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Opportunity

"ROOOOOOOOAR!"

"CRACK!"

Oswin brought his sword down cutting down thenn's last man and looked around for survivors.

Off to the side, he saw Wymond, kneeling looking at the body of one of his sons. Oswin had seen the moment when a thenn man had pierced his throat with an arrow, but with so many enemies there was no time to help him, and he bled to death.

Oswin kept moving his gaze, there were many bodies strewn about, some wounded and some dead.

The attack had been carried out by at least thirty of thenn's men, and several of them fled taking with them the daughters of some of the brothers of the tribe.

Oswin decided to walk back to his hut to check on Blake and Ygritte.

He limped as he walked, and held his left arm that had been wounded by an enemy arrow.

"BLAKE!!!"

Noticing the bloodstains on the entrance to the hut, he shouted his son's name as his heart gave a beat.

"We're okay."

After a few seconds, Blake emerged from the cabin holding the black axe his father had given him before leaving.

Oswin breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the cabin.

"Sit down, let me look at your wounds."

Once inside, Blake re-lit the campfire using charcoal and helped his father remove his armor.

Ygritte had cried herself to sleep for most of the night and was lying on her bed.

"It's not deep."

Blake looked at the cut on Oswin's arm and cleaned the wound with water.

He had two ways to treat the cut, the first was to use fire by heating a knife and cauterize the wound. The second was to sew up the cut using a needle and thread.

Blake decided to play it safe and put his knife to burn in the fire along with some wine.

Oswin looked at Blake who was now checking the wound on his calf, and noticed the bodies in the corner of the hut.

There were two of thenn's men dead. Oswin knew that Blake had heeded him and dealt with those who tried to enter the hut, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Fisss!"

"This will hurt."

Blake pulled the red-hot knife from the embers of the campfire and offered Oswin a wineskin.

"Gimme!"

Oswin took the wineskin, looked at the burning knife, and took a big gulp.

"Wait not yet!"

As Blake was about to cauterize the wound, Oswin saw the knife again and stopped him.

"Let me have another drink."

Oswin grabbed the wineskin with both hands and squeezed it drawing all the liquid into his mouth.

"Okay, do it now!"

After drinking all the wine, Oswin nodded towards Blake, and the latter, without further hesitation, stuck the knife against his father's wounds.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

Oswin cried with pain and gritted his teeth at the smell of burning flesh that reached his nose.

"OOOUUUUUHHHHH!"

Oswin's scream woke Ygritte who began to cry again in her bed.

"It's not over yet."

Blake cauterized both wounds and took the bowl of boiling wine from the coals to drop some on the new burns, earning another scream from Oswin.

"Damn boy, are you done yet!"

Blake ignored his father's shouts and took another look at the wounds. He had managed to close them, and pouring burning wine on them should have cleaned out any infection.

Still, Blake looking at the burns wasn't entirely sure. He knew that a burn like this could get infected very easily, and if it did, nothing would save his father from a slow and painful death.

It was unfortunate to live in this tundra, with no way to treat small wounds like this, leaving everything to chance.

Blake touched the wound on his father's leg with his bare hand out of curiosity, and Oswin seemed to relax a little.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

Blake asked curiously.

"No, go on with what you're doing."

Oswin sighed the relief he felt at the burn.

Blake hearing this, nodded and placed both his hands on the burn on his leg. His body was as cold as ice, so it seemed to cool and soothe the pain his father felt.

After a couple of minutes, Blake pulled his hands away, looking at the wound again.

"Looks much better..."

Blake looked at how the burn on Oswin's leg had hardened.

Before, it throbbed and glowed the color of living flesh, but after Blake touched it for a while, it had hardened and dulled, almost like sun-hardened leather.

"It doesn't hurt anymore?"

Blake asked his father somewhat skeptically.

"No, it's just a little numb, but I don't feel any more pain."

Oswin moved his leg checking that he no longer felt anything. Thinking Blake had used some sorcery to heal his leg, he pointed to his arm and said.

"Now take care of this one, boy."

Blake hesitated briefly at his father's words. He looked down at his hands somewhat surprised at the quality of his body he had just discovered.

"Okay, I'll try."

Blake repeated the same on the burn on his father's arm and got the same result.

Oswin moved his arm relieved that the pain was gone, and nodded to Blake.

"I didn't know you knew spells to heal flesh, boy."

Oswin ran his hand over where he once had open wounds. He felt the cold, hardened skin, but the wounds were gone.

"I didn't know either."

Blake kept looking at his hands and shook his head at his father's words.

"Can you do it again?"

Oswin looked at his son and then out of the cabin.

"There are many clan brothers who will die in a short time if their wounds are not healed."

Blake followed his father's gaze and thought briefly if he could heal them.

He could try, if he healed several clan members saving their lives, he would earn everyone's respect.

"I can try, Come on, I'll need your help, father."

Blake took all the wine, and his knife and carried Ygritte on his back following behind Oswin to heal the injured tribesmen.