Chapter Twenty-One #8
Selina gave her an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I do not know. The men only told me that some of the Remdragon Knights had been gravely injured and that they stopped advancing after the battle to treat the wounded.”
Maxi scrubbed her pale face with a trembling hand.
The faces of the Remdragon Knights quickly flashed through her mind.
As long as their bodies were not severely mangled, they should have been promptly healed with divine or healing magic.
Still, stopping the advance meant that the injuries were serious.
Maxi was fretting over who had been injured when Idsilla interjected. “Have you heard any news of Elba?”
Selina shook her head. “The only thing I managed to find out is that the Livadonian Royal Knights are camped somewhere near Eth Lene Castle.”
Idsilla sullenly hung her head. Placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder, Selina added reassuringly, “Men from each garrison should come down to Serbin Castle soon for provisions. We should be able to hear more then, so do not worry too much.”
Idsilla brightened a little at Selina’s reassurance. After promising that she would inform them if she learned anything more, Selina hastened away to tend to the tasks she had put off.
Maxi vacantly stared after her for a moment before recovering her composure and returning to her work. Her whole body dripped with sweat and her cheeks burned from lighting the fire, but she found that the dizzying heat helped to dispel her morbid thoughts.
She tried to calm her racing mind as she boiled herbs in a cauldron. After waiting for the tea to cool and feeding it to the patients, she cleaned their wounds with a wet towel and applied some salve. When she was done, she went to help with the meal preparations.
There was barely any time for her to catch her breath. When at last she returned to the women’s tent to rest, she no longer had the energy to even lift a finger. The sweltering tent reeked of sweat and horses. Though the stench made it difficult to breathe, Maxi was too tired to feel repulsed.
Stretched out on her cot like a withered cabbage leaf, Maxi mulled over what to do. There was no way she could continue living like this until the war ended. As she listened to the snores of exhausted women and the buzzing of mosquitoes in the dark, Maxi felt her resolve dwindling.
Her eyes welled up with tears. She missed Riftan terribly, and she also yearned to be back at Calypse Castle. Even so, it had been her choice to come here. Maxi squeezed her eyes shut, trying to harden her wavering heart.
—
The next day was just as busy as the last. Maxi rose before dawn and washed her face in the stream, then went to check on the wounded.
There were three hundred injured men in the camp but only five hierarchs who were capable of divine magic. As a result, the male clerics focused their attention on treating those in critical condition, while the rest were tended to by the female clerics.
After making sure that none among the wounded had died overnight, the women gathered at the tent barracks set up at the center of the camp to distribute herbs. The cleric in charge of directing the female clerics handed each of the women a palm-sized wooden identification tag as he spoke at length.
“As I’m sure you have managed to gather, most of the men are suffering from fractures.
Since many are unable to move without assistance, you will have to feed and bathe them.
You are to check their conditions twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
If any are not lucid or have a fever, you are to inform me immediately. ”
Maxi strained her ears to make sure she did not miss anything as the cleric continued his rapid instruction.
“You must pay close attention to those who are bleeding. Their wounds must be closely inspected for pus or maggots, and detoxicants must be boiled and given three times a day without fail. Also, try to keep the hands and feet of every patient as clean as possible, and change their dressings at least every three days. Herbs and firewood are stored in the central tent, and you are free to take as much as you need for the day.”
The cleric then divided the women into six groups of seven and assigned each group to look after forty wounded men. Maxi was luckily assigned to the same group as Idsilla.
“I was told that most of you know how to administer basic treatment,” the cleric said. “If you encounter anything outside your knowledge, come to me immediately. You will find me near the north gate.”
After the cleric left the tent, the women in each group promptly divided the workload among themselves. They decided that two of them would take turns checking on the wounded while the remaining five would be responsible for preparing meals and collecting water.
Maxi was assigned to help draw water from the well with two other women. Drawing enough water to last the whole day was an exhausting task in and of itself.
Each group of women administered remedies to a total of forty injured men, served them two meals a day, washed their hands and feet, drained the pus from their wounds, and changed their dressings.
Even after all this, their tasks were still not finished; tending to the horses and preparing the soldiers’ meals were also their responsibilities.
Days passed as though someone were snipping off chunks of time. Maxi gradually got used to the hard labor. Though life at the camp was far more difficult than she had anticipated, she felt no inclination to grumble.
Her heart ached when she looked at the men who faced becoming crippled, and she was sorry that she could not be of more help.
Had it been possible, she would have gladly healed all of them with her magic.
However, she could not even dream of doing so with her meager mana supply.
Just healing three or four men was so draining that it would barely leave her enough energy for her remaining duties.
Ultimately, Maxi made the grim decision to refrain from using magic as much as possible.
It simply would not do for her to exhaust her energy on a few men when there were dozens of them in her charge.
She tried to lessen her guilt by meticulously checking their wounds whenever she could and giving them herbal tea at hourly intervals to numb their pain.
One day, after days of endless work, Idsilla furtively came up to Maxi.
“Lady Calypse.”