Chapter Text
The Biting chill of the wind was making Cassandra's movement much more difficult, she turned to look at Will in concern, the boy looked worse for wear, His head lolled with every jostle, his eyes hazed and half-lidded, his mouth was open, breaths coming out in light puffs. He was leaning heavily against her, his arm thrown haphazardly across her shoulders, making her carry most if not all his weight. She tore her gaze away from him, she could see the cabin that Erak was talking about up ahead, she let a smile grace her face feeling herself walk faster, basically dragging Will behind her She pushed the door open with her shoulder, stumbling inside, barely saving themselves from falling on the floor in a trampled heap. She drags them farther inside, setting Will as gently onto the floor as she could. He groaned, barely stopping himself from flopping fully onto the floor, Cassandra quickly closed and locked the door before going to the fireplace and setting the logs inside ablaze.
She turned back to Will trying to assess the other, he was panting, as if he ran a marathon, upon further inspection she noticed that he was sweating, sweat covered his whole body as if he wasn’t just in the cold a minute ago. Her brows furrowed, quickly crouching next to Will’s body. She snapped ger fingers in front of him, brows furrowing further when she didn’t get a response “Will? Is something wrong?” She shook his shoulders gently, the boy cracked open an eye, “Leg- It hurts” He choked out, she hurriedly moved down to his legs, rolling the pant legs up, but stopping short with a gasp as she was met with the problem. There was a cut on his ankle, But Cassandra couldn’t assess the size because the injury site was infected beyond recognition, the foot is discolored (whether from hypothermia or the infection, Cassandra doesn’t know), puss’ oozing out of a big area (and if she looks hard enough, she could see inside the ankle), She’s studied enough nursing to know something as severe as that is life-ending and needs amputation. Cassandra swallowed the bile creeping up her throat and turned back to Will, he looked near the brink of unconsciousness, his breathing become wheezes instead of airy breaths, one of his arms is covering his eyes, but it isn’t enough to hide the now obvious Fever splotched on his face. She shook his shoulders urgently, earning a fevered glare from the sickly boy. The only thing she could think about was the fact she’ll have to amputate the foot.
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Cassandra shakenly walked to the storage closet Rummaging through the abandoned stuff in hopes to find something that would end this hell faster. Her prayers were answered when she pulled out a saxe knife. She turned back to Will, whom after finding out only agreed after a long bout of arguing, his head was turned away, his trembling arm covering his eyes, as if that would hide the pain that was to come later. “Okay,” She exhaled, already feeling the tears prickling her eyes. “Let’s get this going and over with.”
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A scream was ripped from Will’s throat as the knife went back to sawing, Cassandra’s determination was snuffed out when the previously thought sharp knife happened to be dull. She clenched her eyes closed, trying hard to ignore Will’s wailing and screaming, she could feel the blood splattering onto her hand. Will’s cries only got more desperate, his hands clawing at Cassandra’s arm, but his attempts only for it to be in vain. He could only cling and sob onto Cassandra’s shoulder. Her tears were falling down her (now open) eyes, feeling bile rise up her throat as the knife hit bone. She swallowed it down and only started to saw faster. It felt like forever before Will finally succumbed to the pain and passed out. She almost sobbed in relief when the knife hit the wood floors, embedding itself into the grooves of the wood. The infected foot slid away slightly from the pair, stopping in its own mess, the inside facing them, as if taunting the pair. She carefully moved Will away from her shoulder, grabbing the bandage and wrapping the wound, making sure the bandage is snug; She rolled up the now extra pant cloth, letting the wound breathe. She shakenly got up to her feet, surveying the damage around her, blood was everywhere, there was a big puddle where the source once was, already dried into the wood. She did not know what to do with the amputated foot, so she just left it where it was. Her eyes widened, realizing something, she started digging around her pockets in desperation, sighing in relief when she found the warmweed, it sat in its pouch, looking between the drug and the boy on the floor, she slouched forward as if a new weight is resting on her shoulders.
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Weaning Will off the warmweed was as difficult as she expected it, when the boy was awake, he was out of it and refused to take the drug, so she basically had to force him to take it (Fortunately he didn’t put up a fight). When he’s asleep, Cassandra would go outside with a bowl she weaved out of the leaves she could find and fill it up with snow, as the snow melted, she would grab a handful of the still cold water and try to (the best of her abilities) lower his temperature. She tries and take care of his wound as best as she can, but with her limited knowledge and limited supply she is not able to do much. It was a few days after the amputation, Cassandara was outside, grabbing more snow when she heard it. She put the bowl down as lightly as she could. Slowly inching towards where she last heard the voice. As she slowly crept forwards, the forest thinned the more she moved before coming to a stop behind a tree. There was a vast empty clearing, where two people, sitting atop their horses, rode on, her eyes widened as she saw a glimpse of the people’s faces, she stepped back in shock. Her heart dropping as her foot stepped on a twig, filling the quiet space around her with the sound of it breaking. She held her breath, hoping they hadn’t heard, but was unsuccessful when one of the figures turned towards where she is hiding, now having a bow in their hand, “Step out now! Your hiding place has been found out!” They called out, voice gruff and laced with venom. Cassandra slowly stepped out; hands up in surrender, tears stinging her eyes. She met the eyes of the ranger, who’s were filled with a surprise and a hint of worry, they lowered their bow, their voice now returning to its normal gruffness, “Your Highness...?” Her tears now falling more freely she sobbed “You need to help him....Halt”