"I've heard about this place," Caina said as they grew closer to Liora's house. Her eyes wandering over the ocean of golden wheat. "Isn't it owned by the Rostrea's?" Caina tilted her head to Noah and asked.
"Yeah. They do," for now. "You know them?" he returned with his own question.
Caina shrugged and said, "not really. I've just heard that they were an old family and owned a large part of the region. Not very well liked from what I heard."
Noah frowned, "what do you mean?"
"Nothing much really. Apparently the owner, Harv, refused to let anyone who wasn't a part of his family work in the fields even refusing to let anyone hunt or gather in the forest. People are just waiting for the king to take this place back sometime so they can go spelunking in the depths." Caina nodded her head into the distance where a thick wall of large deciduous trees. "Hear there's some valuable things in there, some rare stuff even." Caina snorted derisively "next thing you know people are hunting dragons and taking their scales. Idiots."
Noah lifted his head following Caina's gaze, if there's something valuable in there, something that could help Liora. Maybe he could find it for her.
"You don't sound like you believe them."
"Ha!" Caina threw her head back, "Course I don't, everyone treats the place like its some untapped well. You saw all those men back in the tavern?"
Noah nodded.
"Yeah? Well those guys are all here waiting for this place to become free game."
"Why don't they just come now? Why wait so long?" it wasn't as if there were any guards stopping them.
"Rumours and legends mostly. Uncle said the Rostrea's are a family that made some demonic deal with some demon. So long as there's a Rostrea alive and the farm is under their name, the demon will get rid of any trespassers. Load of superstitious crap if you ask me. Ain't no one seen a demon in hundreds of years. Not a chance there's one out here in the middle of nowhere."
'Demons, great.'
"And they believe that?"
"Fuck no. But none of them want to risk it if there is one." Caina rolled her shoulder to get her bag into a comfier position. "That being said, there was one lad who thought himself brave and wanted to get some extra buckles for his sickly ma. Barely got halfway into the village forest before scuttling back to his ma with piss in his pants and a new scar on his face from running into a branch he thought was a werewolf's claw." Caina unabashedly began to chuckle at the boys expense.
"There's also the issue of the land being private ground," her laughter died down. "so, anything found out here that ain't collected by a Rostrea is stolen goods. Trying to sell it is like asking to have your head laid on a slab just waiting to roll."
As much as he agreed stealing stuff from the forests was bad, but execution? That seemed a little far. Especially when proving something from a forest was from that specific part of the forest would be a mission in its own right.
By now they had come to the fence surrounding Liora's house, its gate still hanging off its hinges and squeaked when Noah pushed it open, stepping out of Caina's way to let her pass him by before shutting it behind her.
"That's a lot of bottles," Caina looked to the pile of bottles besides the gate, bending down to pick one of the bottles up. Noah's eyes unconsciously travelling down to her bottom where her dress outlined her butt, even going so far as to outline her actual crack. "Algenian blue, from the…" she flipped the bottle around, "Night era," she whistled as if impressed, "nice." She tossed it back onto the pile to continue her walk to the front door. Giving the two story, near manor sized building an impressed whistle like she had the wine.
"So, you gonna let me in?" She turned back to Noah who was already walking past her.
"One second," he gripped the handle and twisted, hearing a soft click as the door slowly began to open with him entering after it, Caina just behind him, curiously looking around the insides of the hall only to find herself disappointed by how barren it looked.
"Liora's upstairs," Noah said shutting the door behind him. Placing his left hand on it to bolster himself while lifting his legs one by one to sweep the dirt off the bottom of his feet with about as good a cleaning as he could without bathing himself.
"Right," Caina just snorted, not waiting for him as she began to ascend the staircase. A serious expression forming when she noticed several dried splotches of red on the stairs themselves and even the landing of the second floor. "You never said what her injury actually was, I know it's a cut, but where is it?"
Noah hesitated but quickly followed after Caina stopping just in front of her and causing her to stop her walking herself, "listen, I know I asked you to come out here. But I do have a small request. When you head back to the village, please don't tell anyone about Liora's condition. If what you said about people waiting to raid the forests is true, then its just a matter of time before they come to the house and try something."
Caina's eyes turned to slits, "I may not be that tight a lipped person. But I don't just go around chanting about what I do every day."
Noah sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Didn't mean to insinuate anything. Its just, Liora, she tried to take her life and cut her arm open. I just don't want to worry that anyone may try to break in here thinking they could get a payday."
Caina's lips fell open a small, "Oh," escaping her while her expression soured, "then you don't need to worry about them. I can promise you I won't say anything. Now I am to assume this Liora is in the room behind you?"
That question was quickly answered not by Noah but by his name, "Noah… Is that you?" a noticeable tremble to Liora's voice muffled by the door. She sounded weak, weaker than this morning.
Noah turned on a dime and charged the door at hearing her voice so weak. Practically tearing the dilapidated door from its hinge. "Yeah, yeah, it's me," the room was in much the same condition its was before. But the person he had laid down in the bed, hers was much worse. Sweat trickled down her forehead and her skin grew a sickly pale. Worse still he could see a bright red splotch on the right side of her blanket.
A weak smile took to Liora's tired face—more tired than even Noahs—when she saw him, "it's a little cold… isn't it?" she giggled in delirium. "Sorry… I'll stoke the fire in a bit…"
'Oh that's not good.' His own internal monologue sounded hoarse even to himself.
Before he could even rush to Liora's side, Caina had circled him, moving in wide and steady steps. Reaching her hands out to tear the blanket from Liora's body. Her eyes twitching when she saw the true unfiltered sight of Liora laying atop a crimson bedsheet, her entire right arm dyed the same colour that even stuck to the side of her naked body.
"Jesus," Noah muttered at the sight.
"I need to stop the bleeding…" Caina muttered to herself falling to one knee and taking Liora's wrapped right arm in her hand, frowning at how the makeshift bandage was untied at one end and had come loose. Noah could see annoyance in her eyes at the sight of it, likely from the poor worksmanship but she said nothing, only beginning to unwrap the bloodied bandage to get a better look at the full extent of the wound that ran down the entirety of her forearm.
"No corpse growths, but…" Caina shot her head in Noah's direction, "I thought you said it wasn't deep, I can practically see the bone." While she berated him she brought a hand to her satchel, throwing the flap open and began to ruffle through it, soon bringing out a small glass vial filled with a yellowish white fluid in it.
"It wasn't! It must have opened while I was gone!" he reasoned, his eyes noticing another splotch of red not with the others, one on her left hand, on the tips of her fingers and beneath her nails. "Fuck. She was scratching." He had dealt with enough injuries in the past to know just how bad scratching a wound, especially one as untreated as Liora's was, was.
"Doesn't matter if she was scratching it or not. It's still deep." Caina hmphed focusing back on Liora. "I need you to hold her arm steady for me. Make sure she doesn't try to close it."
Noah didn't even bother hesitating as he dropped to his knees, taking Liora's arm from Caina.
"Mmm… your so warm Noah… hehee," Liora giggled to herself with flickering eyes threatening to roll into the back of her skull.
"I know I am. So just keep those eyes open for me, okay?"
"Heehee… no promises… I'm sleepy…"
Noah's teeth chattered rapidly; she was not in a good place. "Can you hurry it up. Please?" he shot his gaze back to Caina, just seeing her bite down on the wooden cork of the vial, popping it of with a single jerk of her hand. Spitting the cork to the side before pouring the yellowish fluid directly into the open wound, starting at her elbow and working down to her wrist. Slightly pulling apart the two sides of the open wound to let the liquid properly fill the bleeding gap.
It didn't take long for Noah to notice the viscous liquid seeming to evaporate and disappear into Liora's wound forming a strange white film over the opened to the air muscle fibres. "That will staunch the blood for a few minutes." Caina placed a bloodied hand on her chin and cracked her neck in both ways. Grunting at the sudden relief she got from doing it.
"Now for the annoying part. You can let her go. But I need you to hold her down. This part's going to hurt," Caina's hand returned to her pouch to pull out a small silver container she twisted open to reveal a bright red balm inside, already showing use from the various strokes going through it. Bringing her Middle and index through the crimson balm, she turned her eyes to him, "like, a lot. Just make sure she doesn't bite her tongue off."
He didn't like the idea of Liora going through pain after what happened to her. Giving her more just seemed like a terrible idea. "Do you have anything to lessen the pain?"
"No. Now hold her down." Noah's cheek twitched. He didn't have much choice but to listen to the professional. And so he released her arm and raised to his feet, placing a knee atop the bed while leaning over her, his arms on her shoulders.
"Nnn…" Liora's deathly face bobbed side to side before locking on Noah's face, "you make me fuzzy inside… hahaa~" she giggled goofily, saying things she wasn't thinking about. "do my boobies look old?"
"I hope she doesn't remember any of this." He muttered with a slight blush to his cheeks.
"Trust me, her deliriums going to be the last thing she remembers after this." Caina brought her balmed finger to the top of Liora's wound, pausing just above it, "make sure she doesn't move too much. I don't want to do any more damage than I have to."
"What do you mean, do more da-" Caina pressed her fingers into the top of the gash, pressing the balm against the sides of it.
"AHHH!" Liora screamed, her eyes bolting open while she began to struggle beneath Noah. Her legs kicking and her arms struggling against their restraints of Caina holding her right hand and Noah pressing her other down.
"STOP IT! STOP IIIIIIT!" Her lungs shot words out, her eyes growing bloodshot as tears poured freely. "IT HURTS IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP IT!" Noah could only grit his teeth while Caina continued stroking her finger up and down the length of the gash, the balm seeping into the muscles of her arm
"It's okay, Liora, look at me," she didn't hear him, her screams of agony drowning him out. "She's nearly done. You're nearly done aren't you?" he turned to whisper to Caina.
"With the first layer? Yes. Still have another two to go."
Two layers of screaming.
'Hold on Liora. You'll be alright.'
He hoped.