Keira's Fire

Chapter 6

Hours later, the men returned victorious as expected. But as I watched them file back into our camp, I sensed that something wasn't quite right. It was in the way the ones who passed me threw nervous and curious glances in my direction.

Pushing myself away from the tree, I went to find my brothers, running into Michael first.

"Keira, it's Stephen!" He latched onto my hand and frantically pulled me onward. Within a minute I overtook him when my eyes landed on our brothers. Jeremy was helping Stephen along, taking care not to jostle the arrow stuck through his arm. Aaron was trailing them, looking upset.

"You idiot." I ducked under Stephen's uninjured arm, hugging him tightly and working to keep the panic from my voice. "First rule, don't get hit." I reminded him of what he always told me.

He laughed and I pulled away to look at his face.

"I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

"I don't think it's quite that dire," he rolled his eyes. "I have a pretty good track record, you know."

"Yeah, and I'd prefer to keep it that way." I released him and ran ahead to our makeshift medical tent to get it ready for him.

Among everything else she did, our mother had been the doctor in our village when I was growing up. She didn't have any real training, but she'd seen practically every type of injury and was more qualified than anyone else around. She attempted to pass her knowledge on to me, but I never really had the stomach for it. Unfortunately my minute medical knowledge still made me vastly more qualified than anyone else in our camp, and so I was stuck playing doctor the best I could. Out of necessity, I became proficient at setting bones, stitching up gashes, and removing arrows. But it still made me queasy every time I had to deal with blood. I didn't expect working on my brother to make things any easier. Still, I was Stephen's best option at the moment.

I was washing my hands when Jeremy helped Stephen sit on the ground in front of me.

When I looked up again, Jeremy and Aaron were hovering anxiously in the doorway. Michael and James peeked around them from behind, looking scared. Apparently, Stephen's injury had shaken all of us pretty badly.

"You can go get cleaned up," Stephen told them. "Keira will take care of me." He sent me a reassuring smile, but I couldn't find the will to return it. Over the years, we all had our share of injuries, but nothing quite so severe. I couldn't stop thinking that another few inches to the left and that arrow would be in his chest.

Stephen's words seemed to comfort the others though, and they filed out, leaving us alone. I avoided my brother's eyes as I cut his shirt away to examine the wound.

"I'm fine." Stephen covered my hand with his, stopping me.

"You're shot, Stephen." I tried to keep my tone detached and scolding, but my voice caught and I had to blink away sudden tears.

"And I'll live," he said. "It's not that serious."

It wasn't that serious this time, but how long would it be until Stephen or one of the others received a fatal wound that I could do absolutely nothing for?

I suppose I had that same misconception about Jeremy and Stephen as the little ones did with me. I always thought they couldn't be killed, but this wretched arrow was a stark reminder that they very easily could be killed.

I despised the fact that I had to keep swiping at my eyes to clear my vision. I never cried and here I was doing it for the second time today.

"Keira, you know how dangerous this is," Stephen said. "It's always been dangerous. We could all be killed tomorrow."