Nieka had noticed the clumsily tied bandage over Takal' one bare arm as soon as she walked in, the other sported chainmail she hadn't realized they wore under their green shirts. Despite the clever field bandage the green material looked black from blood. Other than seeming a bit dazed and weary he appeared to be fine. He wasn't clutching his shoulder or crying in pain so she assumed it was superficial. When she mentioned medicine he seemed curious but cautious. If he didn't look so worried she might have said something along the lines of 'who's asking questions now?'
Instead, she said "Medicine is the science of plants and herbs used to heal the sick and injured. Mind if I take a look at that arm?"
He clutched his arm and continued to stare between her and her basket.
"Do you want it to get infected and rot off?" she asked annoyed at his behavior. He walked over to her and just stood there angling his body so his injured side was to her but didn't lift his arm to aid her. Thinking this odd but invitation enough she stepped forward to untie the knot. The blood on his bandage was still wet, not a good sign. It had been over an hour since the battle. If it hadn't clotted yet it had to be bad, why hadn't he gone for help? Before she could get the first part of the simple square knot untied he pulled away wincing.
She needed to see that wound or he'd likely bleed out despite the bandage slowing it down, but she was never going to touch it if he couldn't standstill. So, trick one: make them think it's not that bad, often you can use their pride in your favor. As carefree as she could make herself sound she said "You're a worse patient than your horse and she's got a cracked hoof." But to herself, she silently scolded 'I should have come here first. I should have checked them out before ever leaving the field. How had I not noticed this before?'
"What do you mean?" Takal asked.
Trick two: distract them. "I mean your horse didn't move or flinch hardly at all when I treated her wounds. It's going to take some time for her to heal. Now let's get you fixed up."
He stepped closer again and this time didn't move when she untied it. When she carefully started to peel the bandage away blood immediately squirted up. She slapped the bandage back on holding it down tightly, not even letting go when he pulled away in pain. Warmblood coated her fingers.
Looking at his arm to avoid his eyes she said "It's not that bad." She couldn't lie to herself; she knew all too well, but the truth wouldn't help here. It was bad enough to lose the arm, or too much blood... but as sure as the sun rises each day she was going to do her best to lie to him.
"Yeah right," Takal muttered sarcastically.
Determined she looked him in the eye and squared her shoulders. "It's nothing I can't fix. Let's just move into the bathroom so we don't get any more blood on the carpet." As they started moving together she called over her shoulder to Torn "Can you grab my basket and bring it to me?"
"How long will it take for Shadow to heal, and how soon can she ride out of here?" Takal asked.
"Climb in and sit." She said nodding to the tub, her hands still firmly holding his arm. The tub was wet but had been emptied. When he complied she added "I'm not a horse healer but I'd guess a few weeks for the scrapes, and since she can't put weight on her injured hoof, she should stay here until she can. Then I'd hold off on riding her for at least another week or two and take it easy on her for a while. The stableman might know more." She offered.
Turning to Torn she said, "I need you to hold the bandage here, like this, and press here, with your thumb." She said and demonstrated making Takal wince. When Torn complied she grabbed some supplies from her basket. Taking a leather strap she tied it tight just under Takal' shoulder and just above the current bandage. Takal grunted in pain. Then she Tied a stick to the top knot and Twisted it twice before securing it with a smaller strip of leather. There was more groaning so she handed him a bottle of Spirit and ordered "Suck it up."
Takal gave her a glare that said he did not find her pun at all humorous, but Torn laughed until the glare landed on him next.
"Thanks Torn. I've got it from here, go enjoy your stew." Nieka said dismissing him.
There were no complaints from Torn and when he was gone Takal finally took a swig of spirits as she peeled off the bandage to get her first good look at the wound. It was Bad, Very bad. How had she not noticed this?
There were four deep cuts about four inches long the skin torn at the top of two… wait no the direction seemed off. She carefully moved his arm up, she'd been looking at it upside down. His arm had been up in a defensive position when the demon scratched him. This would help her search for derbies but first, she'd have to clean it; she couldn't make much out with all the blood.
Taking a bucket of the warming water she poured it over his arm. She could hear Takal suppress a grown and the swish of the spirit as he gulped a little more. His muscles clenched moving the torn strips in his arm in unnatural ways.
Taking out some long tweezers she began to pull out bits of torn cloth and grass that had found their way into the wound. She even found a few twisted links of metal that had been severed from his chainmail. Finding a hard black lump, she inspected it further to find discolored flesh on the wider flat part then it narrowed and she had to rinse away more blood to see it properly.
It was embedded into the bone; a large black claw. Carefully grabbing the foreign object with her fingers for a better grip she warned "Take another sip." With the bottle to his lips, she quickly ripped it out. He gave a silent scream and a big intake of breath, but when she showed him the claw he passed out, his other arm crashed to the floor with a thump and clatter of an arm, chain mail, and glass bottle that luckily didn't break, or spill before she could save it.
"Everything okay in there?" Torn called from the other room having heard the commotion.
"Yep, everything's going well" she called back, thinking it will probably be a lot easier on both of us now. After repositioning his arm she flushed it out with the spirit, yep defiantly a good thing he was out cold. She lifted and moved the loose bits of torn flesh to wash under and around them, her fingers sliding under the muscles to flush everything out.
After that, she cut away some of the jagged edges of skin so she could better see the muscle underneath, and would be easier to stitch later. Then with some spirit-soaked horsehair and the help of her tweezers she began the long tedious task of stitching up the muscle.
There were a few times when pulling the muscles together the string would cut through the meat where she was working or in one of the parallel cuts to the side where the muscle was being pulled in two directions. When that happened she'd have to rinse away the blood that continued to ooze up so she could see what she was fixing.