Demons and Kings

Chapter 7

Sephora was a model patient. We had taken her home in relative silence after the accident. Managing the half hour walk back, she had passed out only two feet from the door. Carol and I were relieved to discover her blood loss had not been nearly as traumatic as we had first assumed. A broken bone and a deep but non-fatal cut were practically a miracle compared to the horror I had been expecting.

As for treatment, there was no doctor in Gosen. We made do with what we could find. Constructing a splint and resetting the bone had been easy enough between the two of us. Although neither my sister nor I had ever expected the survival first aid classes Ryan had once made us take 'just in case' would ever actually be useful.

I had never been more grateful for his paranoia.

Her leg needed to be rewrapped twice a day, and I couldn't help but wince at the memory of the raw look of her skin as I had readjusted the wood plates that morning. I tried to go as quickly and gently as possible, wrapping it as I tight as I dared once everything was back in place.

"The wooden splint might hurt as it presses against your leg, but it's the best way to reset a broken bone." I told her as I tied the bandage off. "But that's the worst of it, otherwise you are healing quite nicely. You'll be up and walking within another week." She smiled and reached out to take my hand before I could stand. Her palm was rough and dry against mine, a lifetime of hard labor in a single touch. I looked down at my own hands and felt ashamed. They were smooth, unblemished. I hadn't needed to work for anything for a long time.

"Thank you," she said, turning to include Carol, who was sitting behind my left shoulder, "you two saved my life. I don't believe I can ever thank you enough." Her words broke me out of my self-loathing and I stood, patting her uninjured leg in passing. Sechi repeated her sentiments from where he was sitting by the fire. He caught my wrist as I walked by, and I ruffled the boys' hair before giving him the basket of first aid supplies Carol and I had made and stepping around him, into their small kitchen. Sechi had offered to make dinner, and I couldn't help but smile at his feeble, but well-meant effort. Ladling it out into four deep narrow bowls, I hissed in pain as some spilled over and burned my left wrist.

"Of course, you and Sechi have been nothing but kind to us as well. Saving you was the right thing to do." Carol told her, taking my seat beside the bed. Her voice was full of conviction and assurance, her smile blinding in its intensity. I envied her positivity. "Look on the bright side," she added, "you're getting plenty of sleep."

Sephora had been free from work for two weeks now, and after having participated in what was considered ordinary labor for the slaves in this era I was grateful the general had been so kind. He had given us more than the necessary time for Sephora to heal enough to work again. He even went as far as to allow the rest of us time off to be with her.

"Sephora," Carol continued, clearly following the same train of thought I was, "what kind of person is General Minue?" I came back into the room at the question, precariously balancing the four bowls of soup. I handed them out, sitting down next to Sechi and poking at whatever was in my bowl. However petty it might have been to admit, I didn't take a sip of the broth until the others did, a bit worried over the slightly strange smell coming from whatever was inside. It still amazed me that even with the limited amount of resources available, he could still make something unrecognizable.

Sephora sighed at my sisters' curiosity, "He is a shadow behind the young Pharaoh, very protective of the boy. And as you saw before, he is a very kind man. It makes him a very popular general."

"Hmm, I've never considered the possibility of a kind-hearted general in a culture that takes an enormous amount of pride in killing people." It was said with total naivety, but despite the innocent undertone, the shock I felt at my younger sisters' statement was mirrored by our two hosts.