After a few minutes - or maybe hours, my time perception was off - I heard my name screamed through the woods.

"Alexia!" Melody shouted. "Princess!" Annamarie's youthful voice and Theo's deep one quickly joined hers.

I'm here. I lay still, praying they would find me, seeing as I felt too weak to talk. And soon, they did.

"Alexia!" Melody exclaimed, true fear in her voice as she appeared in my vision. "Theo, help her."

Theo was suddenly at my side, feeling my neck for a pulse. "She's still alive. Her heart's beating strongly. I think she's just in shock."

"Where's the blood on her hand from?" Anna asked in a shaky voice.

Theo lifted my wounded hand gently. "A superficial wound. She'll be fine." Then, he bent down further until we were face-to-face. "Princess Alexia. Do you know where Griffin is?" he asked, his voice tight with panic.

I found that I could muster up a vague whisper. "Hurt. Side."

"His side is hurt?"

"Bad, I think." I took a shuddering breath and raised a finger to point in the direction from which I had come. "Help...him."

Theo turned and gestured to Melody and Anna to take his place by my side. They hurried over and assisted me to my feet. I leaned mostly on Melody, not entirely trusting Anna's tiny frame for support.

"We passed a cave when we were searching for you," Melody said. "We can go there." I could feel her impatience - she wanted to ask about my battle with the monster but knew I was in no state to tell the story.

Theo returned to the clearing. He was holding Griffin in his arms like a child. The wounded man's face was turned into his friend's shirt and he was completely motionless.

"We need to get moving," Theo snapped. "Let's go!" he ordered again as we all silently stared at him, taken aback. The man was usually so calm...

Melody recovered first and began leading me towards what I assumed was the direction of the cave. I could tell that she wanted to go much faster, but my wounded leg greatly hindered our progress.

Finally, we reached the cave. It was good-sized, certainly large enough for all of us.

"If it wasn't so hot right now, there'd probably be water filling the cave," Melody remarked. "At least we're lucky in that account."

Theo pushed past us and tried to make Griffin as comfortable as he could on the hard ground. "Melody, go get our supplies," he commanded distantly. "We aren't too far from where we hid them. Anna, tend to the princess."

I had sunk to the ground, panting for air. Anna knelt beside me and asked briskly, "Do you think you are very badly injured anywhere?"

"My leg," I replied. Then, "My dagger!" I gasped, suddenly realizing that I had left it embedded in my dead attacker's skull.

Anna stayed beside me. "We can fetch it. Do you know how to perform a Self-Body Scan?"

"Not...well."

"But you know it."

"Yes."

"Do it," Anna commanded in a businesslike tone. She stood and walked over to Griffin, kneeling beside him and starting a quiet conversation. Soon, she stood and left the cave, announcing, "I'm going to go look for water."

She and Melody returned a few minutes later, walking in together. Melody's arms were full and she could barely see over the pile of supplies. Huffing, she placed them carefully on the floor and sighed. "That's all of them."

"Get me the medical one," Theo commanded in a frustrated tone. I glanced over to see Griffin's condition. Theo had removed his shirt, but there was too much blood to tell where his cut was or how serious it was.

I was still attempting the Self-Body Scan. I could only do small parts of myself at a time. I finally finished it off with my head, since that was the most complicated part of the spell, and closed my eyes, now drained in the magical aspect as well.

Melody crouched beside me as I reported my one wound - the cut on my leg - to Anna. Wordlessly, Melody bound the wound on my hand and left to help attend to Griffin. I followed her, limping to favor my bad leg.

Griffin was breathing through his teeth as Theo carefully cleaned away the blood. I was glad to see him conscious, but frowned when he moaned, "It hurts."

Theo looked wretched. "I know, I know," he murmured in a voice that let too much worry through to be soothing.

Once the older blood was gone, we could see much more clearly where the cut was. I felt sick at the sight.

It was incredibly deep, that much was obvious. The skin was jagged and in some places hung in rough, dead flaps.

"I'm going to have to sew it up," Theo noted grimly, clearly already emotionally steeling himself. I couldn't imagine having to do such things to such a close friend. He dug around in the medical bag and pulled out a strange potion. "This'll slow the blood flow," he explained to Griffin, who was struggling to stay conscious. He drank the potion without complaint and made a face.

"Theo's one of our best medics," Melody whispered in my ear. "If anyone can save Griffin, it's him." I couldn't tell if she was attempting to comfort me or herself.

I felt my heart speed up as Theo pulled out a needle and several spools of thread of varying thickness, along with a delicate pair of scissors. How must Griffin feel, if I was so scared to simply witness it?

"You three will need to hold him down," Theo said slowly, turning to truly look at us girls for the first time since entering the cave.

Melody nodded grimly and moved to the wounded man's legs to restrain them. I just eyed his large, contracting muscles dubiously. How could we hold him down?

Theo bent beside Griffin, murmuring something in his ear. He pulled away and Griffin nodded, jaw set.

Then, Theo picked up the scissors and set to work cutting away the loose flaps of Griffin's skin so that he had straight edges to sew up. Griffin gasped and shuddered through the entire process. I felt sick to my stomach as the scissors sliced cleanly through his flesh. Small gasps puffed out of Griffin's lips, and he gritted his teeth through the agony.

Finally, Theo was finished. He threaded the needle carefully. His hands were steady despite the concern in his eyes. Anna and I each moved to one of Griffin's arms. We exchanged glances and, through a small nod, my confidence was boosted. I pinned Griffin's right arm to the ground with my hands.

Theo pierced Griffin's skin with the needle and I felt his arm muscles move in reaction. Theo must have felt it as well, for he paused in his work.

"Keep...going," Griffin snarled furiously.

After a moment's pause, Theo continued sewing up the wound. Griffin's arm jerked again and I put more pressure on it. His teeth ground together so forcibly that it was audible. Theo paused once more to give him a strap of leather to bite down on.

As Theo continued to sew the wound shut, Griffin's spasms of pain grew closer together and more pronounced, as did his grunts and snarls of pain. Soon, I was practically lying on his arm to keep it pinned, every jolt sending burning through my own injury. The smell of blood clogged my nose and fear kept my mind empty save one thought - keep Griffin still.

After what felt like an eternity, Theo sighed with relief and announced breathlessly, "Done."

We released Griffin, who was shivering uncontrollably. His breathing was fast and frantic.

"I'll clean away this remaining blood," Theo murmured to himself, gesturing to his friend's side. "We are in no fit state to travel, and it might well take us a day if not longer just to get back to camp without horses.

"I have no idea how long we'll be staying here."