[Orual]

"Arethin!"

The log struck Arethin's chest with such force that he could hear his ribs crack. His brown eyes widened in pain as he crashed to the floor. His ears rang as the back of his skull came into contact with the stone floor. He nearly blacked out, and he saw stars.

His overly-sensitive head ached with the vibrations of Jadae's feet, light though her steps were, as she ran to see if he was alive. With an effort he lifted his arm, though his head hurt to do that. He could not speak, and could barely breathe. He was in dreadful pain, but could not even gather the breath to cry out.

There was a whistling in the air, and a weak cry of pain from Jadae. His head spinning, Arethin sat up to see what had happened. He just barely missed knocking his head soundly on the log, still swinging above him, and crawled to where Jadae had fallen to the floor. He tried to talk but coughed instead, and let out his first spoken breath as a curse when he was rewarded by a thundering headache. Finally he caught his breath and got up to Jadae. "Are you--" he began, but his sentance was cut off when he saw the spearhead lodged in her knee. "Don't move," he said. "Don't move your leg. Especially don't straighten it until I get the spearhead out; it might tear the muscles more."

He looked concernedly at Jadae, but she was taking it in stride, at least externally. He admired her bravery; it was an ugly wound.

He dug into his pack and brought out a small red satchel and his skin of water. The satchel had powder in it, from the dried leaves of a plant that his mother used when he and Elethil cut themselves (which was often; both were fairly clumsy boys). It was used mostly as an anaesthetic, but also had coagulating properties. He couldn't remember what it was called, but had made sure to bring some along.

As he mixed it with the water in a small bowl, he watched Jadae. "This'll sting some," he warned her. She simply nodded. Once he had it the proper consistancy, he gripped the spearhead with his left hand and Jadae's leg with his right, and carefully pulled it out, quickly rubbing the mixture into the wound. He tore a strip off of his shirt, and wrapped it around her leg. "Better?" he asked.