Biru slashed the sword wildly, Xerxes dodged, and then jumped forward and slammed his shoulder into Biru’s solar plexus.

Biru collapsed, and Xerxes fell on top of him. Even before they hit the ground, Xerxes’ hands were on Biru’s, trying to wrench his fingers off the hilt of the weapon. One finger came back. Then another. Taking advantage of the angle, Xerxes smashed his elbow into Biru’s jaw. The big man yelped, and released a hand to try to protect his face. That was just what Xerxes needed. His fingers slipped around part of the bronze sword’s hilt, and he pulled away hard.

The sword jerked out of Biru’s hand. Xerxes rolled to the side, jumped to his feet, and held the sword out in front of him.

“Fucker!” Biru spat, then pulled his long knife out of its sheath as he got to his feet. Wiping blood off his mouth, he tried to stab Xerxes.

Wrong, Xerxes thought. Acting almost purely on instinct, he sidestepped, then slashed the short sword toward Biru’s head. To Xerxes’ surprise, the sword bit into the man’s neck just above his collar bone. Blood started pouring out. More blood than Xerxes had ever seen in one place. Gripping the sword in two hands, he prepared for Biru to lunge toward him again. But the man didn’t.

Instead, he clamped his hand onto his neck and staggered to the side.

“You…” he said, then slipped in the mud and fell. Blood kept pouring through his fingers. “You….”

He tried to get up, but failed, and fell onto his back. He groaned, and then his hand fell away. He spasmed visibly, and Xerxes looked away from the red waterfall.The man was dead. He dropped the bronze sword as a wave of numbness seeped through him. He exhaled shakily.

In his peripheral vision, he saw the other woodsmen stumbling away into the nearby alleys.

“Biru’s got ‘imself killed!” one of them said, his voice trembling.

“Fuck him,” another said. “We gotta get out of ‘ere!”

He tried to take another deep breath.

Someone was yelling. Screaming. It was Bel.

“Gem!” she shrieked. “Gem, are you alright?”

Xerxes turned and saw the portly soldier lying on his side, with Bel next to him on her knees, leaning over him.

Xerxes walked toward them, shaking his head to try to gain clarity. “What’s wrong?” he said.

Bel looked over her shoulder, and he saw blood smeared on her face.

“He’s hurt. Cut in the neck.”

As Xerxes rushed over, he saw that Gem was bleeding from a neck wound. It was in a different place than the blow which had killed Biru, but it was a neck wound nonetheless. Bel was pushing her hand onto it, but blood oozed out nonstop.

“Fuck me,” Gem said, his voice raspy and quiet. “Can’t believe this is ‘appening.”

“Can’t you heal him, Bel?” Xerxes said.

Bel shook her head. “I left my component pouch in my room, remember?”

“Fuck.” Xerxes dropped to his knees on Gem’s other side.

“Xerk,” Bel said, “you keep the pressure on his neck, I’ll run back. It’ll only take a minute.”

“Right.”

“You take over in three, two, one, now!”

When Bel took her hand away, an enormous wave of blood surged out of Gem. Xerxes quickly put his hand on the man’s neck and pushed down. Nausea clawed at his stomach, and he felt like throwing up, but suppressed the urge.

Bel sprinted off. As a Seer just like Xerxes, she could run ten times faster than an average human. But would that be fast enough?

“Just hang in there, Gem,” Xerxes said. “She’ll be back quick. It’ll take a matter of seconds to patch your neck up.”

“Not sure about that, kid,” Gem said, his voice trembling, and already quieter than before. “This is bad.”

“You’ll be fine.” Xerxes pushed down harder on the wound, but the blood oozed out nonetheless.

“I have some… sh-shekels in a wood box in my stuff. Can you… g-get it to my wife and kids?”

“You can give it to them, Gem.”

“Tell them… tell them I love… t-tell….”

Gem closed his eyes.

“No,” Xerxes murmured. Looking down he saw that Gem was still breathing. “Don’t die, Gem. Just a matter of seconds, really. Bel’ll be right back.”

He watched Gem breathing, and felt the blood flowing through his fingers. How had this happened? Why had it happened?

He looked briefly over at Biru, who lay there just as before in a pool of bloody mud. He looked back at Gem.

“Bel!” he shouted. “Bel, hurry up!”

Gem went still. No breathing.

“Fuck. COME ON, GEM!”

Xerxes let loose a hoarse shout of rage and frustration. It did nothing.

The blood had stopped flowing. It still seeped out a bit, but Xerxes could tell it wasn’t being pushed out with force. Gem’s heart had stopped beating. He took his hand away, grabbed the man’s shirt, and shook him. “Start breathing again!”

He heard the slap of footsteps, and then Bel slid to a stop in the mud next to him.

“I got it!” she said. He saw her shove her hand into her component pouch and pull out a handful of green sand.

“It’s too late,” Xerxes said hollowly.

She looked down, and a stricken expression took over her face. She stood there frozen for a moment. Then her expression hardened. “Might still be a chance.”

Cupping her hand in front of her, she began to draw the Balatu Isten rune into the sand to cast Minor Restoration. A moment later, Xerxes saw melam flowing out from Bel’s hand. Delicate spirals encompassed her forearm as she dropped down to both knees and then touched Gem’s chest.

The melam disappeared into him, and Xerxes heart leapt briefly as he saw some of the flesh around the wound twitching. But that was it.

Nothing else happened. Healing spells only worked on the living.

She exhaled sharply. “I can try again. Maybe my rune was off.”

“It wasn’t, Bel,” Xerxes said, and suddenly he realized tears were streaming down his cheeks. Nonetheless, he reached out and took Bel’s hand. He squeezed it. “He’s gone.”

She squeezed his hand back.