The Kelpie's Treasure

Chapter 3 (1st Draft) 2289

The tea, along with the warm fire and the general calm in the cottage, had done wonders to revive me body and spirit. However, I was alarmed to see that the fire and the quilts our new friend was packed snugly in seemed to be having the opposite effect on him. If a man could wilt, he was doing so right there in the rocking chair.

His breathing was laboured, his forehead was wet with perspiration, his lips were curled in a grimace, and his eyes were drooping shut. I prayed to God it was the heat he was reacting to and that he was not actually succumbing to his injuries right before our very eyes.

With an exclamation I rose to me feet, which got aunt Janna's attention right away.

She'd been in the sitting room, at the front windows, watching the yard for Emmi's return.

"What is it?" she called with concern from the other room.

"I think our guest is too hot Aunt. I'm going to remove him from the fire," I called back to her as I took hold of the back of the rocking chair, tipped it ever so slightly backwards and then drug the chair a few inches from the hearth.

I repeated the action several times until bit by bit I was able to maneuver our guest out of the direct heat of the fire's flames. Afterwards, I came around and loosened the patchwork quilt from around his shoulders to allow for a little cool air to reach his neck and chest.

The cooler air appeared to revive him almost instantly. I watched with anxious delight as his eyes fluttered open and he looked me squarely in the face. What a relief it was to see his senses return to him.

Jaana was suddenly at my side and handing me a cup of cold water. "Let him drink something cool," she said as she also leaned in toward him and further loosened up the quilts about him.

I was in the midst of handing him the cool cup of water, which he was reaching for with his still oddly blue-tinged hands, when the door to the house burst open and aunt Emmi came flying in. We three, the guest, Aunt Jaana and myself, all turned to watch Emmi glide into the room with more grace than any woman her age was likely to execute. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"How is our patient?" she asked happily.

Aunt Jaana and I both looked beyond Emmi for the doctor but he was not there.

"Where is the doctor, Emmi?" Aunt Jaana asked as she walked across the room to greet Emmi.

I never heard her reply because my attention was drawn back to our guest when his surprisingly arctic fingers wrapped around mine, which still held the cup half in front of him. He brought my hands, along with the cup, to his lips and I watched him drink up. His frigid fingers gave me a shock and as soon as he'd finished with the cup I set it aside and took up his left hand in both of mine, rubbing it gently in the hope of bringing some warmth to it.

"I don't understand," I confessed worriedly to the aunts as they came over to us. "The fire is too hot for him, yet his hands are as cold as the sea in winter."