by Anni Antoni
The bleeding stopped and I could feel bones knitting together. His face had a calmer, more peaceful appearance as a deep healing sleep took over.
While he slept, I continued directing healing energy through his body. My eyes wandered over the interior of his wagon, and I noticed tools, wooden bowls, carvings and metal objects, including swords.
He appeared to be a skilled craftsman. Further inside the wagon was bedding and a cupboard with cooking utensils scattered about. It appeared the family lived in the wagon.
After two hours of constant healing, the man’s life was no longer in danger. Deep feelings of joy and satisfaction flooded me and I felt able to relax for a moment. He was healing well, but night was fast approaching, I noticed, as I looked up at the sky.
As I stood and stretched, getting the stiffness out of my body, I removed the compulsion from his wife. She left the now sleeping children, and rushed to his side.
All the time I had been healing him, she had been watching my actions. The protective intensity of her gaze had bored into me while I worked on him.
“What have you done to him? He’s not bleeding and his injuries have all but gone. Is this some kind of magic?” Fear tinged her hushed words. She looked from her husband to me, her eyes open wide in awe.
“No magic.” I smiled at her. “Among my people, it’s common knowledge.” My explanation seemed to satisfy her, as she turned back to her husband and smoothed the dark, matted hair off his forehead. She placed a light kiss on his lips, then looked over to her children, asleep on the ground.
“Is there some place I can carry him where he’ll be under shelter?” I asked.
“All we have are blankets,” she replied. “We usually sleep together in the wagon, but since the wheel broke, we can’t do that.”
Anxiously I scanned the sky. It was clear with no hint of impending snow or rain. “We should be safe to sleep in the open tonight. Bring the blankets and we’ll make him a bed on the ground. He should sleep soundly until morning.”
Together we made a comfortable bed on the ground and I carried her sleeping husband over to it.
“Can the children and I sleep here, next to him? Will we harm him if we do? It’s what we’re all used to.” She gave me a shy smile.
“No, it won’t harm him. In fact, I think he would benefit from your closeness. Even sleeping, he would sense your presence.”
My heart swelled with joy to see such devotion. These people were like the humans I’d been hoping to meet. A sudden tug of my heart reminded me how alone I was in this strange new land. For a second I wondered if I would ever give and receive such devotion. However, I quickly banished the thought, and turned my attention back to the man and his wife.
“I’d like to see your husband in the morning, to check how his healing is progressing. I’ll sleep near the stream, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, please check on him in the morning,” she said. Her face suddenly very serious, she spoke from the heart. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done. No matter what you say, I think you must be some type of magician, but I don’t care. You’ve given my husband life, when he would surely have died. You also saved me and my children, for without my husband to protect us, we would probably have died too.”
She walked over to her sleeping children and carried them one by one to the makeshift bed while I looked for a suitable place to sleep.
I soon found a comfortable tree to lean against. Pulling my cloak around me, I settled down to sleep for the night, allowing the woman to enjoy sleeping with her husband and children.
In the morning, I was woken early by the woman making a fire near where she had slept with her husband and children. I walked over to see if I could help.
"Would you like some food?" she asked, smiling happily. “Sorry, with everything that happened last night, I didn’t introduce myself properly. My name is Bronwyn. Pelle is my husband’s name,” she added. “He's making an excellent recovery, thanks to you, kind sir.”
“Joshaviah,” I corrected, and accepted the offer of food, knowing that accepting her hospitality would help her feel she had repaid me, at least a little, for healing her husband.
Bronwyn brewed some sort of drink made from leaves she had picked nearby and cooked a sticky, grainy substance, which she ladled into bowls for the children. She passed me a bowl as well, which I ate happily, surprised at how good it tasted.
While we were eating, the man, Pelle, groaned and stretched, then sat up in the bed we had prepared for him last night, blinking in surprise. Looking at his chest, his eyes opened in wonder, as he patted the blood-stained places where injuries had been.
"You! I remember you from when I was injured. What did you do to me?" he asked, his face a mixture of fear and amazement. "I swear I was fading fast, a dead man for sure.” Patting his chest and looking down, he gave a short laugh. “No pain, it’s gone.” He raised his face to me. “And I see the blood stains, so I wasn’t dreaming. Those injuries were mortal. This is the stuff of magic,” he whispered.
"As I told Bronwyn, it is no magic. Where I'm from, everyone can heal others.”
"Well I've travelled extensively and never heard of a country with people who can do what you did." Pelle gave me a piercing, suspicious stare.
I avoided his unspoken questions and said, "I'm glad I don't have to take care of your wife and children. You're now healed and able to do the job yourself." I grinned at him.
His face grew somber. "Seriously, I owe you my life. Although I don't understand what you did, I'm grateful."
I liked this man. He seemed to embody everything positive about humans. Thank goodness, I had found someone I could relate to -- a noble human, like I had been expecting, at last.
Bronwyn handed Pelle a bowl of the sticky food. He ate voraciously and sighed happily when finished.
"Is there something I can do in return for what you've done for me?" He turned his questioning eyes to me. "You need only ask, and if it's in my power, it’s yours. Without you I wouldn't be alive now." Sincerity was etched into his face. Clearly, he meant every word he said.
How could I refuse such an offer? Pelle could assist me in finding a way to live in the human world. "Yes, there is something. I need to learn a skill I can work at and I noticed you have wooden and metal items and what looks like tools to work with. I'd like to learn what you do so I can perform useful work. Can you teach me to make the things you make?”
Pelle appeared to be thinking. “Yes, I can teach you, I make the items you’re talking about. We travel through towns and villages trading them, as well as mending things. That’s how we make our living.”
Excitement grabbed me as I thought of the possibilities such a life would offer.
"May I travel with you and learn your skills?" I asked, holding my breath, hardly daring to hope for a positive answer.
“So, you want to be a woodworker and metalsmith like me?” He raised his eyebrows, chuckled and paused, as if weighing up his options. “I'd like that," he said eventually and grinned. "You could be my apprentice. We will make a great team." He reached over and we shook hands, then he grinned and patted me on the back.
Although I didn’t know what an apprentice was, it sounded like a great idea. A whole new world of hope and opportunity had suddenly appeared. I sat back and grinned, bubbling over with enthusiasm and excitement.
Chapter 6.
A Happy Time
A time of great happiness followed. I learned to work with wood and soon made functional bowls, goblets, tables and chairs. Above all else though, I excelled at working with metal.
I enjoyed everything about it. Heating the raw ingredients, working with the molten substance, hammering decorative armbands, knives and swords and cooling them quickly in water was something I loved to do all day. Those simple activities soothed my soul.
Pelle shook his head, amazed at my progress. "I don't understand how you pick up these things so quickly Joshaviah."
“Wher
e I come from…” I began
Pelle laughed. “Yes, I know… everyone learns quickly. Why don’t you tell me where you come from?” he added, looking at me with a twinkle in his eye. “Sometimes I wonder, if you are not of this earth. Look at you, tall and handsome, perfect in every way… and so quick to learn new skills. Are you a son of the gods?”
"No," I shook my head and gave him a playful shove. "Merely your adopted son, and your Guardian, here to make life easier."
Although I said it as a joke, it was true. I had been with the family only a few days when I realized I had a deep bond with them. The Guardian energy was strong within me, and focused on this whole family, not only Bronwyn and Pelle, but the children as well. They were more than family. I would die to protect them and I would give my all to ensure their welfare.
I was simply doing what I was created to do, and I was happy. A condition imposed on my ancestors when granted permission to live on Earth was that we help and assist humans. This involved becoming Guardian to one or several.
As well as keeping the family safe, I helped them prosper. Soon I had learned my crafts so well that Pelle and Bronwyn were becoming wealthy.
Everywhere we went they now had more goods to offer, trading their goods for food, clothing, jewelry and household objects. Few people had coins in those days, but sometimes we were given gold or silver which we hid in the wagon.
One day, Pelle came to me looking worried. A dark frown marred his usually happy face.
“I've been thinking, Joshaviah.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Danger stalks us if we continue to travel like this. Many folk travel these roads, including bandits and scoundrels. Now we are becoming wealthy, I worry we are obvious targets.”
I had to agree. So far, we had been lucky. Few bandits would worry a poor travelling carpenter and metalsmith.
However, one that was wealthy risked losing everything, including his life. There were many humans wandering between towns and villages who would happily cut the throats of people who had something they wanted.
"What do you propose we do?" I asked, thinking back to my first encounter with humans. People like those were a direct threat to Pelle and his family.
“The skills we have, and our output, are good enough to get work in a fortress settlement. Wherever a settlement has a fortress attached, there is an army, and an army requires weapons. We can make, repair and keep weapons in good condition, and also,” he added with a smile, “we can have rooms within the fortress protected by the army.”
No doubt about it, his logic was sound. “You’ve been thinking of this for a while, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have, and Bronwyn has pushed me to do this for our family as well. What is your opinion?”
The travel, the freedom to roam around among humans, come to different places and meet new people, was a lifestyle I loved. However, what Pelle said was true. Settled life in such a place would bring more stability and more safety for him and his growing family, now numbering four children. I had to think of him and his family’s needs.
“Let's do it,” I grinned. “It's time for a change. Do you have a settlement in mind?”
"There are several I can recall, but none of them stand out. What say the next large fortress settlement we come to, we consider if it’s suitable?"
“Why not?” I said.
The idea was sound and made sense, although I had to push down a nagging feeling it would bring trouble.
I brushed the sensation aside, putting it down to a fear of the unknown. I should have listened to my inner uneasiness, it was unlike me to fear new experiences.
**********
For three months Pelle, his family and I travelled onwards. We focused on making swords so we would have something to trade in the next fortress town we came to.
One day he asked, “Joshaviah, can you use a sword?”
"I don't know," I replied, puzzled by his question.
"Well, you should learn, so that between us we can demonstrate the use of these swords. As a youngster, I spent several years training in sword fighting techniques so I can teach you all you need to know."
Pelle threw a sword towards me and I caught it by the handle. "Good catch!" He seemed surprised by my quick reflexes and I was surprised at how natural a sword felt in my hand.
We spent the next couple of hours practicing stance and trading blows with our swords. The sword I had made had a good weight, and I developed a feel for it, as though it was a natural extension of my arm. After a few passes with the sword I could sense when Pelle was about to make a move and easily block it.
Pelle soon called a halt to our practice session. "I thought you said you'd never used a sword before." Anger rolled off him as if he had caught me in a lie.
"I haven't. I learned as I went along by watching your movements and your reactions to mine."
“Are you telling me the truth?” He asked, his anger dissipating, replaced with a look of mixed suspicion and awe.
“Why would I lie? I'm happy to learn whatever you want to teach me. If we are ever called on to demonstrate sword fighting, we can put on a good show.”
“Either you're a natural at sword fighting or you’re playing with me.”
Grinning at him, I shook my head. No. Secretly though, I wondered if being descended from warrior angels could explain it. Could warrior skills be in my blood?
From then on, every day we practiced our sword fighting techniques. Pelle improved a little, but I had an advantage in that I was much quicker in my reflexes and much stronger.
Mindful of my instructions, I couldn't tell him I was merely playing the part of a human. However, I enjoyed our practice sessions nonetheless and improved measurably every day.
Every day we also added to our store of swords.
One bright spring morning after our morning meal, Pelle called his oldest son, Pelleson to his side. He pointed to me. “Start a fire ready for working the metal and we’ll get more wood from the forest to keep it going.”
“Don't we have enough swords now?” I asked, mindful of the large stash of swords and knives hidden under the floorboards of the wagon.
Scratching his head, he frowned. “I’m not sure. We must offer something of value when we find a suitable place. A few day’s travel from here there’s rumored to be a large settlement and hill fort. Bronwyn will be disappointed if we’re not allowed to settle there, and I couldn’t face that. We must be able to prove our worth to those in charge.”
Pelle and his son went into the forest to collect wood while I started the fire. Enjoying the morning sun on my skin, having discarded winter leggings in favor of a simple, rough woolen tunic, I stacked the wood the way Pelle had taught me. As I nurtured the flames to generate enough heat to make the metal molten and pliable for working, I became aware of distress coming from Pelle and even more from his son.
As their Guardian, I sensed when something was wrong with them, when we were separated. Although usually they kept together and were safe, this time, I knew something bad was happening. Pelle did not stress easily.
I called Bronwyn to watch the fire, ran a little way into the forest, and Immediately flashed to his side. I had done little flashing, and was not yet fully in control of where I landed. This time I almost knocked him over. He jumped back in alarm.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
He didn't have to answer, because there at his feet lay Pelleson, a broken tree branch near his side.
Lost for words, Pelle grasped me by the tunic and stuttered, clearly in a state of panic. “I, I, he… climbed the tree and fell, the branch broke underneath him. It must have been rotten… I think his leg is broken.”
I knelt by Pelleson. Pelle's oldest son looked just like him, even to the same tousled, black, curly hair, but it was his leg that caught my attention.
Bent at a sickening angle, it was obviously broken. The boy was trying hard not to show pain although his face was pale, and he looked as though he was about to pass out.
I laid my hand on his bare leg. Yes, there was a break halfway down his shin. I worked my hands up his leg and found another break at mid-thigh.
Although neither break had resulted in bones breaking through skin, he had fallen awkwardly and they were bad breaks. If left untreated, he would probably not walk again. If infection set in, he could easily die.
I quickly applied healing energy, while gently straightening his leg.
Color returned to his cheeks and his breathing deepened and relaxed. I directed as much healing energy into him as possible. Gradually his leg returned to normal.
Pelle sat with his head in his hands. Occasionally lifting his head to see what I was doing. After experiencing how I had healed him, he was content to leave healing in my hands.
Pelleson drifted into a deep sleep.
"Why is he sleeping?" asked Pelle. Anxiety dripped heavily in his voice.
“Don't worry. The sleep will help him heal. All people have the ability within them to heal. I started the process and this healing sleep will finish it. Let him sleep for as long as he needs to.”
"Yes, I remember that sleep, after you healed my crushed chest." He gave an uncertain smile. Looking at me with worried eyes he continued. "Joshaviah, I saw you just then, you appeared out of thin air. What are you?" His face bore the need for truth.
Although warned not to tell people where I was from and to keep my true identity a secret, I could no longer pretend with Pelle. We had become close friends over the time we had spent together and I wanted him to trust me, but he needed an explanation to help him trust.
"Pelle, I haven't told you the entire truth, I'm sorry. I was instructed to keep my identity a secret." I began, looking into his troubled face. "You are right. I'm not of this world, but sent here to help humanity in small ways. You and your family are good people. I can't explain how it happens but I'm now your Guardian and it's my mission to help you, Bronwyn and your children in this life. My aim is to keep you safe and to help you in any way that I can."