Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,110

After five minutes of walking, her knees buckled, and Tiny caught her. Lifting her carefully in the cradle of his arms, the big man never broke his stride. Will stayed with him.

“There’s a healer at the college, right?” asked Tiny, his voice carefully controlled.

“Yes,” said Will. “The Healing and Psyche Department runs the best hospital in the city. They can do more for her than anyone else.”

“That’s good,” said Tiny gruffly. Will could see tears shining on his cheeks in the light from the streetlamps. “I’m sorry about Rob. I did everything I could.”

“You saved us, Tiny,” said Will. “We can talk about Rob tomorrow. I can’t do it now. We have enough to deal with.”

“Yeah.”

They walked on, and as they neared the campus, Will couldn’t handle his guilt any longer. “Tiny, I’m sorry, for everything. This was my fault.”

“Will.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Will shook his head. “But…”

“No buts. If you ever apologize to me about tonight again, I will beat you into next week. Do you understand? We did this for you. We did this because we believe in you, and whatever it costs us, in flesh and blood…” The big warrior’s voice choked for a moment, but he continued after a second, “…whatever it costs us, I have to believe it was worth it. So don’t you fucking dare take that away from me by apologizing. This meant something, so shut the hell up.”

Will closed his mouth and bowed his head as they walked. It was a few minutes later before he spoke again. “Thank you.”

Tiny nodded. “Same to you. No one asked you to stop those monsters, but someone had to.”

The Healing and Psyche building loomed ahead of them. Unlike most of the other college buildings, there was always a light on at the front entrance, for nights just like that one.

Chapter 25

Doctor Morris sat across from Will, a pensive expression on his face. “It’s hard to believe what you’re telling me, but then again, I can’t imagine anyone intentionally covering themselves with bite wounds to corroborate a story like that.”

Will was covered in bandages. The blood-cleanse potion had prevented the vampiric disease from taking hold, as well as stopped the wounds from festering, but they still hurt like hell. Other than dozens of punctures and small tears, the doctor had told him that he was in good health. He hadn’t even lost that much blood.

Tiny and Janice, though, were another story altogether. The big warrior had only suffered a few claw wounds, but his body had been covered in bruises. Still he had insisted that he was fit enough to leave. Doctor Morris had other ideas, however.

“Your friend will have to stay for a week or two. Most don’t realize how serious blunt-force trauma can be. By tomorrow most of his body will be black and blue and his kidneys will struggle to deal with all the blood being reabsorbed and broken down. That’s on top of the fact that his kidneys were also injured by the blows he received.”

“But he’ll be all right, won’t he?” asked Will.

The doctor stared at his desk for a moment, then answered, “Maybe. It’s hard to say for sure. We’ll be forcing him to drink as much as possible to help his kidneys work, but there’s a strong possibility that they’ll fail. If that happens…”

Will knew quite well what that would mean, but he held onto hope. Doctor Morris knew a considerable amount that he did not and there might be magical means that Will had never heard about. “Is there a way to save him if that happens?”

Doctor Morris grimaced. “There are forbidden procedures, but I’ll have no part of murdering innocents to harvest their kidneys. Aside from that, you’ll have to hope for the best.”

“What about a regeneration potion?”

“If you have one, give it to him now, or the girl. Either one could desperately use it,” said the doctor.

“How bad is Janice’s wound?” He already knew it wouldn’t be good, but he hoped perhaps it might not be as terrible as it had seemed.