“I detect a village two miles to the west.” Golem's voice rang out in Jesse’s mind.

  “This way.” He panted. He turned in the correct direction and Tormund followed. Jesse was taking his turn carrying their companion. She hadn’t regained consciousness in their time fleeing but she had continued to breathe. Golem reported she was in a critical state and needed healing. They had briefly stopped so Jesse could wrap cloth around the knife to keep it from moving during their journey. The cloth was now soaked and stained a deep red.

  “They have to have a healer. Or maybe an alchemist.” Tormund said. He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself.

  “She is strong. She will make it.” Jesse grunted. His muscles and lungs were on fire. The exertion of the battle, the burning of his life essence, and their flight to find Nira some help were all weighing him down. He would not let her down though. Not again.

  “We should find an animal. Have her absorb the essence.” Jesse tried.

  “You know that won’t work. She would have to be the one to kill it. She isn’t conscious.” Tormund said back with a small note of derision in his voice.

  “We will use her limbs somehow.” Jesse said.

  “You can’t game the system, somehow the essence knows who did the killing even if you were forcing someone else’s limbs.” Tormund said back.

  “Okay fine. We will find a way to heal her though.” Jesse said. He thought through different designs of contraptions that could provide healing magic. The issue was he didn’t have any reference for healing magic and had never even seen it cast let alone used in a machine. Whatever design he made definitely wouldn’t work on the first few attempts.

  “Give her to me.” Myra said. “We will cover more ground.”

  “I’m fine.” Jesse said.

  “You’ve drained your own life essence. You’re lucky to be alive. You look like shite.. You are just slowing us down. Myra will take her and we can run ahead.” Tormund shot back. Jesse hesitated but relented and gave the woman to their larger friend. Without another word she took off running faster than Jesse would have thought possible for a woman carrying a person. Tormund followed quickly after.

  “What are we going to do?” He asked Aegis and Golem. He felt a pit in his stomach. His ears rang and heart thumped heavily. He needed essence badly. He needed to heal Nira more.

  Aegis whined and rubbed against his leg. He scratched her behind the ear. “This new world has many possible methods of healing injuries.” Golem offered.

  “What is your actual analysis Golem?” Jesse asked.

  “It is unlikely there is a healer of the skill required in this village. I do not detect any arcanesscent.” Golem replied.

  “So what do we do?” Jesse asked with tears in his eyes.

  “I… don’t know Jesse.” Golem replied. “I am sorry.”

  Golem didn’t know. Golem knew practically everything. He had also never expressed hesitation or remorse before.

  “Perhaps Tormund could attempt healing magic.” Golem added after a moment.

  The idea shot Jesse up. “Let’s go.” He said, running towards the village. They would heal Nira.

  A short time later he arrived at the village. He approached Tormund, who knelt over Niras prone form. An elderly man stood near him.

  “This is beyond my skill. She needs essence but the Archon took all the essence users. I’m sorry. I’m surprised she is alive as it is.” He said. Tormund looked up at him, fury growing in his eyes.

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  “You WILL help her.” He said. Electricity crackled over his hands. “She won’t die here!” He yelled.

  “Tormund! Nira wouldn’t want this!” Jesse yelled as he approached. “If he doesn’t think he can help then all he will do is make it worse.” He added softer.

  “She can’t die, Jesse.” Tormund said.

  “I know.” Jesse responded, looking down at her. There was so much blood.

  “Jesse, intervention is needed soon. She likely has less than an hour.” Golem said in his mind. “Her wounds are too great. Even if you were to remove the knife without hitting a major artery, which would be difficult given its positioning, her current blood loss would likely kill her.”

  “Golem says that she has less than an hour.” Jesse told Tormund.

  “No.” He whispered. “I’ll do it. I’ll heal her. I can do more than these stupid destructive party tricks!” He yelled at Jesse. “I can heal!”

  They picked her up and moved her to the riverbank just outside the village.

  Jesse watched as Tormund hovered his hands a few inches above her body. “We will have to take out the knife for this to work.” He whispered.

  “Okay but you’ll have to work quickly.” Jesse said.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Tormund snapped back.

  Jesse removed the cloth around the knife wound. Jesse could not get past how much blood there was. Some dried, most not.

  “Are you ready?” He asked his friend.

  “Yeah.” Tormund said, concentrating.

  Jesse quickly pulled the knife free. Tormund’s hands glowed with a bright light. It flickered and went out and he swore under his breath. He tried again, this time a green hued light shone from them. Nira began to stir.

  “It’s working.” Jesse said, in awe.

  Then she began to shake. Her twitching became violent. She let out an anguished yell.

  “This isn’t stabilizing her.” Golem said mentally. “Her wounds are not closing.”

  “You’re hurting her!” Jesse said to Tormund.

  “I can do it!” He shot back. “She is strong! She can take it!”

  She screamed and writhed. Her eyes shot open and stared at Tormund. Suddenly he stopped, sweat pouring down his face, tears welling in his eyes. “I can’t do it.” He whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  She looked at him. Her mouth move but at first no words came out. Then finally she spoke in a hoarse whisper. “It’s okay Tormund. You tried. All we can do is try.”

  Jesse spoke in a hoarse rasp, his words not wanting to come out from the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry Nira. I hesitated. I could have killed him and none of this would have happened.”

  She turned to Jesse. “It’s not…. It’s not your fault. You are who you are… you are Rebecca’s dad that’s for sure.” She said with a small smile.

  Turning back to Tormund she spoke again, too quiet for Jesse to hear. The man broke into sobs and hugged her close. After a few more moments she went still. Jesse fell to his knees, overwhelmed.

  A half hour later they stood over an empty grave dug through Tormund’s magic. Her body lay next to it. They hadn’t spoken since she died.

  “Should we say a few words?” Jesse asked.

  “What’s there to say? She was a strong and wonderful woman and she is dead now because you couldn’t kill someone who has done nothing but chase us and try to capture us since you arrived here.” Tormund responded. He was covered in Nira’s blood, giving his scowl an even more sinister cast.

  “I know.” Jesse said.

  “You were weak and instead of killing one of them you got one of us killed.” Tormund said, his eyes were distant.

  “Yeah” Jesse replied, looking down. He felt that crushing guilt. There was nothing he could do to fix this.

  “Help me lower her in.” Tormund said.

  Jesse did. They had wrapped the body in cloth that the villagers gave them. After they placed the body in the grave they climbed out. With a wave of Tormund’s hand, the grave was filled. Aegis whined to the side. Myra stood silently staring at the fresh grave.

  “Let’s go.” Tormund said after a moment staring at the grave. “We still need to find your daughter.”

  “Thank you Tormund.” He said.

  “I’m not doing it for you Jesse. I’m doing it for her.” He said pointing at the grave. “She wanted to make sure your daughter was safe. She wanted you to find her. I’ll fulfill that and maybe in the process I’ll kill the bastard that did this. I won’t hesitate.” He said, teeth clenched. Tormund turned and walked out of the village without another word.