Xander sifted through his mind again, but he wasn't in very good control. A surge of pain passed over his arm, just preceded by the loud crack of a whip. A scream of, "Xander, no!" echoed from behind him.
A redheaded girl, about his age, looked up towards him where she had been knocked over on the ground. In the moment's distraction, the whip came down on him again, this time striking him over the eye. The eye itself wasn't injured, but as he continued to put up a fight, it had swollen almost shut. By the end, the girl was able to get up and help him finish the fight, but in the process, he had been in a rough situation with one of the guards and ended up with broken ribs. It was not worth looking cool in front of a friend, but at least he had maybe saved her. The pain was enough to make him faint.
Xander felt the pain even though he was just recalling a memory, and he briefly fainted, slumping over onto the tree roots. He was awake again within the minute, but it was still scary.