“You should have come to me sooner…” General Kaldoran tutted as he pulled his face mask down. “That wound is rather deep. A few more millimetres and it could have punctured an organ or two.”
“I would have but I was rather busy reassuring the Rethavok that their leaders were safe and that a potential threat had been neutralized…” General Elkay tutted back. “The last thing vok need to see is their leader limping off to see their medic.”
“Better for them to see you weak than dead…” Kaldoran continued tutting. “Luckily the wound is rather clean. A straight stab, rather than anything jagged…”
Kaldoran was the best Rethan medic alive, and he had been serving the High General for a long time. He had served General Photeianos before Elkay became High General and he would most likely serve whoever came after him. If he had to pick the most annoying General he’d dealt with though, Elkay would have easily topped his list.
Even right now, the High General was being a pain. He may have been laying down on the table and retrained like any normal Rethan, but he squirmed a little too much, even with local anaesthetic applied.
“Still…”
“Still what?”
“There is residue here,” Kaldoran grunted, “some remains from the creature.” He took a small scalpel from his tools and scraped off a strange clump of black goo, before sticking it in a Petri dish. “Do you want me to send-”
“Of course, Kaldoran. We need to know what those things were. Preferably as soon as possible so I do not end up with another stab wound.”
The medic tutted some more. He reached over to a pumping device. It was connected to a small pen-like tool that Kaldoran would use to fill the wound with healing plasmids, which would seal the wound and allow it to heal quickly. But before that, he would have to remove all of the remaining black residue.
“You may feel this…” Kaldoran warned as he set the pen tool to ‘suction’ mode.
“Even through the anaesthetic?”
“Well, you are the one who has an unusual resistance to anaesthetics…”
“And you know exactly why I have said unusual resistance.”
Kaldoran sighed. The High General was right. He knew why. It was a long, drawn out and torturous story that neither of them wanted to relive.
“Just be quiet and stay still…” Kaldoran finally answered. He held the pen tool close to Elkay’s wound. As he made gentle, circular motions, the black residue was slowly sucked away. Once Kaldoran was satisfied that the wound was clean, he detached the pen tool and placed the residue inside a sealed container to be sent off for testing. The pen tool was disposed of in a special miniature incinerator and Kaldoran attached a new pen tool to the pump.
“Are you doing the-”
“Yes. Shush.”
Elkay closed his mouth and his eyes. He could feel the plasmids being injected into his wound and it made him feel quite uncomfortable. He was thankful that was the only major damage done to him.
Finally, the feelings faded. Kaldoran sat up straight. “Let me stitch and dress the wound and we will be done here.”
“Thank goodness…” Elkay sighed. “How long?”
“Until it is healed?”
“Yes.”
“A week at minimum. I would recommend you spend a day with minimal movement as well. The last thing you need is to accidentally tear your stitches and have to come back here.”
The High General sighed. “They-”
“They will not see you as weak. You worry far too much about that.”
“They will though. Everyvok will.”
“You have too little faith!” Kaldoran snapped. “Your own troops watched you fight off and kill a monster. We are aware of your strength. Give yourself a chance to heal, or you WILL end up looking weak in front of us all!”
Elkay relented. “You are correct as always, Kaldoran. Thank you.”
“Do not mention it…” Kaldoran sighed as he undid Elkay’s restraints. “You are all done. A day of bed rest, followed by a week of minimal exercise. Understand?”
“Yes, medic. Thank you…”