Golden wings

Chapter 43 - Infirmity

"Careful..."

His hands hesitated slightly, while they reached for the small ball of fur again.

He had hurried to carry the rodent back into his nest, to check how bad the wounds were and shield him from the rain.

It really had not been nice to look at; but thanks to the fact that Uriel had been stubborn about his scars, he knew more or less what to do. He had some herbs in his garden, which helped numb the pain. The small rodent was now safe; he had tied a cloth around it, and covered its lower half.

Alexis sighed and leaned onto the edge of the table, which he made a few days ago, to look at the rodent for the hundredth time. It was clear that the bleeding had stopped, luckily. He stared at the ball of fur, and noted how its small chest moved calmly, with a steady breathing.

It would be alright... Mostly.

The angel could only cringe a little every time he looked. There were no hind paws anymore. He stayed up all night, unable to sleep with his worry. He could not get out either, the rain was still pouring. So he only waited for the sun to come out. His eyes never left the table where the animal rested.

Hours went by, and as a faint light touched the cave, something finally happened. Alexis gasped, because he heard a faint growl. He smiled a little when he saw those small black eyes open again, somewhat hazily. However, his wonder and relief were soon overpowered by nervousness, because the poor animal jolted and let out a fearful growl, when it realized he was near.

Alexis frowned when he saw the rodent try to stand quickly, to flee. Of course, it only managed to fall to a side, with a small startled roll and a confused whimper. He raised his hands, to try to stop him from hurting himself; the animal still had the cloth tied around his body, and the wounds could open with his struggles.

"Auch!"

Alexis withdrew and shook his hand at his side. The rodent had given him an angry bite.

The rabbit huffed and seemed to give him a firm nod. He glared with his small black eyes, leaned his pointy ears and showed him his small teeth. Its spiky black fur was puffed up, and that showed clearly that he felt menaced.

Alexis was not such thing. The bunny stopped growling loudly when the angel took a few steps away, with a sad smile. His black eyes narrowed, and his remaining paws began to scratch the table. His little whiskers trembled while he sniffed his strange surroundings.

His gaze never left the human while he tried to stand up.

He could not stand. His confused growls echoed through the cave. He did not understand why he kept falling.

Both stared at each other. The rodent seemed to give Alexis a questioning look. His little snout leaned backwards, to look at the lower half of his slim body. He reached with a paw, to poke the cloth that covered the place where his hind legs should be. There were only stumps. His ears twitched, when he heard the voice of what he thought a human.

"I'm sorry little one, that tree... I could do nothing."

Alexis shook his head, not expecting an animal to understand.

The rabbit let out yet another growl; he rolled a little to glance back at the blond. His paws stopped scratching, and he seemed to relax slightly. If Alexis did not think against it, he would have said that he was looking at him with an apprehensive but calm look.

Alexis stood there, awkwardly. He did not dare move while the rodent plopped down with a huff, and then curled on himself with resignation. The rabbit was not growling or moving, so he decided to approach slowly. He leaned over the edge of the table again, not close enough to let him bite his fingers.