Lambert

I was lost.

I had no recollection of what happened either, but my legs were sore, and I was full of bruises. My face hurt the most. I tried to inspect my surroundings, but it was all just bushes and trees, in the middle of nowhere. How did I even get here? What happened the day before?

"Lambert, just what were you doing?" I asked myself, hoping it would give me some clues. My face being swollen was an important one. I saw a fierce little goblin jumping at me by the campfire as I touched it. There was an ogre and a beastman too, and they took the Princess hostage while Cath gave them a chase, and I simply ran away.

I didn't feel better after remembering.

First I had to get rid of the pain and imagine my anatomy, tracing the neurons back from my brain. It was trivial to numb them just a bit, but then I rearranged some of my blood vessels to make sure I had no internal bleeding. Not that I was in any kind of serious combat...

My nose did not seem to be broken, so it was an easy fix. The bruises would have healed on their own in just a few days too, but didn't want to risk infections. I channeled my mana to close up every little cut and clear the coagulates. I felt much better now but was completely lost.

I decided to trace back my steps. It wasn't that hard since I bumped into every tree on my way here. I didn't get as far as I thought either and just an hour later found myself back at our campsite. They trampled on the tent and scattered the burned firewood around, but abandoned the place with our gear still untouched. I only took the Bags of Holdings and tried to find the other's traces. The ogre was easy to follow.

He left a trail of blood on the ground, and I remembered how Cath slashed him across his torso. He ran into the woods, and I found some torn pieces of cloth left behind by the Princess. The ogre must have struggled with her in the dense undergrowth because he soon made it for the road. They ended up heading in the same direction we aimed for.

Unsure of what to expect if, and when I caught up with someone, I felt reluctant to follow their path, but I couldn't just return to Sanctuary alone. I was sure to be executed for deserting so my best bet was to move forward.

Soon, I felt motivated to run for a bit and released some of my magic now that the annoying Princess wasn't here to distract me. My muscles were interlaced with the mana and the internal organs strengthened too, while my body became temporarily lighter. This allowed me to run longer without getting tired and only slowed down around noon to rummage in the magic bags for food.

I approached the actual pass by then, and the road got steeper. I lost their trace a while back, but there was only one way to go. My extra leg muscles were exchanged for improved hearing as I closed in to avoid a nasty ambush, but my magic only amplified the usual birdsongs and critters of the forest. As I neared the summit, the trees got shorter and less dense, but the road turned before reaching the top to thread through the pass. Here I finally picked up some interesting noises.

There were signs of a fight, but it shouldn't lasted long. I have seen blood splatters on the road and the shattered pieces of that goblin's buckler. I hoped Cath took care of them all once she caught up, but discovered her falchion stuck between rocks a moment later.

I still couldn't see anyone, but the noises came from nearby. It was almost like someone snoring but not as peaceful. I could hear the bubbling sounds a punctured lung would make as it slowly filled up with blood, but it didn't sound like it came from a human.

I reached the road's highest point and walked near the edge to scan the depts. About a hundred yards away I spotted the source which was the ogre who stole the Princess yesterday. He fell into a deep chasm, but by the sounds of it, he was still alive.

He wasn't alone there either.

Another body lay on top of him, much smaller so it couldn't be the beastman, and while I hoped it would be that damned goblin who punched me in the face, the armor it wore looked familiar.

After straining my eyes a bit, I realized it was Cath.

I tried to scan her body with my magic for vital signs, but her armor blocked me. She was well-equipped against magicians which didn't help and couldn't even go around her barrier, so I scanned the ogre's body instead. He was in bad shape, but still alive.

All of his limbs broke and most of his ribs too. His lungs were punctured and he lost a lot of blood, mostly internally. Oddly enough, the paladin seemed to break more of his ribs landing on him than the fall itself but also kept him alive by keeping pressure on his wounds. I had reasons to be optimistic although I couldn't inspect her condition, but if the monster that dampened her fall survived, I just had to reach her.

I could have carved some stairs into the cliff to climb down, but I found the height scary, and the ogre at the bottom too. I would have had to climb back up, either after healing her down there or carrying her on my back. Neither seemed like a good idea, as the beast could suddenly wake up and attack us.

Well, I could have just killed it, didn't seem like it would put up much of a fight, but for some reason that felt wrong. This gave me an idea though. Not necessarily a bright one, but an idea nonetheless.

"Hey, ogre! I know that you're alive." I yelled but got no answer.

I guess it wasn't that easy to talk with punctured lungs, and maybe he was unconscious. I took the gamble and spoke telepathically instead.

"I have an offer for you." I left the channel open and sent signals that surely woke him up no matter how painful.

"What do you want, human?" His thoughts appeared directly in my head. He didn't seem hostile, rather, I felt a lot of fear. No wonder, since he was at death's doorstep, but I could have changed that.

"If you help me out, and promise not to attack, I will heal your wounds in return." While this seemed like a bad idea, offering help was my best shot. "You need to climb up with the paladin."

"Why would you do that?" He was certainly as wary of me as I was of him and for a good reason. I needed to earn his trust, so I was honest.

"She wears an armor that blocks magic and I can't heal her without your help. In return, I'll let you go, I promise." I messaged.

"And how could you heal me from up there?" I heard his thoughts.

"Just watch." I decided to give him a little taste. I closed my eyes, imagining him lying there, and saw his body almost as if it was transparent.

I picked a fractured bone, moved the two halves slightly apart, and heated their molecules to stimulate them until they patched themselves up. I paralyzed his receptors in the area, effectively easing his pain, and had to reach out with my hand to do the right movements even if I did not touch him. I used simple telekinesis inside his body employing phantom fields, and distance mattered little, as long as I had a clear view in my mind.

"How about that?" I asked. "Do we have a deal?"

"I will help you save her, I promise." I heard, and while it was quite a gamble, I felt strangely confident. If only I could conduct a proper slave contract so he couldn't betray us, but other than it being a taboo, I didn't know how to perform one anyway.

I worked on patching him up instead which took me quite a while since I had to deal with every little fracture and internal bleeding and remove fluids from his lungs as well. It was challenging, but first and foremost, I was a healer. I've spent the last year dealing with wounded soldiers of the Inquisitorias so as long as I had the endurance, healing him was my second nature. I sweated a lot more compared to running.

It was easy to lose track of time as I spent a few hours on this remote operation, but I managed to patch him up and even fixed some older wounds that certainly weren't caused by this fall. They definitely must have hurt him still, and I needed him to get his strength back.

"Be very careful, bringing her up," I warned him as he held the paladin like a jewel. "A wrong move, and she bleeds out. I'll make some stairs on the cliff for you to climb up."

He nodded, and I reshaped the stone walls. It was trivial to manipulate matter temporarily, and while it only lasted a few minutes, that was more than enough for him to reach the top. It was starting to get dark though.

Cath's pulse was weak, but her heart was still beating, and that was all I needed. I quickly stripped off her armor, focusing so hard that I forgot about the ogre.

The padding below had a bunch of runes too so I had to undress her almost completely. Fortunately, she was unconscious, otherwise, I would have been beaten to death. She wore some underwear at least, but even the ogre got so embarrassed, he turned away.

I could finally inspect her with my through-sight and immediately tackled all issues as I went. She was in a better shape than the ogre, with fractures, and shallow cuts, but her internal organs were intact. She was one sturdy girl, and I was tempted to say she was only exhausted. I couldn't imagine what happened to her but now I had to face another problem.

"Thank you for your help," I spoke to the ogre for the first time since he got up. "You held up your end of the bargain, I will let you go."

"Um... Do you happen to have some food on you?" He asked hesitantly. His voice sounded menacing since I only heard his thoughts so far. "I haven't eaten in three days, I don't have the stamina left to hunt."

"Oh, uh... Okay. I might have some." I was surprised by his request.

While the paladin peacefully slept, and yes, I did put her clothes back on, we set up camp. The ogre gathered some firewood, and I made dinner hoping she would not wake up until we finished.

I knew she'd be upset regardless of how we saved her life, she hated the Lesser Races. Seeing the ogre nearby would tick her off. Well, that was her job, to protect humanity from them, but to me, she seemed scarier than the beasts. So I ate as fast as possible to avoid being killed by her on an empty stomach.