Chapter 15

He fell to the ground in immense pain, initially not sure what had happened, though looking down at his leg the cause became clear to see. About the size of a cat with three eyes and a mouth that took up most of its face, a screll had sunk its razor-like teeth into the flesh of his calf. Though the target of their quest had come to them, it wasn’t anything to be happy about. The reason such a creature was asked to be hunted was because they were entering a dry season which also happened to be their breeding season, and scrells were known for possessing a weak fire magic. Usually not enough to do anything, but in a time of year when there was little rain the chances of a forest fire spiked drastically. It made keeping their population low a priority around this time.

That may make them sound incredibly dangerous, but in reality they would usually pose no more threat than the cats they resemble. That's only if they don’t get their teeth into you of course.

Ben for his part, lacking in luck, had the small beast latched onto him, its teeth heating up to cook the flesh they were digging into. He reached down to try and pull the creature away but the moment he grabbed at it, it ended up securing four sets of claws into him as well. Latching on in such a way that he wouldn’t be able to get it off without taking some large chunks of flesh as well.

Thera personally was less worried about keeping his skin where it belonged. Using the last staff he had provided she swung back with it, batting the creature in the skull and with a sickening crunch sent it flying along with about a couple golf ball's worth of meat from his leg.

Blood pouring from his calf, Ben took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and get his pain under control. The moment this stopped being about hunting and became focused on seeing the staves performance he should have tried to move to a safer area, he just hadn’t been thinking. It could have been worse but now that he got his blood all over the place they needed to get out of there and back to town.

“Thanks for the save. Mind giving me a hand back?” He asked, trying to keep the pain from leaking into his voice as he reached up a hand towards her.

Thera barely even looked at him, instead handing over her staff. “Use this as a crutch and let's head back to town to get you treated.”

He took it and forced himself up. The staff was barely long enough to act as a cane but he could tell from her attitude it would have to do.

The walk back was longer than the walk there. To Thera's credit she didn't leave him behind and she kept checking on him as they went, she just didn't support him at all as he stumbled along, heavily relying on the staff as he lost blood till they made it to the front gate.

"Gods below, you aren't looking too good boy, are you both okay?" A gatekeeper was quick to ask when seeing Ben's state.

"Nothing that a healer can't fix." He was quick to reply. "Except I’m not sure I can't really afford a healer can I? Hey Thera mind using the last staff to dig a hole in the ground? I'll crawl in and you can bury me, we'll save everyone some hassle."

Even if he was kidding she was not impressed. "You aren't going to die. Wait with the guard and I'll get some help" She said before running off.

"I was serious about not being able to afford a healer!" He yelled after her before collapsing to the ground. When they left the forest he quickly wrapped his leg in a strip of shirt to try and keep the bleeding down but he still experienced a steady amount of blood loss on the walk back. Now that he was at least back at the town he took off his make do bandage to inspect the damage.

On the more positive side the biggest wound wasn't bleeding quite as badly as he thought it would. On the negative side it's because the muscle was slightly cooked, and every movement of his leg sent pain through it. Just walking back had been torture.

As he laid against the gate trying to ignore his body he heard the sound of feet slapping against stone and turned to see Falk running towards him with Thera trailing behind.

"Brat what the hell happened to you?" The giant of a man yelled.

"Just a bit of carelessness biting me in the butt is all. Well biting me in the leg actually. I'll be more careful next time." He joked as a wave of dizziness assaulted him.

"Fine, we'll talk about it later. Let's just get you to a clinic."

"I wasn't joking when I said I don’t know if I can afford one before."

"We both know the owner, the cost won't be too bad." Thera said, staring at the bloody mess that was his leg. "Can you stand?"

"Give me a minute." He tried to get up but immediately stumbled and would have fallen if Falk hadn't been there to steady him. When his teacher saw that Ben would be struggling for the entire way he scooped him up in his arms.

"Falk you old gentleman, I bet the ladies love this."

"Boy don't make me drop you."

"Please no, keep carrying me in your big strong arms." He joked, feeling the blood loss catch up to him as his consciousness drifted away.

"I really shouldn't make it a habit to wake up in strange rooms," He said to himself as he regained consciousness. He wasn't expecting a response but a voice spoke up from beside him.

"Oh you're finally awake! Won't Thera be thrilled."

Turning to look at the speaker, Ben would have mistaken her for being human. She was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her thirties with pale skin and long black hair. The only things that set her apart from his own race were cat-like pupils and a long, thin, leathery black tail coming up from her waist and holding a cup to her mouth.

Still groggy he had to ask. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You ended up losing a lot of blood on the way back and passed out. I'm one of the town's healers, Sonya. My niece and Falk ran you to me. I have to say healing you was a pain, took most of the day. Falk warned me your life resistance was way too high but I haven't had to put in this much effort since I first started training in healing magic."

His leg was feeling noticeably better and when he sat up he could see the skin was smooth and healed. He could also see he was no longer wearing pants so he grabbed a blanket to tastefully cover himself.

"Thank you, I really really appreciate the help. Awkward side note though, I already mentioned to Falk and Thera I don’t know if I can afford the treatment," It wasn't strictly true, he had money saved for living expenses and since he found employment with Falk right after leaving the church he hadn't spent too much of the money they had given him, but it was still slowly decreasing. He didn’t know how expensive it could be since he never looked into it too deeply, but paying for a healer could end up putting a far bigger dent in his savings than he would like.

"You don't have to worry about it, Falk said he would cover the costs and I'm an old friend of his anyway, I wouldn't charge his first apprentice too much."

"What a softy," His teacher was already being far more accommodating than he led on at first, and now this? He would have to give the man some proper gratitude.

"He really is, just don't say it to his face. And don't mention that I said he's covering your costs, he didn't want you knowing."

"Man, for how gruff he acts, he's too nice of a guy."

"He's an absolute sweetheart,” She agreed happily as she smiled down at him. “Now you should be good to go, you were asleep for most of the day. Just let me grab Thera for you."

"Wait you don't have to-" But she was already gone.