Love & Duty

Chapter 28

"Where did you find her?"

"By the river. She is freezing, and she has a wound on her stomach."

"Let's put her in the empty bedroom for now; we need to treat that wound before it causes more issues."

"How is she not dead...?"

"Don't question miracles; just accept them. Come on, help me out."

After being moved to the bed, Sophia slowly regained consciousness. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she didn't recognize her surroundings. Seeing wooden walls, a part of her worried they had caught her again and locked her up.

She tries to get up, but severe pain springs in her side, making her lie back down.

"Ah! You're finally awake." a voice sounds, making Sophia flinch; she tries to move to the edge of the bed next to the wall. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We just want to help." they try to reassure her.

Sophia takes a moment to assess her situation, seeing if that person can be trusted. Without moving, she looks them up and down before asking. "Where am I?"

"We will answer all your questions, but please lie down. Your wound is still healing, and a lot of movement will open it up again."

"We? How many of you are there? Where am I?" she demands this time.

"Relax, it's just my mom and me. You are in our house." the young girl puts her hands up in surrender to ease her anxiousness. "Please, let us help you." she takes a small step toward the bed.

Sophia stares her down and eventually decides to listen to her. She could feel the dagger still hidden in her sleeve; if problems arose, she would take action.

After getting back into her sleeping position, she looks to the girl for answers. However, she receives a giggle from her while kneeling down next to her.

"I will change your gauge on the wound while answering your questions. Deal?" she smiles innocently at Sophia, and she manages to nod at the plan.

"Well, I was walking our dog when we stopped by the river for a break. He ran to the edge of the river barking; when I caught up to him, I found you unconscious.

You were lucky the water was cold; it slowed down the bleeding on your wound. But if I didn't find you when I did, that temperature could have also killed you." she dabs the wound with medicine to stop any infection, getting a hiss from the Princess.

"Sorry. Then, with slight difficulty, if I may add, I somehow got you back home. My mother took one look at you and couldn't turn away an injured person, so we took you in and patched you up." she smiles.

Sophia wanted to thank her, she was a complete stranger to her, yet they still went out of their way to help her. She really would have died if it wasn't for them.

"Oh, it might be late, but I couldn't ask since you were unconscious, but I took the liberty to stitch your wound. I'm not as good as a doctor, but we needed to close it." she bows slightly.

Sophia looks down at her wound and sees the stitches she is talking about. She's seen better stitches, but she won't complain. She wouldn't have been able to do half of this work.

"Thank you..." she lets out. "How long was I out?" she had to know how many days had passed.

"I found you in the morning, and it's around late afternoon now. Not sure how long you were there for, though." 

Sophia didn't answer; she wanted to get up and leave. Now that she was out of their hands, she wanted to get back home.

"Where are we? Location wise? How far or close are we to Greenwind Royal Castle?" she asks.