Chapter Text
When they finish yet another battle with some fiend-summoning monstrosity, they’re all a little beat up. Jester has a few bruises forming on the side of her face, Molly is covered in blood (only half of it being his own), and Caleb is unfortunately unconscious on the ground again while Nott is sitting protectively beside him. Beau and Jester both hurry over to the fallen wizard to inspect the damage, while Fjord hangs back. He surveys the area warily, making sure that there’s nothing else that will sneak up on them while they’re trying to recover.
“Fjord!” He heard Jester call. “We need your health potion!”
He moves towards the group, tearing his eyes away from the dark forest that surrounds them. The moment he moves one of his legs, he feels a sting in the wound just above his hip. It’s enough to cause him to hiss and he stops for a second to look down to find a decent sized gash cut through his leathers.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Molly walk up to him, also staring at the wound in his side. “That looks nasty.”
Fjord glances up at the tiefling and snorts, “You don’t look too hot yourself.”
Molly rolls his eyes, but there’s his typical humor behind his words. “How flattering.”
With a small chuckle, Fjord continues to move towards the women, ignoring the twinge in his side as he does. He’s already slipping a healing potion out from his pouch when Jester makes her grabby hands gesture at him. “I’m out of spells and we can’t stabilize him right now.”
Nott lets out a small whine at those last words, still hovering over her fallen friend’s form. Beau is knelt beside the goblin and places a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. Now that Fjord is closer, he realizes that Caleb actually doesn’t look too bad, or at least physically. There’s a few scrapes around his temple, but it appears that the damage done to him was more magically inclined.
Damn mind benders, Fjord thinks back to the horrible pressure that he had felt trying to invade his own head, just barely being able to shake it off.
Jester wastes no more time and snatches the potion from his hand, carefully tipping its contents into the wizard’s mouth. It takes a few moments for the man to come to, but he eventually does. Caleb gasps and it warms Fjord’s heart a bit to hear the sighs of relief that come from everyone in the party. They really had become close over the past couple weeks.
Nott helps Caleb sit up and the man groans from the effort. “How are ya feelin’?” Fjord asks.
“Not good,” was all the wizard had to say, clutching his head that was probably giving him hell at the moment. Still, he turns to Jester and gives her a small, grateful smile. “Thank you.”
The tiefling shakes her head quickly. “It was Fjord’s potion. I just fed it to you.”
Caleb turns his thanks to him instead, but Fjord waves it off. “Don’t mention it. Though, this does mean we should stock up on some more equipment pretty soon. That was the last we had.”
Molly also points out, “And while I love a good stroll through the forest at night, perhaps it would be best if we went back to the inn? We could all do with a bit of rest, I think.”
Beau cringed when she saw the state Molly was in, “Damn, dude, what happened to you?”
“I’m fine. Most of the damage was done by those bloody imps,” Molly said bitterly. “Speaking of which, did anyone get hit by the big ugly worm?”
They all shook their heads, but Fjord had to think back for a moment. He looked down at his side, still oozing blood, but nothing too serious. The battle had been pretty chaotic with the number of imps flying around their heads, so he could have just been nicked by one of them.
“Good, I had hoped not. It reeked of poison.”
Nott gasped, “Poison? Like the imps’?”
“Not quite. Stronger, I think. However, I don’t fancy getting close enough to that body to find out.” Molly jabbed a thumb over in the direction of the dead worm, whose corpse looked more like a pile of bloodied jelly now. Molly must have seen the same sparkle in Jester’s eyes as he did, because he then said, “I don’t think it has anything of value for us.”
“We should be goin’ soon, anyhow,” Fjord said, feeling a bit sorry for his friend as her face fell at the idea that she wouldn’t be getting any loot from this battle. “It’s almost midnight and while they’ve let us go for now, the Crownsguard will most likely still be houndin’ us.”
Jester hopped up onto her feet, sadness already quickly forgotten and a grin spread across her face, “Back to the inn!” In a tone that’s quieter and more apologetic she looks to Molly and him. “I don’t have anymore spells, but I promise to fix you up in the morning, okay?”
The other tiefling is nonchalant in his reply, helping Beau in trying to get Caleb to his feet, “No need. We’ll be mostly healed come morning.”
Fjord agrees, “And I barely got a scratch. I don’t think you should waste-.”
“It’s not a waste.” Everyone freezes at the seriousness in her tone, the lighthearted bubbliness gone. He looks and finds her eyes almost glaring at him. “It’s not.”
“Alright...” Fjord settles, trying to quell his friend’s obvious anger. “Alright, in the morning you can heal us and we’ll spend the rest of the day stocking up and searchin’ for some information. We could all use a break from combat after the day we’ve had.”
This seems to please Jester, or at least enough that she regains her usual cheery smile and moves on to fuss over Caleb’s hair again. Fjord finds himself laughing slightly when he hears her say, “Your hair is so long! Can I braid it for you when we get back?”
“Don’t touch my hair, please.”
They all chatter on their way back to the inn, some more than others. Jester and Nott are rambling about shiny things while Molly and Beau are close behind them, not exactly part of the conversation, but chiming in occasionally. Fjord walks next to Caleb, trying to give the man the space he needs, but also wanting to make sure he was truly well. He had tried to be subtle about it, but it seemed the wizard was too smart for that.
“I’m alright, you know,” Caleb informed him. “I can see you glancing at me, Fjord.”
He can only stammer out something that sounds like an apology. “Er - I - ahem. Just wanted to make sure. That’s the second time you’ve gone unconscious in battle, so…”
The man gives him a sharp look, but it eventually softens. “Thank you. Nott and I… We aren’t used to being in a group. It’s taken us - me - a while to realize that there are others… People who care.”
“It’s what we do. Gotta stick together, ya know?”
The wizard doesn’t respond at first, but later Fjord is sure that he hears Caleb whisper, “Yes, I know…”
They are nearing the edge of the town, its streets and homes quiet in the late night, save for a few inns and pubs that have their lights on. The group hurries on, hoping not to get stopped by any guards on the way back to their temporary home. Fjord winces with every step he takes, the stinging in his side having grown since their fight. A burn has taken its place, causing the pain to flare whenever his foot meets the cobbled stone beneath them.
The hush of the night only accentuates the pounding of blood in his ears and how rough his breathing has become. He tries to stifle it, but attempting it gives him a horrible tickle in his throat. It’s only until he starts sweating that he realizes that something may be terribly wrong. However, he knows the inn is just a few streets down, and there he can just collapse in bed and sleep off whatever it was that was ailing him.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t make it that far.
Fjord’s side is pulsing with pain now, and getting a full gulp of air has become a difficult task. His legs are moving mechanically, but they feel weighed down with lead. He can’t help but stumble slightly, muttering another apology to Caleb who has taken hold of his arm. There are a couple of worried questions being shot his way, but his head feels stuffed with cotton and the voices are muffled. At this point, Fjord can barely keep his head up to see the concerned looks of the rest of the party. Suddenly too weak to hold up his own weight, his knees buckle and he falls.
And as he does, he thinks he hears the splash of the ocean and smells the tang of saltwater.