Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

9 Contact

A/N

This particular chapter once held the 6th position in the list of chapters for this book.  I think it fits better here. Naturally, I added some things and took some things away.

I hope you enjoy the read. Drop a vote, share your thoughts. One of these days I am actually going to write something that you feel the need to comment on.

Thank you for reading. More soon.

Shelly Keller

She watched the human over the next fortnight as he slowly returned from the dead. She fed him and gave him water until he was strong enough to do both on his own. He was weak from the poison but was recovering well. His body seemed to take such a long time to recover itself. He was weak and feeble and needed her attention and care constantly. She feared to leave him for long thinking that she would return and once again find him staring lifelessly at the cave entrance, uncovered and cold. He was like an infant. She wondered if all humans took so long to heal or if it was just this one.

Under her gentle care, the wound on his shoulder healed. The black lines of the poison receded from his flesh and the raised and puckered skin healed to a relatively smooth flat scar. She traced it while he was sleeping causing him to mumble and stir. Without a thought, she prayed over him every day, asking the Goddess to heal the Stupid Human and to guide her in saving him that she might not fail again. They were just little thoughts she offered as she washed his wound, bathed him, and fed him. She carefully tended to his every need. With the exception of feeding him, she found some things much easier to do while he was sleeping. She cleaned him while he slept, changed his bedding and rolled him from one side to the other to prevent sores from forming on his skin all while he slept. He slept like the dead and typically did not stir once he was asleep, he unaware and oblivious to his surroundings. until he was awake.

It fascinated her to watch him sleep, to see his eyes flutter under their covers and to hear the soft strange sounds he would occasionally make while he was sleeping. She wondered at his dreams. She listened to his breathing and the beating of his heart, steady and strong as he slept and smiled to herself. He was there, and she was no longer alone. She did not know that she wanted company, though she was fine on her own. Then she was commanded to save him, and everything changed. She was shocked to find that she felt better knowing that he was there with her, even if he could do nothing for himself.

She would talk to him quietly as she nurtured him, tell him stories and ask him her questions. There was so much she did not understand about his world and so much that she wanted to know. She hoped that one day he would wake, and he would tell her everything he knew. She often wondered if humans all needed to be cared for like infants as she nurtured him and kept him safe and clean.

Finally, he woke enough to move and talk. He looked at her with fear in his eyes. He was too weak to get away, but that didn't stop him from struggling as much as possible. She moved away from him again and he relaxed a bit and took stock of his situation. He was alone, with the exception of the Dark Faye that apparently watched over him. His body still hurt but the pain was manageable. His blood felt like his own. He was weak, he could hardly move and every move he made was taxing. Yet, he was warm and comfortable as he lay on a pallet of furs with a million questions racing through his mind. At least that had remained untouched by the poison. He was still able to think and think clearly. She could have killed him at any time if she wanted to, but she hadn't. He was completely incapacitated and totally naked!? What? For how long? His shock was utter and complete. There was only one way that he could have gotten that way since he was unconscious. The idea of her seeing him naked, of him not being aware of himself for countless days. Oh, by the Gods! His body felt whole, but utterly weak and useless. He could feel his toes and feet, legs, arms, hands and other things. He struggled to move his limbs more than a few inches without exhausting himself. How long had he been that way? His shoulder didn't hurt anymore. How had he survived? Why was a Dark Faye caring for him? And why in the name of the Gods was he naked? He tried to remember the things she had said to him, done to him. Was she a threat? What was it that she was calling him? He moaned and rolled his eyes.

She moved to check on the stupid human as he moved and made noise. He froze as she approached. She did not expect his reaction to her to be favorable, but she did not expect him to try and escape or recoil from her touch every time she drew near him. She hoped that he would at least understand that she meant him no harm. He was still alive, wasn't he? She had hit him when he wouldn't hold still, that was unfortunate but necessary. He would have torn his wound open again. She did not understand what she felt when he recoiled from her. She did not understand why she felt what she felt. It was like a dagger in the chest.

Her movements were so smooth and graceful that she appeared to float to her feet and glide towards him. He could barely turn his head to watch, but he had to. He didn't hear her footsteps as she approached. How could such a graceful, beautiful creature be so deadly? He knew she was absolutely lethal. He remembered the night he first saw her, remembered how deadly she was with her bow and the devastating power of her blades. Why hadn't she killed him? He was human, she was Faye. Wasn't that the way it was supposed to be? Yet she saved him from certain death. Perhaps to keep as a slave.

Her silver eyes flashed at him. She didn't smile. She held up her empty hands to show him she meant no harm. Her beauty was exotic and unnatural to him, yet undeniable. She cast her head to the side and looked in his eyes. "No hurt," she said in the common tongue and then said something else in what he assumed was her own melodic language. She repeated the two phrases. He repeated both after her. It wasn't until the third time she said both phrases that he realized what she was doing. When she said it the fourth, he repeated only her language. She nodded emphatically. He smiled softly. She didn't understand the expression he gave her, but the light seemed to collect in his eyes as the corners of his mouth turned up. It was too soft, too warm to be what she thought it meant, when she could talk to him, she would ask him.

She moved closer to him and gently touched his wounded shoulder. He tried to move away but found moving impossible. "Be still!" She snapped at him again in the common tongue a small flash of anger crossing her eyes. He didn't understand. He tried to shake his head to tell her that he didn't. Then he just looked at her, confusion on his face. "No hurt," she said softly to him in her own melodic language and showed him her hands again. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stupid Human," she called him. He couldn't help but laugh.

She did not appear to enjoy being laughed at. She crossed her arms over her chest, scowled at him and muttered in her own language, "Stupid Human," once more before looking at him with wide eyes. "Be still," she asked in the common tongue. To which he scrunched up his face and tried to shake his head. She looked at him with her eyes wide, then scrunched her face at him and shook her head also. He did not understand 'Be Still'. Understanding flashed in her eyes and she started talking rapidly in her own language her hands moving almost as fast as her mouth. Finally, she stopped talking and looked at him, once again shaking her head. "Stupid Human," she said pointing at him. "You no understand me," she said in the common tongue pointing to herself. It was a statement, not a question.

"No." He said rather defeated. Her eyes lit with understanding. She then clarified what she meant. "Be Still," she said putting her hands out flat before her and holding them still. "No Move," she said again in the common tongue. When he nodded, she repeated her words and added her own language.

He repeated all three phrases and added, "Do not move," in his own language. She repeated the phrases and moved to his side again. This time he did not move as she touched his shoulder and gently moved him so she could look at the wound. She removed the bandage. It had healed completely. It left a jagged pink scar, the length of her finger. She touched the skin and he shivered. She let him lie back and looked at him approvingly, then moved away from him again. She came back with food and water. He tried to sit up to eat but found that he was too weak to move on his own. She watched him carefully as he struggled to sit up at least a bit. Then she set the food next to him and put her hands under his arms and sat him up. She sat next to him and broke the food into small bits and put it in the water and fed him. "Stupid Human," she whispered shaking her head.