|Delcan Mountains| 24.03.1178|
Naomi:
A scream fills the silence, otherwise disturbed only by gentle gusts of wind.
It is a scream that couldn't have summed up the situation the source found itself in better.
That almost croaky sound, that shrill, unpleasant despair in the voice. It is clear that whoever has uttered that scream is scared to death.
I can't resist the temptation to shift my gaze back to the forest.
And then I see it.
A figure of slender but tall build is rushing right at me. It's about 100 to 200 meters away from me, and because of its erratic movements, I am not able to determine whether it is a human or elf, male or female, Eldorima or mindless creature.
However, there is one thing that I know too well. It is definitely not charging at me.
Maybe it hasn't even registered me as friend or foe. Maybe it's running from something else.
Even though I do not want to cause any more action in this already disappointing and frustrating night, my feet are frozen to the ground. I can't move away. I can't turn away. I can't avert my gaze. No, in fact, I am deeply and utterly focused on that person or whatever it is running from me.
As I stand there, for what feels like an eternity, I can slowly recognize facial features of the person. It seems to be a girl my age; however, she is topless at least, as a blanket of leaves covers the lower regions.
And then I can finally see what she's running away from. A group of leaf lizards, consisting of 3 males and one lead female, is only a few meters away from her feet, their long jaws trying to reach them and cause her to stumble.
The girl, who should recognize me by now—and probably already does—has a face showing only pure exhaustion and pain.
To be honest, I loathe myself right now.
I should have just kept walking.
I should have just swallowed my frustration and gone home as quickly as possible.
I should have ignored the growling and the cries for help and gone home and gone to sleep. Because now I'm in this shitty situation where I have to fight leaf lizards to help some stupid girl.
I mean, what is she even thinking, going into the woods half-naked at night when she obviously has no way to save herself? She's only 50 meters away from me now.
And just as I'm about to call out to her, it happens. One of the leaf lizards bites her foot.
A loud, pain-filled, rage-filled, and slowly fading screech escapes her lips.
I can't help it anymore. The person is running straight toward me. I can see them getting hurt, and after everything Tommy has drilled into me, I can't leave. I gather my courage and sprint toward them as the leaf lizards begin to pounce on them, biting their arms and legs. Leaf lizards make no real noise except their communicative growl, and that's why the only sound my sensitive ears hear right now is the primal, frightened scream for help—the girl repeating herself over and over.
Within three seconds, I've arrived at the scene. With strong, sweeping, and powerful kicks, I manage to push the lizards away from me, gently lift her body by the hips, and sprint away as fast as I can.
The girl in my arms is bleeding heavily and making only slow, faint wheezing noises. It seems this girl is as weak as her body suggests. She is extremely light in my arms and has most likely eaten little, if not nothing, for a very, very long time.
"Hello? Can you hear me? What's your name? Can you speak?" I call out over and over again, only to be met with incomprehensible gibbering and sounds of pain.
I left the leaf lizards behind long ago. Those things aren't particularly fast, and it was easy for me to escape them while they probably headed back into the forest.
The only problem right now is the bleeding person in my arms. I'm not a medical professional, so I can't determine how badly they are injured. But I know that in cases like this, you always have to assume the worst-case scenario. That's what my intuition tells me.
I finally recognize the fences of the cow pasture. I'm almost there. I'm getting faster and faster and faster. These are the last few meters, and I can't make the mistake of slowing down here.
As I finally reach the main building, I loudly knock on the door and shout,
"Open the damn door, Tom!"
That's the only way to wake him up. After a minute of waiting, the door eventually opens.
"What is it—Naomi? Why aren't you in your room?" Tom's eyes were wide even though they were sleepier than anything else.
"That doesn't matter now. This human here needs our help," I yell, for some reason, feeling immensely stressed out.
Tom immediately shakes off his tiredness and moves quickly, closing the door behind me and lifting the girl off my arms. He carries her to the dining table and makes space to lift her up there.
"Tom, do you think sh—"
"Be quiet, I need to concentrate now," he says in a strangely serious voice for him. He rushes to various drawers, pulling out what seems to be herbs and differently colored liquids in special-looking bottles.
He puts all of them on the table next to the still heavily breathing and pain-etched girl and examines her wounds for a few seconds before turning back to me.
"Listen, with the medication and potions I currently have, it will be easy to restore the wounds. You do not have to fear anything," he says with a soft, empathic voice, as if he would assume that I had built up an emotional relationship with this girl.
However, it would be foolish of me not to recognize the glimmer in his eyes.
He is definitely pissed at me.
"You should go to bed now," he continues. "There is nothing you can do anymore, and you need rest for tomorrow."
My eyebrow raises a bit.
"Tomorrow?"
He nods, his voice and gaze dry as always, as if this conversation were way more important than the bleeding girl behind him.
Well, it seems that he is very confident in his medicine, which is why he can allow himself such a thing.
"Yes, tomorrow. From now on, you will be the one responsible for the Karabols," he says.
Before I can complain, he already turns back to the girl, making it clear that this is not a matter for discussion.
I let out a deep sigh and walk back up the stairs.
Once I am back in my room, I close the window that I had left open and plop myself back on the bed.
This was, for sure, an eventful day.
Well, now that I think about it, it was even one of the most eventful days I've ever experienced in my life.