Double-checking the area as he ran, Noxtis didn't see any more ratkin attacking the other carriages. Aside from the few that had escaped, the three strongest ratkin were still fighting Elder Gundlach who had been pressuring the three now that the leader had been injured.
Arriving at the scene, Noxtis saw the dragonkin Elder sparing against the three ratkin but wasn't able to see the fiery dragonkin beauty anywhere. Just being close to the battlefield, the smell of charred corpses of several ratkin were strewn across the earth. 'She must've used Blazing Crescent again...such a vicious attack. But she these corpses are still fairly fresh so she must be nearby here somewhere.'
The ratkin leader saw the return of the swordsman child and cursed his useless subordinates to eternal suffering in death. Having suffered from his wounded ankle from before, the ratkin leader was already on the backpaw, and instead of the three of them toying around with the Dragonkin Elder, the infuriating bastard had been stopping them from escaping.
Even though the potion had curbed the pain from the burnt and broken ankle, it still affected his movement and the power of his strikes where they no longer had an advantage. And as strong as his lieutenants were, they were clearly not a match for the incredibly strong Elder. The only reason they had lasted as long as they had was their teamwork and threatening attacks at the carriage behind him.
'Damn him! He didn't tell us that there would be such a strong Crimson Scale Elder in this place. And what is with this damnable dragonkin whelp! To think that whelp single handedly took down so many of my pack.'
Signaling to the rest of his crew that were still alive, the ratkin made their quick escape. Retrieving a small orb from his pouch, the ratkin leader lobbed the orb up high towards the lead carriage. Snorting out a little bit of smoke and flame, Elder Gundlach jumped up high and blasted the small orb away with a gust of hot air. The small orb burst into a large plume of dark debris but did nothing else.
While Elder Gundlach could have chased the ratkin raiders, he decided against it and surveyed the area. Making sure the treacherous ratkin hadn't left any traps or poison in their wake, as well as checking on the merchant disciples and Draco-colts.
While doing his best to help clear out the corpses and gather them into one area, Noxtis greeted the slightly annoyed Elder. "Hello Elder, I'm glad to see that you're not injured. Do you know where Embervesent is? I didn't see her when I came over."
Looking at the several cuts and scratches alongside the arrow wound, Elder Gundlach's impression of the new beastkin grew. 'At least he isn't a coward. Then again I doubt Miss would keep anyone around that was.'
"Don't worry youngling, Embervesent should be nearby. Don't worry about the bodies, I will look over them. I would ask that you go look for her, I must do my duties as an Elder and check on the other disciples."
Bowing slightly, Noxtis gave his due respect despite the pain and fatigue of his first genuine life or death fight against other beastkin. "Of course! My name is Noxtis and I just did what any decent beastkin should do. What kind of beastkin would I be if I were to let these cretins pillage us without any retaliation."
"I'm glad you're the best kind of beastkin. Any beastkin that shies from battle when they have the ability to protect others are not worthy. I shall remember your name, now go and find Miss Embervesent. I'm sure she is awaiting your arrival."
Thanking the Elder, Noxtis walked around the area. At this point, the merchant disciples began to come out once they found out that the battle had ended. Even though they had been residing inside the main carriage, the other merchant disciples came outside of their safe haven.
When the Crimson Scale Merchant Disciples saw the various bodies strewn across the ground, Noxtis was surprised that did not have an overt reaction. While some of the female disciples were a bit grossed out from the smell, none of them recoiled as Noxtis had expected. In fact, Elder Gundlach started to order them to collect the rest of the bodies and sort through anything that they might find useful.
The other Crimson Scale Merchant Disciples were still looking at him with warily. He wasn't sure if they could see what was going on outside of their carriage or not but Noxtis just shrugged and asked a familiar female disciple that he had bumped into earlier for Ember's location.
Noticing the battle damage that the black-eared beastkin had taken, the female disciple bowed and pointed towards the inside of the carriage they came out of. "She is inside. When the fighting had gotten to a safe point, she came to tell us that the battle would be over soon and that she was going to care of her wounds and such. Anyway, my name is Melinda and feel free to come by the Finance District in the Merchant Quarter. I can show you around."
Embarrassed, Noxtis bowed in response and rubbed his head nervously while his twitching ears betrayed his nervousness. "Thank you Miss Melinda, I will certainly visit you in the future."
Entering the carriage, Noxtis quickly found Embervesent's room and due to his nervousness entered in immediately. Walking inside the room, Noxtis froze in place as he saw a very angry and very naked Embervesent sitting on the bedside with a slightly bloodied cloth in her hands.
"Noxtis...do you not know how to knock? Or are you that much of a rogue to waltz on a lady changing?" Covering her exposed bosom, Ember rose her fist and prepared to punch the intruder even with her drained state.
"Oh, sorr..." *thump*
A loud crash sounded out as Noxtis' body collapsed on the ground. Maybe it was after confirming that Ember was safe...alongside perhaps being excited to see her beautiful upper body. Either way, the held-up stress from the intense fighting had all been released at once.
"Noxtis?!" Her earlier annoyance melted away as she ran to pick up the fallen body of her partner. Seeing the disheveled form of his clothing covered in scratches stabs, and slashes, Ember's concern grew.
Ripping off the shirt that was practically falling off already, Ember looked over Noxtis' body to see the many wounds covering his body. While the scratches on his arms and the slight sword cuts weren't too dangerous, the large gash from the spear was still bleeding and the arrowhead still embedded in his shoulder.
Not having the best tools available to her at the moment to pluck out the arrowhead as Noxtis had broken off the shaft a bit too close to the arrowhead, Ember sighed as she looked to her right hand. Focusing, Ember was able to transform her thumb, index, and middle finger into dragon claws and wasting no time at all plunged into Noxtis' shoulder wound and push out the arrowhead as delicately as she could.
*groan*
Despite his groan of pain, Noxtis still was unconscious which was not a good sign for Ember. Taking a roll of white gauze and two herbs out of her spatial ring. Grinding the green and red herbs, Ember combined the two powders into a salve that she applied to Noxtis' wounds. Eliciting slightly less pained groans as the salve worked its charm and started to slow his bleeding, Ember bound the two wounds with the white gauze. Waiting a moment, Ember was glad to see that the gauze wasn't getting too saturated with blood.
Laying Noxtis on the bed, Ember took out another green herb and ground it up to sprinkle lightly over the rest of his wounds.
*Huff* *Huff*
Contrary to her care, Ember noticed Noxtis begin to pant. Believing to have solved most of his outward injuries, Ember frowned and placed her palm on Noxtis' forehead only to feel him burning up. Shocked, Ember threw on the first shirt she could and rushed to her Uncles room. After explaining the situation and the obvious trepidation she was showing, Elder Gundlach went to check on the boy.
After looking clinically at the young beastkin, Elder Gundlach produced a Bluish-Purple herb from his own spatial ring. "He seems to be poisoned, which is not too entirely surprising considering the ratkin are known to cover all their weapons with such concoctions. "
Crushing the blue herb into powder, Elder Gundlach instructed Ember to feed Noxtis the powder with a few gulps of clean water which noticeably alleviated the heated condition of Noxtis. With tears threatening to break out, Ember thanked her Uncle as he exited the room and went over to her partner's side.
"Don't scare me like that stupid...!"
Taking extreme care to not exacerbate any of his injuries, Ember climbed into the bed next to her partner and kissed his cheek. Falling asleep herself, Ember swore to herself to make sure her partner was well equipped with a good set of armor before leaving the city to wherever their journey may take them.