Illyria knelt beside Crown Prince Akazan of House Tarakon, shivering as the icy mountain cut through her thin coat, and let out a long breath. He looked to be a few winters older than she was, with dark hair like his younger brother, but his hair was unruly and cut short so it fell across his forehead, almost in his eyes. The only thing marring his perfection was the jagged scar that stretched from his temple to his jaw on the left side of his face, but even that seemed to give him a rugged handsomeness that his brother lacked. Then she turned her attention to the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his chest and she took a deep breath, looking at him with a sigh. Wounds covered with this many bloody bandages were never a good sign and she hesitantly started peeling them away. She swallowed hard as she revealed the three oozing bloody wounds that raked from his shoulder to his opposite hip. The three men looked at her with curiosity as she took a bottle of liquor and poured it into a bowl and dipped her hands into it.
"what are you doing?" one of the healers asked curiously and she frowned at the man as she realized he was pointing to the bowl of spirits.
"sanitizing my hands so I lower the chance of infection. This alcohol in the spirits kills the creatures which cause the infection" she explained simply as she dipped a clean rag into the bowl and began dabbing at the oozing wounds across the Prince's chest. He groaned a little in his unconsciousness and the healers just stared at her in confusion.
"I am cleaning the wound before I make up the salves needed to counteract the wyvern venom" she stated as if she were talking to a novice and Verix stepped forward as he asked, "Why aren't you using magic to heal him? Why bother with all of this?"
The woman just stared at him flatly for a long moment before she took a deep breath and calmly answered, "You obviously know nothing about wyvern poison. Wyvern poison cannot be healed with magic it must be counteracted with medicinal herbs that are very hard to procure. There is no point in giving him said herbs is an infection is going to kill him before they can neutralize the poison enough I can even begin using my magic to mend his wounds."
The group of men just stared at her in silence for several seconds before Verix looked at his feet and walked out of the tent. She hadn't meant to embarrass him, but she didn't have time to deal with constant questioning and making an example of him seemed the easiest way to end the distractions. She had work to do and having novices badgering her with stupid questions would only distract her from what needed to be done and she couldn't risk that. There was a man's life at stake.
"Now if you are done questioning me, I need a large pot of boiling water, several sterilized bowls and more light" she declared as she continued to wash the man's bloody wounds with alcohol and the men scampered off to do her bidding. Illyria couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief as she found herself alone in the silent dimly lit tent. Now that all of the bumbling fools were gone she could focus on her work. Being surrounded by such incompetence made her long for her fellow Kaldari healers because the monumental task before her would have been easier to bare with help from some of her sisters or even some of their novices. The men here were practically barbarians when it came to the art of healing.
"My lady, I apologize for not being here to greet you earlier" a voice announced softly and she looked up to see a grey haired man with a smile before her.
"Who are you?" she sighed in obvious annoyance and the man chuckled, "I am Royal healer Telian. I promise to stay out of your way as much as possible and not badger you with questions."
"I am Illyria Winters" she answered softly as she dropped the rag into the bowl and blushed as her stomach growled loud enough for Telian to hear.
"I will procure you something edible to keep your strength up" Telian mused as he disappeared from view before she could refuse him and she gaped after him.
When the healers returned with Star stones, stones imbued with magic so they shone as brightly as any torch without the danger of fire, the tent was filled with light. A few minutes later Verix and another man dreged in a large cauldron of bubbling water that billowed steam in the icy night air. She scowled in annoyance as the men just started as her as she started pulling glass jars from her pack and tried to ignore them.
"What are you using?" Verix asked nervously as he looked at his feet like a scolded novice and Illyria smirked.
"I guess it would be good for you to know what I am doing for the future so I don't have to take anymore awful dragon flights over the mountains" she mused as she laid out the jars on the ground in front of her and smiled.
"The first ingredient is the most difficult to get because of where it grows. Carrowen bark. It only grows in the wyvern boneyards and we pay a pretty penny for men to procure it for us. It must be ground with yarrow root immediately before use or it will not work" she explaind as she began usind a motar and pestle to combine the first two ingredients and handed it off to Verix as she opened another jar, releasing a noxious smell that made several men in the tent gag and she rolles her eyes. She didn't blame them because the 1st time she had smelled what was in that jar she threw up.
"what the hell is that?" one man gagged as he looked at her suspiciously and she snorted and amusement.
"Zaltari fungus. It only grows on the decomposing bodies of manticores because it needs their venom for nourishment. It is also hard to find and you can only use a very small amount because too much is deadlier than the wyvern venom" she announced as she grabbed a pinch of the power and mixed it in a bowl with hot water before dumping in the first two ingredients. Finally she grabbed the last two jars and grinned at the men before her as she saw their eyes widen in shock as they recognized their contents.
"lastly we have to grind black licorice root with sulfur powder to help stabilize the magic used to activate the salve" she explained as she proceeded to grind the last two ingredients before mixing them in.
"the last step is the most crucial and difficult. you have to imbue the salve with as much energy as you can expend without passing out" she announced and her eyes glowed blue with magic before she closed them. After a few moments she swayed and opened her eyes, looking exhausted.
"the last step is smearing it on the wounds and one of you may do the honors while I eat. The real work begins for me in a couple hours when the poison in neutralized" she announced as she stumbled to her feet and grabbed Telian for support.