Daughter of Redmoon

Ch6: DOWN AND DIRTY

My eyes flutter open as something wet hits my face. The morning sky is a mass of grey clouds. More droplets of water land on me. It's starting to rain!

Anna continues to snore as her head leans against mine. After she broke down and I showed a little kindness last night, she's at least been tolerable to be around.

"Looks like we're finally going to get to bathe, Miss Stinky," I whisper. She continues to snore.

The sky suddenly opens up.

My cage companion awakens with a snort. She blinks a couple times and sticks her hand out between the bars. She watches the rain pelt her skin.

"Claudia, it's raining!" she says with a little smile.

"Yes, I noticed."

"We must be getting close to the ocean. We must be getting close to White River Kingdom!"

The rain feels good on our sun-burnt skin. The weather seems to be putting Anna in an uncharacteristically good mood. She actually laughs as she cups her hands and alternates between drinking and splashing her face with rain water.

I do the same and soon I'm giggling right along with her.

The dark knights riding on horseback behind our wagon begin pulling pelts and rain skins over themselves. I would be a crying shame if their armor rusted and they all became statues.

The downpour intensifies and soon our wagon begins to fill with water.

"Oh, this feels so good!" Anna declares and splashes with her feet.

"I agree!" I say with a smile and do a little splashing of my own.

She suddenly grips her wounded midriff and doubles over. The bandages have mostly come off at this point to reveal a nasty gash on her torso. It's flaming red and looks infected.

"Are you okay?" I ask with a hint of concern.

She shakes her head. Tears might be forming in her eyes, but it's impossible to tell with all this rain hitting us.

Her body shakes for a moment and she suddenly coughs blood all over her legs.

"Woah. Woah, not good," I murmur.

She spatters more blood into the wagon water a second time, then sits up and turns to look at me with bloody lips. She tries to say something, but instead, her eyes roll into the back of her head and she slouches against the cage bars.

Oh, mother's milk. I'm about to have a dead cage companion.

"Hey!" I shout and wave my arm at the dark knights following us. "Hey, we need help! Anna needs help!"

The pouring rain is kicking up a lot of noise. I'm not sure if they hear me or not. I think for a moment, then take a deep breath and scream at the top of my lungs.

Our wagon comes to a stop. I think that did it! The riders behind us come to a stop as well, but they don't dismount.

A pair of knights enter the wagon and examine Anna through the bars. They banter back and forth in their foreign tongue. I'm guessing they must be our drivers.

"Help her!" I shout. I'm a little surprised at the urgency in my voice. I guess I can't help but care for those around me – even the ones I don't particularly like.

One of our drivers pulls a vial of liquid from his cloak. He tells his buddy to do something. The other knight reaches on top of our cage and it sounds like he undoes a latch of some sort. The whole front of our cage swings open. He grabs me and hauls me to my feet as the first one enters and begins examining Anna.