Tunnel Rat

Things were strange in the Hollow.

The spider cheese that nearly everyone had eaten narrowed their world to their responsibilities and work. Gathering mushrooms and picking vegetables resumed immediately. The Hollow needed the food, and for many of its inhabitants, it was all they could think of to do. But they were cautious of spiders. The groups of ratkin stayed together, and fairies and students from the Tower of Strife patrolled the far end of the caverns. If spiders appeared, everyone was ready to retreat quickly to the safety of the Hollow.

Professors Arlothe and Cremona made sure that nothing could invade through the small tunnel leading to the Hollow. The entire cave could now be electrified in a robust static field that would fry spiderlings and slowly kill the warriors and nobles. Traps were set that would spew poisons tailored to have maximum effects on arachnids, and as a last-ditch precaution, the entire tunnel would blow up. This was Boom-Booms contribution. "No tunnel? No problem!"

Unknowingly, the dwarves had caused a crisis of faith in some of the students. They had always assumed the superiority of magic over muscle. Seeing Narwhale's cannon spewing death and fire forced them to include explosives in the conversation. There was a lot of destructive evidence to say that dwarven artillery might give fireballs a run for their money. An impromptu demonstration by 'Professor Boom!' of what a quarter stick of cataclysmite could do had impressed many students.

After setting up the explosive traps in the tunnel, Narwhale and her new husband explored until they found the mines. Work was still being done to seal off the unused tunnels the spiders had invaded through. The dwarves were happy to help, and several explosions later, the only entrance to the cathedral was through the Hollow.

After setting up his explosives, Boom-Boom explored the area of mines that branched off the larger cave the ratkin called the cathedral. He found the large veins of Deep Copper and other metals that the Hollow considered worthless. Narwhale watched him move from one area to the next, feeling the walls, sniffing the piles of ore, and collecting samples. "Good stuff?"

Boom-Boom nodded slowly. "Damned good stuff. And lots of it. Rebuilding the Queen will take a thousand tons of Deep Copper. We might find it all right here! It will take a lot of work just to get started. And there are small veins of other metals as well. The Hollow doesn't have a way to smelt and use the better ores, so they've mined around them for years. There's a huge amount of mineral wealth here. A lot of work to do, setting up some ore processors and a power source, not to mention laying tracks through the mines. But first, we need to get a brewery going. Can't mine without beer!"

Narwhale patted her cannon. "And we can't put in a brewery until things settle down. Lot's of odd stuff going on. Speaking of which, let's wander back and check up on Baracuda. She's probably drunker than a goblin at a funeral with an open bar, and she can't shoot straight when she's sober, let alone after a bucket of beer."

Gendifur returned to the infirmary with a large sewing basket filled with thread, knives, scissors, ointments, and needles of all sizes. She also had a toolbox filled with more odds and ends, including some very sharp saws and large barber's razors. Several ratkin nearby retreated but watched with curiosity.

Milo was slightly nervous but also intrigued. "You use all that as a healer?"

Gendifur nodded at him absently as she selected a razor. "You never know what you'll need, so I like to be prepared. Magic or runes will only get you so far. Sometimes it takes a steady hand to stitch someone back together. Which arm do you use for fighting more?"

"Uh, why would you want to know that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because we're going to open you up a little, and if you're delicate like Brutus, you'll be sore for an hour or two. Best not to do that to your main arm."

Sighing, Milo held out his left arm. Gendifur carefully shaved some of his fur off a small patch, then took a large bone needle from her basket and put a bulb on the other end. "This won't hurt a bit." She told the truth. It hurt a lot! But with one of her large hands holding down his forearm, the needle went in deep and sharp. She drew a bit of blood from him and put a bandage on the puncture. Putting a few drops of his blood in a glass jar, she added a drop of thick, black liquid from another. There was a visible reaction as the two mixed. The blood first darkened, then glowed and sparkled, and finally returned to normal.

"Tell me again how much elixir you drank. Point to a jar of equal size." Milo did. "I think it was six doses, according to the notes in the book."

Gendifur studied the blood, shaking it a little. "That was spider venom from a noble. I took it out a gland brought to me this morning. Your blood neutralized it completely." She looked over at Larry and then got a fresh needle. "I need some more. Larry is weakening, and I don't think just cheese will save him. I've got too many patients and not enough time or medicine to save them all."

The healer took two ounces of blood from Milo, then went to the sleeping Larry. She unbandaged his worst injury. The sting was a black and rotting wound, and the skin around it was turning purple. Gendifur cleaned the wound again and then cast a healing spell. Milo observed carefully.

The spell healed some of the bruised skin around the wound but nothing more. The next test was to use a minor healing potion applied directly to the injury. She handed it to Milo, "Pour this on the wound while I watch with eyes and magic. I don't expect much. The potion duplicates the effects of simple healing spells. But we try what we know first, then experiment if that doesn't work." The potion seemed to be absorbed by the wound, but other than a little of the swelling going down, nothing happened."

The healer frowned. "It's healing what it can, same as the spell. But it can't touch the venom." She poured an ounce of Milo's blood onto the wound. Immediately, the blood started bubbling and drawing out the poison. The wound was sparkling and glowing as the poison fought against the magic of the elixer in Milo's blood. Foul steam rose from the injury. After a minute, the sting was much smaller, the swelling was gone, and Milo could see healthy tissue starting to grow back a little as Larry's regeneration got to work. This time when Gendifur cast a healing spell, the wound closed and was nearly gone.

The healer looked at Milo. "I'd call that a success. What do you think?"

Milo touched the flesh where the sting had been. "That was amazing."

Gendifur stood up and grabbed Milo by the arm. "Let's get to work. I need to drain some of your blood, then get some spells on you to get you started making more. Eat the rest of that cheese, sit back and relax while I do all the hard work." Milo noticed she wasn't asking a question. But if it helped Larry, it was worth it. Plus...cheese! He'd been trying not to eat it, and now he was told to stuff himself on a half basket of it on doctor's orders.

Gendifur put another needle into his arm, but this time it was hooked to a thin tube that ran to a glass jar. "This will feel odd. I will use a small blood rune to pull the blood out of you. It should tingle." She cast a spell, and Milo saw the rune appear briefly on the hollow bone needle in his arm. Blood began to fill the jar.

"What rune is that? It looks like the fluid-control runes the Engineers use."

The healer watched the jar carefully and snapped her fingers at some point, causing the rune to disappear. She pulled out the needle and bandaged him before answering. "Just a minor blood rune to move your blood from your vein to the tube. If I was to use an engineering rune it might drain you dry in a second. This is easier and quicker than setting up a pump."

"Now, drink this. You need fluids." She handed him a large glass of fruit juice. Milo drank as he watched her work on Larry's wounds. He picked up and examined one of her large, hollow needles. It was made of very hard bone and sharpened to a wicked looking tip. Concentrating, he saw that someone had reinforced the bone with runes. He recognized the rune for Hard Bones. "Who made these?"

"Different people over the last several decade. Each healer passes down their tools to the next. Good tools are hard to find. Brutus told me you have some bone magic? When this is over, I want you to help me make needles for all the junior healers. Lots of contribution points and I'm sure you can understand why making all the healers happy can pay off." Milo nodded, that made sense to him. Healers needed tools the way Engineers need tools. He liked making things better and more efficient. And he wanted a good look at every piece of bone in the Hollow.

Gendifur used a small amount of his blood on each of Larry's stings and then, with much difficulty, put a needle into Larry's arm. "I swear, this is worse than treating Brutus. Larry is tougher than either Brutus or Justin now. The price he paid was too high, though." Milo saw the last of his blood drain into Larry's arm, again with the use of a blood rune.

"And now we wait. Both to see if Larry gets better and for you to make more blood. You should be fine to give a little more in about six hours. Get some rest until then."

Before Milo could relax, a healer at the other end of the room screamed for Gendifur. "I need help, Genny; I'm out of mana, and his pulse is dropping." Milo could see that they were talking about Bleusnout. Gendifur cast several spells, using up most of her mana. She turned to Milo, a question in her eyes. "We're losing him."

Milo only hesitated a moment. "I have powerful bones and a belly full of cheese, and I walk back from death quickly. Take what you need for Bleusnout and Smiley, and don't worry about me."