The Knights Hospitalized

6 SEPTEMBER 3460 

Heimlin's prayers are answered. It is around 5.00 am when Colin is the first to stir, aided by Yaz's spell. He is very weak when he first wakes, but rapidly improves in health so that he is able to walk, painfully, after a couple of hours, although he is still far from being in perfect health.

As Colin begins to raise himself off his bed, Xavier begins to open his eyes. He is alive, but in great pain. An hour later, Winnacer too begins to open his eyes, although he too is in great pain. Finally, another couple of hours later, Darius too is conscious, although very weak indeed. It is now 10.00am.

Heimlin speaks, still looking very gloomy.

'Well Kamen be praised that all of us survived that terrible encounter. However, it is obvious that we cannot continue on our journey today, as much as I would like to make haste to my 'ome. Yaz 'as showed us that 'e 'as powerful magick that will aid the recovery of the injured. 'Owever, will it 'eal everyone fast enough? Apart from stayin' 'ere for a while, the only other suggestion I 'ave is to go into Koleen. It's only three hours from 'ere. There will be temples there which will patch our 'eroes up for a little coin. Obviously, the downside of this would be the fact that we would 'ave to get in past the Nyemetz an' out past 'em again. What do you reckon's the best thing for us to do?'

Seeing that the fighters are all conscious again and will live, Corrow asks whether he could be allowed to take a little nap. The old man's energy has been totally sapped by the events of the last 24 hours. The others say that it is fine, so Corrow rests for a few hours.

Heimlin responds to the questions that have been asked of him:

'No, we ain't goin' to be able to get a cleric to come out 'ere to see us. No matter 'ow much we'll pay 'em, the clerics don't make 'ouse visits outside of their city. They know the 'assle that comes through goin' through the gates of any town or city, an' clerics always arouse a great deal of interest from the Nyemetz. No, if we wants to use their services to 'elps our brave warriors, then we'll 'ave to take 'em there on the cart, an' it sounds like most of yers don't want to take the risk.'

''As for a farm or inn bein' close to 'ere, it's really 'ard to say. I don't know this route at all, an' I've never been that close to 'ere. For all I knows, there could be a farm or inn round the next bend in the road, or we could go all the way to Dvur Kralovye without seein' one. If we wants to find out what's up the road, then we'll 'ave to send out a scoutin' party.'

Several hours pass - it is now 1.00 pm and Corrow awakens.

'There is something that has been intriguing me and that is the swords of both Darius and Winnacer. I really would like to know a little more about them.'

Neither Darius nor Winnacer are in much of a position to argue as Corrow takes the two swords and lays them in front of him. Corrow then begins gesticulating and uttering incantations.

After less than a minute, both Corrow and Maire' s spellbooks start to glow in an azure color, but the two swords remain totally unaffected.

'Strange' mutters Corrow 'Very strange.'

He puts the swords back next to their respective owners and looks very pensive.

At the same time that Corrow decided to take himself off for a little sleep, Yaz also decided to do the same - after all, if anyone deserved a little rest it was him.

He awoke some four hours later, at which time he spent another hour just outside of the ruined building in amongst a small clump of trees, in quiet contemplation.

Upon his return, he went to the injured fighters. In turn, he laid his hands upon first Winnacer, Xavier and then Colin, uttering incantations as he did so.

For Colin, it was enough to bring him back up to full strength, much to his amazement. He hadn't felt this good in a long time!

For Winnacer, there was a similar reaction. Within minutes of Yaz's actions, he felt pretty good - not quite 100% - but enough to feel that he could easily carry on with his journey, and reap his revenge on any more wolves that might try to attack again.

For Xavier, however, the results were not nearly as spectacular. He felt ever so slightly better after Yaz's actions, but only slightly. He could sit up with difficulty, but was still a long way from being able to move - even across the room.

Needless to say, without any benefit from Yaz's magick, Darius felt no better at all, and was still drifting in and out of consciousness, uttering mad ravings in his native tongue whenever he came to.

'Well' said Heimlin 'thanks to Yaz, things don't look quite so bad as they did at the start of the day. At least we have two of our warriors able to make the journey. It is obviously too late for us to carry on with our journey today, but perhaps we could carry on tomorrow, if we all think that we're up to it. But perhaps it is better for us to wait until tomorrow and see how everyone feels then.'

 

7 SEPTEMBER 3460

 Everyone settles down for another night at the ruined farm.

As night falls, all hear the baying of wolves again, keeping them all awake. Luckily they erected a barrier of spiked poles to seal themselves in. However, whether it was simply a question of luck, or whether the one wolf that ran from the previous night's fight was fearful of a repeat of another bloodbath, there is no sign of the wolves all night.

A couple of hours after midnight, the wolves fall silent and they leave just one person on guard. However, all are woken once more by the rumble of thunder and the bright flash of lightning.

Colin, carefully, leaves the protection of the farm and takes a look at the sky.

He comes back in a few seconds later.

'There's a really bad storm approaching, and it looks like it's here for the duration. If we're going to move out tomorrow, then it's going to be a very wet journey.'

As if to prove Colin right, rain starts to fall on the roof of the farmhouse. Within just a few minutes, it turns into a deluge and rain starts to pour through the holes in the roof, meaning that there are only a very few dry places in the ruined building.

Although the thunder and lightning are both strong, everyone is so tired that they all manage to sleep well.

The sleep and the constant care of Maire' and Yaz have done wonders for the health of all those who were injured in the assault by the wolves. Winnacer is now back to perfect health, and Yaz has fully recovered from the wolf bite that he received in the attack. Both Darius and Xavier's health has improved to the walking wounded category.

The regular morning routine follows, which sees Corrow and Maire' poring over their spell books for a while and Yaz going outside in order to commune with nature. Yaz takes a little longer than he did previously, and people start to worry. However, they see the reason for his delay when he comes in, soaking wet, with a huge armful of vegetables that he has been managed to pick. It's getting close to harvest time and so nature has many gifts to share. Included in his haul are a marrow, some swedes, armfuls of carrots and some mushrooms. They notice that he separates a few of the smaller mushrooms from the large ones and keeps the small ones to himself.

He comes once again to Xavier who is in no condition to complain as Yaz once again performs his healing ritual.

The spell has some effect upon Xavier, giving him the strength to get up and move around normally, but he is still a little short of feeling fully recovered. Yaz wonders whether Xavier's strong dislike of all things magical is affecting the strength of his spells.

Everyone eats the breakfast which Yaz has provided, although all can see from the expression on each other's faces that all present has had more tasty banquets than this one.

Heimlin speaks:

'So what we gonna do then, stay 'ere for the 'ole day?'

Despite the pounding rain, all decide that they have seen enough of the ruined farm with its painful memories for most of them and decide to carry on with their journey.