No matter how aggravated she got over her own circumstances, she couldn't let that affect how she spoke to the girl. As bad as Beth's situation was, it was no where near as bad as this girl's. If nothing else, the safety of her home was shattered. Even if no one else died from this attack, that peace would still be gone and if it ever did return, it wouldn't ever be the same again. Then there's the problem that her mother had been killed, which Beth couldn't be sure if that would create its own kind of trauma for the girl.
As Beth looked around to see if any of the bandits had noticed them in the open like this, she couldn't help but chuckle as she thought about how a therapist could probably make a killing by setting up shop in this village. At least for those who survived this attack.
When she was confident that she had herself under control again, she turned back to the girl. "I can't help her if you don't tell me where she is," Beth pressed when the girl didn't say anything.
The girl sighed before turning back to Beth. "My sister's at my house. My mother said that she was alive, but she wouldn't be able to protect me and carry here with just one arm," the girl said, her face losing some of the fear that it had held when Beth first arrived.
"Okay, would you show me to your house?" Beth asked. If the girl didn't show Beth, then she knew she'd be lucky to find it before this whole attack was over. One way or another, she knew she'd need to get the girl's cooperation for this.
The girl looked at Beth as if she wasn't able to understand the question right now. "Alright," the girl replied after a couple minutes, her eyes starting to dry a little. "It's this way."
Beth started following the girl, worrying that whatever reason that the girl's sister was down could be due to her sister dying. Which Beth didn't want to suggest to the girl. She had a feeling that it would be a bad idea to mention to the the girl, so she didn't bother mention ing it In the first place. She hoped that wasn't the case, but she didn't want to get in the habit of disregarding reality just because she'd rather the other option as truth.
The girl led Beth, either not noticing the raptor or ignoring it completely, which Beth had follow them, although, she didn't hold anything to make anyone who might see them think that she had it under her control.
As they moved through the village, stopping here and there to look around a corner to see if there were any bandits present, Beth couldn't help but notice how many of the villagers had been killed. She wasn't sure if this was a mere byproduct of the attack or part of the plan for the attack.
The only consolation she was willing to take from what she could see was that the fighting had moved on and was at this location anymore. Which Beth hoped that meant they weren't likely to encounter a bandit or anything as they made their way to the girl's sister.
Eventually they reached a house and the girl went right in without hesitating. Beth sighed as she followed, hoping this wasn't a bad idea for her. Even though she probably should have considered what she might have to deal with if the girl's sister was awake, she didn't have time to consider what to do now if that was the case.
As Beth's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting inside the house, she could see a hole in the floor, caused by the floorboards having been lifted up, revealing a bit of a hiding place under the house. Laying next to the hole was the girl's sister, who looked like she was conscious, but Beth could tell she wished she wasn't.
The girl then turned to Beth. "You said you'd help her, right?"
Beth sighed, knowing she had essentially said that. Not that she really cared to. Mostly because she really didn't want to have anything to do with the girl's sister. However, how she felt about the girl's sister, didn't change the fact that she needed help. While Beth preferred thinking of the girl's sister as a 'girl' herself, Beth felt that she had to admit that she really was a young woman.
"I'll do what I can," Beth promised as she looked at the raptor and jerked her head, motioning for it to wait outside. Then as the raptor left the house, Beth turned back to the young woman and put her hands on her, not bothering to check her vitals, since she could see that she's alive and using her magic to scan her body would give her the information she'd be able to get by checking her vitals anyway, as well as some other information she'd want as well.
When she finished the scan, which she would readily admit wasn't as good as Amelia's would have been, she sat on her heels and thought about what next to do. The young woman had a deep cut, that pierced her from her back to her front, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the fact that the hole going through her also cut a little into her lung. It wasn't deep, but Beth could tell it wasn't good.
Given the young woman hadn't moved around a lot certainly helped, but that didn't mean that she'd be able to live long if it was left like that. However, she wasn't sure if the young woman would survive if Beth didn't do anything right then. Maybe she would live a while longer like that, but she wasn't going to take chances on that. So, she pulled on her magic, using it to force her lung to heal, which was the most critical part, but trying to hold back some so she didn't wear herself out doing so. When she finished, the young woman's breathing was easier, even though she didn't look like she'd become coherent yet.
Beth then looked around, hoping to see anything that she'd be able to use to carry the young woman, but there wasn't anything that she'd even be able to use to cobble together something akin to a stretcher or whatever.
–Ralph?"– Beth called out with her magic.
–Yeah? Need something?– Ralph replied, though Beth got the sense that he was trying to keep from being noticed.
–Pretty much.– Beth answered. –Where are you? I need you to come over to where I'm at. I'm in a house and have a raptor standing outside.–
–Sure, I think I see it from where I'm at anyway.– Ralph replied. –I'll be over there in a sec, but what do you need me to help you with?–
–I 'm with a young woman who needs to be moved, but she's not really in a condition where it'd be good to move her as she is. So, I was hoping you'd be willing to use your magic to lift her up and we'd then be able to float her over to where the villagers are gathering. I think if we get Amelia to head there she can save her.– Beth answered.
"Don't worry, I'm already here," Ralph said as he entered the house.
The girl who'd brought Beth to the house jumped, clearly unaware that Ralph was approaching. "It's oaky," Beth assured the girl. "He's here to help. I think we'll be able to help her, but right now we need to move her. If we do start to help her, we'll need to keep from being interrupted, and I can't guarantee that here."
Beth thought it was at least a good excuse, since se couldn't say if she'd be able to do anything about the lung on her own, but if she could get Amelia there, then she was sure Amelia would be able to fix that.
Which brought to mind another problem that she needed to get solved, or at least started to get solved, before she could help the girl's sister.
–Amelia, uh, we're gonna need you where the villagers are gathering.– Beth sent out to Amelia as she let Ralph take a look at the situation.
–What's wrong?– Amelia asked.
–I found a girl who's lung had been cut into. I can heal the rest of the wound, but I'm not sure about her lung. I healed it the best I could, but I'm not sure if it'll hold. I thought you'd have a better chance than I would.– Beth replied.
–Alright. I'll try to get there as soon as I can, but just to let you know, I'm already on the move with Cinder's family. I think some bandits are out here searching for people on the edges of the village, like Cinder's family, so we couldn't stay at their house. I didn't see them myself, but Embris assures me they're there. I'll see what I can do.– Amelia answered.
Beth sighed. She hoped that things weren't about to got o hell in a handbasket. While things had been going smoothly for them for a while, ignoring the time they'd gotten the spotted plague, this was the biggest, and most dangerous, incident they'd had to encounter. Even when they helped the pronghorn-kin, things didn't get this bad.
"Okay, Ralph," Beth said, taking a deep breath. "Levitate her or whatever and I'll help direct her."
"Keep an eye out for bandits too," Ralph advised. "There's one who can use magic too. She blasted my raptors away." Ralph paused briefly before he hurriedly added, "Well, aside from the one I used to draw attention away from me."
"I'll keep that in mind," Beth said, as the young woman started to float in front of them, lifting up until she was about waist height for them.
Then as Beth pushed the young woman forward, with Ralph making sure that she stayed floating, they started to make their way out of the house, Beth's raptor and Ralphs raptor moving at their sides.
Beth was conscious of the girl's fear about the raptors, but she didn't say anything. Mostly because she didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention to their location, but also because she wasn't sure how to assure the girl that the raptors weren't going to attack her. Not without explaining about them being creations of magic, which would probably take a lot longer to explain.
They made good time, despite the circumstances and Beth felt like something really bad was going to happen when they reached where the 'safe' area in the village was. Not only that, but there wasn't any fighting at the moment.
"Hesha, is that you?" a voice called from inside the building as they approached.
"Yeah!" the girl called back. "My sister's hurt, though."
"Where's you mother?" the voice asked, still in the shadows of the building.
Hesha didn't respond, so Beth glanced at her and saw that she was getting choked up. Beth didn't blame her. Especially if the body she'd been with before really was her mother. Beth couldn't say how she'd react if she had to witness something like that at Hesha's age.
"I'm pretty sure her mother was killed," Beth called out, startling Hesha. "That's where I found Hesha. She then led me to her sister who needs help."
Beth didn't expect an immediate response, partly given the fact that the speaker still hadn't come out yet, but also likely due to them finding somewhere that Hesha's sister could be put until she could get treated.
Though, that was assuming that Beth and Ralph's presence didn't make the villagers suspicious of them.
"Let Hesha and her sister in or we will attack you," the voice said after a minute.
Beth couldn't help but roll her eyes. They really didn't have time for this, but it seemed that they needed to deal with mistrust in the face of this crisis. Not that Beth really blamed the villagers, but it did give her a big headache.
Beth looked at Hesha and smiled as kindly as she could. "Go on. Push your sister and she'll float through the air. Tell us when the others are holding her and my friend will stop making her float," Beth said, giving Hesha a gentle push against her back, between her shoulder blades.
Hesha looked at Beth, her face expressing an apology before turning back to the building and started pushing her sister through it. Then about a minute after she disappeared into the shadows of the building, Beth heard her call out, "They got her."
Beth nodded to Ralph. "Okay, you can have her stop floating now," she said.
Ralph looked longingly at the building, but quickly looked away as Beth started to walk away herself.
"Wait, you're not going to try to talk your way in there?" Ralph asked, sounding a little surprised.
Beth shook her head. "I'd like to, but I get the feeling that it'd take more effort than I'd like to make to get in there," she answered, hoping that it would be as safe as the villagers thought it was.
"So, what now?" Ralph asked. "I get the feeling the bandits have almost gotten everyone not in that building inside this village."
"Well, technically they don't have Cinder's family, although they're on their way here, so hopefully there won't be complications like there was with us," Beth answered, stepping away from the 'safe' building. No sense in making those defending it worried that they were planning something to get in there. "But, I was thinking that we should make a serious attempt at rescuing those who the bandits have already captured."
"Hey, I already tried that," Ralph protested, walking next to Beth. "I would have gotten it done too if they didn't have someone who could use magic themselves."
"Well, I guess we should seek that person out then," Beth said, not caring that she probably wasn't helping settle Ralph's state of mind.
"Why? Shouldn't we just try to rescue the captives in a way that'll keep her away from us?" he asked, "I mean, the bandits are just holding the villagers they've captured in three wagons that have a kind of cage installed all around each one."
Beth nodded, not daring to say anything at the moment. She had a feeling that regardless of what they tried doing, that they would have to fight this person anyway. Which is what Beth had in mind as she made her decision.
"Well, with any of what we've seen firsthand, why would you think a rescue attempt would fare any better?" Beth asked, hoping he'd give an answer. Partly because she was wondering what was going on in his mind at the moment. "Or are you saying we can't do it with the way we are right now?"
"Of course we can do it," Ralph replied, his tone telling Beth that he was serious. "We just can't take the same approach I did."
She could only shake her head helplessly as she recognized how serious he was. To the point that he wasn't going to budge unless Beth could walk him through, step by step, just how bad of an idea that was.
"Alright, so how do we distract her?" Beth asked, trying not to sound patronizing.
"That's your part," Ralph answered, smiling.
Beth sighed. Of course it was. She could see his plan was simple. Have Beth engage this bandit while he saves the day with the captives. She could understand his plan of passing the buck off to someone else, but there was a pretty big flaw in his thinking she could spot already.
"What if she's the one who's now guarding the captives?" Beth asked. "I mean, it's not like I know what she looks like, right?"
Ralph paused at that. "Fine, then. What do you suggest?" Ralph asked, his impatience clear, as if Beth had been wasting his time up 'till now.
"Well, first I was thinking that if we send out raptors to attack her, we might be able to-" Beth started to say.
"Not gonna work," Ralph interrupted, his tone firm and decisive. "She blasted my raptors all at once and I had three of them attacking her."
Beth sighed. She was a little annoyed at him interrupting her, but it was fair for him to stop her rather than wasting both of their time continuing on with a plan already flawed from the start.
As she thought about what Ralph said, she couldn't help but wonder if anything they tried would actually work. Not so much that they couldn't, but rather they didn't know enough about their opponents. Aside from that fact that there were still a lot of bandits, from what Beth could tell, and just two of them.
"Alright, how did she blast them?" Beth asked, turning around the corner of a building, she assumed it was someone's house, and out of sight of where the villagers were holing up. "I mean, did the Raptors just fade away? Did they burst apart or something? Or did she hit them with magic and they disappeared?"
"Well, they kinda, uh, burst apart, I guess," Ralph said as Beth kneeled down by a bush growing by the front door of the house. "It felt like they had an explosive put inside them and then they just blew up, scattering the magical energy of them apart."
"Huh," Beth suddenly had an idea. It might be a mistake, but it certainly wouldn't be something they could have anticipated. She stood up, a smile spreading across her face. "You know, that gives me an idea."
"Uh, Beth?" Ralph said, sounding a lot more apprehensive than she'd ever heard him before. "Are you sure you shouldn't run this by the others first?"
"Why?" Beth asked as she started to walk quickly to where she'd seen some of the bandits carrying villagers they'd captured. "There's no way the bandits will see this coming. We can get any of the bandits before they even realized they're in danger."