Aristotle

Chapter 1

The thunder clap overhead brought Aristotle out of her reverie. Looking up at the sky, she saw only thick grey clouds misted over with the smell of coming rain. Again a thunder clap sounded, followed almost immediately by the parting of the skies in a terrifying bolt of lightning. All her thoughts were forgotten as realization and fear seized her. Aristotle was standing in a field, surrounded now by the falling of rain and lightning. Looking at her surroundings, she's all alone with her horse, Betsy.

There's nowhere to turn to and she is at least forty miles from home or any civilization. There were trees just yonder, over the plains; maybe she could find shelter there. Aristotle mounted her horse and began across the field. About mid-way something catches her eye and she stops. Someone is standing there, at the tree line. She can't make out the figure, but it seems to be injured. She starts toward it again, a bit slower now. There's a man that has been majorly gouged.

Aristotle hurdles off of her horse and quickly grabs the man, for support, as he begins stumbling forward. The lad seemed to be young. He was wearing a thin white dress shirt, with black trousers. She takes off her cloak, as she begins to dress his wound.

He lays there gazing at her, "Who are you?"

She looks up at him, to meet his eyes, and stops. Her breath is withdrawn to speak, but no words escape her mouth. The lass is stuck in a short daze. The young man had ocean blue eyes, short dirty blond hair, with a clean cut shave. Aristotle, finally brought out of her daze, realizes that she'd been staring to long.

She quickly glances away, "I'm Aristotle."

He smiles, "That's a pretty name. I'm Zachious."

She looks back at the wound and begins cleaning it again. Zachious winces at the pain.

Aristotle looks up in concern, "Sorry."

She sands, going over to her horse to grab some bandaging out of her saddle bag and a dry cloth. The young lass desiccates the wound bandaging it.

Zachious sits up, "Thank you. Do I owe you anything?"

She stands, "No sir. Just make sure you get that wound properly sanitized and dressed."

The rain is beginning to fall harder now. Aristotle places her things back in her saddle bag. The man stands and walks over to her. He touches her shoulder, startling her.

He flinches, "Sorry ma'am. I didn't mean to astound you."

She gives a gentle smile, "You're fine. "

He takes off the cloak and places it around her shoulders. Aristotle grazes her fingers over the button and he latches it. They both stare into each others eyes, not noticing. Zachious comes to reality and snaps back to his stern but mind blowing look. Aristotle looks down at the ground then to her horse. Slightly nodding her head, she climbs onto Betsy.

She looks down to Zachious who is still trying to set his mind straight, "Do you have a way back to town?"

He shields his eyes from the rain to look up at her, " No. I don't know where I'm going, really."

She smiles, "Well climb on. I can take you to the Yorkshire Pub."

Zachious nods his head and mounts on behind her. The lass turned the horse around and tapped its side, to make it move about, toward the town. They ride back through the field. The rain is beginning to diminish as the clouds instigate to clear. They finally reach the Pub. Zachious gets off the horse and thanks Aristotle for everything. She nods a "you're welcome" to him and climbs down off of the horse, wrapping the bridle around the post.

She looks up at him, "Here we are the Pub of Yorkshire."

He smiles as they walk in side. Victoria, Aristotle's mother, was stationed behind the counter. She greeted the two as they walked in. They waved in greetings in return. There were several tables along the floor with about six chairs to each. They walk up to the counter and Aristotle raises and eyebrow, slightly nodding to Zachious. Her mother smiles, approvingly.

Aristotle introduces Zachious and her mother, "Zachious this is my mother, Victoria. Mother this is Zachious."

He smiles and holds out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Victoria shakes his hand in return, "As it is to meet you dear. Are either of you hungry?"

He nods his head, "Oh yes ma'am."

She smiles, "How would a nice hot bowl of soup do you?"

"That sounds amazing. Thank you," He said.

Aristotle interrupted, "First we need to clean and properly dress your wound. We also have some of pa's clothes that should fit you."

Victoria looked at the two confused as they were speaking, "Where is the wound?"

He replied, "Slightly on my left side above my hip."

Aristotles mother moved around from behind the counter, "May I see?"

Zachious raised his shirt and pulled off the bandage. He winced at the skin tearing off from the bandage. Victoria looked at it, in concern. She slightly opened the wound, to see how deep the cut is. She bites her lip, thinking for a moment.

She looks up at Zachious,"How'd you get this?"

He looks down at the wound,"I was walking through the woods and someone attacked me."

Victoria stands, "Well it looks as if you may need stitches, my dear."

He looks at her with anguish in his expression, "Stitches?"

Victoria gives a gentle smile, the same smile Aristotle gave him when he startled her, "It's not that bad I promise. We will give you a tad of morphine, so you don't feel it."

Zachious smiles with relief and nods his head. Aristotle takes him to the back room and places some clean sheets on the bed, with a few towels. She grabs some thread, a hook needle and alcohol, placing them on the bedside table. The young man takes off his shirt and lies on the bed. Victoria comes into the room with the needle of morphine. Zachious closes his eyes, wincing, as the needle goes into his wound. She pours the alcohol on it to desiccate it out, stitching it up.

She wraps the bandage around his stomach, "Make sure you come back and get this changed out ever day or two."

He nods his head, "Yes ma'am. I will be sure to do so."

They go back into the diner, of the Pub. Victoria fixes them two big bowls of steaming, hot, chicken noodle soup. They thank her and begin eating. After the two finish eating, Aristotle mantles onto her horse.

She looks down at Zachious, "Well, I'm going to head home. I'll see you around."

He smiles his perfect smile, "I suppose so. Be careful."

She nods her head, "You do the same."

The lass begins to ride off, leaving Zachious behind. She doesn't get very far when she turns around, as Zachious is going inside.

She rides back to him, "Hey, do you have a place to stay tonight?"

He turns around, "Oh no. You have helped me out tremendously already. You don't have to provide me a place to slumber."

She gives a smile, "I don't mind. I'm not going to leave you out in the cold."

Zachious nods and climbs; they ride off to Aristotle's house. Most of the way was silent, between the two. The birds, locust, and crickets sang, as the night drawth near.

The lad tries to keep quiet but can no longer, "I forgot to ask; how old are you?"

Aristotle slightly turned her head as if something blew in her ear, "I'm nineteen. How old are you?"

Zachious smirks, "I'm twenty-two."

Author's note: So, how does it sound? Shall I continue writing?