From The Ashes

Part 5

My eyes fluttered open. My head was in Cass’ lap and he looked so concerned. You’d think he had seen my die.
  “Hey, you.” He said softly. I tried to sit up but he wouldn’t let me. “Not yet.” I was confused for a second but was suddenly met with intense pain. Looking to my left I saw Mira who was stitching up my wound.
   “Fuck!” I swore as she dug the sharp needle into my skin.
  “I’m so sorry Rei, I’m almost done this is the last one.” She said, pulling the thread up before cutting it. “Okay, you can sit up but do it slowly. It was a deep wound and  you lost a lot of blood.” I did as she said and straightened up. I put my hand to my head, feeling dizzy. Cass braced my back, thinking I was going to pass out again.
  “I’m good.” I reassured him. Although I wasn’t sure I actually was okay yet, considering what I had just witnessed. I felt a small hand intertwine in mine. It was Eian.
  “Rei, what happened? I was scared..” He said with concern.
  “I’m sorry for scaring you. But, really I’m good. Mira really knows what she’s doing.” I replied, glancing at the neat stitches in my shoulder that throbbed in pain.
“How do you know how to do that anyway?” Oliver asked.
“Oh, my mom is actually a doctor back in my hometown. She treats a lot of wounded soldiers because it’s so close to the border.” She said rubbing some sort of ointment on my injury. I winced. “Sorry, this’ll help numb the pain a little. You should drink some water too.” I listened. I grabbed my water pouch and took a swing.
“Well, thank you for patching me up. As for what happened, it’s gonna take a bit to explain.”
   I went through the details of my fight. I told them about the woman in the purple robes. About how she spoke like she was reading from a script and that she talked about Valda. I told them about the poison..and how I saw her die. Death wasn’t something I was a stranger to but something about this felt off about this.
  “So, she was a follower of Valda? This far from the border?” Mira asked. “That’s scary.”
  “She must have been pretty skilled.  Between the mountains and the huge military presence it would have been really hard to get through.” Cass said.
  “Yeah. But it was weird. She didn’t seem normal, almost like she was possessed or something.” I said.
  “Possessed or not she worked for Valda. Good riddance.” Gwen said harshly.
  “Damn, Gwen.” Oliver said. She said nothing, staring off into the treeline with the same stoic expression.
  “We should probably like..go search her for any information on Valda.” Oliver said cautiously.
  “Yeah, probably should.” I replied. “Mira and Gwen, will you stay with Eian? He needs sleep.”
  “Sure. But Rei, you should rest too.” Mira said.
  “I will when I get back. I’m good I promise.” I said. I stood up, still a little wobbly. “Get some rest buddy.” I said kissing Eian on top of his head.
  “Okay..I love you Rei.” He said.
  “I love you too.” I replied, heading out once again into the night.

  We made our way back to the waterfall and an eerie suspense hung in the air. It was tense and uncomfortable. My shoulder throbbed and my cheek stung, my body was begging for sleep. But first I need answers. I walked into the clearing and out of the dense forest and looked out to where we had had our battle. My heart dropped.
  Her body was gone. I took off in a sprint, my mind clouded with questions.
  “Reika! Slow down!” Cass shouted as he and Oliver took off after me. Frantically, I searched around for any sign of the mysterious woman. There was no sign that anyone had been there other than speckles of crimson blood.
  “So maybe she wasn’t dead?” Oliver said, catching up to me.
  “No. She definitely was.” I said.
  “Could it have been a bear?” Cass suggested.
  “No, there would have been torn clothes or more blood. Something.” I pondered. I had come to a conclusion but it wasn’t a good one. “Guys, I don’t think she was alone. I think whoever she was with found her dead and didn’t want us to get anything else from her. She killed herself for the same reason. Long story short, we’re being pursued by an unknown number of assailants who are willing to die instead of giving up information.”
  “Well, awesome. That’s just great.” Oliver said.
  “We need to be extra careful from now on. No one goes anywhere alone and we’re taking watches in pairs.” I said. “We need to get back to camp. I don’t like being in the open.” I felt so uneasy knowing that our enemy could be watching us, just out of sight.
  After returning to camp we filled Mira and Gwen in. Eian was fast asleep which was good, he didn’t need to hear this.
  “Okay, I am officially terrified.” Mira said with a concerned look. Gwen rubbed her back.
  “We’ll be okay baby.” She reassured her.
  “Gwen is right, we’re all strong and now we’ll be on high alert.” I said. “Which is why we’ll be taking watch shifts in pairs. We can just do two four hour shifts and alternate who sleeps all night. Cass and I can-” I was interrupted.
  “Nope. You are sleeping.” He said.
  “I’m fine.” I insisted.
  “Oh my Gods you’re so stubborn. Go to bed now! You literally just took an arrow to the shoulder and got five stitches. You need rest.  Oliver and I will watch first and Gwen and Mira second.” Cass commanded. I silently cursed his logic.
  “Fine.” I griped. “Goodnight.” I said, making my way to my bed roll. I didn’t want to admit he was right but I desperately craved sleep. The second I was under the covers I was out.