"Do we have even time to do so? This thing will only be gone for so long before it's back for revenge."
Leon said in ache, wincing from pain as Sophia broke away the majority of the stick.
"Shut up and let us work. Mikael, come help me out." she ordered, giving him a clean piece of cloth.
"Press this onto here" pointing at the big wound on his stomach.
"We have to stop the bleeding. Otherwise he will be cold before even reaching the outskirts."
They were around a days worth of travel from the village, Leon having already lost so much blood it was a miracle he could still speak. His skin was white, the part Mikael touched as he pressed on the wound cold, lacking any distinguish warmth.
'Will he make it?' he wondered. The wounds they saw were already grievous, and not to mention possible internal ones.
Sophia finished bandaging Leon up, half his body covered, standing on shaking legs with part of the stick still embedded in his arm.
"Shouldn't we remove the stick?" Mikael asked worried.
She denied. "We don't know if his artery got damaged. If so, solely this object prevents him from bleeding out."
Leon sweated bullets as he used Mikael's shoulder to support himself, his other arm limply hanging down. He shuddered from cold, pain and exhaustion.
"Take some of this, it should help with the pain." he held out a mushroom they recently gathered.
"More effective would it function as a ointment, but we don't have this luxury. Chew on it, but don't swallow. I have no healing or energizing potion. These are not in my range of abilities." he lowered his head, sorry to not be of more help.
'Energizing?' Mikael felt he might just have a useful tincture. He hastily began fiddling with his bag, unwrapping the vial he got what felt like months ago from Didi.
"Bjorn, does this might help him?"he handed it over carefully, and after two winks his eyes grew wide, walking up to Leon, basically rippong out the mushroom he had between his teeth and shoved the vial in his throat.
"Perfect Mikael, say so if you got the good stuff. This may keep him alive long enough till we reach Chrysalis."
Leon couldn't retaliate, accepting the treatment and gulping down the potion.
"And that was?" Sophia looked interested at the vial, the clear clouded substance vanishing in Leon's stomach.
"A alchemical product from a rare plant soaked in a special solution. When the effect recede, he will feel weakened, but now it should help him walking on his own."
And true, half a minute later Leon's legs stopped shaking, his eyes gained clarity.
"I feel like I could wrestle with a bull." he said.
"Don't, we need to escape, or you can try to go after that monster if you feel like it." Sophia reminded him.
Now again together and back on feet, they began walking back in haste, ignoring stick and stones, their protesting lungs as they already moved for hours. Some of Sophia's cuts reopened, and new ones got added, making her bleeding a bit all over her neck, face and chest.
Mikael feared no better, his small body albeit robust not quite accustomed to these situations, so he and Bjorn who also rarely ventured for extended periods breathed heavily, the muscles hurting all over. Mikael also got some bruises and he suspected a cracked rib, but compared to Leon that was endurable, so he remained quiet.
Leon instead kept up with no problem, other than his bandages stained red not much blood flowed out, not even the stick in his arm bothered him much, despite he couldn't lift it up.
They passed their cave, quickly collecting all things that they left there.
On Bjorns pressing to leave them, returning in a bigger party he got the answer:" If the monster follows our trail and finds things here with our scent, it may keep it. You didn't saw it fight, but it had more intelligence than normal beasts, even if it's instincts got the better of it. Should it hide and bear a grudge, picks up our scent again, our days are counted. It takes only a minute or two, so stop jabbering and spray around some of your mixture. The one you used on the Kobold bodies."
That done, they got after hours of fast walking and jogging into the clearer area of the woods again, some of the remaining light broke through the tree tops and the ground got much more even.
They ran on fumes as Leon first broke through the last tree, the night already decended and some torches illuminated the village entrance.
"We are back, still living and kick..." he fell forwards, the sudden relief of safety and prospect of a warm bed made his residing adrenalin vanish. Sophia made no move to catch him, not that she would've the energy to hold him either.
Face down in the earth, Leon laid there, the potions effect subsided and all the fatigue accumulated.
"Grab him, fast! " Bjorn said, coughing and catching his breath.
"The potion made his muscles tense up. Now that they loosen up, not only can't he stand properly, but his wounds will bleed again!"
Mikael didn't even began to complain or ask questions, simply grabbing the feet while Sophia held him under the armpits.
As Leon got carried back, his face warped into a pained expression, before he seemed to fall unconscious.
Walking fast while carrying someone was quite hard, even more as Mikael's height differed somewhat from Sophias.
Bjorn ran already ahead to the village.
"Do you know Jenny, the healer?" Mikael asked beforehand, and upon a positive answer he send Bjorn to wake her up as Leon needed treatment, fast.
They arrived by the guard on duty, which also got already informed, merely winking them through.
He had also prepared a litter.
"Not uncommon some Adventurer come back injured and need to be carried. Take it, but return it tomorrow."
They made their way towards Jenny's store, Bjorn already waiting anxious while Jenny prepared some ointments and clean bandages.
"Straight down the hall, you know where." she simply said, examining Leon's wounds in a moment before sending them in her practice room.
Sophia then laid him on the stretcher, Mikael couldn't lift Leon so he choose to undress the body fully.
His beat up figure, pale skin and punctured arm made him look like he climbed out from a grave, his weak breathing the only sign he was still alive.
Shortly after Jenny walked in, laid down her preparations and began with her usual approach. Hands on the stomach, Leon's breathing got faster, pained moans escaping through his clenched teeth. He hadn't quite woken up, but neither was he fully unconscious.
"Next I need someone to take out the stick. Mikael?" She asked, as he already did something similar not long ago.
This was also over fast, and no major artery was damaged, so she quickly closed the wound after cleaning it with some alcohol and water.
The bleeding subsided, only the red skin and scars left behind.
"He has lost a lot of blood. I have a potion that stimulates his bodies production rate, but if he can hold on long enough is uncertain."
"Just give it to him. He's resilient enough to fight wounded and keep going for so long. Would be a shame to let him die here." Sophia said while yawning, pinching her nose bridge.
"We still have to report back to the Guild, as soon as possible." Bjorn urged, the fear from the beast still etched into his bones.
"Give us a moment. We are all deadly tired, sitting down a second and maybe eating something would help greatly." Mikael responded, also sliding down the wooden wall, resting his sore arms on his knees.
"I still have some bread and sausages in my cupboard, serve yourselves." she mentioned as she begann taking out her ointments, smearing them on the scars and not fully closed wounds. A bunch of bandages also laid there ready, and she seemed to have everything under control.
They did so, eating a dry meal to get something in their empty stomach, as well to calm down.
After they made barely any smalltalk and ate in silence for 15 minutes, they were thrown out by Jenny.
"Your friend is in no immediate danger, other than he has lost blood. But he won't wake up, most likely because of the potion you fed him. For tonight at least he won't be able to report. And now go, I need rest. Have other things to do in the morning."
Jenny began to take the lead as they walked towards the Guild.
"I just want to get into my bed! We are up for far too long, and were fighting that beast. I don't wanna." she wailed, the other two also walking behind sluggishly.
"By the way, how much do you raise the quest reward?"
Her question was directed at Bjorn, who was in the first place their employer.
"I take the part as I prolonged our stay in the forest, in addition the change of the mission rank. I couldn't do anything about that monster, but I'm sure the Guild will reward you handsomely."
"How much do you think we get?" Mikael wondered. Now that the dangers are passed, he again felt the weight of his meager pouch.
Her mood lifted a bit. She had a mischievous smile on her face as she said:" If we say what kind of potions, weapons and equipment we lost, exaggerate it a bit, I'm sure we won't get under 10 gold per person, maybe even 15 for the information. And then there are the teeth and ears we collected."
Mikael his mood also got a bit lifted when hearing this number.
'For so much money I can enhance my equipment, get better gear and maybe some additional weapon. Maybe I should also stock up on some potions. They saved Leon's ass today.'
They walked inside the big Guild building, the ground floor not as crowded as usual. But they drew quite a few gazes, which they first noticed when a hunter yelled:" You look like after a slaughter in a Goblin den, what happened?!"
Mikael wanted to answer back, but Sophia cut it short:" Kobold lair, bunch of Goblins and escaped barely a monster. Now shut it before I stuff it."
They walked to the first floor, where they wanted to get over the completion of their mission first.
"Hello, my name is Bjorn, posted the escort and guarding mission for wood rank." he handed the employer a emblem similar to the one Mikael gets, but the shape was different as well the material.
After talking some more about the changed conditions, they were shortly called to receive their pay.