Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

5 Gone

She quickly grew tired of having to remind the human how stupid he was. How was she supposed to check his wound if he would not let her near him? It was best for her to work with him while he was sleeping, but how much longer could he sleep? How many more times could his head take the abuse? Humans needed food and water too did they not? This one had not eaten or drunk any water in the four days it had been that long since she saved him from his wound. She was not sure that she had done anything but prolong his suffering. He needed food and water.

As gently as she could, she rolled him to check his wound. The arrow had indeed pierced his armor. It had gone into his skin much deeper than she thought. She had cleaned and dressed the wound, applying the salve that the Goddess had no doubt guided her to make. It seemed to be helping the ugly jagged wound to heal. The arrows of denizens were just like their other weapons, crude, rough-edged, not very sharp and coated in poison. They typically did very little damage unless they were driven home by another force. The poison did all the work. It could kill a beast of lesser fortitude in a matter of minutes. So how? How had this human survived? Where had he come from? Why did his sword glow with Moonfire? These questions and more ran through her mind as she cleaned and re-dressed his wound again. The black lines of poison radiating from his wound had receded to just around the red angry raised and puckered skin left from the arrow breaking it. She would call him fortunate if she thought that was the case. She really was not certain. She let him lay, wrapped in heavy firs to help protect him against the cold and went to prepare for a small hunt. She was hungry, and he would need to eat the next time he woke.

Her bright eyes shone in the dark of the night as she tracked her pray. She would take only what she and the human could eat. She figured normally he ate all the time. That is what humans did was it not, eat, sleep, destroy the land, get fat, and make little replicas of themselves? Her stupid human hadn't eaten for days, he would need food and water, but only a little at a time, too much and she would have to look at it again after he ate it. Another disgusting thing filthy humans did.

She returned to the cave to find the human uncovered and moved, his eyes open. He was very still and staring his eyes distant cold and glassy, his skin bone white. He did not blink, he did not move. She had failed.

She stopped all movement and just listened. Under the roar of the water falling outside, the toink of the water dripping into the pond in the farther reaches of the cave, under the sound of the wind rushing beyond the mouth of the cave, there was a slight whisper, the hush of a breath slowly leaving a body and the sound of a weakly beaten drum, then nothing but the wind and the water.

An unexpected sense of urgency moved her feet. She dropped all that she carried and rushed to the human. "Stupid Human!" She cried out. "You do not get to die this way! You cannot leave me here alone." Without a thought, she sat over the human and placed her hands on the center of his chest where his heartbeat should be felt and heard. Nothing. The poison had run its course. It had stopped his heart. His chest, it did not move. Fervently, she called on the Goddess. "Please help me save this Stupid Human. Lend me your strength, your grace, your wisdom and your power that I might do as I am commanded." She repeated her prayer. "Please," she begged over and over again, pressing on his chest as hard as she could over and over again repeatedly.

The heart, it beat like a drum from the inside and the chest it expanded with breath. Her thoughts were not her own as she acted, her hands pumping his chest. She was angry at the human. How dare he die when she was commanded to save him. How dare he let her fail. If his heart would not beat on its own then she would make it beat. And if his mouth did not take a breath on its own, then she would give him, this Stupid Human, hers until he didn't need it anymore and could take a breath by himself. She leaned down and covered the human's mouth and nose with her mouth and gave him her breath. She never stopped her prayer, like a mantra she repeated it over and over, breathing it into the human with her breath, stopping only to beat his chest. Tears hot and wet fell from her face and landed on his. His heart did not beat while hers broke. Anger, hot and wild filled her tiny frame. "Breathe!" She commanded in every language she knew. How dare he leave her? How dare he let her fail? "To the nine hells of the abyss with you. Stupid Human. Breathe!"

She felt the power of the Goddess flow through her, around her and into the human. She kept her hand over his heart. The light of the Goddess flooded the small chamber, then faded. The human's heart began to drum under her hand, his chest began to expand as life's breath entered him. His eyes closed gently. She smiled. He was alive again. He stirred softly under her slight weight. Sounds she did not understand were escaping his dried and cracked lips, in soft tones that were too quiet for normal ears to hear. He was muttering like a madman. His body was suddenly hot to the touch. She moved off him, threw the furs back over his naked form and over to her gear. She tore a strip of the cloth she had acquired, wetted it with fresh water, took it to him and pressed it to his parched lips.

"Drink!" she commanded and waited for him to begin to draw the water out of the cloth with his mouth. "Good." She said when he did and smiled. She moved his hair back from his face and watched as color slowly returned to his skin. Maybe he would survive. "Stupid Human." 

A/N

The title of this chapter was previously wounded. The changes are slight. Just a word or two here or there, to hopefully add to and help give more depth and increased understanding of  Katana's character. No real big changes as of yet. Please keep reading as I continue to update this story with the changes I have made.

As always, please vote for the story and comment if you would like to. I will try my best to respond in a timely manner.

Best,

Shelly Keller