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“I am fine.” It was almost as if the man was saying it just out of habit. It made Kantei groan as she looked at him, that gaping wound in his side.
“How in the name of Larethian is this fine?” She pulled him from the horse, trying to be careful and not really succeeding. Even he, with his stupid, happy-go-lucky attitude and his horrible way of overplaying all injuries could not help but groan.
“It can be healed, right?” he said.
She groaned. “That does not make it ‘fine’.”
Once more his stupid habit of wanting to help everyone had brought him into this situation. It had been goats! Fucking goats! Two of them. But the family the goblins had stolen them from was so dependent on the goats’ milk, that his bleeding heart could just not fathom leaving the goats with the goblins. And because he was a fucking idealist he had tried to bargain with the goblins.
Well, the gaping wound was, what he had gotten from it. A goblin scimitar had cut at least one inch deep into his side. While it seemed that he had luck in so far that no organs had been harmed, it was bleeding rather badly.
“Oh, you are such a fucking idiot,” she grumbled, as she considered her options. She could use magic to heal it – but she wanted to make sure that the wound was clean. Just a month ago he had gotten a pretty bad infection from a healed wound where some stuff had still stuck to his flesh.
Somehow it was always him, who got injured, too. Obviously. Because if push came to shove, he would throw himself between her and any attacker. Horrible, idiot man!
“Stay here,” she instructed him, getting their little pot to fetch some water from the nearest stream. Once back at the camp, she lit their fire once more, cussing as she tried to properly hang the pot over it.
He was just lying on the blanket next to it. “You seem annoyed.”
“You think so?” she asked, looking at him.
“As I said. It is not that bad. I am fine. Or I will be in just a bit.”
Kantei grunted. She didn’t want to argue with him, while he was in that state, but she still would make hella sure, that he knew that she was annoyed with him.
It was almost two years since they had left Neverwinter behind, and during all that time she had at some point given up counting his near-death experiences. She was wondering at times, whether death just didn’t like him very much. Because otherwise she could not explain that he was still alive. Well, alright, that wasn’t quite the truth.
She looked at him, as he laid there, his eyes closed, and almost seeming content. He was good at just ignoring the pain.
During this last year they had heard some stories. Stories about the gods having dispersed some of their powers between more chosen than usual. And at times she could not help but wonder, whether this idiot somehow had managed to get some godly powers. But the idea seemed silly. If it was like that, they would know, right? They had met two chosen during their journey and they had been talking about godly visions – and Tav had had nothing of the sort.
It was just a convenient way to explain how he somehow managed to keep alive. But maybe it was just his luck or his sheer tenacity.
The water was boiling by now, making her get a clean towel. She opened his vest, before pushing up his shirt, as he chuckled.
“Cannot wait to get me naked?”
“Do me a favor and shut the fuck up,” Kantei hissed, before starting to clean the wound. At least it did not seem quite as bad as soon as it was clean. Deep though. Fairly deep.
With a sigh, she got also some whiskey from her backpack and pouring it over the wound. She had learned that it helped with preventing infections, so she went with it – even though she would have preferred that whiskey in her stomach. Only then did she put her hand onto the wound, muttering the incantation.
Even he was breathing easier as the wound was healing up. It took a good minute, but by the end of it the bleeding stopped, and the skin closed up without leaving a scar.
He was smiling. “See? It is fine.”
She sighed, just sitting down next to him. Something told her, that things would not get easier in the near future. Because with everything happening out there, she knew he would find new ways of getting into trouble. Even worse ways than before. Because she had a good feeling that these appearances of all those chosen were connected to something bigger. The gods were not giving out powers like candies for no good reason.
“Tei?” he asked softly now, putting his arms around her. “What is it? Are you really mad?”
How could she tell him? Because if she told him why she was angry, frustrated or worried, he would just try and argue that it wasn’t that bad. It was simply his nature, it seemed, to just… again and again risk his life for the stupidest of reasons.
So, instead, she lied. “You know, I have just been thinking a lot, lately.”
“About what?”
“Winter is maybe three months away. And… You know, it would be nice to have a proper place to settle down.”
“You mean… for the winter?”
“Well, maybe just for the winter. Maybe for good. I don’t know.”
“Oh.”
“I mean, the most important stuff happens in the cities either way.”
He was silent – but it seemed that he was buying her lie. “I mean, yeah. I guess. So, we…”
“I was thinking Baldur’s Gate,” she said. “We are about a two months journey away from it. And… It is a bit warmer there, right?”