Standing across the cave from Ark and Theo, a disheveled and bloody woman is clutching a wound on her stomach while pointing a pistol at them.
Ark, pointing his pistol, sees her anguished face and glances at Theo.
Theo's face is calm, cold and concentrated, his pistol steady.
Suddenly, the woman collapses to the floor, her gun falling out of her grip.
Theo's expression quickly switches to worry, then he lowers his gun and rushes towards her.
"Hey! Are you okay?" he asks frantically, checking her pulse and shaking her gently, "she's badly injured but just unconscious!"
He then checks the wound she was clutching. "She's been stabbed by a branch, it doesn't look too deep but she'll need stitching."
"Did it cut into the gut?" Ark asks.
A grinding sound comes from behind as a red medical box slides near Theo.
"Uh… doesn't look like it," Theo answers before opening the medkit.
"That's good. Oh! This woman, she's one of the knights," Ark points out as he crawls to the opposite side of her body, carrying the lamp with him.
Theo sits her up. "Help me take off her armour," Theo asks and they begin removing her breast plate and shoulder pads before lying her back down.
"What good is all this fancy armour, if you can still get stabbed by a tree," Ark comments as he tears open the undersuit around her wound.
Theo passes two different bottles and disposable gloves to Ark who rests them by his side. Ark then clasps the branch in her body and looks up at Theo.
"You ready?" he asks.
Theo puts his hands near the wound and nods.
Ark sees the nod and starts pulling the branch out. Blood starts gushing out and Theo swiftly applies pressure.
After throwing the branch away, Ark grabs one of the bottles and starts pouring it. A blue liquid pours into the wound. It then starts to solidify into a gel. Ark pulls it out and examines it to see that the gel is full of small fragments of wood . Once verifying it has extracted the tree branch remains, he throws it away.
Then he grabs the other bottle, labelled 'Disinfectant', and starts pouring it on. Theo, having removed his hands before the disinfectant started pouring, takes some items out of the medkit and rests them on her chest.
Ark cleans the wound with a wipe provided by Theo, then he puts the disposable gloves on and takes a curved needle from a sewing kit. After disinfecting it, and taking a deep breath, he threads the needle and begins stitching up the wound.
Theo watches anxiously, holding the lamp above, as Ark concentrates on guiding the thread across in a zigzag pattern. After finishing the stitches, Theo cuts the thread and Ark makes the final knots.
While Ark takes a massive sigh of relief, Theo cleans the wound once again before applying a green laced gauze pad.
"Nice work," Theo compliments Ark as he carefully moves the woman to the back of the cave and leans her against a rock.
"Thanks," Ark drags the medkit closer so he can begin treating his own wound.
"I guess I'll try starting a fire."
Listening to the rain pour heavily, Ark laughs softly, "Good luck with that."
"As they say; where there's a will, there's a way!" He puts his sword on his back and heads to the exit.
■■■
Half an hour later, Theo walks back into the cave, completely drenched with a stag over his shoulder and a bundle of sticks under his arm.
Ark looks up from his phone. "Dinner, I presume?" he asks.
"Damn right!" Theo exclaims, grinning as he drops them near Ark.
"How did you even catch that?" Ark shuffles closer.
"Animals also need shelter from the rain!"
"Right…"
Theo noticed the phone, "You get a signal?"
"No, it's really weird, this isn't a rural enough planet to lack satellites like this."
"Could be interference?"
"Mm, most likely. Something fishy is definitely going on here."
"Not our problem, we have more concerning issues right now, like how to start this fire."
While Theo struggles to find dry sticks, Ark picks up the glowing red crystal and inspects it.
"So, this really has the Captain's magic inside it?"
"Yeah, I'm hoping it can light this fire for us."
"You haven't tried it before?"
"Never needed to."
"How did he say to use this?"
"Just point it at the target and channel your mana through it, easy peazy!"
"If you say so."
Theo finishes setting up the sticks and Ark aims the crystal. He takes a deep breath and starts concentrating intensely.
Fr-woosh!
A stream of fire launches out of the crystal, setting the sticks on fire instantly. Their eyes widen and they look at each other as big grins appear on their faces.
"Yes!" Theo celebrates as they high five.
■■■
The woman's eyes open slightly. In the corner of her blurry vision, she sees a figure on the other side of an orange haze. Quickly regaining consciousness, she springs awake.
A jolt of pain surges through her and she freezes. The figure, which can now be seen clearly as a young man, reacts.
"Hey hey! Settle down, your wound is still healing!" the man exclaims, urgently.
"Who are you? Where am I? What have you done to me?" The woman fires off questions as her eyes dart around the cave.
"I'm Ark and we're in the jungle. You were injured, I saved your life!"
She notices the bandage on her stomach. "What happened?"
"I don't know how it happened… All I know is, Iast night, you stumbled in here, gun pointed, before collapsing. You had a tree branch in you."
"Gun… where is my gun? And my armour? And my sword?"
"Over there!" Ark points to the corner where her equipment is piled up, "You didn't have a sword."
She stares at him suspiciously.
He puts his hands up. "On my mother's life."
She tries to get up.
Ark sucks air through his teeth, "Oooh! I wouldn't move, elemental bandages can only do so much!"
Wincing from the pain, she falls back down. "Of course," she says in a condescending tone, "I knew that."
"So, are you a mercenary?" she asks.
"Yes. Me and Theo- he's getting breakfast."
"Well I'm grateful, to you, Ark, and to Theo."
Ark smiles slightly.
She looks down at the bandage, and starts touching it.
"Oh, you can take that off, it's done its job," Ark mentions.
She glances up at Ark before glancing back down and quickly ripping it off. She touches the stitches, dragging her fingers across them. "The stitching. It's… very impressive."
Ark blushes while grinning and rubbing the back of his head. "Thank you, my mum taught me. Sorry though, it will probably leave a scar."
"Nah, it won't," she remarks nonchalantly, which leaves Ark somewhat taken aback.
"Um, okay… if you say so."
Footsteps come from the entrance and she instantly turns her head to look as Theo strides in.
"Oh hey! You're awake!" Theo greets them, his voice booming.
"Uh… hi," she returns the greeting.
"I'm Theo! Nice to meet you!"
"You may call me Fivilia von Risquit, pleasure to make your acquaintance," Fivilia sharpens her composure as she introduces herself.
Ark furrows his brow, realising he never actually got her name, before making a bigger realisation. "Wait, Risquit? As in, the Risquit Barony?"
"Indeed, but I am merely part of a branch family, so I am not a noble."
"Ah… Cool cool. More importantly, you fought the dragon, right?" Theo asks excitedly, brushing past what she said.
Fivilia lowers her head solemnly. "Yes, we fought the dragon. Well, 'fought' is an exaggeration," she slams her fist on the ground as her face contorts in a mix of grief and rage, "we were completely and utterly decimated!"
The excited expression fades from Theo as he and Ark watch Fivilia battle with her emotions.
"We saw it, the dragon. We saw the scales," Ark speaks softly.
She looks up at him, her face returning to normal.
"If you don't mind," Ark continues, "would you tell us what happened?"