Protecter: A Giant Tale

Chapter 5

Lyra limped as she entered back into the small village. A river divided the village from the edge of the forest on the mountain with a small wooden bridge as the only seeming connection to the Earth and mankind. As she limped over the bridge, a child with hair black as a raven spotted her while reading under an apple tree and jumped up at her sight. 

"Lyra? Lyra is that you? Lyra it is!" the child dropped his book without a second thought and ran over to her and jumped in an embrace. While rushing in, Lyra fell and hid a groan as she laughed and hugged back. Tommy, an eight year old with a voracious appetite for books and glasses to match kept hugging as tight as he could.  

"It's good to see you Tommy. Where's your sister Peyton?" Lyra stated with a smile. 

"Oh Peyton is home tinkering with something like she always does. She'll be so happy to see you! Where did you go Lyra? She was so worried about you and you just left. Everyone was." 

"I know Tommy, I was just exploring for a bit. Listen, I'll tell you everything I did but for now I have to get to Peyton. Can you watch my backpack?" She said undoing her backpack and handing it to him. 

"Yeah of course. Wait Lyra are you bleeding!? Gross! Can you walk, should I get help, What should I do?" 

Lyra rolled her eyes but then looked and saw her bandage where the cut had been soaked in crimson blood, and it was fresh. She got up, the shock not letting the pain seep through as she balanced herself on the tree. 

"Tommy I'll be fine. I know Peyton can take care of this and I have to talk to her. For right now just listen; you can't tell anyone." Lyra looked down and held out her pinky finger. "And it's gotta be a pinky promise ok? Come on Tommy, for me please." Tommy looked back at her pinky and then her soaked leg but nodded and held his pinky out and intertwined it with hers. 

"Ok I pinky swear it. Don't you want help though Lyra?" 

"I'll be fine Tommy. Now I expect when you get home you tell me about the book ok?" Tommy nodded as she wobbled back to the house near the tree. 

Tommy and Peyton's house was a small wooden cabin with a sign fixated on it with a red cross. Lyra knocked on the door, but no response. Blood dribbled down her leg as she knocked knocked harder. No response came. Just as she went to knock a third time the door swung open as a voice shouted and a mess of black curls filled the doorframe before the person who they belonged to could be seen. 

"Hold on, hold on, I'm right here! Lyra? Lyra! Where the hell have you been? And why are you bleeding? Lyra! Damn you've lost a lot blood, here grab my shoulder. Is your leg broken? You're lucky I don't have any patients this morning." Peyton lectured as she looked her over. Peyton was a little shorter than Lyra with a long white coat that fell almost to her ankles. She wore a black shirt dress that fell below her knees. Her sleeves were rolled up and a bright red head band kept her black hair out of her face.

"Peyton, calm down I'm fine...I..." And just before she could finish, Lyra saw nothing but black. Just as she felt herself falling, she felt something catch her...

Peyton's eye lids began to flicker, her focus slowly returning with every wink as they adjusted to the dark room lit only by a few small lamps and one candle. Ughh did I black out again? Where am I? 

She looked around and sighed in relief. She was in a small bed with white sheets. Her backpack was near a wooden chair in the room. The room was filled with two other beds, cabinets stocked with medical supplies and blankets, and a few curtains that were left on the white walls. 

"Ahh finally you're awake Lyra." Lyra looked and saw Peyton come through the door with a blank and calm expression on her face. Lyra froze as she looked at Peyton and knew she seemed calm, way too calm. "So it looks like your leg was sprained so I got you a better splint and your cut I had to sew with a few stitches. I'm actually surprised that you were able to walk with that much blood loss, let alone be awake now. I do have one question though." Lyra felt her cut but then looked up and met her gaze with Peyton's blue eyes and made a loud audible gulp. 

"What...in the hell...were you doing!? And don't you even dare think about lying to me! You went into that godforsaken forest didn't you! Didn't you! What were you thinking you idiot!" Peyton went from calm to enraged in 0.5 seconds and smacked the back of Lyra's head. It almost seemed like steam was radiating from Peyton. Lyra gasped and grabbed her head, but she knew it was coming. 

"Ouch! Come on Peyton don't hit me too hard! You trying to kill me? I just lost a lot of blood. What are you trying to do knock me out again!" Lyra said as she even looked irritated and looked away. 

"You might be better off that way since the only thing you seem able to do is get in trouble. And hey who's the medical professional here?" 

Peyton looked away and sighed. "You are." 

"Damn straight I am. Now tell me." She sat on the bed. "What were you doing in the Stone. You know that forest is nothing but dangerous." 

"I was trying to see if I could find some more herbs and things for medicine. You know we always need more and..." 

Peyton interrupted her "Yeah maybe but that can all be found on the edge of Stone Forest. What were you really doing in there?" 

Lyra looked down and twiddled her thumbs but met her gaze. "I was exploring. There's so much world out there to explore. We never go anywhere but the other neighboring villages in our country and a few bordering ones. But out there in the forest, it's unexplored." 

Peyton sighed and grabbed Lyra's hand before hugging her tightly but minding her leg. "Well next time can you please let me know. You're like a sister to me Lyra. Ever since your mom...you've always been with us. And with my mom out at the capital helping with the hospitals, I gotta make sure you're safe. And you need to stop being my main patient, seriously." 

Lyra laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know I gotta be more careful. Next time I'll tell you when I head out I swear. But Peyton, there's something else I have to tell you. Do you remember the legends we were told when we were really young?" 

"Well let's see. We had dragons, giants, the undead, you name it. So which one are you talking about?" Peyton said looking at her with curiosity. 

"Peyton, I know you're not going to believe this but I met a giant." Lyra looked as Peyton held a straight face but then burst out laughing. Lyra's faced turned red and she shouted. "It's not a joke I did meet one! Or I think I did. But look did you see the ointment near the cut?" 

Peyton stopped laughing and then looked at her seriously. "I was going to ask you about that. The ointment you had barely did anything for the bleeding, but it was antibacterial because that could should have been filled with pus if it hadn't been. Who gave it to you? I thought it was yours, but if you took any from me I would have noticed and it doesn't look like it was manufactured. It looked rustic and only made with herbs and aloe." 

"It was the giant, Peyton. He gave it to me."