Survivors of Elyorn: Katherine

Chapter One

Noise. A grating feeling in my throat. It's hard to breathe. Crying. Abi is crying! Something's wrong. Wake up! Something's wrong! Are my eyes open? I can't see! Hey, Abi, it's okay. I'm here. I've got you. The door is hot. Smoke. Fire! The house is on fire! We're trapped! No, we're not. The window. Father? I'm scared. Jump. Come on, Katherine, you have to jump. Jump!
—
I jolted awake. The morning air was cleaner than it had been that night. The fingers of my left hand trailed down the long scar on my right forearm; the consequence of jumping through a plate glass window.

Abi's bed-roll was already empty and packed for the day.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head, wishing I could shake the demons out.

"Um...Katherine?"

I startled back to attention. Hunter Henry was standing at the tent opening.

"Um...I can..." he gulped and averted his gaze. I pulled my blanket up to my shoulders. "I mean...I should come back later...but I'm kind of in a hurry."

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

"We need you to...come and do your thing..." He answered.

"My thing...?" It took me a moment to understand his meaning. "Oh! Right...I'm not very good, you should really talk to Tabitha."

"She's busy with Leader Eli, and we were rather hoping to avoid alerting the elders." He grimaced. "Please will you just come with me? I really gotta hurry."

"Of course, sorry." I started to get up, then realised I was still in my bed-clothes. Henry was intently studying the tanned leather of the tent. "Um, do you mind?"

Henry looked slightly embarrassed, but he gave me a courteous nod and stepped outside.

I quickly pulled off my bed-clothes and packed them in my ready-bag. After putting on my day-clothes, I stepped out of the tent.

The early morning sun was still basking in a pale orange light as I joined an anxious Henry.

"Good." He sighed and paused in the action of wringing his hands when he saw me. "Follow me."

He took off at a jog, expertly navigating between tents and trees and dodging their roots. It took me a moment to realise we were heading for the river.

"So, can you tell me what happened?" I managed to ask, once we were out of ear-shot of the rest of the camp.

"We were cleaning up after the morning hunt when we came across this massive stag. We thought it would be fun to ride it, so we got it surrounded, and one of the boys managed to get on its back, but it freaked out and bucked him off and-"

An incredible pain tore through my leg. I screamed, falling to the ground.

"What-? Why-? What?" Henry had reached his arms towards me, but he seemed unsure about what to do with them.

"Broke his leg." I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Whaa...? How did you know that?"

"Wild guess." I rolled my eyes and took his proffered hand.

"Oh, right. Stupid question." He watched me try to walk for a moment before asking: "is it alright if I put my arm around your waist?"

"Yes, please." I gave him a reassuring smile. "I appreciate the support."

He helped me hobble along until we came to the scene of the accident.

My patient was sitting on the ground, gripping his broken leg. Even from a distance, I could see that the bone was protruding through the skin. Four more of his friends stood around him, looking perplexed.

All the hunter boys had similar appearances. All quite tall, with strong builds, focussed brown eyes, and shaggy brown hair. My patient was probably the smallest of them. His most notable feature was the gruesome scar that stretched from the middle of his forehead to his left cheek, sealing his left eye shut.

All eyes turned to Henry and I as we approached.

My patient, Luke, was the first to speak.

"Hey. I'm really sorry about this." He grunted. "I know what it does to you."

"Don't mention it." I huffed, as Henry gently helped me down to his side. "But if we could avoid doing this again, I'd appreciate it."

"No arguments here." He answered with a grimace. "My stag riding days are definitely behind me."

I nodded as I turned my focus to his leg. Blood had pooled around the wound and was slowly seeping into the earth.

"Hard stuff, then soft stuff." I muttered to myself, moving my heads up to his temples. "I just wish I could do something about this pain."

"Hey." He grabbed one of my hands as he insisted: "you don't have to do this if it's too much. I can just ask Tabitha when I get to camp."

"On this leg?" I scoffed, hoping it hid my rising panic well enough.

"We can help him get back, if you can't do it." Henry offered.

"Well I'm here now, so...can everyone please just...shoosh." Worried I might have sounded a little too angry, I added: "I just need a moment of quiet. Please."

A hush fell over those gathered until all I could hear were a collection of steady heartbeats, and Luke's laboured breathing.

I moved my hands back to the injury and shook my head. "I can do it. But it's going to hurt."

Luke put a bracing hand on my shoulder and nodded. "Let's get it done."

I placed a shaky hand on the bottom part of his broken leg and took a steely breath.

"Ready?" I asked, receiving a nod in response. "On three. One."

I yanked the broken bone back into place beneath the skin. We both cried out in agony before Luke fell back, unconscious.

The pain vanished before Luke's head hit the ground. I made a mental note to learn how to knock people out on purpose as soon as possible.

I wish I could adequately explain what happened next, but really, all I can say is that I pressed my hands to the wound with the intent of making it better, then watched as the bone fused back together, torn muscle reattached to bone, and flesh sealed it all back in place, leaving a shiny new scar.

By the end of the process, my chest was heaving like I'd just run a marathon. But, after running my hands over the healed leg one more time, I was satisfied that everything was as it should be.

"Good as new." I gave his friends a reassuring smile. "He should wake up any moment now."

I brushed away at the dirt and blood on my dress as I rose to stand.

"Huh." My eyes chased black and white spots across my field of vision and a heavy feeling set in to my limbs.

My only hope was that someone would catch me before I hit the ground.

—
A/N

Hello and welcome to the first story I ever started writing! I've written and rewritten this first chapter about fifty million times...okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but fifty wouldn't be far off the mark.

My ego is just as fragile as any other writer's, so if you read this story and like it, please let me know with a like/comment/follow. If you don't like it, even better, let me know with a comment so I can weep, and improve.

All going smoothly, I plan to update weekly, on Wednesdays.

Hope y'all are doing okay!

Kindest Regards,
Allora