Totem of the Bear - World of Ranicke 1

Chapter 10

Jim finally woke up and for a moment tensed up and then realized that it wasn’t hurting nearly as bad as it had been.  “God that hurt.”  He squeezed their hands and looked sort of startled to see Nora in there as well.  “You didn’t need to stay here.  I was well taken care of by the healers.” 

The old lady sighed.  “Well if nothing else you keep me busy young man.  You are going to need to stay in bed tonight till you are totally relaxed.”  She ran her fingers down his back and sighed.  “Your back was so tense I am surprised you didn’t pull a suture out.”  She stroked his head.  “Not sure why but you almost make me think of one of my son’s.  You had better not hesitate to call if you need me.”  She handed Sorrel some more meds.  “He needs to sleep alone tonight.”

He was taking slow deep breath and focused on relaxing.  While he was doing that Moran came in and settled down next to him.  “I am so sorry Yim.  If I had known who they were going to send I would have stopped it.  He really isn’t the right one to deal with you.”  Since he knew his back had hurt so badly he rested his hand on Jim’s forearm.  “He has been dealt with though there might be some complaints about your offering to show him what your wounds felt like.”  There was a bit of amusement in his voice.

“Chief I am sorry for that but he had denied me my meds and food and the angrier I got the more my back hurt.”  He glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes.  “I will take whatever punishment is required.  I apologize for my threat and nothing can account for it.”  He had his personal code of honor and he was going to respect it come hell or high water.

Moran nodded.  “If it comes to that then I will give you what you deserve.  It will be after you are healed.  Now I am going to let you eat and take your meds before my daughter brains me.”  He squeezed his arm.  “Get better soon son.  The warrior master wants to talk to you.”  Moran left the tent.

~~~

The next morning he was feeling somewhat better but ended up getting help to the bathing area.  “At least I can soak for a bit.”  It had been long enough since he had been injured that he could soak and not worry about the wounds.  One thing he noticed was that the warriors that had helped him stayed close and waited for Sorrel to get him undressed.

They helped him into the water and Jim had to sigh.  “I think I can get in myself guys.”  He grumped at them though it meant a great deal to him that they were helping him.

Thomas laughed.  “If you fell or tripped Sorrel would get us back and that is a horrible idea.”  Once Jim was in the water they stripped down and slid in as well and started getting clean.  “Man I wish I had someone cute like Sorrel helping me to get clean.”  Thomas commented.

Hanzel laughed.  “Maybe if you weren’t such a schmuck you might find a cute young thing to wash your back.”  He was laughing at Jim as he turned bright red.

“Oh go to heck you two.  When I am better I am going to kick your butts.”  Jim laughed slightly.  “You are just jealous pansies.”  He leaned forward as Sorrel carefully washed his back.  A few moments later Nasha climbed in and started on the chest.  “Oh my, I feel so special now.”  He got dirty looks from the two warriors.

Nora came in and frowned.  “Well shoot I was hoping to help as well, maybe tomorrow.”  She stripped down and settled down to start cleaning her body.

Thomas glowered at him.  “Jim I hate you right now.  Kick my butt my ass.  I am going to kick yours.”  After a moment he looked at the ladies.  “Just what did you do to get three lovely ladies paying attention to you?”  He smiled at Nora.  “Well Nora I can see but Sorrel and Nasha?  I want to know your secret.”