<HTML> Daemion is right in the middle of a scene of disorganized chaos. Several of the kids are crying in absolute terror right now; many of them are obviously very badly shaken from the ordeal they just had to go through. Daemion is doing better than most, though; he listened to Uncle Jono and he considered what all could happen, and he went out and did it. And Uncle Jono did help beat the bad guys, but that Perry guy and Uncle Jono's friend Jo also helped lots. What has Daemion spooked is that even the grown ups are looking scared now. Jeremy's dad looks especially bad... but then again, Jeremy got shot, so you can kinda expect that. "He's wounded!" Kevin is screaming. "You've got to help him!" Jo is already pushing her way through the children over to Jono, who still has Jeremy in his arms. "Set him down, I need to get that arrow out... Jeremy, are you feeling okay?" He doesn't respond, instead looking pretty listless. This is a bad sign; patients that don't feel good usually don't end up all that good. "I need some of Jeremy's friends to help me out here," she says, looking up at the kids. Friends, she said. She needs help! And he knows he has to. He's the one who's going to be a healer too, someday... so before anyone else can volunteer Daemion jumps forward. "Need somethin'?" he asks. This is his big chance. Joanne has her herbal bag out already and is getting out the materials for one of her bandages. "Daemion. Kevin, you too... I need you both to talk to Jeremy, keep him talking back to you, so he doesn't think about hurting, otherwise he's going to hurt more." Kevin nods and puts his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, looking very worried. Daemion settles down next to his fellow snowfield veteran, looking concerned. "Hey, Jeremy, you doing okay?" he asks, getting a listless shake of the head. "Harder to dodge than the snowballs?" he asks. Jeremy manages a smile. "...yeah..." Joanne is muttering to herself, examining the wound. "Nothing serious hit, arrow isn't poisoned just a compress, maybe. Okay, I'm going to have to pull the arrow out," she calls out. "It's going to hurt him a bit more, so he has to be ready." "She's got to get the arrow out, and it'll hurt more, but only briefly," Kevin tells his son, hand still on shoulder. And Daemion watches, realizing concretely for the first time that this is serious stuff. Of course, this was pretty much set from the beginning. That's actual blood from Jeremy's back, and he's got an actual ARROW stuck in his BACK! This is definitely the Real Thing. This is what real Healers do. There's Joanne, back there preparing to help treat the wound. There's Kevin, sitting next to Daemion, hand on shoulder like Dads always do and Jeremy's sitting there, looking listless still. And Joanne said that that was bad! That's something to do. He has to get Jeremy talking, thinking about something. What is it that Jeremy always does? Dares. Jeremy loves to make dares with people. So Daemion settles back down next to Jeremy, looking at him very seriously, straight in the eye, like you Always do for this sort of thing, and says just barely audibly, "Dare you to stay quiet." Jeremy grins, then clenches his eyes shut. "You're on." To his credit, Jeremy doesn't scream when the arrow is pulled. He visibly winces, and tears roll down from his face, but he doesn't scream. "...told ya so..." he tells Daemion. Daemion knows that this is the part where he's just lost the dare, so he does his best to look grumpy. Of course, inwardly he's grinning in triumph. _I got him to keep from screaming!_ "All right, now I need to put the compress on, and then bandage the wound," Joanne says. "It's going to hurt a whole heck of a lot but then it'll stop." "She's got to make the pain stop coming, so she's going to make it All come at once, but then it's going to run out, so you're going to be fine," Kevin tells him. "Double-dog dare ya this time," adds Daemion. _If it worked once. This time Jeremy does let out a quiet "ow!" when the compress contacts his wound, but he keeps it quiet. "Beat you again," Jeremy says, obviously worn out from the ordeal, but grinning triumphantly up at Daemion. Daemion, however, is grinning back. "Yeah, turkey, guess you did." _And I got to be a real healer. He only barely takes notice of Kevin chuckling and saying something about "now we'll Both have war wounds to remember" - his focus is completely on his friend, who he just helped. Yeah. I'm gonna be a healer. *** Dan pushed his way through the mass of people hurrying though the winter darkened hallways of the Keep. Incredulous as it had seemed to the insect morph, the alarms had sounded. The idea that someone was stupid enough to attack Metamor in mid-winter, let alone in the middle of the blizzard that was raging outside the stone walls was ludicrous. Yet the bells and horns were sounding. Someone, or something, was trying to breach the outer walls. The alarm had interrupted a planning meeting between the botanist and one of the Duke's bureaucrats, discussing some plans for a new garden to be constructed on the grounds of the Upper Keep. Plans that Dan felt could safely be shelved until after the holiday season. Yet, as if there was nothing special about the time of year, the bureaucrat had insisted that the meeting had to be held on that day. He felt almost sorry for the clerk, seemingly having nothing better to do then spend the holiday season working. Though he had not planned anything special for the Yule. Just a quiet dinner with a few friends. Still, Dan was annoyed that the man had little enough of a life that he scheduled work in what was a time for celebration. Dan had almost been glad when the bells started to sound. It gave him an excuse to escape from the annoying child whose only purpose seemed to be telling Dan how the gardens must look. Now he was pushing through the corridors, making his way through the multitudes of others. Soldiers rushing to their posts, some with armor half on, covering gaily colored holiday dress. Messengers scrambling to deliver news and reports. Civilians moving to the secure shelters, safe havens in case the walls fell. A general sense of panic and fear filled the air as people rushed around, not quite sure what was happening outside. Through this chaos Dan moved, making his way towards the Lower Keep and the armoury. The armory, where he'd meet up with his reserve unit, be issued weapons and, if needed, join the regular guard in the defense of his home. If he could even make it across the Keep, through the throngs of people choking the halls. With a grimace, Dan shoved past a bottleneck as people crowded around the door leading to one of the cellars designated as a shelter. As he approached the junction connecting the Upper Keep to the lower, a hand grabbed Dan's shoulder as he struggled through the crowd. Turning, he found himself facing an angry looking cat in the uniform of a keep guard. "Get to the shelter. No time to get personal belongings." shouted the solider over the crowd, in a voice that sounded as if he had been yelling the same phrase a lot recently. "I'm trying to get to the armory. To join up with my unit." explained Dan, shouting to be heard over the throng of the crowd around them. "Sheesh. Haven't you heard? They say the outer walls aren't going to hold much longer. We've got a full scale assault going on here. You don't have time to make it to your unit." said the guard, before turning to a large man wearing the uniform of an officer of the Metamor guard. "Captain Christoff, Sir. We've got a soldier separated from his squad here. What should we do?" The officer walked over to join Dan and the guard. Looking the insectoid over, Christoff asked "What is your name and what unit are you with?" "Dan D'Alimonte, with the 33rd irregular infantry, Sir." "A reservist?" "Yes, Sir." Christoff seemed to ponder for a moment before continuing. "Well, we're going to need every warrior we can get." he decided, then turned to the guard. "Jace, see that he gets a weapon. We're almost done here. Once everyone is in the shelter, we'll head over to the entrance to the Upper Keep and join the defenders there." "Sir, are we not going to help the men on the walls?" asked Jace. "The walls aren't going to hold much longer. Apparently, there is a whole Lutin army hitting them hard. I've gotten orders not to leave the Keep. We'll fall back and leave it to the stones of Metamor herself to protect us." "And the grounds?" added Dan. "Not in this weather. Too cold, and in the dark, with the snow flying it would be almost impossible to tell friend from foe until you stuck a sword into them. We're going to force the invaders to stay out in the storm. By the time they could breach a gate, they should be half dead." Dan, hastily equipped with a spare spear borrowed and a few scraps of armor that he could make use of, began to help get the last of the stragglers into one of the many cellars designated as emergency shelters. As he directed people down the narrow stairway and through the heavy wood and iron doors, a though of something forgotten nagged at the back of his mind. Busy, Dan pushed the though from his mind as he occupied himself with his duty. They had cleared that halls, and Christoff was splitting his company into two squads, one to stay and guard the shelter and one to join the defenders at the doors to the Lower Keep. In a flash of realization, Dan's heart dropped. The nagging though flooded back into his head and made itself clear. "Captain! Captain!" he called out suddenly. "There is still someone trapped outside. One of my friends." "What do you mean?" asked Christoff, looking up from consulting with one of his lieutenants. "Anyone with any common sense wouldn't be outside in this weather, and even if they were, they should know enough to get inside when the alarms go off." "Not if they don't have that choice." said Dan, hastily explaining to the solider about Laracin. The treemorph, asleep for the winter and trapped in the soil by his roots, would be an easy target for the invaders. "Maybe they will overlook him, thinking he is only a regular tree or something?" suggested Jace. "No. Dan is right." said Christoff. "If they have to lay siege to the gates for any length of time, then they are going to need firewood for warmth. Anything burnable will be burned." Dan only nodded in agreement. "So, what are we going to do?" asked Jace. Christoff turned to face his men, raising his voice to be heard. "There is still one Keeper stuck out in the cold, folks." He called out. "I'll be damned if I am going to leave him to die at the hands of some dirty lutin. Any more volunteers?" The captain's face broke into a smile as all around him hands, paws and weapons were raised. Every solider not entrusted with the safety of the shelter had volunteered. Forming them up, Christoff began to lead the small band towards the nearest door outside, proud of the courage shown by the fifteen men behind him. ** End part 13b </XMP> </HTML>