The Missing Musketeer

Chapter 3

Hadren's POV

I shooed out my friends and took out my bandages and glasses,while kicking the door shut behind me,and before I began,she asked me,"Monsieur, do you have a child?"
I smiled at the question, before replying,"Yes,his name is Aramis,I teach him this trade of healing others,because as you can see,it comes into handy when others,like my fellow companions,get hurt,by their own clumsiness,Horthos especially." I chuckled at the end which she repeated back to me.

I said,as I sat down beside her on the bed and faced her,"I may need to lift your shirt at some point,Katiana,but I will warn you before I do it,also,the healing medicines,could hurt when I apply them,so I would like you to know that."
She nodded timidly ,before asking,"When we arrive in France,who will I stay with? I am predicting you don't all live in the same home,do you?" She asked as doubt clouded  her said words.

I chuckled before replying,"Darling,I would think,choices like that are decided by Carlos,and no,of course we don't live together,but our sons at stuck together like me and my other friends," I said,applying the water to a cloth before cleaning the cuts that had blood that had slightly crusted and dried up.She was humming a tune I did not find familiar throughout my musical mind.

After I had done both her hands and arms I started on her legs,they also looked like her arms crusted with dried blood,after cleaning the blood away,I found long gashes and scars hidden underneath the overload of blood. I stared in disbelief,shock and disgust for a few seconds,how could her own father have the heart to do it to a kind and intelligent girl like this? I would never even get that mad with Aramis,to even shout at him!

I medicated the wounds before saying,"Katiana,I need you to lift your shirt now,I firstly need to tend to your back,so I will give you a cloth to cover your front while I do your back ,is that ok with you?"

She hesitated,for a minute or two,before replying with a nod,I gave her a small smile,before handing her a folded quilt before standing up,and turning to the opposite direction of her.
After several silent seconds she said," Done,"
I turned around and gasped in shock and anger.
There were so many scars!
Whips,fire pokers,belts,and bruises the size of mountains. The cuts were deep,closer to gashes than anything.

The worst scars on her back(and a few which were still turning to scabs) were fire pokers marks, they dug deep into her flesh,I winced at the sight.
I came close slowly before saying,"How could you so-called 'father' do this to you? And not care? It's as if it happened for years," I paused before gasping at the realisation that hit me,"It did happen for years,didn't it?"

She turned towards me,tears brimming as she nodded her head.
I nearly broke at the sight of seeing such a girl like this have her life shrouded in nothing but torture,so I went to her and hugged her,gently,like I would to my son,as she cried into my chest,I rubbed her head,instead of her back,for obvious reasons.

For several seconds I hugged her,while she tried to overcome her tears,which worked,because she was sniffling,and before I knew it,she had stopped crying complete and asked,while nestled into my chest,
"Can we continue with healing my wounds?"

I shook my head,to get it back to its calm emotion,and smiled gently as she sat down,I took out my other methods of medication before coming back to heal the rest of her back,her whimpers and cries torturing me from beginning to end and was close to preventing me from healing her.

Soon the back was all done,I had to do her stomach,so I gave her some bandage to wrap round her 'chest area' before turning away as she wrapped it round her self.
When she told me she was done,I assessed her stomach,it was not as bad as her scars,but it had thousands of bruises all different colours and sizes,but some were fading away.

I applied some gauze,like I did to her back,to cover the rest of the medications put on.I asked her, "Are you sure,that there's no cuts? On that part of your body?"
I gestured,blushing slightly,as she giggled,before saying,"No Monsieur,none,my father was ruthless,but he did not cause harm to those parts of my body,which was my proof that he still had a shrapnel of a heart left."

I smiled lightly,at her positive sort of attitude before giving her,the clothes Horthos gave her before saying,"I will go out the room,so once your done come downstairs,and before you question about your dress,it is not easy to wear it while riding a horse,"

She giggled again lightly before shooing me away with a bright smile,to which I returned,before heading down the stairs,my mind set on her scars and the cause of them.

I needed to talk to Carlos.