by M J Porter
* * *
When she woke she knew a long time had lapsed. Her entire body felt heavy and uncooperative. She forced herself to sit up, as every ache and pain let itself be known. Besides her, Erann slept, his breathing slightly fast, his face no longer flushed or deathly pale. Between them, Arrow was gone. When she glanced outside the cave opening, the sky was ablaze with the sun, which was well over the horizon. She must have slept for hour upon hour. She was amazed. She had not slept this long for rotations.
Her stomach growled. She became aware not only of her overpowering hunger but also of a tantalising smell in the air. What could that be? Coming more fully awake she was aware of a desperate need to empty her bladder and of a soft humming noise. She turned around abruptly in shock. The fire was blazing with pieces of wood and attending a simmering pot of something that smelled delicious was one of the most beautiful women Sereh had ever seen. She had a perfect face, nose just right, mouth just right, dazzling blue eyes and long blonde hair which must reach past her waist when down. It was tied to the top of her head in a intricate pattern of plaits and twirls and it raised her height by a good few inches.
She shut her eyes and then opened them more slowly. She was sure she must be dreaming. The woman smiled at her quizzically and then opened her mouth to speak. The words that tumbled out were spoken in a beautiful, lilting tone that Sereh had never heard before,
“You have been asleep a long time. Come, have something to eat. You will feel better afterwards.”
Sereh blinked in shock, questions burning to pour out of her mouth such as, “Who are you?”, “How did you get here?”, “How did you find us?”, “What’s your name?”. For some reason she did not voice her questions. Instead she slid out gently from Erann’s side and staggered to her feet very unsteadily. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest and she had to bite her tongue to stop herself crying out in pain. She did not want to wake Erann. He needed to sleep in order to heal. Her legs felt wobbly and uncooperative and she looked at the woman to gauge her reaction. The woman was looking away with a distracted expression on her face. Sereh was glad. She did not want this stranger to see her so ungainly.
Eventually she sorted herself out and ventured outside the cave to empty her bladder. It was bitterly cold and Sereh resented the necessity but seeing as it was a necessity she saw to it as quickly as she could, quickly refastening herself into her multiple layers of clothing.
As she turned to go back into the cave she could see the woman clearly illuminated by the fire. The woman had returned to her cooking tasks and was paying no attention to Sereh. She was pleased; it gave her time to study her.
Although they had only spoken a few words, and in fact Sereh had not spoken at all, there was something familiar about the woman. Sereh racked her memories as she watched the woman stir whatever it was she was cooking. The woman looked young and graceful, though Sereh could detect faint wisps of gray in her hair. She was humming quietly to herself, a song that Sereh recognised without being able to remember its name. Her body was lean and well muscled. Her clothes were well made and whilst not new were still in extremely good condition. Whoever the woman was (and here Sereh realised that she did not even know her name) she was well cared for and so presumably wealthy. Sereh couldn’t help wondering how she had found them and why she was helping them, not to mention what she was doing in the wilds of Vatna Jokull.
Sereh was riven by indecision. What if Rankil had somehow spread the word about her disappearance? What if this woman had come looking for her? Should she reveal her true name or should she lie? With Erann still sleeping she could not ask him for advice and worried that if she lied, and he woke, he would then contradict her story and the woman would leave, and they desperately needed her help, Sereh could admit that.
Again her stomach growled loudly and this made the woman look up.
“Come, have something to eat”, her tone and gestures invited Sereh to her side. She would have liked to refuse until she had made her mind up about a few things. However, the kindness in the woman’s voice had her feet walking before Sereh fully understood what she was doing. By the time her mind had caught up with her feet it was too late to do anything other than keep walking. She found herself stood by the roaring fire almost before she realised where she was. The woman motioned for her to sit down and as Sereh sat she was handed a warm bowl of stew with huge chunks of meat floating in it. She gasped and looked around frantically for Arrow. With profound relief she caught site of Arrow happily gnawing on a huge meaty bone at Erann’s feet.
The woman had followed her frantic searching in confusion and now her loud peal of laughter made Sereh jump. She held onto her bowl and looked a trifle guiltily at the woman who was laughing. The woman spoke,
“My name is Emma and I would not cook your wolf. However your wolf did catch our meal for us and kindly bought it home. I can not say for sure what it is. She found it at the back of the cave, somewhere. It was quite big and quite meaty. It was also very dead and very frozen. I don’t think she killed it, just found it and realised it would taste a bit nicer if it was thawed out a bit.”
Sereh let out a guilty sigh. She would have to be careful not to be so easy to read next time, until she knew who this woman was and what her intentions were. Scooping up a chunk of meat with her fingers she stuffed it in her mouth. It was hot and she could feel it burning her mouth. She was too hungry to care but not too hungry to refuse the cup of water Emma quickly passed to her. She took a quick swallow and then tried moving the hot meat around inside her mouth whilst trying not to burn her tongue. She did not succeed and hastily drank more water before managing to chew her food and swallow it. It burnt a little on the way down. The taste was fabulous and compensated for the uncomfortable experience. A smile again lit up Emma’s face and she smiled softly as she said,
“There’s plenty more where that came from. There’s no need to rush so.”
Sereh smiled back as she was in the process of taking another huge piece of meat. She was ravenous and had decided the burn in her mouth was well compensated for by the taste of the food. Emma looked at her a little aghast and turned her attention to Erann.
“Your friend is sleeping I see. His leg is badly injured. I have had a look and re-bandaged it. I hope that is okay?”
Sereh looked at Erann with a guilty start, her meal forgotten for now. Emma continued to talk,
“You did well. I have examined his body and can see no sign of internal injury other than bruising. He was lucky to survive.”
Sereh again found herself struggling for words. What was wrong with her? This woman had come from Gods knew where and had examined Erann whilst she slept soundly by his side. She did not know who she was, or where she was from and yet she could not form a single coherent question to get her to explain anything.
The woman, Emma, seemed totally at home and completely unfazed. Surely it should be the other way round.
With all these questions roaring in her head Sereh found it difficult to think clearly. Only when she heard a soft moan from Erann did she snap back to reality and to Erann’s needs. She rushed to him and reached out to hold his hand as he slowly woke up.
He was obviously in a lot of pain, yet he still managed to gently squeeze her hand in reassurance and she was overwhelmingly grateful to him for that. Things had become weird around here and she felt confused and out of her depth. His first words robbed her of speech all together.
“Hello there Emma. How’s the leg doing?”
How did he know Emma? Had he woken when she first arrived? Her eyes were wide with shock. She glanced between Emma and Erann unsure how to proceed.
Erann again squeezed her hand and then attempted to sit upright. He failed and quickly slumped back down, his face ashen.
“I’m sure I told you to stay lying down”, Emma commented and bent to pick something up before passing it to him.
“I think you may need this. Come Sereh; give the man a moment’s peace”.
* * *
He had woken with some relief in the first light of morning when the pain had substantially lessoned on his friends return. The arrival of Emma, the woman from his dreams had caught him by surprise. It had left him feeling a little strange. Not jealous exactly, although possibly not far off. He had assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that he was the only one of his kind who Greeneyes knew.
Emma had come over to introduce herself. Her soft speech was comforting. She had examined his leg, allowed him the means to relieve himself, and then slipped him a warm, mildly spiced drink that had left him feeling extra-ordinarily tired and pain free. She had given him an injunction to stay lying down, no matter what, and to sleep.
Whatever pain relief she had given him had worn off, as he now woke again. He tried to keep his shout of pain from escaping but failed miserably. Not that he minded when Sereh rushed to him and took his hand. She looked confused as well as concerned and he briefly wondered why – until Emma shifted into his line of sight. Ah, yes. This would not be easy to explain. His friend had given him no indication of how he was to account for Emma’s presence. Instinctively he knew that Sereh was not to know about his saviour. He squeezed her hand in apology. He decided to just be normal and acknowledge Emma’s presence with a “Good morning, how’s the leg doing”.
The look on Sereh’s face crushed him and he squeezed her hand again in mute apology. He attempted to sit upright. The movement hurt and he slumped back down only to be admonished by Emma and passed a bottle to relieve himself in again. Sereh turned away from him and loss engulfed him. The rejection, coupled with the pain and discomfort he was in depressed him beyond measure. His healing would be long and painful and his secrets, that he instinctively knew he must keep from Sereh, could very well rob him of her loving care, which he so desperately craved. Their relationship was so unsteady, and whilst they had turned to each other in need, he was not sure if that was all he was to her. He was beginning to think more of her. How did she feel about him?
As he lay there, gazing at the deep grey ceiling, he felt hot silent tears streak down his face and drip slowly down his neck. Luckily Emma was keeping Sereh busy by the fire and so neither of them saw his dismay.
Into his mind, unbidden, came a friendly prod. No, not a prod, more like a slowly calming prescence. Ah, his friend. Not only was he now combating his pain, he was also comforting him. Erann was grateful for the presence whilst resenting that he could not communicate in the same way, and then suddenly he was. Like his dreams of last night and when trapped in the avalanche, he was seeing things that he himself could not see, most notably because he was looking at a scene in which he lay, weighed down under furs and in which Emma, Sereh and Arrow were loosely scattered around the fire burning brightly in the centre of the cave, which was larger than he had realised from his place on the ground. His line of sight was severely restricted by budding stalactites and so this was his first glimpse of his temporary home. A smile lifted his face. He briefly wondered what else he would be able to communicate with his friend and was instantly assaulted with a stream of images; of a cave filled with shifting translucent reflections; of Emma talking to his friend. The image blanked leaving him alone for a moment. He blinked in confusion before his friend returned apologetically. For that brief moment alone the pain had been intense. Not just his legs but his head, his chest, his back – it had felt like he was being squeezed together.
Emma appeared at his side and offered him another cup of the warm, spicy tea. He took it and sipped it slowly. The spice was less overpowering and he looked at her questioningly,
“I thought you might like to be awake for a bit. I’ll keep Sereh busy. You need to talk to Greeneyes”. Her tone was acerbic, brokering no argument, but she had told him something he needed to know; the name of his friend.
She turned to go when he had finished his drink and he reached out and grabbed her arm,
“Please, please be gentle with Sereh. I don’t understand what’s going on and she has even less of a clue. Please. Please be kind to her. She … she is important to me” His voice trailed away as he finished his muddled sentence and he was slightly worried about what she would think of him. She took his hand and held it gently between her own two hands.
“I understand more than you can ever know. I will make sure Sereh is as little bewildered as possible. You have my word”.
She scooped the wooden cup up and walked back towards Sereh. Erann felt better for admitting his feelings, a little, to someone other than himself. They felt right and he felt comfortable with what he had said.
As she walked away, he realised that he had not asked her how he should ‘talk’ to Greeneyes. He did not want to call her back and draw attention to himself. He did not want Sereh to look at him with her hurt expression until he had worked out a few more things himself. There was nothing for it. He could not form coherent images of his thoughts for his friend to see and so feeling like a total fool he spoke quietly to himself,
“Who are you?” He felt instant recognition from his friend and an answer appeared in his mind of the dragon.
“I mean, how are you? Um, where are you from? How did you find me? How can you be here?”
He felt a wave of amusement from his friend and a thought came back to him,
“Just one question at a time please.”
Erann grinned in response and asked a totally different question,
“How are you stopping the pain?”
Again thoughts flowed back to him, almost as speech,
“The pain has not stopped. Its just you cann’t feel it. I have dampened it. Mostly. I don’t want to completely dampen it. I want you to know that the pain is there otherwise you will forget and do something that breaks the healing which has already begun. Emma has warned me.”
The mention of Emma distracted him from the other questions he was contemplating asking,
“Where did she come from? How did she get here?”
Amusement visualised in his mind, followed by an answer,
“She is from my home and she came here on my back. I think you saw it as you slept. It was a very curious experience for both of us, I can assure you. She will help you heal and she has food to keep you and Sereh fed.”
Again, a distraction in Erann’s head following Greeneyes words. Where was their home? He could not keep his focus.
“Sereh, she can not see you?”
“No, none of your kind can.”
“Well, I can”.
“Yes, it is most unusual”.
“So can Emma”.
“She is a special case”.
“What does that mean? And why can I see you.”
“I am unsure. All I know is, I am drawn to you. I have been since we first met at the steading.” Erann was about to ask another question but Greeneyes words belatedly registered in his mind and stumped him.
“What steading?”
“The one with the hungry wolves. They were the same but different to your friend here. I burnt it. I made sure you did not burn.”
That made Erann speechless. For quite a long time his mind spun with the possibilities and he eventually stuttered,
“You …. burnt the steading?”
“The wolves were eating the dead of your kind. They would have eaten you. It seemed …. wrong.”
Erann was unsure how to react to the perfect logic presented to him.
“I followed you the next day. You fell asleep outside. It was snowing and cold. That seemed … wrong as well. I kept you warm all night. I shielded you with my wings. Then the wolf came and I left”.
Again, Erann was silent. Greeneyes continued,
“I kept an eye on you. You seemed upset and confused. The third steading you went t
o, it was important to you? The one where the girl met you. I scared the men away, what they wanted to do seemed … wrong. You saw me on the mountain side, you looked away. I flew away in confusion. I have followed you ever since, apart from when the avalanche came. I am sorry about that. I should have protected you. It was … wrong of me to leave you when I did”.
Erann couldn’t believe what he was hearing, or seeing, or thinking, or whatever it was. A huge number of previously unexplained events feel into place all at once, yet, there were still so many questions. He did not know where to start and then the voice in his head again, soft and insistent.
“Erann, you must rest. You must heal. Please sleep. There is time for questions and answers later, when you are well and away from this dangerous place.”
Unbidden his eyes began to close. He wondered idly if he would dream again.
* * *
Gods it felt good to feel the wind on her face, to smell the snow, to see the sun, to be outside. She had not realised how much she had missed it all until now. All those years she had been encased in the protective shield away from her own people and protected from the elements. She had not aged, admittedly, but she had barely lived either. Here and now felt so vital and so alive. She loved it; she just wished he was here to experience it with her. She knew it would not be long now – everything was happening as it had been promised. She felt as giddy as a girl with excitement. Her people would be free and so would she. She would age and she would die. At least she would live again first.
She was throwing herbs into a pot suspended over the open fire while Sereh looked on with a troubled expression, which Emma hoped very much like to ignore. She was unsure how to proceed. How should she explain her arrival without compromising Greeneyes? She and Greeneyes had not discussed it. They should have. She found herself floundering for words in the presence of this beautiful, deeply troubled young woman. Whatever she said would be inadequate.