A New Beginning

Chapter Ten

Julia redressed Joseph's wounds once again, careful not to wrap the gauze too tight.

"Do you think the others are at Butler's lair by now?" Joseph rasped, watching Julia from his lying position on the ground.

"Yeah, I think so," Julia answered after a second of thought, tying the end of a gauze strip into a knot. "Sebastian has made sure to get there as quickly as possible." Julia paused in her gauze-wrapping. She glanced at Joseph. "Do you happen to know the story behind Sebastian's sister? The one who also got captured by Butler?"

"Not much, Sebastian doesn't really talk about it." Joseph shifted, wincing as his wounded limbs protested. "I only know that her name was Samantha and that she wasn't Sebastian's biological sister."

Julia finished with the redressing, tying off the final strip of gauze. "Crap, we ran out of gauze..." Joseph's words finally registered in Julia's head. "Wait, what? She's not his biological sister?"

"No." Joseph confirmed. He peered at Julia. "Did you know Sebastian's parents died?" Julia's eyes widened, shaking her head. Joseph set his head back on the ground. "Well, because of that, Sebastian was raised by a wizard."

"Ohhh, that's how he knows all that magic stuff," Julia realized, crossing her legs on the leafy forest floor.

Joseph nodded. "Exactly. Well apparently this wizard guy had a daughter and so when Sebastian became a part of their little family he and Sam became siblings."

"Wow," Julia said, lying back, her soft hair tickling Joseph's cheek. "I've learned so much today."

"Including redressing wounds?" Joseph smirked.

Julia turned her head. "What? Didn't I do it right?"

"You don't have to tie the gauze strips, they either stay like that or you tuck the end of it into in a gauze layer."

"Oh." Joseph chuckled and Julia turned her head back towards the night sky. "By the way we ran out of gauze, so I'll have to use my sweater and yours for gauze."

"Awww, but this is my favorite sweater!" Joseph feigned a puppy dog look.

Julia laughed. "It's half teared to shreds anyway, those minions' claws were shar--" Julia stopped abruptly.

"What's wron--" Joseph began, stopped by Julia's hand on his mouth. Julia put a finger to her lips, telling Joseph to be quiet. Joseph nodded while Julia slowly stood, grabbing her sword that was resting on the ground nearby. She tiptoed forward and hid behind a tree, her acute hearing picking up the sound of someone's breathing on the other side of the tree. Joseph watched, eyes as big as saucers. Julia creeped to the other side of the tree and quick as a kid running for seconds at dinner, she grabbed the intruder's throat and held her sword at his forehead.

"Don't try anything, mister," Julia threatened as menacingly as she could, "or I'll slice your head."

Joseph strained his eyes to get a look at the man. "Jules, move into the light." Julia stepped forward into a patch of moonlight, dragging the intruder, and giving Joseph a clear look of the man. He rolled his eyes. "He's one of the guys the General sent to rescue Joann."

Julia looked at the man's face. Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," she gushed, taking the blade away from the guy's forehead.

"It's all right," the stranger chuckled. "I didn't expect you to be so fierce."

Julia blushed, hiding behind a curtain of hair. "Yeah, well..."

"Aren't there four of you?" Joseph asked, as he struggled to sit up. Julia rushed to him to help.