Karl stumbled back to the scene of his battle and grabbed the head of the Royal Rank Frost Giant. He had told the General that he would mount the head on his wall, after all.
Somewhere in Karl’s muddled mind, he knew that made no sense, and that there was something wrong with his thinking, but he dragged the head all the way back to the wagon before Tessa sat him down in the snow, and shone a flashlight in his eyes.
“Can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?” She asked.
Everything was a bit blurry, and it took him a few seconds to focus, as her image kept swaying in front of him, but Karl confidently held up two fingers in the V for victory.
“Definitely a concussion, plus whatever other internal injuries aren’t healed. Lotus, what is up with the sling?” Tessa asked, far too loudly, as it was causing him intense pain in his head.
“It was severed. I pinned it in place and put a localized healing spell on it, but it won’t be ready for at least a day.” Lotus replied.
“Can you move your fingers?” Tessa asked, and Karl tried his best to focus on his hand. Then realized he didn’t have to, he just had to wiggle his fingers aimlessly.
“Well, they’re all moving. Alright, you should keep the limb.” Tessa informed him.
“Doug and Tori?” Karl asked.
“Doug is recovering from a blade across the chest, but he will be fine.” She replied, then patted Karl on his good shoulder.
“Alright, time to get up. Can you send the beasts back into their space to rest and recover? Or do they need more healing first?” Tessa asked quietly.
Thor returned to his pond to sleep, followed by Rae and Hawk, though Rae left her golems out.
Remi remained in Karl’s sling, periodically casting a healing splash on his arm, in hopes that it would help it heal properly. She hadn’t been injured during the fight, and the inside of the sling wasn’t too cold after Tessa adjusted Karl’s cloak to cover most of his front.
Karl remained sitting for a few minutes as the others worked, and then a motion to his left caught his eye. The movement of a Frost Giant had him on his feet in a flash, ready to attack, but it was only Bob and Ophelia, wrapping the Royal Rank Giant’s head in a bag to hang off the back of the wagon.
Bob quietly addressed the team. “Alright, we’ve got everything cleaned up, and the bodies are in the wagon to go back with us.
Let’s get everyone in, and the Golems will take us back. Rae, can you come out and make a new harness? Wait, can she even hear us when she’s not out?”
Rae came out and quickly harnessed Dana’s Golems to the wagon, which was now half loaded with bodies, and created a harness for the humanoid Golems. Then she returned to her space, where her stamina would recover more quickly, and curled up to sleep, while Hawk kept watch on the outside world.
Everyone was seated a few minutes later, and Karl found himself in the corner, with Dana leaning against his side, unnaturally quiet, while Tessa directed the Golems to get the cart moving.
Karl wrapped his one good arm around the mage, and looked across the wagon, where High Priest George gave him a weak smile.
Somehow, the man was still alive, having avoided being crushed during the ambush, but he had lost both legs above the knee, and his own magic was only enough to stop the blood flow and keep himself alive with the injuries he had sustained.
Doug was doing better. His staff was shattered into splinters on the floor of the wagon, and he was wrapped with bandages all around his chest. He had wrapped himself in a fur cloak for warmth while he mixed some sort of herbal concoction, but Karl’s headcount still didn’t find Tori.
Reluctantly, Karl turned to look at the back of the wagon, and saw the telltale mage robes and white fur cloak under the pile of bodies. They had defeated the Royal Rank Frost Giant, but Karl couldn’t call this a victory, not when they weren’t all coming back home.
For some reason, Tessa was pushing the wagon at a full run across the snow, headed for the closest section of the line, while Lotus continued to maintain her healing spell over the wagon.
Karl faded in and out of consciousness for the next few hours, being briefly jostled awake by larger bumps as the wagon raced across the frozen plains.
The sun had set not long after the battle, but still, the cleric didn’t slow the wagon, keeping the Golems at a full run, heedless of the bouncing that they were doing. Nobody was saying anything about it, so Karl assumed that there was a good reason for the rush, and continued to fade in and out until finally the bright spotlights of a front-line encampment lit up their wagon.
There was a lot of shouting, and people were moving around frantically, unloading bodies from the wagon, but he just sat where he was with Dana under his arm as the mage sobbed silently and pretended that she was asleep.
Eventually, a hand landed on his shoulder, shaking Dana awake in the process, while bringing Karl out of his stupor long enough to turn to see who was looking for him.
“It’s your turn, if you two can walk to the triage tents.” The man in the white robes of a High Cleric of the main faith whispered.
Karl was thankful for the consideration, as loud noises were still hurting his head, but his body was feeling better with that much time in Lotus’ healing spell and the [Refreshing Lightning].
Remi was still in his sling, half asleep, but randomly mumbling and casting [Healing Splash] on his arm until Karl stroked her head and let her know that she had done a good job, and she could go sleep in her space.
The cleric passed Dana off to a female High Priest, and brought Karl to a small diagnosis room, where he repeated the ‘light in the eyes’ thing that Tessa had done.
“Still a concussion?” Karl asked.
The priest nodded. “It’s healing, but won’t be finished until morning, most likely. You did good getting back here as fast as you did.”
Karl gave him a rueful smile. “We didn’t make it fast enough.”
The High Priest put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “No, you did. High Priests George and Doug are both going to be fine by morning, though George’s legs are a lost cause without months of treatment spells or a Royal Rank healer.
But more importantly, with them, we had the six High Priests necessary to cast a resurrection ritual. Tori should reappear somewhere familiar to her in the next forty-eight hours.”
Karl just blinked at the High Priest, so he explained.
“There are two basic resurrection spells. One brings them back to life within ten minutes of death, but only a Royal Rank Cleric or a select few of the healing specialist High Priests such as myself can use that. The other is a six-person ritual that puts a soul that’s still linked to its body into a new body with its memories intact.
They usually show up somewhere which they associate with good memories, and then they have to explain to someone who they are, or come to the church, where we can verify it and update their records.”
“So she will be fine, and back at the Academy soon?” Karl asked hopefully.
“Not back at the Academy, most likely. I have never heard of the new body forming with the effects of the injection, so she wouldn’t be an Elite anymore. But she’s still a student, so there is a chance they will make an exception, and she will be able to start over if her new body is compatible, just a little older than the others. It’s not like the injection doesn’t work anymore if they give it later.”
Well, that was better than dead, he supposed.
The cleric finished giving Karl a checkup, which found that other than his head, everything seemed to be fine, and he was recovering well, but would need to eat a lot to recover the energy that he had burned while healing his body.
That was something that he could do. Dana was waiting outside the tent with a faintly hopeful smile that said she had gotten the same news about Tori, so he led her toward a large wall tent where he could hear Bob arguing with someone.
That was most likely the mess hall, and if it wasn’t, it was still the right place to be, as that was where their team was.
