"Hey Jareth!" She called out and lifted his head with her hands, "Look at me, you can do it. Just stay with me please."

He groaned in pain as he tried not to put down his head. At this rate, he could become unconscious or go into a coma if he sleeps. She needed him to be awake while she drew the poison out of his system.

She tore lightly on the injured part of his s.h.i.+rt and took a piece of cloth from her bag. She still had a small water gourd and brought it out from her bag.

"I am going to pull out the arrow, Jareth. We need to quickly remove the poisoned blood," she informed him.

"Hmm." That was all he could utter to prove he was with her. She watched him with teary eyes as he bit down hard on his lips to keep himself from falling into a sleep.

He was hurting and sleeping right now would be a perfect solution to help or ignore the pain, but as sweet as that solution was, it was dangerous.

"Alright, here I go."

Her grip on the arrow tightened, she took one more look at him and pulled it out. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight as the pain washed over him.

She had got to admit, he was tough. Quickly she bent her head and tore at his s.h.i.+rt, exposing his wound to her eyes. Taking the water gourd and corking it open, she poured some of its content on his injury.

He groaned in pain as the stinging sensation from the wound seeped into his bones. His chest rose and fell with every breath he took.

She turned her head to look at him, his eyes were still closed, his forehead was covered with beads of sweat. She watched as a drop slid down his face to his perfect jawline. Even in this situation he was still das.h.i.+ng.

It was when he suddenly opened his eyes did she turn her head away and focused on his wound. "d.a.m.n it Astrid. Focus on treating him," she mentally scolded herself.

She rinsed her hand a bit and placed it on his wound. Closing her eyes, she sought for her powers and connected with his body. Blood was liquid and so was water.

Reaching out, she controlled the poisoned blood in his body and gently pulled it out. As though she controlled water, in a minute time the black blood floated in the air and fell to the ground near her feet.

Satisfied with her extraction, she focused her mind and put her left hand on top her right and placed it over his wound. Seconds later, the injured part of his arm started to glow a light blue, she kept at it, her eyes tightly shut as she focused on healing him.

Minutes later, she fell on her b.u.t.t while panting. She heaved a sigh of relief, satisfied that she had healed him. Although the flesh wasn't perfectly healed, she had done a good job extracting the poison and closing up his wound to a certain extent.

He slowly opened his eyes, the bright sunlight seeping in, causing him to blink several times. After some seconds, his eyes adjusted to the brightness and he adjusted to her worrying face.

She turned her head to look at his face and their gaze met and she flashed him a weary smile. He returned it back with one of his.

She handed him the remaining water to drink, he took it with his uninjured hand and drank slowly. She pucked the piece of cloth back up and proceeded to bandage his wound.

When she was all done, she was very tired, her face glistened with sweat and her breathing was ragged. She moved to sit at his side under the tree. "Take a rest, you need it and your body needs too."

"I''ll be fine. We need to move... "

"They are onto us. I know, Jareth. We would get an hour of rest and continue moving."

"Astrid!"

"No, just concentrate on getting better please. You need your strength."

At this point he couldn't argue with her but accept the situation as it was. They were all exhausted and it wouldn't be fair of him if he doesn't consider that.

"Very well then. One hour it is."

"Thanks. I would erect a barrier just in case."

She raised her hand into the air and soon a magical barrier was set up. She looked at her side and saw the mother and cub duo quietly relaxing under a tree and smiled.

"Rest well, little white-fire, big White-Fire."

"Stop talking and rest Astrid."

Her eyes dropped close and she fell fast asleep. Jareth's eyes opened, he s.h.i.+fted his gaze to his right and smiled.

"She looks peaceful this way. She has had a rough day, but it's just the beginning."