Kahiri screamed when Qwarten's limp body flopped to the ground. She hurried over to him and bent at his side. Her hand clasped around his wrist, and after a tense moment, his strong pulse prompted a relieved sigh from the anxious archer. As she heard Erok's sword clang on another metal object yards away, she struggled to move Qwarten onto his back. 

Swedo bent beside Kahiri and turned Qwarten over for her. "Excuse me, Miss Oriann, but this is a job for a doctor." Then he pointed at the intensifying scuffle. "And that is a job for an archer." 

Kahiri nodded as she stood up and fitted an arrow to her bowstring. "Fair point, Doctor. You take good care of him." 

After shooting an arrow off into the crowd, Kahiri shoulder-charged into an unsuspecting brawler and stomped on his ankle. Another angry man tried to tackle her, but she sidestepped and watched a line of human dominoes tumble to the ground. She snapped her head back into the action just in time to dodge an enemy arrow. After snatching an arrow out of her own quiver, she prepared to retaliate. 

Erok shoved one ruffian into another with his shield. With a grunt, he thrusted his sword into another brawler. Then his eyes scanned the area and landed on Meg, who was grappling with the bartender. The brawny man jerked his fist forward, and Meg stumbled back while clutching her gut. Just as the bartender moved to attack her again, Erok rushed forward and slammed his bald head with his shield. 

Kahiri yelped as a stone collided with her ribcage. She flinched and massaged the area for a quick second, but then she bit her lip and aimed her bow once more. A roughneck screamed and fell to the ground with an arrow plunged into his belly mere seconds later. When a club collided with her head, Kahiri cried out and tumbled to the ground. 

As the hoodlum raised his arms to strike a heavy blow, Kahiri rolled a short distance sideways and leapt to her feet again. She kicked some dirt in his face and then shot an arrow into his chest as he fumbled to clear his vision. When she heard another man trying to sneak up behind her, she elbowed him in the ribs. 

Just as Meg thrusted a knife forward to stab the bartender, the shrill tone of a whistle pierced the air. All eyes landed on a quintet of police officers with crossed arms and stern faces. 

The chief stepped up to Erok. "What's happened here, Sir Fyervor?" 

Erok coughed and sheathed his sword. "These roughnecks came out from behind that wall over there and attempted to kill our captain." He finished by pointing at Qwarten's collapsed figure on the ground. 

The bartender lunged at the chief and shook his fist. "He's not telling the full story, sir!" 

The chief grunted and took a step back. "Well, what is the full story?" 

"These miscreants came by my bar the other day, stirred up a fight, and injured one of my customers! He's hospitalized now, and all because of their captain's violent ways!" 

The officer stared blankly at the animated bartender before laying eyes on Erok. "Is this true?" 

Erok shrugged. "You could say that." 

Kahiri stepped forward and elbowed Erok. "No, you could not say that! This customer he spoke of tried to hit on me, I voiced my nonconsent, and yet he continued to make his advances. Our captain, Qwarten, pushed him away, which turned into a fight, mostly because this bartender intervened. Just now, he tried to murder our captain with that knife!" 

With a slow nod, the officer turned to the bartender once more. "Is this true?" 

The man shook his head vigorously. "No, sir! I—" 

"You'd better not tell the officer any lies," Meg began as she put a hand on Kahiri's shoulder, "because I'm a witness to everything she just said." 

Erok cleared his throat and gazed into the clouds. "Me too." 

"Whatever, officer," one of the roughnecks called out, "just get it over with and arrest us! He's not payin' us to lie for him!" 

The police officers shrugged at each other and began handcuffing the group of miscreants without any further struggle. 

Meanwhile, Kahiri rushed over to Qwarten and Swedo and knelt beside them. "So, Doctor, how is he?" 

Swedo sighed. "I managed to stop the bleeding, but I don't have adequate facilities out here to remove the knife. We may have to delay our journey to allow time for his healing." 

Kahiri closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "Where will we have to take him?" 

"Just a hospital. I'm perfectly able to perform the procedure, but only if I have access to the right equipment, in the right place." 

"Well, the sooner we move him, the better." 

Swedo nodded and waved Erok over. Together they lifted Qwarten and carried him to the hospital a few blocks away. 

******************** 

An hour later, Dr. Swedo was busy operating on Qwarten. Meanwhile, Erok, Meg, Bernard, and Chris sat in the hospital's waiting area. Kahiri paced up and down the length of the room with worried eyes and a wrinkled brow. She nibbled at her lip and fidgeted her fingers as she went. 

Bernard finally tugged his cloak tighter around his shoulders as Kahiri breezed past him for the twentieth time. With a deep sigh, he rose to his feet and laid a hand on her shoulder. 

When Kahiri's eyes met his, Bernard smiled warmly. "There's somethin' on your mind again, isn't there?" 

Kahiri evaded eye contact and quickly swallowed. "No, I'm fine, Bernard. Why do you ask?" 

Bernard chuckled. "You can't deceive me too easily, young lady. I know a few things pretty darn well. And I can tell by your pacin' that something terribly heavy's weighin' on your mind." 

For a long moment, Kahiri stood silently and bit her lip. "Well, I guess you could say I'm a little concerned for Qwarten. I mean, I trust in Swedo's abilities and all, but it's just that..." 

"That irrational little part of ya thinks the opposite way?" When Kahiri nodded in confirmation, Bernard smirked. "I know the feeling, and it sure isn't fun." 

"It really isn't. And another thing that bothers me is just the fact that we've encountered so much adversity already, and you've said we're still a whole day's journey away from the Yugdabs' hideout. How will we survive any more of this?" 

Bernard drew in a deep breath and rested his hand on Kahiri's shoulder again. "Yes, it all goes to show that this land is filled with spiritual darkness, and a very deep darkness at that. But shall I let ya in on something?" 

"Sure." Kahiri answered as she gave the old man a curious glance. 

"In all my days, I've discovered one great principle regarding darkness, and that's this: Before light, darkness vanishes." Bernard steadied his stance with his staff before continuing. "Kahiri, I sense a great light in you, one of the brighter ones I've seen. You're as a mighty torch, dispersing darkness wherever you go. So here's my advice to ya: Don't let 'em extinguish the flame. Continue burnin' strong." 

Kahiri shot Bernard a grateful grin. "Thank you, Bernard. I feel a lot better now." 

"Hey, that's what I'm here for." 

With that, Bernard sat back down, and Kahiri found a seat across from him. 

******************** 

Qwarten's eyes flew open two hours later and he jolted to a sitting position. His chest heaved up and down as his red eyes glanced around the room. Two blurry figures stood in the corner mumbling amongst themselves, and the room itself appeared white, sterile, and above all, hazy. Qwarten tried shaking his head to clear his vision, but he only succeeded in getting a crick in his neck and making his sight even fuzzier. 

"Damn it, where the hell am I?" Qwarten finally screamed from his bed. 

One of the figures snapped its head over and shuffled up to him. As it came closer, blond hair became visible, and finally he heard a voice. "You're awake, Major. How do you feel?" 

"Oh Swedo, I never thought I'd be glad to hear your sorry excuse for a voice." Qwarten sighed in relief. "Where are we?" 

"Why, we're in a hospital. Don't you remember what happened?" 

Qwarten stared at Swedo for a bewildered second. "No. What happened?" 

"You got stabbed by that bartender from the Hungry Shark. Remember?" 

Qwarten shook his head again, more vigorous this time. "I don't remember a thing. All I know is, my vision's blurry as a foggy morning, my neck's stiff, and ... Ow! What happened to my shoulder?" Qwarten glared at the tight wad of bandages on his shoulder as he spoke. 

"That's where you were stabbed, Major. The fuzzy vision is a side-effect of the rangelberry juice I used to tranquilize you. Don't you remember the red juice with yellow swirls?" 

"Stop asking me what I remember! I don't remember anything! Now, where are the others?" 

"They're in the waiting room. If you want to see them, I can bring them in one at a time. Who would you like to see first?" 

Qwarten scratched his chin for a second. "You know ... I don't care. You pick." 

"Well, Kahiri's been anxious to see you. I'll bring her in." 

"Go ahead." 

Qwarten sat back against his pillows while Swedo exited the room. As he blinked his way into clearer vision, he noticed a glass of water by his bedside. With shaky hands, he picked it up and chugged it down, although he spilled half of it on the way to his mouth. He mouthed a string of curses as he lowered it to the bedside table, only to drop it and jump at the jarring sound of shattering glass. He rolled his eyes and slammed his head against the pillows just as Swedo and Kahiri entered the room. 

Kahiri gave Qwarten a warm smile as she sat at his bedside. "Hey Qwarten, how're you feeling?" 

Qwarten's face softened and he returned a quick grin. "I'm on the rough road to recovery, I guess. Everything hurts though." 

Kahiri pouted sympathetically and grabbed Qwarten's hand. "I'm sorry to hear that. It'll pass though." 

"I know. At least the hell I'm in isn't the eternal one." 

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help, I'd be glad to assist you." 

Qwarten smiled and gazed deeper into Kahiri's chocolate brown eyes than he ever had before. "Well, if you could get me another cup of water, I'd really appreciate it. The one I had kinda..." he jerked his head toward the shards of glass on the floor. 

Kahiri jumped up enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'll go do that!" 

When Kahiri was out of earshot, Swedo stomped up to Qwarten. "I resent this behavior, Major! Attending to your needs is my job! I'm the doctor, not her!" 

Qwarten stared blankly back at Swedo. "She asked. You didn't." 

Swedo struggled to reply, but Kahiri walked back into the room before he could come up with anything. He sighed and grabbed a broom and dustpan. 

"Here you go." Kahiri said cheerily as she presented the cup to Qwarten. 

"Thank you." Qwarten grabbed the cup with both hands and noticed with pleasure that the shakiness had left them. He guzzled the glass of water down in a few seconds and put the empty cup neatly on the bedside table. 

"So, how's the shoulder?" Kahiri asked after a moment of silence. 

Qwarten flinched as he laboriously moved his arm through its limited range of motion. "It feels like it's on fire and ice at the same time. And of course it had to happen to my sling arm." 

Kahiri grimaced. "Yeah, that's a bummer. But we can take as much time as you need to recover." 

"No, no, no, I'll be fine. We'll set out tomorrow morning." 

"But Qwarten, we're only a day's travel away from the Yugdabs' hideout! We can't go into battle with you disabled." 

"My left arm is just fine. I can still make a fist." 

"You're kidding, right? Nobody's strong enough to win a battle with one-handed boxing." 

Qwarten chuckled. "Hey, a one-handed Qwarten is still more useful than a two-handed Bernard or Chris, right?" 

Kahiri rolled her eyes. "Listen, you need to take some time to heal up. I'm only saying that because I care about your welfare." 

"You think you care more about me than I do? I think not. We're leaving tomorrow, and that's final." 

Kahiri couldn't find words to reply. Instead, she gave Swedo a begging glance and hung her head. 

Dr. Swedo stepped up to Qwarten and looked him squarely in the eye. "Kahiri's right, Major. Your wound is still too easy to open back up." 

Qwarten grunted. "Okay, Doc. How long am I staying here?" 

"I recommend you stay for a good ten days or so, at which time I will re-evaluate your progress." 

"Ten days?" Qwarten cried, "We don't have that kind of time!" 

"Well, Major, in that case, you and I will have to stay here while the others go on ahead. No good doctor compromises in regard to his patient's care. And no good leader compromises in regard to his mission. The solution is obvious." 

Qwarten closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "Whatever." 

With that, Kahiri, Qwarten, and Swedo all fell silent. 

******************** 

A/N: So, it's settled! Qwarten's stuck with Swedo in the hospital for quite some time while Erok, Kahiri, Meg, Bernard, and Chris continue on.

This is gonna go great.

*My sarcasm detector begins beeping in the other room*

Oh, come on, when are you gonna stop revealing my secrets?!? XD

On a more serious note, if you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it, please leave a vote and some comments.

And also, please let me know, what was your favorite interaction in this chapter? (After all, there were quite a few good ones, in my opinion.)

And as the weather cools down (at least where I live, I don't know about you), I'd like to ask, what's your favorite warm drink?

Lastly, I think I'll be taking a bit of time off of Wattpad very soon, because not only are the holidays approaching, but several of my family members also have birthdays, which means I'll be really busy until early January. So I think I'm gonna be putting stuff on hold until then.

Comment on this line if you want me to PM you when I return so we can catch up. ;)

Anyway, adios! Have a great day, and I hope to see you in the comments and next update in a century from now. :D