Chapter 68: Flesh and Stitches
The women, swallowing their tears and gritting their teeth, kept scrubbing in desperation until the wounds were completely cleared of impurities. At that exact moment, Krag returned to the room carrying the bone awls and deer sinew filaments.
As Krag handed over the materials, Kellar set the bone needles and threads over an iron plate directly in the fire to sterilize them with heat. Kellar was no doctor, but he understood the basic principles behind crude sutures and knew it was their only shot.
Gritting his teeth, he picked up the first heated needle using a thick cloth, praying silently that these hunters’ powerful bodies would manage to endure the ordeal.
Kellar drove the bone needle through Brak’s flesh and pulled the deer sinew tight to bind the edges of the laceration. The sharp pain shattered the alcohol’s haze: Brak’s eyes snapped wide open and he let out a gut-wrenching roar that shook the wooden walls.
Gripped by delirium and infection, the warrior thrashed with sudden, violent strength, hurling a wild backhand that sent his wife flying across the room, crashing hard into the timber wall.
"They’re killing me! You bastards are slaughtering me!" shouted Brak, completely out of his mind, squirming as blood welled up anew from his abdomen.
"Pin him down!" shouted Grok, hurling his whole body weight over the hunter’s chest.
Yet the wounded man’s frenzy was so severe that Grok could hold him steady. Krag and Marty leaped onto the furs grabbing Brak’s arms and legs to pin him to the floor with the combined force of three full-grown warriors.
Amidst the uproar and cursing, one of the young children slipped past the door after hearing his father’s agonizing shrieks and burst into the room, breaking into hysterical weeping at the sight of the blood pooling on the furs.
"Daddy! Leave him alone, they’re killing him!" shouted the child through tears, trying to rush toward the group.
"Get the women and children out of here right now!" shouted Kellar, without letting go of the bloody needle.
"Stop, Kellar! You’re making him suffer too much, you’re going to kill him from the pain!" shouted a hunter from the doorway, horrified by the wounded man’s violent spasms.
"Shut the hell up!" shouted Kellar, glaring back with bloodshot eyes as he drove another firm stitch through the skin. "If they’re screaming, it means they’re still alive! Shut up and let me save them!"
Ten agonizing minutes passed before Brak’s final laceration was stitched up. Despite being a hardened hunter of dozens of battles, the warrior had wept and begged for mercy until the sheer pain made him pass out.
Staring at the bloody mess on the floor, the veteran hunters froze in total shock. Never in their lives had they witnessed such a procedure: they had been forced to pin down and treat their own comrade like a slab of meat on a counter.
Kellar bit through the sinew thread with his teeth, took a deep breath, and pressed two fingers to the warrior’s neck to check his vitals.
"Good, we did it," said Kellar, letting out a sigh. "His pulse is still strong, he won’t die. We need to clean the floor and bring in the next one."
At that moment, as Kellar stood up with his hands covered in crimson fluid, a translucent golden light unfurled before his eyes.
[Ding!]
[Hidden Quest Unlocked and Completed: Bloody Intervention]
Description: You have defied death without the use of magic or external assistance, performing emergency surgical procedures with primitive tools to keep an ally alive.
[Reward Granted: Passive Skill - Medical Knowledge (Level 1)]
Kellar blinked in surprise as he read the detailed description of the new capability settling into his mind.
[Skill: Medical Knowledge (Passive)]
Effect: Grants the user comprehension of human anatomy, vital point locations, suture techniques, symptomatic diagnosis, and emergency surgical procedures.
(Note: This skill does not grant immunochemical or biological knowledge for crafting pharmaceuticals).
Feeling an surge of clarity regarding blood vessel layouts and tissue structures, Kellar turned his gaze toward the second wounded hunter with renewed resolve.
The newly acquired experience changed the pace of things. With anatomical knowledge flowing through his mind, Kellar treated the other three warriors with precision; he inspected the angles of the wounds, cut out all hesitation, and stitched only what was necessary to keep them alive, sparing them unnecessary suffering.
After four hours of intense effort, everything inside the house had finally quieted down. Outside, the clan members had prepared hot food, but the women and children refused to take a single bite, consumed by anxiety. Kellar refused to let a single soul step inside until the floor was thoroughly washed and the wounded men rested clean upon fresh blankets. He had no wish for them to witness the butchery required to save their lives.
Fortunately, though the gashes were deep and savage, none had punctured vital organs; had that been the case, they would be waking bodies instead of nursing them back to health.
"You can come in now," said Kellar, opening the front door with his hands still stained with dried blood and addressing the families waiting out in the snow.
The families rushed into the room, expecting to encounter a nightmare scene; however, upon seeing the four hunters resting peacefully on clean furs—their wounds firmly stitched and their chests rising and falling with steady breaths—the wives dropped to their knees in tears of sheer relief.
"They are alive..." said Brak’s wife, gently stroking her husband’s cheek as tears rolled down her face.
Kellar leaned against the doorframe drained from four hours of continuous tension.
"They will wake up later, once the effects of the brew and the exhaustion wear off," said Kellar, looking at the families. "I will watch over them myself for now and keep an eye on their fevers."
Kellar wiped his forehead with his forearm, leaving a faint streak of blood across his skin.
"I apologize for my harsh tone and the shouting earlier, but it was necessary to keep them breathing," said Kellar, giving a small nod. "I will leave you with them for a moment. I’m going to grab something to eat and take a shower."