Undaunted

Discord

"Brace yourself. This is probably going to hurt," I cautioned, holding up a pair of medical tweezers. I'd helped Leona make it to my house. She was still upset, but she managed to make it without too much help from me.

She took a shuddering breath, and nodded, trying not to look. She lifted up the edges of her shirt carefully, exposing the wound just below her ribs. Most of the shot had just grazed her, but a few pieces were still there, fortunately not too deep. I wasn't much of an expert, so it didn't go very fast or very efficiently, but I managed to get out all of the shot.

I set down the tweezers and picked up a rag and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and soaked the rag with it. "Now I have to disinfect the wound. This is going to sting for sure."

I gently dabbed at the wound and she hissed, but she stayed put. "That feels like liquid fire!" she gasped, stomping a hoof. She squirmed as I continued, but she was handling it better than I had when my parents had first used it on my injuries. I'd ended up screaming and wailing like a banshee. When I finished, she helped me wrap gauze around her torso. She looked at it curiously, as if amazed that the blood had stopped seeping from the gashes.

"You won't be so happy with it later. That's going to hurt like a mother tomorrow," I joked.

"There wasn't really anything that could have been done to avoid it. I was out in the open and I had no idea where I was or what I was supposed to do," she conceded calmly.

"Well, maybe I should have warned you about the old man with the shotgun."

She smiled. "That would have been helpful. Look, Drew, I'm sorry for making you worry about me like that. Thank you for saving me. That's twice, so I really owe you."

I waved my hands dismissively. "Don't keep track of those kinds of things. Friends are supposed to do things for each other and not expect anything in return. You really don't owe me anything," I insisted.

I put the leftover medical supplies back in the first-aid kit and set it down. "Okay, now that we don't have to worry about your wounds, we've got to find a place for you to stay." Leona blinked at me, waiting for me to continue. "It can't be anywhere near here, that's for sure. That old man is going to be looking for you to become his next trophy. We can also rule out either of us going back to the overhang. If they spotted me there, Liepold and his cronies are bound to get suspicious." I rubbed my chin. "There is that one field..."

"But I can't cross the gorge with how I am right now," Leona interjected.

I groaned. "That's true. So where could we go?" At this point, options were pretty limited. None of the clearings were sheltered enough and the caves would trap us inside. I'd hide her in my room if I could, but my parents wouldn't take to the idea of finding a living legend hiding out in there. That left only one realistic place. "The glade," I blurted finally. "We could try there."

"Why, what's so special about there?"

"There's an old mine shaft we can use. It's not as big as the overhang, but it's just as well hidden. I can't believe I didn't remember this until now," I laughed, pushing a hand through my hair.

Leona smiled awkwardly. "While you said not many people visit, you did say people know about the gorge and have come there before," she reminded.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" I persisted. "It's all we've got left. Otherwise, you might as well just give yourself to Liepold and go back to being his prize again or run for as long as you can, but I feel like he'll just keep hounding you until he finds you again."

She pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring with barely concealed anger. Her muscles were tensed and she was shaking ever so slightly with rage. I stepped back, suddenly fearful that I had really crossed the line with my last comment. Ever since I had gotten to know her, I'd gotten used to her fiery but gentle demeanor. I hadn't even thought about the fact that I barely knew anything about Leona. She was a totally different species, to boot, that I only knew about from stories. I was treading in deep waters.

Her hands clenched and unclenched forcefully. "I am not going to cower and crawl back like some simpering dog," she growled coldly, "and I am never going back to that place. If I have to throw myself into the gorge, I will, if that's what it will take." She glared at me for a moment longer before shaking her head in disgust and turning away.

"Wait, Leona!" I called, running closer. "Where are you going?"

She stopped so suddenly that I ran into her. She didn't look at me. "To the gorge, Drew. You can come later."

"Are you insane? After what literally just happened?" I snapped.

She took a shuddering breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I can't just stay out here in the open," she stated simply and kept walking. With the way she said it, it was painfully obvious that she needed space and didn't want me around right now. While I felt hurt, I didn't need to put her in an even worse mood by being ridiculous.

I watched her until she was just one of the many dark shadows in the forest, my thoughts slowly settling. Then, I picked up the medical kit and headed back around the house.