Guardian (Sequel to Fearless)

Chapter Eighty Two

A/N -- Enjoy the chapter!

The retreat was rapidly underway outside. There was no choice. Guardians and soldiers fell back to the camp. There was no point in fighting if there was nothing to save. For now, control of the Eldian army fell to Zayn's captain. With Master Dyran dead and Rhalla captured, command of the guardians fell to the secretary, Cane.

Everything was in a disarray. They had half a day. Twelve hours to get out or hell broke loose.

Meanwhile, in the medic tent, Sorella took on Kayde. The other medics were applying a tight tourniquet and ointment to what was now Zayn's stump. Thank all the gods it hadn't been a little higher or the chances of fatality would have highly increased. While the burning of the wound had stopped the bleeding, it would be very susceptible to festering.

It wasn't nearly as dangerous as getting stabbed in the chest. Zayn stared ahead at his friend. Sorella and Dane worked to remove Kayde's clothes. Their combined effort had them off in less than a minute. They didn't stop until he was down to straight skin all over and nothing else. The dire situation kept Zayn from feeling so uncomfortable at the nudity.

They had Kayde laid on his side. They couldn't turn him over just yet, not with the weapon still in him. Next, Sorella immediately went to survey the wound. She opened his eyelids to survey his pupils as well -well, the best she could. His eyes were rolled up partially into his head.

The medic tending Zayn said, "Its hit right through his lungs. There's nothing we can do for him. He can't breathe. He's a dead man."

Sorella looked very frustrated, not even seeming to hear the other healer. Instead, she just looked to Rhalla's son. "Dane, go to the neck. See if you can find a heartbeat." She ripped through her supplies. "There's blood in his lung. Air in his chest cavity. We're looking at lung collapse on the right side, I don't know how widespread."

"Is that fixable?" Dane asked, rushing to Kayde's jugular.

"It's been meddled with, but it's never been done successfully," Sorella said, pulling out a weird tubular tool with great haste. Dane had seen her use it before on infected lumps. "Not to my knowledge."

"Is it possible?"

"Probably not," Sorella admitted on a breath. "But there's a first time for everything."

"Isn't that used for draining infection?" Dane asked, pressing firm fingers to Kayde's neck.

"We have to drain the blood out of his lung somehow. This is the best we got." Sorella said, pressing on his ribs with her fingers, searching for the intercostal spaces to ensure she wouldn't hit bone with her tool. "How's that heartbeat?"

"I can't feel one yet," he answered.

"Gods fucking damn it," Sorella cursed. With a quick hand, she stabbed the tube right between two ribs. Immediately, blood and air started draining from the tube. "We need to get air into the lungs. We need him to breathe. We need to try something. He needs some air now. Somehow." She wrung her withered hands and paced a couple steps. "Okay, I'm gonna try and blow them up. I hope. We'll see how it goes."

"What do you mean?"

Sorella rushed to his face and cupped it in her hands. "Let's try this." With two hands, she propped his jaw open. Everyone watched the move of a desperate woman. Sucking in a deep breath, she ducked down and blew air into his mouth. Meanwhile, everyone watched her like she was bat-shit crazy. They watched as she tried several positions of his head.