The Rules of Blood

Volume Two ; Chapter 112 (328) - No Time to Die

The Mark of the Human that stood white for a long time above Blanc’s heart now turned a light shade of grey as he opened his eyes.

Strength surged from within him.

His wounds he received from Ali were now healed or scarred.

There was not much he saw when he was harvesting, either. No information, just the battle, and how much Ali lacked any form of regret for what he was doing.

And just like him, Blanc shattered any bond he had with him as he got up to his feet, leaving his body behind and walking towards the women surrounding Lendros.

“How is he?” Blanc asked, approaching in a hurry.

“Barely alive,” Sera muttered.

Blanc nodded, rushing to his bag.

[Translated from Iskahese.]

“Do not close your eyes, Lendros, I order you,” Velakia muttered, tears forming in her eyes.

“Think of your wife and daughter,” Tahreni muttered, grabbing his hand, “What will they do without you?”

But Lendros could only gasp for air, dry blood staining the corners of his lips.

His different-colored eyes looked at the two.

One of his eyes was a light blue. While the other, a deep black.

It was under the moonlight above that Blanc noticed their beauty for the first time.

A bit too late, perhaps.

But as Velakia and Tahreni kept talking to him, as Sera tried to clean whatever blood passed the javelin, Blanc rushed to Silvia.

He reached deep into his bag, pulled the potion box he still had, and grabbed an entire bottle.

He prayed that the knowledge of the old alchemist lady he killed would come in handy again now, as it did back at the cave.

With that prayer in mind, he rushed back towards Lendros.

“Make way,” he said to Tahreni and Velakia, “We need to treat him quickly, otherwise he will die.”

“He will not die,” Tahreni clenched her jaw, but moved aside all the same.

“C-can you treat him?” Velakia sniffed, barely able to contain her tears.

“I promise I will try,” Blanc replied, kneeling down next to Velakia and Tahreni, “But if the javelin struck a vital organ…”

“Do what you can, please,” Velakia muttered.

Blanc nodded before starting to look at Lendros’s wound.

After trying to imagine what the javelin could have struck inside of him, he began speaking.

“We need to turn him on his side, see how deep the javelin went through. Someone grab him by the shoulders, and I will grab his legs. We first raise him up to detach the javelin from the ground, then we place him down on his side.”

Velakia nodded, placing her hands under his shoulders.

Blanc moved in place as well, and with a quick, “One, two, three…” they raised Lendros’s body.

“Aghh,” Lendros groaned in pain, his earlier state now replaced by pain and panic.

But as they freed the javelin from the ground, Blanc nodded, and slowly turned him to the side and crouched, placing him slowly back on the ground.

“Now, we need to remove the javelin from him as quickly and as safely as we can. Tahreni, can you snap the wooden part of the javelin without moving it too much?” Blanc continued, without wasting any time.

“I can, but won’t that kill-”

“It will either way,” Blanc shook his head, “But we cannot leave it inside him.”

“I’ll do it then,” Tahreni nodded.

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“Okay, so you snap it quickly, then, with this, you press down hard upon the wound,” Blanc explained, throwing one of his clean shirts at her, before turning to Velakia, “Once Tahreni snaps the javelin in half, you pull out the javelin, and put pressure on the wound with this.”

With another shirt gone and instructions given, he then turned to Sera.

“Sister, we will now remove the javelin,” Blanc began explaining, giving her the potion.“When we do, he will scream. But the moment he opens his mouth, pour half of this down his throat, then give me the rest, okay?”

Sera took the potion in her hand and nodded along, “Good luck, little brother.”

Blanc sighed, crouching down between Lendros’s legs.

“Ready?” he asked the three women.

All nodded along.

He closed his eyes, imagining the inner abdominal wall.

The javelin was pretty close to the liver; if it didn’t strike it, that would be a blessing of the Vita Herself, but if it did, Blanc feared that no potion would be enough.

Still, his intestines were surely damaged.

He could only pray the treatment would work.

But with a sharp exhale, he nodded, “Now.”

Tahreni held the pole of the javelin and, with her free hand and all her might, struck the pole, barely moving the remaining pole inside Lendros.

She moved quickly to press the shirt on his wound.

The moment the shirt touched Lendros’s wound, Velakia pulled the javelin through his back.

“GRAAAAAA-” Lendros began yelling as the wood scraped against his insides, but Sera moved quickly, silencing him by pushing the bottle down into his mouth.

The potion began rushing out, down Lendros’s throat. He gulped it down involuntarily.

But it was enough for Velakia to pull the javelin and start putting pressure on the wound.

Sera removed the bottle from his mouth.

“Here,” she said, offering it to Blanc.

“Thanks,” he took it quickly, looking at how much was left.

First, he had to pour some over the wound on Lendros’s back.

“Move your hand quickly,” Blanc began, “Once I’m done pouring, you put pressure again, okay?”

“Okay,” Velakia nodded.

He placed himself by her side, slowly pushing Lendros’s body further towards Tahreni.

“Now,” he said.

And Velakia, as he instructed, revealed the large wound.

Blanc clicked his tongue, but did not waste any time pouring a quarter of the potion on it.

It started sizzling as the potion touched the wound, but as soon as he took his hand away, Velakia placed hers back.

He then rushed to Tahreni’s side, who already saw what the next step was, so she acted accordingly when Blanc sat beside her.

They pushed Lendros’s body gently towards Velakia’s side, and with a nod from Blanc, she revealed the wound on her side.

Blanc narrowed his eyes in sadness, but began pouring the remaining potion on the wound.

By the time Tahreni began putting pressure on the wound, Lendros had already fainted from the pain while the potion was slowly having its effects.

Blanc exhaled, somewhat relieved that he was able to administer the potion, but now it was all about patience and hope that Lendros’s body and spirit would prevail over the gravity of his wounds.

“Sera, bring water for Lendros,” Blanc began. “Velakia, you and Tahreni keep putting pressure. If you get tired, let me know, and we will change places, okay?”

“Thank you, my dear,” Velakia nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek as she looked at the fainted Lendros.

Blanc rose to his feet, exhausted mentally from the treatment, battle, and all that had happened before.

He closed his eyes to say a prayer.

But when he did, vibrations came from the ground.

He cursed, but focused everything he had on his hearing, hoping it was his tired mind playing games. But it wasn’t.

The clanking of armor. The silent whispers of men.

Lizards snarling. Horses neighing.

An army. A large one.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Blanc muttered, opening his eyes, “We have to move, more are coming.”

“What?” Velakia’s eyes teared again, “No, no, no, no, not now.”

“They are not far,” Blanc replied sadly, but soon started giving orders, “Sera, take either Tahreni or Velakia on Siliva, ride out as fast as you can. I will carry Lendros.”

Sera nodded, rushing to Silvia.

“Blanc…” Velakia muttered, “He will not survive.”

“I promise I will do what I can to keep him alive, now go,” Blanc replied.

“No, I will run alongside you,” Velakia shook her head, before turning to Tahreni, “Te du muca la peca.”

“Velakia…” Tahreni muttered.

“Muca, Tahreni,” Velakia ordered.

And Tahreni had no choice but to do as she was told, running towards Sera and Silvia.

Blanc took the shirt Tahreni left behind, tying it around Lendros’s wounds before crouching down.

“Come on, buddy,” Blanc groaned, grabbing the still-fainted Lendros, one hand holding his neck, while using the other hand to put pressure on the one on his back, leaving the one on his stomach only tied with the shirt.

He could only hope it was enough.

“We need to move now, ” he said towards Velakia, while he was getting adjusted to carrying Lendros.

“Please, Blanc, do not let him die,” Velakia placed a hand on his cheek.

The vibrations were getting closer.

“It all depends upon him,” Blanc sighed. “I’ve done all I can. Now I’ll carry him until we either find out the answer or get to the boat.”

“Thank you,” Velakia muttered through tears, but still managed to lock lips with Blanc.

Blanc smiled sadly but looked at all four of his companions, “May the Vita be with all of you.”

With a nod from everybody except Lendros, Blanc sighed, looking towards the road.

“Now go.”

And with that, they began running off again as fast as they could.

As there was no time to waste.

No time to heal. And no time to die.