Saving Koda

by Mikayla Lane

  Emily nodded and straightened, grabbing the nearest tree to keep from falling. She felt Elmer and Koda’s hands helping to steady her, and she smiled in thanks as she steadied herself and did her best to increase her sluggish pace back to the cabin.

  She was glad they hadn’t gone more than a half mile before Gibly had found them and turned them around because she was beginning to think she’d be lucky to make it the short distance back.

  Twenty minutes later, Emily sighed in relief when she walked into the clearing in front of the cabin and sat heavily on the front porch.

  “Let me help get that pack off,” Elmer offered as he and Koda slipped the straps off her shoulders and laid the pack on the porch.

  Emily turned to see that Joey was sound asleep in the pack, her head resting on the side pad.

  “I’ll get the rabbits skinned and cleaned; you get that baby inside and find out what’s wrong with the space giant,” Elmer said as he shot Koda a grin.

  Emily was too tired to do more than nod her head as she stood on shaky legs and let Koda help her onto the porch. She unlocked the padlock on the door and swung it wide before picking Joey up, letting the harness slip from her to the porch.

  “He’s burning up,” Gran said, wringing her hands in worry the moment Emily came inside.

  “I know. Gibly came and got us,” Emily answered as she carried Joey into her bed and laid her down, covering her with a warm blanket.

  With one last look at her precious sister, Emily put the sheet in front of the doorway and headed into the main room to rummage through the cabinet.

  “Does anyone know if he’s allergic to medicine? Antibiotics? I have some powerful stuff that can help, but only if he’s not allergic,” she said, holding the cabinet door open while she pulled out a large bottle of pills.

  Granala tried to speak at the same time as Koda and Emily held her hand up to quiet them.

  “No offense, Gran, but you haven’t been around for a while, let him talk,” Emily advised.

  Koda looked around the room, searching for a glimpse of his mother before answering Emily.

  “No, I do not believe I have an aversion to them. Do you have enough for you and Joey if needed?” he asked with concern.

  Emily shook the full bottle and grinned.

  “More than enough. But I doubt we’ll need them if your brother is close.” Emily tried to judge Koda’s weight, but it was too important to guess and she had to ask.

  “How much do you weigh? I need to calculate the dose based on your weight,” she admitted.

  “I was about 420 . . . before the leg . . . I’d say around 380,” Koda said, trying not to think too hard about how much his missing leg might weigh.

  “Sounds good to me,” Emily muttered as she shook out the pills in her hand.

  Koda watched in fascination and admiration as Emily dumped the pills in a mortar and pestle above the fireplace and crushed them up.

  “You were prepared for anything,” he said, looking around at just how well set up she was here.

  Emily snorted, concentrating on moving her numbed hands to turn the pills into a fine powder that he could swallow with water or food.

  “I had a newborn and lived in the middle of nowhere. I learned everything I could as fast as I could. I was lucky Mom was there for me too,” Emily admitted, finally confident she’d gotten out all the lumps in the pills.

  She sighed in relief that they’d left a kettle of water over the fire while they’d been gone and set about mixing up another batch of cereal, vitamins and antibiotics for him.

  Elmer and Tom came into the cabin with Elmer carrying the two skinned rabbits. One was skewered on a stick, and the other he threw into the small pot, added some water, and put it next to the kettle of water over the fire.

  “Figured you and Joey could have it crispy, and the space guy can have the broth added to his cereal for the additional protein,” Elmer said with a proud grin, his chest puffed out.

  “I wish I could hug you,” Emily said with a grateful smile as Elmer blushed.

  “Where’s the space cat?” Tom asked, looking around for Gibly.

  Emily shook her head and began mixing the antibiotic in the cereal.

  “He left again right after we got back.” She looked at Koda. “Will he be all right out there?”

  “He’s one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen,” Koda said with a smile of admiration. “I have no doubt he’ll be back soon. He won’t leave for long without telling you.”

  Emily looked at Elmer and saw that his energy was really low. She knew he wouldn’t be much help propping up Koda for her and decided to try something new this time.

  She grabbed her blankets and folded them over several times before hanging them on the back of the chair. Then she slid the chair across the floor until it was right beside the waist of Koda’s body.

  She smiled in satisfaction before stepping over his waist and placing her feet on both sides of his body.

  “I’m going to pull him up, you guys slide the chair behind him.”

  Emily didn’t wait for anyone to argue with her and she took a deep breath and pulled him up far enough for them to slide the chair behind him.

  “Yes!” she cheered as she laid him gently against the padded chair. “You’re so tall you won’t fall through!”

  Koda couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful smile on her face. In the dim cabin by the light of the fire, she looked incredible. This was the kind of woman he’d always wanted but knew he never deserved. She was strong, selfless, kind, happy with the little miracles in her life, and grateful for the smallest kindness. She was everything he didn’t deserve to be in the same room with.

  But of everyone here, he was more surprised that his mother was here. He’d had no doubt that the death rite had worked; he was only surprised that of the three sons who’d done the rite, she’d come to him. He was desperate to know why but didn’t want Emily to know of his past.

  Emily was getting ready to begin feeding Koda the cereal and medicine when Gibly ran in the door and spit some weeds on the floor before heading to the cabinet that Emily had left open.

  “Hey! Kitty! Don’t do that! Gibly, no!” Emily said as she ran to the cabinet to make sure the cat didn’t break or bite into anything.

  Gibly looked up at her with a large tube of aloe gel gently clasped in his powerful jaws. He ignored her and moved over to the pile of weeds and dropped the aloe on top.

  “You make drink with white flower to help his blood move.” Gibly used his paw to move the flowers aside showing the non-flowered weeds underneath. “This you mash with your paws, then add the bottle stuff and put on his wounds.”

  Emily grinned as she looked at the odd cat.

  “That’s sage and would taste wonderful on the rabbit,” she said as she reached for a piece of it.

  She drew her hand back when Gibly growled at her, showing his dangerously sharp teeth.

  “You mash it with your paws. You add the bottle stuff and put it on his wounds,” Gibly repeated, his eyes flashing dangerously as his tail twitched.

  “Wait, the white flower is yarrow. It’s been used for centuries for colds, to stop bleeding, and to improve circulation,” Elmer said, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. “What? I used to read,” he added defensively.

  Emily stood over the weeds and looked at Gibly with hope and skepticism.

  “You’re a space cat. How do you know these will work?” she asked.

  Gibly sat back on his heels and held her gaze.

  “They look different from my world, but the medicine inside smells the same. It work. Trust me.”

  Emily looked up at Elmer, wanting to make sure he was right about the flower before she tried it. When Elmer nodded his head, she threw her hands up.

  “OK, but let’s get some food and antibiotics in him before we start adding in anything else in case it makes him throw up,” she agreed as she picked up the weeds and the tube of pure aloe gel and set them o
n top of the cabinet.

  She turned to Gibly.

  “You’re going to stay, right? I’ll need you to help me make the medicine after I feed him.”

  She hated the pleading note in her voice, but just having the strange cat near made her feel better than she had in a long time.

  Gibly gave her a furry smile, his tail swishing languidly from side to side.

  “I stay to hunt and to help until Grai come,” Gibly assured her before he trotted over to Koda’s body and sat next to him.

  Emily moved back to finish feeding Koda the food and antibiotics and watched in fascination as Gibly laid his paw on Koda’s good leg and closed his eyes.

  She felt a rush of electricity in the air before a loud popping sound echoed around them. Suddenly she felt more energized than she had before.

  “What did you do?” she asked the cat in wonder.

  Gibly gave her a furry smile.

  “I help. Send him energy to fight.”

  Emily nodded in gratitude, having no doubt that the amazing cat and the wonderful spirits around her were doing everything they could to help her.

  Chapter Nine

  It had been three weeks since Emily had gotten Koda’s body and begun caring for him, and with every day that passed, hope that Grai would come in time to save them slowly waned. Gibly seemed to be the only one whose unflagging hope and spirit carried the rest of them through each day. Except for Joey, who seemed blissfully unaware of their dire circumstances.

  Emily shook her head as she looked wearily at her giggling sister, who had become so animated since Gibly’s arrival. The first night Emily had been so nervous with the cat in the cabin that she couldn’t sleep until Gibly agreed to sleep in a dilapidated trapping cage she’d found wedged under the cabin when they first moved into it.

  When she awakened the next morning to the cage door open and a pile of squirrels waiting by the fireplace for her to cook, she’d given up on worrying about what the animal would do. True to his word, he’d hunted small prey for them three times a day and managed to make time to find medicinal roots and herbs as well.

  Even with all their efforts, it was clear that Koda wasn’t getting any better and was still barely hanging on. The extended drain on Emily’s energy was becoming more obvious by the day, and her movements grew more sluggish and clumsy. Luckily, the only difference she or anyone else could see in Joey was that she was napping more often and for longer periods of time.

  Not that I can blame her, Emily thought as she smothered another yawn with one hand while mashing more antibiotics for Koda with the other.

  One thing she was grateful for was that all of the other spirits besides Elmer and Tom had finally relented and allowed her to help them move on. Each had left with a promise to help from the other side in any way they could. It had been the first time since Emily was a child that she cried when helping someone cross over.

  Emily was also grateful that when she slept, she no longer traveled in her sleep. She still didn’t dream like normal people, but she didn’t care. Just being able to sleep for more than an hour at a time was a blessing she’d never thought she’d be able to have.

  The peaceful sleep still wasn’t helping her energy levels much because of how gravely injured Koda was. The infection ravaging his body was barely kept in check by the mass doses of antibiotics that she fed him three times a day. The roots and herbs Gibly found for him kept the infection at bay, but they were not a cure.

  Emily mixed the antibiotics into the mashed root, herb, and rabbit stew she’d reheated for Koda and moved over to spoon it into his mouth.

  She smiled up at Elmer and Tom when she saw they’d already propped Koda’s body up on the chair for her. The two spirits had been a true treasure over the last few weeks, working with Gibly to keep her from having to do too much around the cabin.

  She knew that she owed Tom and Elmer for all they’d been doing to help keep them alive because she’d have never been able to do it on her own. The energy bond Joey made between them was taking a heavy toll on her while Koda’s body struggled to fight the infection.

  “I can do that for you,” Koda said from beside her.

  She gave him a small smile and shook her head.

  “You, even in this form, need to conserve your energy. Besides, I don’t mind doing it and figure it can’t be a bad thing to have the space guy owe me a debt like this.”

  Emily sent him a teasing wink before spooning some of the soup into his mouth.

  Koda sat opposite her on the other side of his body and grinned at her.

  “Yeah, this is the kind of dirt that gets you major favors without question,” he said with a dramatic shake of his head.

  Emily tried not to think of how embarrassing it was for Koda to know she’s been cleaning up after him in the most private of ways, and she rushed to turn the conversation in another direction.

  “How are you feeling today?” she asked him, even though she could look at his body and see he wasn’t healing properly.

  Koda looked down at his body and shook his head as he lifted up one of the poultices on his arm that Emily had made from the herbs Gibly found. He tried not to wince at the swollen skin pulling on the stitches trying to hold the wound together.

  He laid the poultice back on his arm and ran a hand through his spectral hair as he looked up at Elmer and Tom’s expectant faces and shook his head.

  Elmer glowered before he turned back to tend to the fireplace while Tom shook his head and went outside, not wanting Emily to see how dejected they were that there was no change in Koda’s condition.

  “You must deal with the head injury,” Gran said for what Emily suspected was the hundredth time in two days.

  As much as Emily hated to even consider what Gran wanted her to do, she was beginning to suspect they weren’t going to have much of a choice. But she had one more thing to try before she attempted something so extreme.

  “I want to try one more thing tonight. If it doesn’t work . . . I’ll do it,” Emily agreed.

  “Wait, what are you going to try?” Koda asked.

  He’d figured out pretty quick that Emily never muttered to herself, and if she was saying odd things, then it meant she was talking to either his mother or her own. Although he was a little scared of what his mother might tell Emily about him, Koda was oddly comforted by the fact that she’d apparently remained by his side without fail over the last few weeks.

  Emily shook her head and grinned at him as she continued to feed his body.

  “I’m going into the woods to dance naked in the moonlight while chanting to the angels. It’s a private prayer ceremony, so you guys aren’t invited,” she teased, not letting on that part of it was true.

  Gibly chuckled as he lay in front of the fire, taking a break from his morning hunt as Elmer and Koda looked at her horror-struck.

  “Joking, guys. I do want some time alone though. I’m not used to having this much company around, and you guys can be smothering,” she admitted with a smile, hoping she wouldn’t offend the sweet and caring men.

  “Just don’t go far. I don’t want to try and drag you through the woods,” Elmer said with a grin.

  “I’m not going farther than shouting distance,” she confirmed.

  Emily finished spooning the last of the food into Koda and helped Elmer gently lay him back down while Koda’s specter moved the chair out of the way.

  Tom grabbed the empty bowl from her and went outside to clean it while Emily sat in the chair, slightly out of breath from the normally easy task.

  They’d developed their own routine over the last weeks. Everyone had seamlessly worked together to ensure that Koda, Joey, and Emily ate and were taken care of. While Gibly hunted, Tom and Elmer chopped firewood and made most of the meals.

  “How are you doing?” Koda asked, kneeling in front of her to study her face and body language.

  Emily smiled at the beautiful man who’d come to mean so much to her over the last few weeks. H
is unfailing kindness and concern made her feel special and chased away a loneliness she’d never dared to admit to.

  “I’m doing good. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  Emily cupped her hands around her knees to keep from reaching out to touch his cheek.

  “I’m fighting. I swear, I’m fighting,” Koda choked out.

  He was too. He was doing everything he could think of to fight while praying to his gods for Grai to get there soon. He’d even cornered Gibly alone many times to ask where Grai could be and if he should go back to get him.

  Gibly had assured him that Grai was searching and wouldn’t give up; they needed to give him more time. What had worried Koda more was Gibly’s dire warning that if he left, the three would be without food for days. Without the energy he was sharing with Joey and Emily, they wouldn’t make it for long before the weak and susceptible Joey succumbed.

  Emily couldn’t stand the look of shame and sorrow on Koda’s face and reached out her hand to touch his cheek. The electric rush that ran through her caused her to jerk her hand back and his eyes to widen in surprise.

  “Stop that,” Emily said. “Stop blaming yourself. Joey did this, not you. As much as I appreciate that you’re willing to accept responsibility for your actions, you have to be more reasonable than that. You could never have known what would happen when your ship crashed, and even I had no idea how amazing Joey really is.”

  Koda nodded and stood. He knew she was right. In his worst nightmares he could never have foreseen anything like this happening, but a part of him couldn’t stop beating himself up over his motives and decisions in the folly, wondering if he was somehow responsible.

  “Honey, stop beating yourself up. You’ve told us about what happened in the folly a dozen times, you’re not responsible. I bet that pregnant woman . . . what was her name?” Emily asked.

  “Jax. She’s Reven’s mate.”

  Koda couldn’t help but wonder if she’d had her daughter and if they were all right.

  “I bet her, Reven, and that baby are really glad you did what you did. Think about that,” Emily said with a smile as she got up and checked on Joey.