Priestess

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Ara finally managed to drag her eyes open, but what she saw made no sense. Fish swam in the air above her. Fish with thorny, sharp teeth. They kept diving at her—their bodies thrashing madly as they gnawing on her bones, her head, and her shoulder.

She tried to squirm away from them but couldn’t escape. Some distant, fuzzy part of her brain knew this wasn’t real, that she must be hallucinating, but the pain was too real and her mind too far gone.

A cool cloth pressed against her forehead. “You’ve a high fever. I can’t seem to break it.”

Ara’s mouth was terribly dry, her lips cracked. The air was cold. So cold. And the fish. They wouldn’t stop eating her bones.

Fever. Why did that word stroke her memories? Essenia! “In my pack,” her voice croaked. “There’s a pouch of herbs. My Unicorn can show you where.”

“Unicorn!” the voice gasped. “Then you’re the Priestess!”

Ara groaned. She shouldn’t have said that. Her fingers fumbled for the clasp around her throat. It was still in fastened in place.

Darkness waited for her. Darkness with no pain. No cold. She let that darkness swallow her whole. Sometime later, she was aware of a hand lifting her head. Tea, too hot and bitter flooded her mouth. She drank it anyway.

The effort made her head throb. She passed back into oblivion.

#

He came back from taking care of the Unicorn and immediately went to check on her. Her fever had broken—the tea must have worked. It also seemed to have put her in a deep sleep. He sat back in his chair in relief.

Wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, he assessed her. Caked with blood, her shirt had been torn through where the Hebock had axed her. She needed stitching and clean bandaging.

Still, he hesitated. He’d seen many women without their clothing, but this one hadn’t asked for it. She wouldn’t be happy when she woke up.

And he’d seen her fight.

“Now or later, it’s got to be done,” he reminded himself.

Fumbling with the clasp, he finally managed to pull the cloak off her. It shimmered strangely and then morphed to a pure white with delicate stitches. Immediately, a star appeared on her forehead.

Good thing I hid the Unicorn. Gently, he cut her shirt off, revealing pale, virgin skin. She was muscular, without much in a way of curves. But even in her disheveled state, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Reminding himself not to stare, he cleaned and then stitched the wound on her shoulder. When he’d finished, he checked the stitches, pleased with how neat they looked.

By then, the tea had started to wear off. He gave her some more. As she tossed fretfully, he dipped a cloth in warm water and washed her soft skin, marveling at its smoothness as it bubbled under his touch. Then he retrieved one of his own shirts and, as gently as he could, pulled it over her head.

By then, the tea had started to work again.

He stayed with her throughout the night. He was relieved to see her steadily improve. Indeed, this tea she’d brought with her seemed to work wonders. In the hours before dawn, his eyes closed and his chin dipped down onto his chest.

#

Ara’s head and back pulsated angrily, but she could bear it. Her mind still felt a bit fuzzy, but the fish were gone. A hallucination. One that had seemed so real.