she tried to show she was alright, but this obviously wasn't the case. she kept her hand on the wall, this was the only thing keeping her upright. "Its nothing... but there is water behind this wall..." she looked at him slightly then coughed, putting her hand to her mouth. She froze after she coughed, her hand still at her mouth.

He made his way over to her as she slid down to the floor, he raised his eyebrow even higher becoming curious as to what was causing her to act in such a way. He then crouched down next to her as she began to speak, he was a little bemused from what she had told him and as his left eye studied her every reaction his lips parted to speak.

"And that causes you to lose your strength? Is it that you feel the water on a deeper level?" His questions were like taking shots in the dark with no light or indication of where you enemy was, but he wasn't quite sure what else to do but ask a series of questions to better understand the situation to help him come up with a solution. As she coughed he blinked a little still trying to develop an understanding of what was happening.

She shook her head slightly, keeping her hand to her mouth, muffling her voice, "N-no... its just I can feel the water on the other side... It is not causing me to weaken... I am f-fine..." She coughed again, this time moving her hand from her mouth, showing blood, her eyes widened, but she shook it off, she forced herself to stand her arm moved back to holding her stomach.

"I am fine..." She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

His eye snapped to the clear colour of blood red that stood out against the palm of her hand, it was most certainly nothing but he couldn't quite make out what the cause was, if she really was just able to feel the water on the other side of the wall, then she had sustained much more damage to her body from the battle than he first originally thought.

"I do believe you're in denial, the battle must have caused internal damage as well as external" He placed his right hand on her shoulder and applied pressure to it, trying to signal her to sit back down where she had been. "To much movement may cause the internal damage to worsen, for now I suggest sitting back down and trying to move as little as possible" He looked away from her and over to his magma creation which hovered a few feet ahead waiting for him to follow it, he wasn't expecting any kind of delay especially one like this, it was a great hindrance too him. He then returned his focus to her checking to see if she had complied with his suggestion.

She tried to keep on walking, but coughed up more blood, she slid down to the floor, panting slightly. She looked at him, "If you want to go on without me, then I don't mind... I must just be a burden to you..." She coughed again, showing pain. She held her stomach and tried to stay still. Trying not to make things more worse than they already were. A tear fell down her face.

He watched as she slid back down to the floor once again, she was most certainly internally injured and he could see just by her reactions it was quite a substantial amount of damage. As she spoke he looked over to his magma creation again and then beyond it the darkness of the tunnel yet to be explored. He then returned his view to her and found himself crouching down beside her again, he brought his right hand to her forehead and placed it palm down against her skin, checking her temperature.

"We are working together are we not, it would be illogical to leave you here, not to mention it would have a negative impact on my chances of finding an artifact" His words may have lacked feeling and care for her well being, but it was his way of showing some sort of consideration. As he kept his palm against her forehead he looked at her, inspecting her body all over for any signs of signals, he noticed that she was favouring her stomach and had been since it had started. "What can you feel exactly? Could you give me a clear description, anything that might be informative?" He was no healer, but he could surely find a way to solve this, at least temporarily at most.

Her temperature had risen a lot, she was panting still. "I feel.... I feel like I need to lie down and rest..." she closed her eyes slightly and slid to the right and lay on her side, she looked up at him and then closed her eyes, drifting off without telling him what was wrong. Her fever heightened.

As she began to lose consciousness he knew that this was her body beginning to shut down on itself, he had to keep her conscious otherwise he would have a hard time identifying what damage she had sustained and keeping her body fully operational.

"You need to stay conscious and tell me what you are feeling" He said sternly as she laid down on the ground and drifted off, he could feel her temperature rise and knew that wasn't a good sign at all, he needed to get her conscious quickly so he could find out about the kind of pain she felt, it would at least give him a better idea of what sort of wound she had been left with. He drew his left hand and sharply slapped her across the cheek, he continued to do so till she would wake, he knew that the pain he was dealing to her was only a quarter of what she felt from her internal injuries.

She stirred slightly and opened her eyes, she tried to sit up, but couldn't do it completely on her own, she kept on drifting slightly, then opening her eyes, she looked at him, "Wh-would it b-be possible if you c-could help me to sit up... Please..." She drifted again, but then opened her eyes again, she was really struggling to keep conscious.

"Of course" he said simply in his usual cool and calm tone of voice, he then slipped his left hand from his leather jackets pocket, as he did so he extended out his right arm wrapping it around her shoulders, once he had he gently gripped the top if her arm. Slowly he pulled her up into an upright position, his left hand resting on her stomach very lightly; as if he was trying to remind himself of where her injury was most probably located and too avoid causing further damage to that area. He lightly pulled her backwards once she was upright propping her up against the wall.

"Is that more comfortable?" He said as he unwrapped his arm from around her shoulders. He then reassumed his crouching position in front of her, his eye watching for any signs of pain as he felt around her stomach with his left hand lightly. "What type of pain are.you experiencing?"

She let out a scream of pure agony, then grabbed hold of his hand, "p-please stop....." she had tears down face and her head fell forward. She started leaning forward and going that direction aswell, her hand still on his. "I-its really hurts..." she whispered, falling into him.

He slowly relieved the pressure his hand was putting on her stomach, keeping it resting lightly there as he looked at her. As he found himself feeling her body pressing against his own he blinked slightly, he wasn't accustomed to something of this nature and it was the kind of situation he did not wish to be in. However this girl was the same age as one of his young sisters to which he used as a basis to help him with this odd situation he found himself in. He brought his left hand around to her back gently patting it to try comfort her as he had done many a time with his siblings. He then slipped his right hand into one of his many leather jacket pockets, inside his pocket another leather bag, he widened the opening and slipped two fingers into the bag, after doing so he gripped one of the green leaves inside and pulled it out, he wasted no time and pressed the leaf to her lips. "Chew it slowly, its a strong natural pain killer" as he waited for her to do so his mind went to work trying to solve what injury she had sustained.

She leaned into him, and started slowly chewing the leaf, she moved herself slightly to sit sideways in his lap, leaning her head on his shoulder and chewing the leaf, her arm still on her stomach, "One of the m-men.... they had a special sword...." she muttered weakly, still chewing the leaf.

His blinking had increased as he felt her adjust to sit sideways in his lap, it was odd to have someone so close almost alien, he may have done similar things with his younger sisters but this was a girl he knew very little about a stranger to him, he didn't take well to being close to strangers, but so far he seemed to be managing with her. His left hand rubbed her upper back in a circular motion. He then looked down to her as she rest her head against his shoulder, listening to her words his first thoughts for her injury were incorrect.

"A specialised weapon? And this is the cause of your suffering? Do you know what this weapon did? What it's attacks were designed to do?" He knew he was hitting her with a lot of questions and in her current state it probably wasn't the best course of action, but with no knowledge of what kind of damage the weapon dealt he was list in the dark to bringing her back to health, if he even had the potential to that was.

She looked up at him, trying to stay conscious, "A-At first, I thought it did nothing... it didn't mark the surface... but now... I believe it just goes past the skin... not marking it at all and causes damage inside at a delay..." her head slumped forward, she fought hard to stay conscious, but it was a loss for her.

"Then locating the exact point of entrance will be increasingly hard to find, I've never come across such a weapon before..." He paused for a second or so, his mind shifted onto the weapon, he was very interested and intrigued by such a weapon, if it had the ability to leave wounds that could not be located practically invisible ones, it could be put to very good use by himself. His plans at that instant altered, the cave could wait, it wouldn't be going anywhere, his new target was now the weapon. As her head slumped forwards he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts and he soon realised he had lost himself in them as she was now unsconcious.

He needed to keep her awake and the quickest most effective way would be to induce pain, however he needed a sharper form of pain to bring her back into a conscious state than just a smack to her cheek. He brought the index finger of his right hand close to the skin of the back of her hand, on the very tip of his finger gathered a small amount of red hot lava, the heat in theory would cause an extremely sharp and searing pain to course through her nervous system, almost like a jolt to restart her conscious mind. He didn't have time to spare and quickly he pushed the tip of his finger against the skin on the back of her hand, a soft hissing emanating from beneath the tip of his finger as his lava burned a scar into her skin, he then pulled back his finger and hoped it was enough to bring her back into a conscious state.

She gasped weakly and she moved her head and buried it under his neck, she was shaking slightly, holding on to him as she sat in his lap, she did her best to keep herself awake, but was still having an issue. She held onto him, starting to shake in fear.

"Am I going to d-die?"

His left eye widened just a little as he felt her head buried under his neck and brush his skin, he guessed it was a simple and natural reaction from the pain she was feeling and continued to think that as she held onto him. He continued to use his left hand to rub her back gently, hoping the sensation would soothe her body a little to deal with her shaking and obvious fear of death; which of course was proven with her words. He remained quiet for a little as he held her, he had no words to answer her question to busy with trying to find a solution. Within a couple of seconds he replayed every moment from when they had entered the cave and the thing that stood out to him the most was the water she had felt through the thick cave wall.

"You have sustained a severe wound but if you managed to survive losing all that blood, I highly doubt this will kill you" He then looked over to his magma creation, the flying insect was still hovering in mid air waiting for him to continue on the path forward, slowly however it's two front spindly legs began to shape shift, they pressed together and lava from the back half of its body moved forward into the legs; bulging them up. The now bulging legs then shifted into a cone shape; a spiraling set of grooves moving down from the tip of the cone to it's base now resembling that of a drill. The rest of the body was now rather less in mass and the wings were beating faster to keep it air born. The magma creation then moved off to the wall and the drill tip pressed against it, within a matter of seconds the entire body of the creation began to spin, drilling through the rock face. As it drilled deeper the rest of the body shifted into the base of the drill which was wider in size. Eventually it was out of sight, now deep in the cave wall drilling through deeper into it; the only way to tell it was still drilling was the specs of dust that drifted out of the fresh hole in the small beam of light made by the magma.

The tunnel was now pitch black and the darkness surrounded them, he took the time he had to wait for his creation to drill all the way through the wall to ask her a question. "Tell me, if you were submerged in water, is it possible it would heal you? Or at least sort out some of the damage you have sustained?"

She looked up at him slightly and weakly. "Water..." She winched in intense pain curling up in his lap, she coughed up some blood and leaned against his chest, fighting to stay conscious, her head fell forward and then she lifted it, trying her best to keep her eyes open.

"I don't know...." she muttered weakly.

"At this current time it seems to be the best and most logical course of action, you have to try and remain conscious" At that moment his magma creation had drilled through the entire thickness of the cave wall, he closed his left eye and move his hand away from her back, pressing it flat against the wall face as he felt for the magma's heat signature to determine the thickness of the wall.

"The wall is thirty inches thick, with the right amount of force it would be easy to create an opening" He was relaying his information to her as well as talking to himself; a habit he had picked up over the years of traveling. "This will be painful but I need the use of both my hands" He said to her as he lifted her very carefully off his lap before he placed her back against the wall to support her. "You need to keep conscious, focus as much as you can on that" He said as he got up onto his feet, he placed his hand against the rock face a thin layer of lava spreading over the palm of his hand, the heat of the lava being so strong it sent a small number of heat waves throughout the rock; with this he determined which area of the rock was weakest which by coincidence was around the same area as the hole his creation had made.

"You might want to cover your eyes" He said as he took a few steps back from the wall, he then placed his hands together before pulling them apart slowly; between his hands a thick mass of magma. He continued to pull his hands apart increasing the amount of magma. Once he had the correct amount of magma his hands came to halt, after they did his left eye focused on the hole his creation had made. Within seconds the mass of magma shot out into a spike, the tip of the spike went directly into the hole, as the it dug deeper the width of the spike caused the rock around the hole to begin to crack. He looked focus as he pushed his hands forward; driving the spike deeper and deeper into the hole, as it continued to push through the cracking of the rock increased. Eventually the width of the spike would not allow him to push it any further, it jutted out of the wall by ten inches. The super heat from the magma caused the rock to expand, since the contact points of the heat were many it caused more and more of the rock to expand. The pressure increased more and more before it became to much for the surrounding rock to withstand, causing the weakest area to fracture all over and in turn causing the entire area to break down into very fine pieces of rock which the magma absorbed and broke down. He then went back over to her and crouched down beside her. "This will be painful, but I have to carry you to the water, are you ready?"

She didn't answer, her fever was much higher now and she kept staring down at her lap, trying to concentrate on staying awake. She didn't hear his words, nor did she see him. All she saw was her lap. She kept on opening and closing her eyes and her head was bobbing up and down in time with this.

She started leaning forwards, then slid to the side, hitting the floor. Now laying on her side, she started closing her eyes, loosing sight of her goal of staying conscious. Her breathing slowed right down as she lost consciousness.

As he waited for a response from her he looked back at the large mass of magma that had now successfully absorbed all of the very fine pieces of rock. He then heard a thud and as he looked back to her he noticed she had fallen onto her side and become unconscious. He didn't have time to bring her back around instead he was relying on the strong pain picking her up would cause. He moved her onto her back and then slipped one arm around her knees and the other under her upper back, he then lifted her up as he stood up keeping a tight hold on her. Not wasting time he immediately turned towards the opening he had just made in the cave wall, his clothing and himself were unaffected by the magma that now engulfed his boots and legs all the way up to his knees. Slowly as he walked through the magma it began to congregate around his legs dissipating in mass as it did so; by the time he excited the opening and into the new area the magma was completely gone. He noticed his magma creation on the floor still in its drill form, within a matter of seconds it shifted back into the flying insect form and hovered in the air moving forward, the sound of running water echoed about the area and within a few steps he noticed a pool of crystal clear water. Not wasting time he stepped down into it and submerged her in the water, keeping her body afloat as he watched to see if the water would do as he predicted.

The water washed over her, as if it was drawn to her, she no longer had such a high fever and her breathing was much easier. She slowly opened her eyes, showing very little pain as she looked up at him, "hey..." she muttered and looked around smiling slightly at the sight of the water.
She looked around, "You found the water..."

He watched the water wash over her and his prediction seemed to be correct, he noticed her breathing easier he slowly removed his arms from underneath her, believing she would now be able to support herself in the water. He then nodded to her as he looked back at the opening he had made with his magma.

"Yes, I managed to create an opening in the wall, it seems as though this is a natural spring" He said as he pointed to the water falling down a gap between the rocks high up on in the ceiling of the area, before then running down a series of rocks and into the pool they were currently standing in.

"How is the pain in your stomach now? Are you feeling a little relieved of it?"

She stood up in the water, being small, the water came up to above her chest, she took a deep breath and exhaled, "It does feel better... Its not completely healed though... but this water is soothing..."
She looked over at him, smiling slightly, "Thank you for bringing me to the water..."