Lost Magic And Betrayal

by Politicalunrest2400

Part 2 "Lighting the Candle": Chapter 10: Triage

She worked desperately, pouring salt into the wound, trying to slow the flow of the blood. Salt was a poor coagulant by comparison to some of the medicines she had trained with, but this was triage, none of the miracles of modern science and magic were available to her now. Panic rose in her throat, she couldn't lose another one, not today, not after losing so many. “ Buck, put more pressure on it!” she yelled at the beast of an orderly who had been following her around all day, lending a helping hoof whenever she demanded.

“What are you a lame mare?! I said more pressure!” she all but screamed. The orderly, a tall and powerful brown coated earth pony set his jaw and squeezed harder cradling the guard ponies front foreleg in the crook of his own slowing the blood flow dramatically as he redoubled his efforts. The wound was slowly changing color, from a bright blue, the colts natural color, to white as blood drained from the limb.

“Good, good.” she whispered to herself. Clamps held tightly in her mouth, she fished in the wound for the severed artery. Come on come on, she thought furiously A few seconds later she found it It's a bleeder, she thought relief coursing through her, but it’s relatively intact. Thats good news for your my friend. She closed the clamp on the end, staunching the flow. As she finished her work, she realized she had just saved his life and if she worked fast she might be able to save the leg.

She pulled a set of needles from a satchel she had placed on the floor, and threaded a single long black thread she pinched in her mouth. A few seconds later she was pulling the wound closed one stitch at a time, the young stallion having passed out from pain minutes ago.

When it was done, and the wound cleaned and sanitized as best she could manage, she sat on the ground next to her orderly. “Good job Blaze. We just saved that colt's life… and hopefully his leg.”

“Yes'em.” was all the large stallion had strength to say as he sat with her breathing deeply, both enjoying the brief respite before the next wave of wounded that would eventually find their way to her triage tent arrived. There were seven doctors, thirty nine nurses including herself, and an almost uncountable number of orderlies. This last group had little to no training, most volunteers from the surrounding area, or less severely injured casualties who could still walk.

Blaze, her faithful orderly was from this later group. The stallion sporting a nasty gash across his left flank, marring his cutiemark. It had been a laughing face made out of fire, but now it looked as if a black lightning bolt, one she had sewn into him, crisscrossed the blaze that so perfectly matched his name. She hoped that it would heal clean, and that the mark would not be forever changed, but who knew? it had been a hasty stitch job, and would most likely leave the stallion with the scar for the rest of his life.

“I’m sorry about that Blaze.” she said as they both drank greedily from the small cups that another orderly was passing around to the medical personel.

“Ma’am? Why do ya say that?” he asked confused. “You saved ma life ya did. You got nothin to be sorry bout.”

“I… I could have done a better job.” she said feeling a pang of guilt cross over her. “As it is though, i think that stich job will leave a permanent scar.” Blaze smiled and laughed lightly to himself. “Why are you smiling? Its going to be a bad scar…”

“Ha! The mares like scar’s. Thats what my pa always said anyway. Fawn all over ya if ya got a good story to go with’em!” Blaze said excitedly as he looked back at his cutie mark. “Reckon i should be thankin ya ma’am, make it easier to find a special some pony I be thinkin. Besides” he said his voice growing somber. “Ya saved my life ya did. I should be dead back there with ma platoon. Probly be etn by them crazy’s like the rest of em. Ya saved me Ms. Hope and I wont ever forget it.”

Hope smiled, but she was cut off from replying as the next wave of critically injured arrived, and artillery strikes shook the ground beneath their feet. “Thats enugh fawning I think blaze, back to work yes?” Blaze nodded and followed after.

“Whats the problem here?” She asked the field medic as he and another large earth pony set the injured stallion, laid out on a mobile gurny down on the pavement.

“Acid burn to the face, and left shoulder. He killed a screamer as it soared overhead, but its blood splattered on him. Wasn’t Demon ichor like we thought.” Said the medic, the large red cross atop his helmet bobbing up and down as he appraised the injured stallion.

“Yes. Weve seen a lot of these in the last two hours. Blaze?”

“Yes’em?”

“scissors , we need to cut away this blasted flack jacket, its starting to melt into his shoulder.” Blaze obeyed and almost as soon as she was done asking he had the scissors in her hoof. “Good. You.” she said to the medic. “Hold him down. I’m probably going to have to cut away some skin if it's fused to the fibers.” The medic nodded, and he and the other large soldier that had carried the injured stallion held him down hooves pressed into his back and legs.

“Blaze, begin flushing the eye’s. Water only, the bakeing soda solution is used for the skin but will damage the eyes. If we have any left use a saline solution. Got it?”

“Yes’em.”

“With all due respect ma’am I got to go, there are at least fifteen others that need brought in here, some of them worse off then him.” Said the medic his voice tight with worry.

Hope nodded to him. In a normal medical situation what the medic had asked would be considered malpractice. But this was not a typical medical situation, this was triage. “Understood. Just let me finish cutting this thing away.” the scissors in hoof, went to her mouth and she swiftly began cutting away the blood and acid soaked flack jacket and unifom.

A few seconds later, what felt like an eternity to everyone working on the stallion, and the jacket was freed and cast aside revealing the extent of the damage. Blaze had been furiusly cleaning out the man's eyes with water and a saline solution that would sting, but help remove any debris that might have gotten in, but Hope new it was useless.

He's going to lose that eye, and probably this leg if i have to cut any deeper into this shoulder. That is if i can stop the acid. She thought bitterly as she cut away skin, muscle and bone that had been touched by the acidic daemon blood. She noticed then that the medic was dancing from one set of hooves to the other and glancing at the door. She realized as she cut, that infection was starting to set it. “Blaze, run out back, find the dumpster and bring me back some maggots.” The large stallion didn't hesitate, he stopped washing the soldiers eyes and bolted for the dumpster out back.

A few seconds later, after she had cut and cut and cut trying to beat the acid as it swiftly ate through her charge, he returned. “Good, now pour them around the edges of the wound. They’ll eat away the dead necrotic tissue so he doesn't get gangrene while I work.” She didn't have antibiotics, none of them did. They had used them, the pills, the water saline solution meds, the anti-bacterial spray and even the rubbing triple antibiotic goop they were supposed to use between surgeries to clean their hooves and faces, in the first wave of injured. This was the sixth, the seventh was on its way. This was triage.

She looked down and realized that the soldier she was working on had stopped squirming seconds before, passed out from the pain. She nodded to the medic, one brief almost unnoticeable nod to let him know he was no longer needed, and he bolted out the door to find the others he had mentioned.

“Ma’am?” came a voice that she had never heard before. It didn't startle her at all, she barely registered it. “Ma’am? Please…” came the voice again.

“What?!” she snapped at whoever it was that had interrupted her concentration. Then she realized it was the soldier that had come in with the medic. She calmed herself, and said “What is it soldier? I’m working.”

“Yes, and i’m sorry ma’am, but i just wanted to.... Well the thing that he killed? It had me in its claws and was flyin away. If he hadn't hit it with his sniper rifle i’d be deamon bird chow by now. So… please..?” the stallions last words, his unsaid plea for her to save him, was lost as emotion choked them off.

Hope nodded. “I’l try, now go find that medic soldier, that's the best way to help your friend now.”

He nodded, gave her a weak smile, and dashed off in the direction the medic had gone.

She kept working until the soldier was clearly out of sight, then put the scissors down on the tray next to her. “Blaze, take him to a bed over in nurse Marigolds ward and mark him with a red tag.”

“Uh… are you sure nurse hope? Thats the hospice ward.” Blaze’s voice was sober, scared. He had worked just as hard as she had, in his own limited way, to save their patient.

“Yes, i know that. Make sure he gets a morphine drip. Or if their out of that give him some black leaf tea, something to help slow his heart rate and relieve the pain.”

“Yes ma’am.” Blaze’s voice was hard, angry, though not at her she knew, but at not knowing exactly what had happened to make the stallion they had both worked so hard to save, turn from a yellow tag, meaning critical care and immediate treatment, to a red tag meaning hospice ward. She knew of course, it was her fault after all. She had cut deep, trying to cut faster than the acid could eat, trying to cut it out before it had reached his heart. The irony was she knew, that she had succeeded, she had beaten the acid to the heart.

A few tears fell from her eyes. Not many, there was no time for that, but a few, he deserved that at least. Sure I won, she thought angrily, and nicked the dam heart doing it! She knew what would happen next, the small cut she had made in the wall of the left chamber now bleeding only slightly, would grow as the heart pumped blood throughout the body. As the blood flow slowed to the rest of the body due to the bleeding, the heart would pump harder, increasing the size of the cut. The heart would literally rip itself apart trying to save him. Another irony, she thought sarcastically, angrily.

In a normal medical situation, a surgeon, hell even she could have saved him from that given a sterile environment and the right equipment. But this was not a normal medical situation, this was triage.

Author's Note:

Its been a while sense I posted a new chapter. The previous chapter "War" took a lot out of me, and I've been 'recovering' writing original fiction. Anyway, here's another rough draft chapter. Its the beginning of the second part of the story "Lighting The Candle". The first part has yet to be named, though "The Night Rises" is one option. Let me know what you think of the chapter in the comments below!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

6033752 "Lost Magic"? Please tell me more.
6033760 Why not say that in the synopsis?

[Politicalunrest2400]

6309121 Probably should... That might help to let people know what it is haha. This is just a Rough draft until i can finish getting the whole thing edited and re written. What your seeing is purely rough draft on here so far.