Barbarians Blood

Chapter 17

Willow sat beside Sawyer. She no longer closed the door to their room. There was no point in privacy when Sawyer laid in the bed unconscious. Eleanor came and gone daily. Eleanor was not just checking on Sawyer, but also her. She had overheard Dino and Eleanor talking the other night when they were checking on Sawyer. She had gone to the couch and fallen asleep. She had woken up when she heard them talking.

"The captain's wounds are healed now," Dino said quietly," shouldn't he be awake by now?"

"I assume that the reason he is still out is that his body was under a lot of stress," Eleanor said," he hardly ate anything and didn't sleep."

He did it again. He put saving her before himself again. He had said family came first.

"So do you think he'll ever wake up?" Dino asked.

Willow closed her eyes pretending to be asleep. She didn't want them to know she was awake.

"For her sake, I hope so..." Eleanor said trailing off. Willow assumed Eleanor was looking at her.

But as she sat there beside Sawyer, Willow understood why Eleanor trailed off. She didn't want to state the obvious. If Sawyer's wounds had healed but he hasn't woken up yet, then there was something wrong. Something wrong with Sawyer's head. That's the only thing Willow could think of.

"Sawyer, please," Willow said," I don't want to raise our baby by myself."

There was no response. She didn't expect him to wake up and say something. But she wished that he would move, show some kind of sign that he was still with them. But he didn't. He just laid there as still as a rock. The only thing that told them he was alive was his steady rise and fall of his chest.

"Willow," Treasure said.

Willow turned to see her calico friend. She was standing in the door frame. Chace stood behind her.

"You two can come in," Willow said. She heard them walking into the room. They didn't say anything for a while. Treasure sat at the foot of the bed, Chase stood beside her.

"What did you two need?" Willow asked taking her attention from Sawyer.

"We thought you needed someone to talk to," Chase said.

"Well more like we tell some stories on how we met Sawyer and you listen," Treasure said.

"Oh uh, sure," Willow said. She was pleased for the distraction.

"Well Chase and I were living on the streets of Falsewick," Treasure said," we managed to get by day to day by stealing food."

"We had eventually gotten caught," Chase added.

Treasure gave him a look. Willow let out a little giggle.

"Well as we were patiently waiting for our deaths," Treasure said.

"What do you mean patiently, you were cursing and threatening everyone that walked past our cell," Chase interrupted.

"Will you let me continue," Treasure snapped at him the turned her attention back to Willow," as I was saying, as we waited for our deaths a strange man walked up to us."

"She instantly tried to attack him," Chase added.

"Well you stop interrupting me," Treasure snapped," anyway after I calmed down he spoke to us. Said if we wanted to stay alive we could go with him."

"Well more like we would have to follow some rules, and if we betrayed him we'd have more to worry about than a town killing us," Chase said.

"We agreed to his terms and the following morning when the town was about to hang us," Treasure said," a giant wave rose into the sky, and as the platform dropped out from under our feet the water came crashing down on the townspeople and us."

"Then how are you two still alive?" Willow asked.

"Well the water under our feet solidified and rose, and as we got our bearings the water froze around the people," Treasure said," they were freaking out, but when the sound of someone walking on the ice everyone went quiet."

"He walked right up to us and cut the ropes that were around our necks," Chase said.

"Hey I'm telling the story," Treasure said," you're just moral support."

Chase just role his eyes and allowed Treasure to finish the story.

"He looked at us and said welcome to your new lives," treasure said," he freed us and told us to follow, and as we did we watched as the ice turned back to water and handed him people's valuables."

Willow smiled at her friends. The story was good and gave her some knowledge as to why they were with Sawyer. And their little bickering throughout the story made it funny. She could see her calico, feline friend acting the way she did in the story. But she had a feeling that they left out some information.

"I appreciate you two sharing that with me," Willow said.

"No problem," Treasure said.

Willow turned to look at Sawyer. She had been hoping deep down that if they talked about their past he would wake up and either correct them or tell them to shut up. But he didn't. Chase and Treasure excused themselves. Once again alone with Sawyer Willow sat in silence. She reached out and grabbed his hand.

"I love you," Willow said," so please wake up."

She sat there fighting the urge to cry. Then a genital pressure was applied to her hand. Looking down at her hands she thought she saw Sawyer's hand gently squeeze hers. Surely she had imagined it. She was tired after all. Placing the hand back down beside him, Willow stood and went to the couch. Laying down she pulled the covers up over her shoulders and closed her eyes.