When Given a Lemon

Part 32

The next day we were sent out on a hunting expedition out on the northwestern side of the mountain. I am finally back to wearing my full uniform, brandishing new weaponry; a short sword and the knives –still not healed enough to heft the weight of one of those new axes or spears everyone's being trained with. My foliage cutting blade had been handed off to Denyel since I wasn’t really supposed to be swinging my arms around in wide arcs just yet. So annoying. I also am being forced to wear an annoying brace across my chest that makes me itch and squeezes a little in my armpits. It is irritating, distracting, but the only way they would allow me to carry the damn sword.

Even worse than my physical restrictions is something I have only recently started to notice. What others were saying about me. When I was complaining to Obert outside of the med tent about having to wear the brace, a small group passing by snickered at me.

“That’s right, no help is necessary! Everyone knows they don't need another hand with anything!–”

“–heck, they already have an extra one after all, right Camie?”

“That's right, three’s plenty. Don't need to get greedy now!”

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I grimace at the fools thinking those were the lamest jokes I have ever heard. Unless I am out of the loop on the latest slang, I very obviously do not have a third arm. Idiots.

“Yeah, talk about a friend getting their back for them! Haha!” They all joined in, guffawing even louder at my confusion.

“Get lost!” The medic threatened them with a soiled rag and they all scattered. Once the troublemakers had gone, Obert finished wringing the jeweled liquid from the old cloth before dumping it into a half filled bin with the rest of the soiled rags waiting to be washed – the pile was getting bigger. Likely waiting for me to finish healing so they could put me to work properly scrubbing them. A few flies flew out, disrupted by the sudden movements. “Pay them no mind Keenah. They're just fools.”

Fools for sure, but now I’m forgetting why I had come here after hearing their nonsense, so I mindlessly walked away, tugging at the irritating binding as I went. What they said didn’t make sense, but the words kept flitting around inside my head, trying to fit together like a scattered puzzle. They kept talking about my back, but their words might not actually have anything to do with my physical body. Or it could, and therefore might pertain to what had happened to me when I was injured. It was my back that was hurt after all, but not my hand. Not a third hand since I don't have one.

As my thoughts ran in circles, thinking about my injury made my back suddenly start to twinge, making me even more irritated. The ache lasted through the night and well into the next day, and the day after. I wondered if the brace was helping or only making things worse, because I can certainly say which I feel.

Now that we are once again out in the wilderness beyond the village and past the sandy waste we had earlier had to clear, the road we'd walked has diminished in width and substance the further we went; already becoming little more than a narrow, uneven wood and dirt track with areas broken by shifted earth and roots.

We traversed the landscape one after the other, enjoying the fair weather, seeing the first signs of growth sprouting from the limbs of tree branches and plants underneath. It was amazing to finally be amongst something other than drab, gloomy, and frozen. Soon this place will be vibrant, full of new life. It was ironic that we were immersed in so much beauty as we hunted down death, or at least what I now imagined it as if death had a face.

Lemon and I walked behind everyone else, partly to protect me from any surprises since I wasn't fully healed, but also because Merryl was the tracker while Denyel and Kipol were the better fighters and could guard our flanks if we were attacked from the sides while Lemon focused on the rear along with Cayeol.