With Spartacius now being dragged upwards by Alice, the Lynx could finally drop Cala to the ground.

“Heal her!”

White Flower bowed and healed her.

“Strange, I did heal her, her feet are back however, some wounds do not heal. Can it be...?"

Tina froze. Can it be that she died? That was what White Flower did not dare to ask.

The Lynx shook his head:

"Those scars have been there. The feet did regrow whilst the scars stayed. That is something else. Like some older wound that was not properly healed."

He then raised his head and spoke to White Flower:

“We do not have time to think about those scars now. You must continue to heal her! I do not hear her heartbeat! You must heal her until I hear her heart beating again!”

White Flower watched him a moment unsure, then nodded:

"OK!"

She started to heal Cala continuously. The Lynx made a small cut on Cala's arm with one of his claws. The cut healed instantly. He exclaimed victoriously:

"See?"

White Flower grinned. Finally, Spartacius and Alice joined them.

Spartacius watched them inquiringly:

“What is happening?”

Cala was lying on her back in a pool of blood and strange oozy liquids, partially covered with a teeming population of smaller and bigger wolshi, snail-like creatures of various colors, mostly dark brown to black or even violet. The arrow was still fixed in her torso forcing her right shoulder a bit higher, blood continuing to pour from her wound.

As White Flower's healing was replenishing the blood in her body, the small puddle under her was expanding. They were practically staying in her blood.

The Lynx commanded:

“Clean the wolshi from her! White Flower, keep healing her! She is not yet breathing! Alice, the arrow!”

White Flower nodded. He didn't have to tell her, she was continuing her healing spells.

However, Spartacius looked at him wondering:

“Is she not dead?”

When the Lynx answered he could not hide the anger from his voice:

“No. We tested that, she heals from wounds. As long as White Flower keeps healing her, she lives!”

Picking up a bigger wolshi Spartacius wondered:

“But the wound at the eye does not heal. Neither those on her neck and torso?”

The wolshi in his hand turned suddenly, with surprising vivacity, and bit him. He screamed shell-shocked. With an expert movement, Alice decapitated the small beast, brown ooze spreading from it over Spartacius' hand and shirt. Tina watched the spreading ooze disgusted and exclaimed:

“Gross!”

The Lynx answered undisturbed:

"That's something else. We tested, and she heals fresh wounds."

Tina picked a small wolshi but the result was similar. The small, seven centimeters snail, turned and bit her finger. She screamed panicked and a flame erupted from her hand exploding the small beast in her face. She started spitting, cleaning her face from the brown ooze.

“Hah! I did it! I killed the beast!”

She turned towards the cavern's entry where the giant wolshi was still struggling. It screamed a pained wail as if it would have felt the death of those small beasts. It was no longer trying to break in by force but was looking for another entry and came back regularly to check on them.

“What is that beast?”

The Lynx looked for a moment to the entry then back to Cala.

“An evolved wolshi. He wants to protect his offspring. When inside him, these small beasts are infused by his magic and are exactly as hard as he is. Here they are weak. It takes time for them to evolve.”

Tina shook her head:

“No. It is not possible. I've seen wolshi before. These small beasts here, these are wolshi, that must be something else!”

The Lynx sighed.

“It is one. It evolved, like the tree that Cala found in that ghost's mansion. Normal wolshi can endanger small rodents, birds, and maybe some cats, but that one evolved, probably during the magic storm. It feels that we would be adequate food for its offspring and would very much like to get us. That might help some of them to evolve too.”

He turned to watch satisfied that Cala's arrow was finally removed.

“See? The arrow's wound is healed. She is alive. Clean all those damn wolshi that are eating her alive!”

Alice put her ear near Cala's face:

“But why is she not breathing?”

White Flower raised her eyes:

“Probably because of the wolshi that moves in her throat? I can feel at least one inside there! Look, do you see how it moves?”

The Lynx snarled:

“Remove it!”

Spartacius turned away and ran, but after only a couple of steps he started vomiting.

Alice raised her head to look at the Lynx:

“How?”

The Lynx shrugged.

“Cut what needs to be cut, White Flower heals anyhow, but please, be careful with the cuts."

As if he needed to say that! Alice nodded.

"Sure"

She took a deep breath and started cutting.

The Lynx turned to White Flower:

"How long can you keep up your healing?"

She grinned, cleaning the sweat from her brows:

"Another hour or two. I could make them a bit rarer, then I can keep it longer!”

“Good, keep on healing at the current pace. We need to have her breathing before. Can you scan for any more wolshi?”

“Yes, there are more! One is in her ear!”

“Can you kill it with spells? Fire? Heat? Ice?”

“I would also fry part of her, but I can heal that!”

“Do that. Kill them all and heal her, again and again! What can be cut out, let Alice cut them out.”

After some fifteen minutes of work, they have turned her on all sides and cleaned the beasts. Terri raised her head and looked at the Lynx:

“She is cleaned now but she is still not breathing”

The Lynx looked at Spartacius:

“What did she do there in the market when she revived Alice?”

Spartacius raised his shoulders.

“I do not know, I was in jail”

Alice mumbled:

“I... I remember that she kissed me. Do you think this would help? Should I kiss her?”

Spartacius shook his head:

“No Alice. She must have blown air into your lungs. She probably did CPR on you!”

“CPR?”

“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. That is a revival method that is used in the real world. You help the lungs and the heart to fulfill their function until they restart working, else the person truly dies.”

The Lynx looked worried but also with hope at him:

“Can you show them what to do?”

“Sure! About 100 chest compressions per minute, at every 30 compressions, you need to blow air into her lungs. You can blow air through her mouth or her nose. Like this!”

He did that, he even blew air into her lungs, even if the image of the wolshi moving inside her throat came back to his mind. His face was green, but he still did it.

He was tired after two minutes, and he let Alice do it. After another fifteen minutes, sweat ran down Alice's brow, but Cala was still not breathing.

White Flower shook her head:

“I don't know. A bird had described it differently to me.”

They all turned to look at her whilst Alice continued her work. She added:

“The bird said she had put some sharp tools on Alice's sides, here and here and then Alice's body was bent, like this!” - she pushed her breast in front bending her back.

“Oh! That must be some electroshock! Really? I don't know where could she have such a device from?”

“You mean a device to make an electrical shock?”

“Yes. It helps restart the heart.”

White Flower turned to the Lynx:

“I could do that. I do not need a device. Should I try?”

The Lynx nodded:

“Do that!”

She put her hands on Cala's sides and an electric shock forced a muscular contraction. Her torso raised and then fell back to the ground.

They looked at each other.

“Nothing!”

Spartacius wondered:

“Try stronger!”

Another, more powerful shock pushed Cala's chest up. The Lynx grinned happily even before her back landed back on the earth.

“Yes! I can hear her heart!”

Cala coughed and spat an oozy liquid. She opened her eyes and started to scream.