A/N: Before you begin, two warnings! 1) Trigger warning, I guess? There will be descriptions of surgery and blood and stuff, so beware. If you want to skip that, skip to the first little sun symbol like this ❂ because after that it's just the aftermath of the surgery. 2) This chapter that is all about medical procedures is written by me, a person who has no knowledge whatsoever of any medical procedures. There was minor consulting with Cyra () who knows too much about snakes, and also with mayoclinic.org, but that's about the only science I paid attention to. Other than that, it's all conjecture. Continue!

Both Raven and Rosalind took an arm, and hauled Lylie out of the caravan and past the palace gates, Rosalind shouting to the guards that they should mind their own business. They'd commanded the driver to take them directly to the palace immediately, as fast as he could. No other hospital would be able to treat this.

Lylie was still alive, as far as they could tell. She had gone completely limp and her eyes were closed, but they could hear wheezing as she struggled to breath. Her throat was already beginning to swell.

"Move! Move!" Rosalind kept shouting at anyone who got in their way. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like if she didn't have such an urgent task she might have fainted right on the spot. In one hand she still held the snake bag, not willing to let everything Lylie had worked for go to waste.

Raven put an arm under Lylie's knees and hefted her up when they reached the stairs to the healer's tower. It would have been too inconvenient for both of them to lift her, and he was physically stronger. Still, Rosalind stayed right at his heels the whole way up.

"Healers!" he shouted as he kicked down the door to the tower chamber. "Where are the healers?!"

Kimera looked up suddenly from the potions she'd been organizing. "What happened?" She was the only one in the tower.

"Neckbreaker bite," Rosalind explained. "Where is everyone else?"

"The other healers went to town for a sweep of the sickest people to see what they could do," Kimera said dazedly, examining Lylie's prone body as Raven laid her over the table. "I'm the only one here right now. How long ago was the bite?"

"It can't have been more than seven minutes," Rosalind guessed. They'd come back as soon as they could. "When will they be back?"

"Not for hours," Kimera replied, putting a hand on Lylie's cheek and checking her jugular pulse with her other hand. "Maybe not for days."

She looked up at Rosalind. "This woman is going to die soon. I need help. The other healers could be anywhere in town, you'll never find them in time. Get me Jasper."

"Jasper, got it," Raven said, darting out of the tower door. No one had the time to question Kimera's orders.

The seer ran to a basin at the end of the room and took a cupful of the water inside. Rosalind knew, this was the special healer's water. They used it to clean wounds or something, she wasn't entirely sure. She knew it was salted so no one would be tempted to drink it instead of using it for medicinal purposes.

Kimera grabbed another vial and poured it into the water, mixed it a bit, and poured it over Lylie's rapidly inflating throat. As soon as it made contact with her skin, Kimera whispered sharply, "Rigescunt indutae." The water froze to solid ice on Lylie's skin. Rosalind knew Kimera could do magic, but the seer had always said she wasn't very good at it. Clearly, in her element, that was a lie.

"That will stop the swelling and buy us time," Kimera said, almost to herself, as if she were walking herself through her steps out loud.

"What can I do?" Rosalind asked. "I have to help Lylie somehow until Jasper gets here."

"Help me bind the leg and apply pressure," Kimera ordered. As Rosalind grabbed a rubber rope and began to wrap it around Lylie's shin, Kimera explained, "Neckbreaker venom is extremely potent, but it's also an incredibly thick liquid. Lylie here is very very lucky that the snake bit her in a thin, minor vein that the venom will have trouble travelling through. It's so strong that the swelling will have already become lethal, but if we cut the rest of it off and keep her on ice it should buy us a good amount of time." She watched Rosalind tie off Lylie's leg with the rope and bit her lip. "A tourniquet will stop the spread of the venom and maybe save her life, but the tissue around the bite may decay." Rosalind paused, but Kimera motioned for her to keep going. "Look, better her ankle is a little sore than she dies."

"So what's the final play?"

"We have to extract the venom." Kimera sighed as she grabbed a cotton pad. "This will absorb some of it. We could suck the rest out, but I doubt even leeches will get all of it at this point. We need to start thinking of more drastic solutions."

The door burst open once again. The hinges of that door must have been very sturdy, and the deadbolt very flimsy. Jasper entered, scanning the room and assessing the situation. "What are we doing?"

"Snake bite. I've got her on ice already," Kimera said as Jasper moved next to her. Rosalind tightened the tourniquet and knotted it, stepping back to let her brother and best friend do the thing they were best at. "We still need to get the venom out."

Raven entered next and put his arms around Rosalind, probably looking for support. She knew he must be as stressed as she was.

"We need to elevate her, make sure her heart is above the bite," Jasper advised, grabbing pillows from a nearby cot and lifting Lylie's torso to place them under her. The ice remained on her neck, not melting at all.

Kimera let out a shaky breath. "Jasper, I only see one way to get all the venom out at this point. She was bitten nearly ten minutes ago. Leeches won't get it all. We have to bleed her."

"That's risky," Jasper warned. "She's already dehydrated. She might not survive it."

"Do you see another way?"

Jasper pursed his lips. "No."

Jasper grabbed a second tourniquet while Kimera opened a leather kit, revealing rows upon rows of tiny, frightening surgical knives.

The door burst open a third time. Emlin charged in, followed by Ecthelion.

"We were on patrol when we saw you bring her in," Emlin answered Rosalind and Raven's questioning looks. Jasper and Kimera didn't even look up. "What happened?"

"Snake bite," Raven said.

"What? How did that even happen? Lylie hates snakes."

Emlin tried to get closer to Lylie to see what was going on, but Ecthelion grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Em, we can't get in the way. Kimera is Lylie's only hope now."

Emlin looked on with glistening eyes, fear in every feature on her face. Ecthelion did not remove his arm in case she decided to try and interrupt again.

"Here," Jasper said, holding Lylie's leg up while Kimera selected one of her knives. "Your hands will be steadier than mine."

"You're cutting her ankle?" Emlin demanded.

"It's the only thing that will save her," Kimera said.

"It'll kill her anyway!" Emlin protested. "You'll sever her tendon. She won't be able to walk anymore, much less dance. She won't be able to make a living. She won't get water. You can't do that to her!"

"I also can't let her die," Kimera said sadly. She positioned the scalpel on Lylie's heel. Jasper held a bowl underneath to catch the blood.

Emlin bit back the rest of her words.

Kimera took a deep breath and sliced the knife methodically into Lylie's skin.

Fat drops of blood slipped from the fresh cut and fell into the bowl with sickening plops. Rosalind couldn't even see flesh with all the blood that started dripping out. She didn't think that it would usually pool to that area of the body and flow out so fast, but she counted the accelerated blood flow to Kimera's low chanting of an incantation. She was enchanting the venom-infused blood to come back to the wound.

The longer the cut got, the faster it dripped. Soon it wasn't just dripping, it was flowing. A steady stream of red fluid with black venom visible in dots like oil in water. Jasper had to wave Raven over to help him hold up the bowl, which became too heavy for his one arm.

There was a noticeable speed-up in the blood flow when something snapped as the blade sliced it. Rosalind guessed it was the tendon Emlin had mentioned. She saw a flash of white tissue beneath the skin and through the laceration. She put a hand over her mouth, holding back bile.

"I think we're almost good," Kimera said. She looked up at Emlin and Ecthelion. "Get me some drinking water, now. I don't care how. If she doesn't drink something after this, she'll die of blood loss before the venom has a chance to kill her."

Lylie was, in fact, looking very pale. Emlin and Ecthelion rushed out, both of them looking quite pallid as well. Rosalind imagined everyone in the room was stressed to the point of sallowness.

"Rosalind, get me bandages," Kimera commanded, putting her knife aside. She started chanting again, probably this time to slow Lylie's pulse.

Rosalind grabbed a roll of gauze and watched helplessly as Kimera wrapped it as quickly as she could around Lylie's ankle. It was stained red immediately and the blood leached through the white cotton until the layers were thick as a small book. Kimera ripped the end of it off and tied it in a tight knot. Jasper undid the tourniquets as quickly as he could to get blood flowing again, and Raven took the bowl of poisoned blood aside and put it on the table, a sickened look on his face. He was probably gagging on the inside. Rosalind certainly was.

"What now?" she asked.

"Water," Kimera stressed. "She needs as much as you can get her. I don't care how much Ecthelion and Emlin bring back, I need more. We need to be injecting the stuff into her blood yesterday."

Rosalind nodded dutifully and ran out of the tower, brainstorming where she might get as much water as they needed.

❂

When Lylie's eyes finally opened, it was like they had been sealed shut with some kind of adhesive glue. She blinked until they were fully open, and even then everything was blurry. God, her head hurt. The whole room was orange, as if it was sunset outside.

She looked next to her at the blurry outline of someone dressed in white with golden hair. She tried to sit up, but her head spun so violently she had to lie back down.

The person next to her must have been asleep, because they stirred as Lylie started muttering incoherently.

"You're awake," the woman said. "How do you feel?"

"Is this Heaven?" Lylie managed to whisper. "Are you an angel? Am I dead?"

"No, you're alive," the woman said, smiling. As Lylie's vision focused, she recognized her as one of the people she had seen at palace feasts. She was seated far enough from the king that she likely wasn't a noble. A healer? In the palace?

What was Lylie, a mere dancer, doing in the palace infirmary?

"A healer," Lylie said. "At the palace. How did I get here?"

"Rosalind brought you," she said. "She was very worried. I think she thinks it was her fault you got bit."

"Because it was," Lylie chuckled without humor. "It was definitely her fault." She grunted. "Help me sit up?"

The woman put gentle hands behind Lylie's head and back, and helped her slowly rise to a sitting position. "I'm Kimera. I don't think we've been introduced."

"Lylie," Lylie said. "Kimera... you're the seer?"

She'd heard the name of the palace fortune teller, but didn't know she also functioned as a healer. Lylie tended to think of her as something like a noble, not doing any work and still getting to live in the palace for free. Eating plentifully, delivering a useless prophecy every so often, never pulling her weight.

Had this seer actually saved her life?

"I can't believe I'm alive," Lylie mused. "I was bitten by a Neckbreaker. I should have died."

"You might just still," Kimera warned, grabbing a bucket from next to her. "Here. Drink this." She didn't give Lylie a chance to ask questions before she shoved the rim to her lips and forced the cool liquid down Lylie's throat. "It's water. You lost a lot of blood, and if you don't drink up now you will most definitely die. I just went through all the trouble of saving you, I'd like for it to count for something."

Lylie accepted the water gratefully, not caring where it came from. She was so thirsty and it was being offered to her for free by a nice woman. She gulped down the entire bucket in one breath, panting when she finally lowered the bucket. "Thank you. I really have no way to repay you."

Kimera pursed her lips. "Don't thank me yet. I saved your life, but maybe not the way you would have wanted me to."

"What do you mean?"

Kimer gestured vaguely to Lylie's legs, which were underneath a cotton blanket. Lylie tried moving her knees, fearing she might be paralyzed from the waist down. She wasn't. She could still bend her legs. She tried rolling her ankles. One of them moved perfectly fine. Her left one was not so lucky.

She could still feel her foot, but when she tried to move it she felt a sharp pain like an arrow in her heel. Her foot didn't move an inch.

"We had to cut the tendon to bleed the wound out," Kimera explained. "You won't be able to move that foot anymore. Lylie, I'm so sorry-"

"Where is Isa?" Lylie asked, all happiness gone from her voice. Kimera searched her eyes, but Lylie's face was completely emotionless, as if she was still processing what she had been told. "I want to see my sister. Princess Rosalind better have kept her word, or I swear a paralyzed foot won't stop me. I'll tear out her stomach and make her eat it."

"Hey, please don't say that," Kimera pleaded. "She's my best friend, okay? She's a lot nicer than you probably know. I understand that she had to be a real asshole to get you to help them, but she also got you to me and passed all the guards and authorities who would have dismissed you and told you to go to a town hospital. I may have saved your life, but it's thanks to her that you got to me in time."

"Well, it's also thanks to her that I had to get to you at all," Lylie spat. "No offense to you. Really, I'm very grateful for what you did. But I still have a right to be angry at Rosalind. I also have a right to see my sister. If you can, will you find her? Please?"

Kimera sighed. "Yeah, I can. I'll ask Ecthelion."

"Nooooo," Lylie said. "Isa's probably seen enough of him. Send someone else."

"You know what? I'll send Emlin," Kimera decided. She picked up a second bucket from the floor. "Now, you keep drinking. Don't worry about the water or where it came from, just- live, I guess."

Lylie took the bucket as Kimera stood and walked away. She didn't notice that another man, with blond hair and black clothing had been in the room as well, silent. She supposed the seer wasn't allowed to be alone, ever. Kimera whispered something to him, and they left together, leaving her alone.

She tried to move her ankle again, and hissed in pain. She knew she probably shouldn't stress such a fresh wound, but she couldn't stand to think that she would never move it again.

If she kept trying, maybe she would prove Kimera wrong.

But Lylie knew in her heart that she was lying, even now. She always lied, didn't she? Even to herself.

❂

Raven and Rosalind were waiting anxiously at the base of the tower after having been kicked out once the procedure was over. Raven was biting his nails as they sat on the bench that served as a waiting room.

When Kimera and Jasper emerged, Rosalind was on her feet instantly, barraging them with questions. "How is she? Is she alright? Does she feel alright? Is she drinking water? Was it enough? Will she live?"

"She'll live, but I don't think she'll ever forgive you," Kimera said. "She seemed pretty adamant in the idea that this was all your fault."

"Because it was," Rosalind said. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, desert sands, she'll never walk again."

"Not necessarily," Raven said, clearing his throat as he stood. "Ahem. She can get a brace, or a cane. She's not completely paralyzed, just in the ankle. We can get her a cast or something to hold it steady."

"That isn't good enough," Rosalind muttered. "She needs to move it to dance. There has to be something else we can do. Isn't there anything magic can do?" She looked to Kimera hopefully.

"If there is, it's beyond me," Kimera said regretfully. "Balthazar is the one you should ask about that."

"Balthazar it is," Rosalind decided.

Raven followed her to the conjuror's tower, wanting to question her but knowing better. When she set her mind on something, she didn't give it up. However, he was worried that she might hurt herself in whatever she got into.

Rosalind didn't bother knocking. She kicked the door in and shouted, "Balthazar!"

The conjuror looked up from a dusty old book, looking disinterested despite her urgent tone. "Princess, unless you finally found the magic liquid to cure the land, I am not in the mood to be troubled by you."

"Well, you better get in that mood," Rosalind said, slamming her hands on the table, "Because we need your help."

Zar raised a brow.

❂

Balthazar let the two lead him back to the healers' tower, already brainstorming spells he might use to help their predicament. There was none he knew of that healed severed tissue, but he had an idea of a different spell they could try.

Before they went up the stairs, he stopped them both. "I have an idea. Not a good one, mind you, but an idea."

"Tell me," said Rosalind.

"We're beyond healing spells now," Zar explained. "Maybe if we were in Janbu, where magic and healing always seems to work, I could do something. But this is Ailica. Healing magic is already muted. So, instead of using a healing spell specifically, I could try an equal exchange spell. Slightly modified, but it should still work."

"What's an equal exchange spell?" Raven asked.

"I can transfer her injury over to someone else. Her ankle will be cured, and the cut will go to whoever is exchanging their health to Lylie."

"And who would that be?" Raven continued.

"Well, there's the problem," Zar said. "We need to find someone willing to give up a tendon forever. The spell can't be undone."

"I'll do it," Rosalind said immediately.

"What?" Raven cried. "No, you can't. Rosalind, you just can't."

"I absolutely can. I did this to her, she shouldn't have to suffer for it. It's my fault, I'll deal with the long-term consequences. Besides, I don't need to walk as much as she does. I'll be fine with a cane or crutch."

"Are you forgetting?" Raven took her by the shoulders and shook her. "The arena fight, Rosalind. If you give up a foot you might as well forfeit the fight. You'll lose no matter how much better than Jasper you are, or how much you don't want to kill each other."

Rosalind hesitated at that. Raven had a point. She would be giving up everything she'd trained for since birth. Not only that, but she'd be letting her father win. He wanted her to lose so badly, and she'd be giving him a reason to throw Jasper on the throne right away and have her killed. She didn't know if he could do that, but she didn't put it past him. 

"I don't care," she said finally. "I'm not taking criticism. I'll take the injury."

"Let me do it," Raven begged. "Please, Rosalind. You can't do this to yourself."

"I can't ask that of you," Rosalind said to him, "And I never would. I know you're unhappy with my decision, but please respect it. If I don't do this, I'll never forgive myself."

Raven shut his mouth, a resentful look on his face. He grappled with the fact for a minute before letting Rosalind's shoulder go and punching at the air frustratedly.

"If that's decided," Zar said awkwardly, "Shall me go up?"

They led him up the stairs and into the room. Lylie was in a cot with two girls by her side, both of them very young. Balthazar recognized one as a servant, the other as a dancer. Kimera and Jasper were also in the corner, whispering.

"What are you doing here?" Lylie spat bitterly at Rosalind.

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now," Rosalind said, holding her hands up, "And probably ever. But we think we might have a way to fix this."

"Fix this?" Lylie demanded, gesturing to her leg angrily. "My tendon is severed! I don't think a bandage is going to fix that."

"No, a spell," Rosalind explained further. "An exchange spell. We can transfer your injury to me, and you'll be perfectly healthy again."

Lylie's next insult died in her throat. "I- What?"

"Yeah, what?" Jasper repeated, uncrossing his arms and stepping over. "You can't do that, Rosalind. You need to walk."

"I've thought about it already and you can't change my mind, Jasper," Rosalind said. She turned to Balthazar. "What do we have to do?"

❂

Both Rosalind and Lylie were lying on cots next to each other, avoiding the other's gaze. Raven was at Rosalind's side, holding her hand. Isa and Emlin were with Lylie. Kimera had been forced to kick Jasper out. He was panicking too much, and protesting as well. He would have gotten in the way.

Kimera stood behind Balthazar now, watching as he held his hands up over both women. He looked at Rosalind. "You know this is going to hurt, right?"

Rosalind didn't say anything, but Raven looked up at him. "It is? How bad?"

"Oh, it'll hurt like a bitch," Balthazar said callously. "No quick slice, or anything. She'll feel it as her ankle gets ripped, cell by cell."

"Then just hurry up and do it before Raven changes his mind about letting me do this," Rosalind said determinedly.

"If you say so," Zar shrugged. He nodded Kimera over, and she put a hand on his shoulder. This was a powerful spell, and he would need to leech some of her magical energy to pull it off.

"Transferatur iniuria ab alio violenter," he chanted, wind starting to pick up. Rosalind gritted her teeth and Lylie gasped slightly. "Vulnus curare cutem parem utrumque solum. Proposito non esse."

Balthazar continued chanting, and Kimera's knees trembled slightly as she felt her energy leave her. She felt like she'd just gone jogging, despite her not having moved at all.

However she felt, Rosalind clearly felt worse. While Lylie just had her eyes closed in anticipation, Rosalind leaned forward and screamed through clenched teeth. She squeezed Raven's hand so hard he was wincing as well, his other hand on his wrist. He was still unwilling to pull away from his princess.

A light red glow emitted from Balthazar's hands, and the wind became so violent that papyrus scrolls were flying in circles in the air. The only thing louder than the howl of the wind was Rosalind shrieking. Balthazar's chanting had become too faint to hear.

Suddenly, Balthazar jerked his hands back and it all stopped. The conjuror fell to his knees, panting, followed quickly by Kimera, whose legs gave out. Lylie gasped a bit, blinking like she'd been stunned. Rosalind still whimpered quietly, and she buried her face in Raven's shoulder, still not letting go of his hand. He pet her head and hair, and whispered something in her ear.

"Is that it?" Lylie asked eagerly. Zar, too drained to give an actual answer, nodded weakly. Lylie's face lit up as she pulled the blanket off her, placing both feet on the floor. She stood effortlessly, giving a small twirl and smiling brightly. "I can walk! I can dance again! Isa, Emlin, look, I can dance!"

While she celebrated, Rosalind examined the new cut on her ankle. As Zar had told her, it was not bleeding and had already healed itself to the point of being a thin white scar over her heel. However, she could feel that the tendon was still severed. She couldn't roll her foot, or move it at all.

"It's done," she whispered, sounding relieved despite this. "Thank the desert."

Word Count: 4160

Character Appearances:

Rosalind Vastatio by sofififlowers

Raven Blackthorn by ghostofwolves

Lylie Jasmal by eli-z-le 

Kimera Relicem by me

Jasper Vastatio by EstelElfstone

Ecthelion Finweson by WingedWarrior1731

Balthazar Evander by Cynarr

Also Featuring Appearances From:

Emlin "The Cat" by dobblewolf

A/N: Okay, so I know, this chapter came really fast, but I could not just leave you guys on that cliffhanger in Chapter 7. I felt really bad about it so I sat down for like three hours and got this done. Even though I spent three hours, there are undoubtedly errors in there. Please point them out so I can fix them and also please pray for my fingers, which clearly cannot type.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, vote, comment and spam, all that good stuff. Thanks a whole bunch for reading! My question this chapter is, would you have done the exchange spell if you were Rosalind? Why or why not? (whenever I put that at the end of a question, I always feel like a teacher who decided to make the test 200% harder than it had to be)