Chapter 63 - Sixty-Three: Regroup

As I sat there trying to keep healing Siofra, a very concerned looking Altria came running up the stairs.

"W-w-what happened?" Stuttered the usually unflappable Altria.

"She's hurt pretty bad, but I think she's going to be okay."

"I can see that! I meant what happened to the demon?"

"Oh, that's her there." I said pointing to the pile of ash where she had been.

"But how did you…"

"I didn't, at least not completely. I only got an assist for her death. I was questioning her when she burnt up and turned into ash."

"Then who did that?"

"I've no idea, not one of us. I think."

"Perhaps someone that didn't want her talking."

"But we're the only ones here!"

"Yeah… Anyway, how did you manage to injure her?"

"Luck, I guess. She ignored me right until I got close and because when I got here, she was holding Siofra by the throat. I think because of that she didn't have the field up that reflected everyone's attacks before. I used "disarm" to strip her armour and that threw her off enough for me to get in close enough to harm her."

"That's a lot of luck!"

"Yeah."

"Did she tell you anything before she died?"

"Not much… More importantly, how is Serin?" I had forgotten for a moment with everything that had just happened.

"It isn't looking good. That arms badly broken. If Lillia heals her much it will fuse badly she'll lose proper use of it. It needs setting in place first, but none of us can do that properly."

"Stay with Siofra, she should be healed enough that she's in no danger now. I've got an idea!"

I stopped healing Siofra and got up off my knees.

"Nuuooo… don't stop please. I'm almost there." Begged Siofra.

"See she's fine." I said looking at Altria.

"Yeah." Altria said with a little laugh.

I quickly ran down the stairs to where Lillia was knelt next to Serin's body. Serin wasn't looking good, she was as pale as a sheet and her breathing was looking pretty shallow.

"How is she?" I asked.

"She's stable for now, but we can't move her. The problem is that arm. If we move it there is the chance she could bleed out, but it needs fixing in place before we heal her anymore. There's no way we can do this here without an expert healer." Explained Lillia.

"We just need to put the arm back in place and heal her quick right?"

"Yes, but neither of us can do that safely. At the very least she will lose the use of that arm."

"But if we don't do that, we're not going to be able to get her out of here without help are we?"

"No, that's why I'm hesitating."

"Okay, let me try something."

"What are you going to do?"

"If we can see the break, then we can move her arm back into place. I think I can do this, hold on."

I quickly activated "appraisal". It had never worked like this before, but I had upgraded it twice and I was able to manipulate how the other skills worked with a little practice. I just had to hope. At first it worked just like usual, I could see through Serin's clothes and through the floor into the floor below. It was what I expected, but I wasn't going to give up that easily and poured all of my focus into her arm.

Gradually bit by bit my sight started to penetrate the flesh in her arm, until eventually I could make out the bones underneath. It was a bad break, but it was a clean one. Miraculously there didn't seem to be any fragments floating around in there. We would have to be careful not to sever any arteries when we moved it, but if we were careful, we could do this.

"We can do this!" I said loudly. "Leave moving it in place to me and get ready to heal like her life depends on it."

"Okay, just tell me when you're ready." Lillia said, before quickly downing another mana potion.

I carefully grabbed Serin's arm paying close attention to the insides.

"I'm going to move it in a second, get ready to heal when I say."

"Right."

I started to slowly move the arm and push the bone back in place. The whole arm had been thrown about so much it was hard going to not to get the bone tangled in the mess of blood vessels. Bit by bit I steadily managed to get the arm back into position. The with a bit of fine repositioning it was back in place. I pushed the pieces back together as hard as I could until I barely saw the lines separating them.

"Start healing!"

Lillia restarted the healing process in earnest, while I kept a close eye on what was going on inside her arm. At least a minute must have passed until it finally looked like the two edges of the bone were beginning to close together properly. Still, I didn't want to stop supporting her arm until I was absolutely sure that it had fused. Another minute had passed before I was satisfied. I could no longer tell the difference between the broken arm and the uninjured one, but Serin was still unconscious.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked Lillia nervously.

"I think she will now, thanks to you. There's a lot of internal injuries, so this could take a while." She explained.

I finally breathed a little sigh of relief, but I wouldn't be happy until Serin opened her eyes again. I reached around in my potion pouch and pulled out one of each type of potion. I carefully poured the healing potion down Serin's throat before drinking the mana and stamina potions myself. I'd used up a lot during the fight and healing Siofra, but after taking the potions I felt a little recovered.

As Lillia and I both tended to Serin a worse for wear looking Siofra and concerned Altria made their way down the steps and other to where Serin lay still unconscious.

"I she going to be okay?" Altria asked as she helped Siofra to sit on large piece of rubble.

"I think so, thanks to Theo." Answered Lillia.

"That's a relief." It was clear to see Altria meant it.

Then as we were all gathered around Serin watching her progress she coughed loudly and the opened her eyes.

"Wha… What happened?" She asked in a hoarse voice.

"You were badly injured, you're okay. Just stay still while we heal you." Lillia said trying to reassure her.

"Did we, did we win?"

"Yes, that woman is dead." I told her.

"Phew." With that Serin relaxed and lay there still letting Lillia heal her.

Serin was still badly hurt and it took a least another ten minutes of me and Lillia taking it in turns to heal her before she was well enough to walk. Even then she was still a little wobbly. It would be a while until she was fully recovered.

"What do we do now?" Serin asked as she finally got to her feet.

"We get out of here." Answered Lillia.

"But how? Have you found a way back through that door?"

"No, but there has to be a way to open it somewhere in here or another exit. My guess is if we follow the corridor that woman came from, we'll find what we're looking for." Lillia said optimistically.

"Then let's get looking. I for one would like to get out of here as soon as possible!"

"You aren't the only one Serin. If you and Siofra are okay to move, then we'll go." Agreed Lillia.

"I'm ready whenever." Replied Siofra.

We started slowly making our way towards the stairs. Altria was helping the injured Siofra while Lillia led the party for once. I hung back to help Serin walk, she was still clearly in a lot of pain.

"Hey, let me help you." I offered.

"I can manage." Answered Serin.

"I'm sure you can, but I want to help, and it would be quicker wouldn't it?"

"Fine, okay."

I put my arm around serin and supported her as she walked.

"You know, I'm still a bit upset about before." Serin told me as we walked.

"I know."

"But... and I'm not saying it makes it okay, but I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"Thanks."

"I have a feeling that I'm only alive because of you."

"No, Lillia did most of the healing."

"But who took down that demon?"

"I only wounded her, we don't know who killed them."