80 Chapter 80
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"H-Hannah?" Milo asked, stunned. Gods, what have I done?
There was no response.
She can't be dead. It was only one attack, he thought to himself
It was a critical hit, said a tiny voice in his head.
A critical hit on a dagger, the Milo insisted.
She might only be level one, wheedled the tiny voice.
That's six damage, tops! Milo protested. It's physically impossible for six damage to kill anything.
Maybe back home... but have you seen any indication at all that these people only die at -10 hit points?
Everything dies at -10. Fact of the universe.
Your universe. Remember how surprised Madam Pomfrey always is at your physiology? You can't take anything for granted.
She can't be dead.
Then why are you so afraid go to check on her?
Milo couldn't think of any suitable response to that.
"Okay," Milo said, out loud. "I'll go find her, and she'll be fine. Just... fine. You'll see."
Milo stood up from his prone position, shaking off snow. He waded through the deep snow to where Locate Object told him Hannah lay.
Or is standing, Milo thought stubbornly. She could be standing there, happy as a clam. A happy clam. Not like one of those sad clams.
"Hannah?" Milo called again, yet was again unanswered.
Abruptly, the snow stopped blocking Milo's vision. He realized vaguely that he was standing under the canopy of a tree. A nice, old-growth tree. Milo thought it might be a willow, but then wondered idly if this world even had willows. There was no reason to think they did, after all, everything else seemed to be so completely different. Elves working in kitchens. No limit on spells per day. Gradual learning instead of discrete increments. Goblins running banks. Dragons slaughtered to make gloves.
An, apparently, completely different damage/wound system.
Hannah Abbot lay against the tree, slouched into a half-sitting position. Her wand was held loosely in her right hand, her left was clutching the hilt of Milo's dagger, sticking out of her stomach. It was difficult to tell — her school uniform was black, after all — but there was a lot of blood. A scary amount of blood. Her head was lolled to the side, and she wasn't moving.
"Oh gods. Oh gods," Milo said. Milo was far from a religious person, but if ever there was a time for divine intervention, that time was now.
Hannah stirred feebly.
Holy crap. Pelor, I owe you one! I'll slay some vampires for you when I get home.
She reached for her wand.
Milo blinked. Maybe she knows some healing spell?
"A... a..." Hannah said weakly.
"Hey, Hannah," Milo said gently. "You'll be okay, okay? I've... I've got a Healer's Kit and +1 from Wisdom, so I can do first-aid, okay? So just... don't move." Milo slowly reached into his Belt of Hidden Pouches for the kit.
"Av..." Hannah said again.
"Tell me back at the castle, when you explain just what you were doing out here, kay?"
"Avada Kedavra."
A brilliant green bolt shot out of the tip of Hannah's wand, but her shaking hand fouled her aim. A bush behind Milo burst into flame.
Milo instinctively ducked behind a nearby tree as curses started flying again.
"Okay," Milo said. "She's clearly possessed or something, and whatever's doing it is trying to kill me." As if to emphasize the point, a curse slammed into the other side of the tree Milo was using as cover, and dead leaves rained down, thinning out the canopy and allowing snow to start falling back onto Milo's head.
Carefully, Milo (very slowly) peeked around the side of the tree. Hannah was still slumped on the ground, looking deathly pale. Milo pulled his head back just as a Killing Curse flew by close enough that he could feel the heat radiating from it, and the tip of his nose burned as if it had been exposed to the sun for hours.
How am I supposed to help a person who's bleeding to death if they're trying to kill me? Milo wondered. If I go over to her to try and stabilize her — or, for that matter, de-possess her with Protection From Evil (which requires physical contact) — I'll end up like this tree.
Milo heard Hannah coughing weakly. It was a wet, gurgling sound. Oh, that so cannot be good.
I can blind her with Glitterdust ... but really, I have no idea what that would do to her in her state. If a single dagger can do this, I shouldn't really take any chances. For all I know, Glitterdust could kill her outright.
On the other hand, doing nothing will kill her.
"I'm really sorry about this!" Milo said around the corner. "Glitterdust!" Hundreds of thousands of golden sparks flew out of Milo's spread hand, illuminating the thick white snow like twinkling faerie lights.
Her silence was uncanny. Normally, when people are blinded by Glitterdust, they scream and complain and flail around, but Hannah... if she had any response, Milo couldn't tell.
Maybe she made her Will save? Milo thought. And she can see just fine, and if I stick my head out again the last thing I'll see will be green... well, at least it's holiday appropriate.
Had Hannah been carrying a gun, or had Milo been from this universe to begin with, he likely would have slowly stuck a hand out to determine if his attacker would re-open fire. At worst, by that logic, your hand will be injured. However, in Milo's form of magic, the location on the body that the spell hits is irrelevant: if Disintegrate hits even your baby toe, you're powder. As far as Milo knew, and he didn't even question that this wasn't the case, if Avada Kedavra so much as glances the tip of your finger, you're waking up in your Alignment-appropriate Outer Planar afterlife.
Milo stepped out from around his safety, praying to his often-forgotten deities that whatever was possessing Hannah had been blinded.
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