14, Winter, 518
Pain. Hauks entire world was pain. It overcame all his senses, and it made a single moment last an eternity. Waves washed over him, caused by any twitch or slight movement. In this moment it was his entire identity. No memory, no thought. Just pain.
Ticks went by as he was consumed by it. Slowly he regained his sense. In the background he could barely make out the sounds of barking. Fen, his canine companion was barking at him, almost to telling him to get up, concern fueling the dogs energy. Deep breaths he kept telling himself, breathing deeply in an attempt to keep the pain away and come back to his surroundings. A huge weight lay on top of him, pinning him between the ground and the trunk of a tree. With a grit of his teeth, and a massive surge of will, Hauk pushed with all his might, using the very pain that crashed over him as fuel.
With a thud, the body of the boar rolled off Hauk, leaving wide the wound that it had left the hunter. The beast had run itself straight through the spear that Hauk had been using, too determined to care. While it had lost its life at the hands of the hunter, a deep gash, just above Hauks hip had been his revenge. Free of the weight, Hauk gasped, blood oozing out of the wound. In his misfortune, he had a bit of luck; a chunk of the boars tusk had broken off and stayed in the wound, keeping most of the blood from leaving.
He pressed his hand to the wound, trying to ignore the pain, and through gritted teeth “I need….to stop the..blood” more to himself than any one else. Fen ran up to him, whining and licking his face knowing that his friend was hurt. He appreciated the friends concern, but Hauk had to push his friends head away. Thankfully, the dog seemed to understand, and sat back, watching Hauk struggle, concern clearly in his eyes.
Propping himself up against the tree, Hauk looked down at the injury. Blood. That was what he mostly saw. That and the end of the tusk sticking out his side, a pearly white against the backdrop of a deep, dark red. Hauk wasn’t sure what to do. He needed to cover it, that was sure, but he couldn’t just bind it with cloth, the blood would just seep through. He looked around, frantically thinking. Next to his hand, he saw that his blood had mixed with the dirt and leaves there, making a thick soup. An Idea sprang to his mind. It wasn’t going to be pretty, and it was probably gunna hurt, a lot, but what choice did he have? Grabbing a handful dirt, Hauk smeared into his wound, grunting at the pain.
The dirt slowly soaked up the blood, which was what it needed to do. That should buy me a few moments. Taking one of the daggers he carries with him at all times, Hauk reached down to his leg, several inches above his knee and cut off his pant leg. Ripping it down the middle even further, he now had two equal lengths of cloth he could now use to wrap around the wound. The makeshift wrap would have to do, and combined with dirt, that should buy him enough time to get to the camp. He needed a healer, desperately. He knew that there wasn’t one at the outpost. His only chance of survival would be to make it to one of the boats that would take him to city.
Reaching over to the dead boar, Hauk used the shaft of the spear prop himself up, finally standing. Slowly, he wrapped both his hand around it, and with all the might he could muster, Hauk managed to work the spear free of the dead animal. He would have to leave the boar here, left to the scavengers and other animals. He was loath to, but he knew that it would not be a waste. Turning away, He staggered back towards the outpost with Fen who would not leave his side, using the spear as crutch moving slowly, painfully, onward.
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Hauk arrived at the outpost with time to spare before the next boat left. He had made quite the uproar when he did, with several of the locals rushing to his aid. Someone, he wasn’t sure who, gave him something to drink. Another man, this time someone whom Hauk recognized as the owner of the general goods store, sat him down and examined the wound. The next few events where a blur; hehad began to feel the effects of the blood loss. A heated knife had been produced from somewhere, followed by a searing pain. The world went black.
A few chimes later Hauk awoke. The sharp pain of his wound present, but by some miracle hauks head was more or less clear. The same man who sat him down was crouched next to him. “You need to get to Ravok, now. We managed to cauterize your wound, but it’ll only hold for a some bells.” Hauk looked down and saw the black and charred skin of the wound, mixed with the blood and dirt. ”Help me up”, said the hunter through grimaced teeth. With the support from the other man, Hauk slowly stood on his too feet. “Thank you” looked at the man, “I may just owe you my life.”
“All I did was buy you a few more hours of your life, friend” He answered with a wry smile, “You’ll owe which ever healer that fixes you up you life. In the mean time, I’ll hold on to this…” He held up the chunk of boar tusk that had previously been stuck in his wound. “I might make something from it for you, that is if you survive.”
Hauk nodded, not really wanting to say more given his state. Looking around, he found Fen loyally at his side. “Lets go boy.” Together, they made their way to the boat.