The late night visitor

The shadow of the night stretched across the land. The warm house lights in the village slowly began to dim one by one as people prepared to retire for the night, to gain strength for an early morning. The crickets began to chirp and the soft flicker of fireflies started to appear throughout Knotwood, it was a still and peaceful night.

Elias finished blowing out the last candle inside the infirmary. It had been a slow and uneventful day, his day spent sharpening and cleaning his tools, preparing new medicine to stock the shelves with and sitting down to sketch up what he had found within the boy, making notes and studying the strange tumor in detail.
He checked his pocket to make certain that the keys were there, nodding to himself as he felt the familiar shape and heard the clatter. He stepped outside into the night, breathing in the fresh air and greeting the cat that sat waiting on the raised porch. "Good evening, Tirron." the man greeted the cat, still slowly getting used to calling the animal by a name. It still felt odd and without purpose, but he was getting used to it. The cat's head craned back, Tirron answering to the man with a long, drawn-out meow while staring up at him with wide, green eyes.  Amused, the doctor smiled and lent over to brush his fingers over the cat's soft head. "We best get home." Elias said as he straightened out to lock the door. Tirron watched and waited for the doctor, but something caught the cat's attention, the animal staring out into the yard, rising to his feet with his tail pointed, the back arching and the fur puffing out the cat's frame.

"Doctor, I need your help."

Elias gasped, his body jolting and his heart fell still for a moment as the man was startled by the deep voice behind him. The doctor turned sharply, the thin frame pressing against the half locked door and wide eyes staring at the hooded figure stood at the foot of the stairs.
"I didn't mean to startle you, doctor." The stranger apologised, wincing with a painful grunt.
Elias slowly began to calm down. There was something familiar about the voice but he couldn't place it and the doctor quickly forgot about it as the unmistakable scent reached his nostrils; blood.
"Come inside, sir." The doctor said, pushing the door open and holding it for the man while he staggered up the stairs, leaving a small trail of blood on the steps.
The cat had calmed by now, but the scent of blood put the animal at unease, his tail flicking back and forth, attentive eyes watching until the stranger vanished into the infirmary.

The doctor closed the door behind them and it was when he stood beside the stranger that he noticed another smell, burnt leather, cloth, hair and flesh. "Wait here." Elias instructed and hurried into the main room, fetching a long match and and igniting it from the still burning fireplace, the flame used to relight the newly extinguished candles.
Elias threw on the heavy leather coat and pulled on his gloves after his infirmary was lit, the man returning to the patient "My apologies. What has...?" The doctor fell silent, startled by the sight that waited him by the front door.

The whole right side of the patient was burned, the leather and cloth that he wore scorched open by flames. Blackened skin visible where the heat had been the most intense. The man's hood was halfway on, part of it gone, his hair and jaw singed. It was by the man's burnt arm that the doctor was able to realise that the patient had attempted to shield himself from the fire. It was a strange, but an interesting sight. The more the doctor studied the man, the more started to understand that this had been no ordinary fire that he had been caught by.

"Follow me." Elias insisted and guided the patient into the barber room, where he was made to sit on the bench and, with help from the doctor, removed most of his garment. It was when he reached the chain mail underneath that things became more complicated as part of the metal appeared to have fused into the surface of the hardened body, along with the cloth and leather that lay underneath.
The doctor stopped and stared, studying this strange wound, but finding himself clueless on how to proceed. He took a step back to better study the patient before him.

The man was both tall and broadly built, with a hardened face and an aura of experience around him. There was something familiar about the stranger and it wasn't until the doctor noticed the more unique features of the man, that he recalled meeting this figure months prior.
"It's you, but how is that possible?" Elias furrowed his brows, meeting the steel gray eyes of the other. The doctor had seen that look before, the subtle features that reminded him of his close friend. "You're..."
"In need of help." The patient cut in urgently, glaring at the scatter-brained doctor whom had begun to think of other questions that kept cropping up in his mind.
"Yes, of course. I apologies, sir."

It was nearing dawn by the time Elias finished treating most the burnt flesh. It had been a difficult task to unfuse the leather and metal from the man's skin and muscles without cutting it away completely.
It had been a slow and painful process, both of them thankful for the night to avoid concerned neighbours knocking at the door to the Soothery, worried about the pained screams heard from within.
"What happened? How did you get burned in such an odd manner?" The doctor decided to finally ask now that the patient had calmed and taken the medicine to help fight against the pain, alongside a strong drink.
"Goblins." The man spat out, using the good arm to bring the much needed drink closer.
"Goblins?" Elias repeated, looking over the wounds again slowly as he worked on covering them further.
"Aye, goblins." The other confirmed irritably after a moment.
Silence fell between the two for a good long while, the patient falling in and out of consciousness. While Elias worked on removing the burnt skin and cleaning, he began to take note of an odd residue that stuck to the man's body.
"This is Black Powder." The doctor said outloud, looking at the other. "You were caught in its blast?"
The man's eyes narrowed towards the doctor "You are familiar with this?" He asked, suspicious, but not surprised, half dazed, but awake enough to speak.
Elias looked aside, realising his mistake. "I am, yes."
The other nodded in a slow fashion, his suspicion remaining while he studied the doctor. "You are the alchemist then." He grunted and threw a quick look towards the main room in search of the man he knew resided within the infirmary at times.
The doctor's brows furrowed, confused by the words chosen. "What do you mean?" He questioned, staring at the other for a short moment and then returning to his work.
"You need to destroy your research... Your experiments." The man answered weakly.
Elias looked up, surprised and confused, wanting to question the matter and argue, but he knew that it wouldn't bring him far. The patient was not ready to hold up a conversation.
The doctor said nothing, leaving the matter there for now, but it would be something he'd inquire about later after the man had taken a bit of time to rest.

The first sign of light had started to brighten the edge of the sky when Elias stepped away, his patient patched up and taken to one of the empty beds where he could sleep. "Rest well, sir. Please do not be startled should you hear someone move around here. That will be the women I have hired to care for the place, they shall also be the ones to prepare your meals while you stay here." The doctor said, further going into the matter of how things worked around the infirmary and when the patient could expect the usual mealtimes. The other listened and nodded along, barely paying attention to the doctor's words, the man starting to dose off as his body was finally able to rest after the long day and following night.
Before the doctor was done, the patient had fallen asleep and already snoring. Elias sighed and drew the curtain close around the bed to allow the man some privacy while he rested.
The matter of the Black Powder still bothered the doctor's mind and rather than returning home, Elias made his way to his library to find his notes about the powder and the vial that held a small portion of it; he would have to hide it.