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lilttlewolf · 7 years ago

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Honey for a Cure

part. 4

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where there was no earthly explanation? I found myself in such a predicament at this very moment.

Watching the taller woman as best i could through the darkness, the momentary flashes of light illuminating her form. She walked me toward the open door of the building i had seen earlier, her home i assumed as she pulled me inside. I walked toward the candle light, draw by the warmth there. She closed the door and set her weapons aside, i glanced at them then. A broken spear and a sword, she shook her hands of the rain, reaching for a dry towel or blanket perhaps. She tossed it at me and i flinched a moment nearly dropping it.

“So where are you from? why were you out in this storm?” she was cautious, staying near her weapons but relaxed enough to ring out the braid that hung just past her collarbone. A leather cord was wrapped in with it, keeping it bound i gathered. She paused watching me for a response. My eyes widened for a moment feeling her gaze on me as i just stood there holding the clothe she had tossed me. I rain my fingers over the thin canvas like material. It wasn’t the softest but it was dry. I gently wrapped my hands and arms in it, holding it just under my chin i thought a moment how i should respond. Surely i couldn’t tell the truth, then again maybe i should, to simply get out of here. As i watched her move then toward another table she grabbed something there and walked toward me, i instinctively stepped back till i bumped into a wall. She raised a brow at that and then crouched where i had been standing, apparently near a fire place.

Striking two stones together once, twice it shot sparks that caught some grass and kindling already there. It burst into a heavenly warmth of orange and yellow flames.

Listening to the rain outside and feeling the cool draft still from a window i stepped a bit closer to the fire, its heat already chasing off the chill of my legs. “Sit and you can answer my questions while we dry off,” she didn’t seem wary of me as a threat, but something in the way she kept glancing in my direction had me wonder if there wasn’t a smear of dirt of mud along my face or branches caught up in my hair. With a sigh and the need for warmth, i gave in and slowly dropped to my knees my the fire. It was amazing how quick the thin material dried and how fast the ice around my bones it seemed, to thaw and warm finally.

“You’re clearly not from around here, i’ll ask you one more time or in kicking you back out into the rain,” she sat on the ground about four feet from me. She was relaxed back on her arms, how that didn’t hurt the cuts there i didn’t know, but she seemed at ease enough even though of tone of her voice was growing harsher every time she asked, and i realized whatever the century, i was being rude.

“No,” i glanced from the fire to her, and then back to the flames. “Im not from here,”

“Well it speaks, that is something. I was beginning to think someone cut out your tongue before letting you lose in the woods,” She had a subtle hint of a smile there, i glanced to try and catch it. She had pulled her knees up and loosely had her arms around them, linking her fingers for support.

“No, no one - removed my tongue.” I fought off my own smile. This was no laughing matter, and yet the given situation had a bubble of humor wrapped it entirely. I was so bad at bad situations, i was that person who laughs at a funeral. I shake my head trying to remove the memory of my own mother’s. Biting my lower lip to hold off a sob then, i frowned deeply at the memory.

“So then, where are you from then?” she watched my face and waited. I could feel her eyes everywhere and it gave me shivers, i hated people starring at me, hated it since i was a kid when a teacher would ask me to go up and answer a question on the white board. Couldn’t stand people’s eyes on me.

Shutting my eyes and trying to block out her overwhelming presence, i thought of the simplest lie i knew i could follow. “I am from everywhere and no where, my father was an admiral on a ship,” i brushed a strand of hair from my face. It was beginning to dry now and about to puff out and get super wavy. ,”we were on our way to Athens, he was going to join their Armada.” She tilted her head slightly, a curious thing it made her eyes look like honey the way the fire flickered in them. “ugh, his ship got caught in the storm out at sea and the last thing i remember was,” a shock of images cane flooding back and i could almost feel the water everywhere, burning my throat and nose, stinging my eyes. “- just being under water. I woke up on the beach and shortly after that it was nightfall and well,” i looked at her then “ -here i am”

It wasn’t totally a lie, my father had served and still is, in the United States Navy. That still loosely counts, and he does man one of aircraft carriers. Not that she would any idea what that was, no one would for.. however long ago i was i guessed.

She was frowning then, and i knew i had miscalculated some old facts my brother had once told me. But i swore he had said it was the Athenians who had the best naval fleet back in ancient Greece. Unless i had misjudged the era, oh shit no!

“That’s, terrible.” she pocked at the flames with a stick. I sat on an absolute blade edge waiting for her to swing it at me. But it never came, nothing did. For several long minutes we sat in silence while the rain continued to poor outside, the thunder and lightening having moved on. It was the gentle humming of the rain on the roof that i think seemed to lull me to near sleep, and the warmth of the fire. With my hair nearly dried it was a thick wavy mess, apart from my dreads. I ran my hands through it a few times trying to shake some of the tangles free.

“So what do i call you?” she turned to me then those honey eyes seemed calmer now, thinking about something. It just came out, i didn’t know what to think or do, other than comply to her words. “Auna,” i said feeling as if i hoped that would resolve of her focused tension. She frowned a moment and then with a sigh stood. I watched her go. Her legs glowing from the fire light, i couldn’t deny she was a beautiful human, even though in real time she was about a thousand times my senior. I shook my head and looked back into the flames. It then dawned on me i didn’t know her name.

“What’s your name?” i just asked out right like kids getting to one another in school. I didn’t mean for it to come off that way it just did. And it was almost perfectly fitting. She glanced over her shoulder while she busied herself with something at an opposite counter. “Kassandra,” it was a name i hear even in my era and yet the way she said it, with her accent dripping with exotic tendency, game me a shiver and i held my tongue, bitting off a smile.

She came to sit back down, this time a bit closer. She sat cross legged, facing the fire, she must have quickly changed skirts when i wasn’t looking because where the shorter one was, now there was a longer one. Like a long towel you wrap around your waist after a shower. She still had the band on around her chest. I dared a glance at the back of her shoulder, it was very pink, nearly red, definitely infected. I tried to think about all the herbs my grandma used to use on us grandkids when we were little. Having been a nurse for nearly sixty years, she respected the book learned knowledge and yet cherished the natural teachings passed from great grandma.

I knew i could help fix it, i just needed to remember how. I shut my eyes and thought back. There was a weird one, something not plant like she liked for sealing off infections after cleaning a wound. I glanced around her dimly lit home wondering if id see anything to alert a clue.

“Looking for something?” she asked around a mouthful of bread.

“Do you have...” i drawled off knowing that she would watch till i finished my answer. I could feel her eyes again, probing for a full response. “Have... what?” There was some dried and dead flowers sitting on the table, she didn’t seem like the flower type and then it hit me. Honey.

“Do you have any honey?” i looked her dead in the eye. She looked at me with a slight frown like i had grown antlers.

“Ugh, maybe in a pot over there, i never cared much for the stuff so you’re welcome to it” I stood and walked toward the window, just below it there was several jars and one with a stickiness to the base of it.

“It’s not for eating. Do you have some clean clothe or a bucket or something to heat water in?” Again the strange look of confusion, this time from atop her glass of wine i guessed, from the smell. She sighed and pointed toward the door. There sat a small bucket. Without asking i gathered there was a trough outside of water for the horse. i quickly stuck out and retrieved some in the bucket. When i returned she was twisted with one hand on her spear while the other supported her movement.

“Relax,” i said calmly with a faint smile. She seemed completely perplexed by my actions. Until i sat down by the fire again with the bucket resting half on some of the burning coals. I torn at my long skirts to retrieve a few strands. She wasn’t even eating at this point but watching, with a hand still on her spear head. “It’s alright, im not going to attack you with some honey and a bucket of water,” she narrowed her eyes and relaxed her grip. “You’re right, id have my spear at your throat before you dared touch me with that stuff,” She slowly turned back around to face the fire, from her left eye i caught her watching and i couldn’t fight a grin even when i bit at my lower lip to stop it.

I sighed when i had three strips ready, one for cleaning and two for mending. “Now,” she looked at me “what,” i looked to her shoulder, sitting on my knees i awkwardly tried to point without being rude, “ugh, that’s infected and it’s going to feel much worse in a few days if you don’t clean it,” she only watched me speak. “,i can clean it for you” i hesitantly said, like asking to take a thorn from a bear’s paw. Her eye brow raised slightly. “You’re a doctor?” she asked skeptically. “Well no, but i know some things,” she was craning her head back slightly as if to look at me better. “Is there something wrong with the fact i’m a girl and know medicine?” i snapped then with a frown of my own. Her eyes widened then. “No i, i just didn’t realize, well-” she raised a hand to touch the back of her neck in the way some do when they’re nervous. “-i’m sorry i just never met a woman who knew medicine before,” she blinked those honey eyes and i cleared my throat then. “Well there’s a first time for everything,”

I didn’t know a whole lot, only a few months of nursing school and about twenty some odd years of handed down grandparent knowledge. I swallowed the lump in my throat, hopefully this doesn’t get in a situation where i need to be mending too many people, i thought with a sigh and a heavy pit in my stomach. I enjoyed helping people, especially when it was something i had learned from my Gram, but animals were always more of an interest for me. I just knew i could never have the heart to medically care for them, seeing them in pain, i wouldn’t have been able to last that. And since several of my cousins as well as my grandma had gone through the nursing program i figure it would be a good fit.

She turned back to face the flames and shifted slightly to allow me sight of her cuts. “How did you do this?” i asked while ringing out a clothe from the hot water of the bucket. She winced for a second when i touched the clothe to her skin, i wondered if it more the touching than the pain that had her hiss under her breath. “Bandits when we pulled into dock yesterday,” i gently washed the cuts, dirt and dried blood came away to reveal clean flesh. “We?” i asked more to keep her talking while i gripped hot water on the wound to try and remove any remains of dirt. She shifted slightly but didn’t complain. “I have a ship, the captain and crew, we were only to stop her a day but after the bandits we decided to stock up on previsions before sailing off,” my heart sunk suddenly for a reason i didn’t understand. “Oh, where to then, after - well i guess i don’t even know where here is,” i leaned in close to inspect the cuts, they weren’t as deep as i had initially thought, but they were long, across her left should blade. She shivered then and i shifted back, “this is Kephallonia, your father must have made a bad judgment in direction to have landed all the way over here,” my hands froze then and my mind desperately recalled an idea of a map i knew my brother would have shown me at one point or another. “Well, like i said, we traveled around a lot so we may have gotten turned around,” i bit my lower lip and remember the islands were well over on the west side of what was Spartan territories near what would be Italy, where as Athens, Greece was on a separate piece of land with an ocean in between. Fuck. I frown and grab the honey, it’s fine i’m going back to find that lagoon tomorrow and all this will be done. Police chase or not i can’t be here any longer, i needed to get back to my dad, my gram, my brother - Raquel. I cleaned my throat and felt a sting of tears then.

The honey was warm and smooth as it smeared over the cuts easily. Just enough to help keep the wound sealed off from dirt and such, but not enough to make and uncomfortable mess, or more of one than i was already in.

I gently laid the clothe over the wounds and with the the third, longest piece i hesitantly, awkwardly trailed my hand holding the clothe under her right arm, to carefully grab it with my other hand over her left shoulder. I could feel her breathing steady, “pardon my reach,” i whispered more to myself i figured than anything but she glanced back toward me. I tied it off and sat back on my heels. I blinked looking at her back then and noticing the scars there, old ones with the silver pink color, purple dark bruises, she was no ordinary woman with a sword or spear. I couldn’t stop my finger tips from trailing across them in that moment, “...” i bit back a groan at the idea of the amount of pain she must be in struck me like a bolt of lightening. “im so sorry,” i murmured.

She turned then to look at me, “it comes with the trade,” with a soft hand she tipped my chin up to be held by her gaze then. I blinked away tears, “whats wrong, why are you on the brink of tears?” I shut my eyes trying to push them away, i ease my chin away from her and turn back to face the fire. Sniffing i shake my head, “im fine,” the warmth and crackling of the flame is a comfort from the chaotic reality at hand. And within a moment memories and words attempt to trickle from me, “,i was just thinking about my - a friend” sitting next to me, holding her left arm relaxed in her lap she sighed, “are they not alive?” my lips quivered as they wanted to sob, and my eyes burned with tears at the notion, the fact. Raquel wasn’t alive, none of them were. “no actually, i gripped my skirt tightly till my knuckles were white, “-she’s not alive” and the awkward stifled sobs came, i lifted a hands to try and smother the away but as a shushing murmur came, Kassandra shifted her seat near me till her right arm could wrap around me, i trembled and let tears fall as a few gasping sobs broke free while i hide my face in her shoulder and gripped tightly to her elbow. She could nearly enwrap me completely as her hand rested easily at the center of my back, her thumb rubbing slightly along my exposed skin.

I could feel her muscles tighten as she held me close letting my sorry self mope into her arm, till she seemed to relax and her forehead gently rested on my head, i felt a deep sense of compassion from this girl. Whatever she had gone through in her life, and what ever she did for pay, she had a big heart and i believed she didn’t want anyone. So in such a moment as this i felt extremely fortunate to have landed with someone as she.

Managing to fight off the tears once more and hold back the sobs i craned my head to the side toward her, and there she was, her eyes, her lips slightly parted. Those long lashes blinked at me my heart thrummed in my chest as if a finger on harp strings. She seemed to lean slightly toward my own and for a split second i stole myself back and remembered eyes of blue, and hair like a raven, an image of a tall curvy girl who loved volleyball and ice skating, Raquel.

I jolted away from Kassandra as if shocked my her touch, “im sorry i-” i wiped the tears from my cheeks and wetting my lower lip only to bite it. She stood then and with a sigh looked down at me, “you need not be scared of me, nor anyone else,” she hesitantly reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my cheek, “-so long as you’re with me,” she relaxed her stance and turned back to the flames. I inhaled sharply, “and when im not with you?” i was almost a afraid the answer i thought in the moment, something had my chest tighten and feel nervous at her response. She glanced at me a moment, “well, i suppose we’ll see,” i had no idea what that meant but it drew a smile from her and maybe it was meant to worry me but i felt no worry by her, only a strange bizarre comfort.

Here i was a twenty first century twenty eight year old, now “magically” stuck back in sometime ancient Greece BC with some kind of mercenary wonder woman. Surely i should be out of my mind afraid or at least manically insane at this point, and yet, all i could think was if i get back to that lagoon all this will be fine, over and go back to how it was. Maybe it was my minds way of coping with the unknown, the uncertain reality that my heart knew deep down could be impossible. I could truly be stuck in ancient Greece.

I blinked as the tall woman lit a torch and walked toward stairs that led upward, “come, you must be exhausted, i know i am,” i followed her up to almost a loft style bedroom maybe, there was a large bed mat area littered in pillows and several furs. To the right, lead toward an open air balcony. The rain was a light drizzle now. It was cool and i felt a blanket tossed over my shoulders, i turned toward her, she walked toward the bed mat and sat. She can’t be serious, i thought. She patted the mat beside her, “Come i won’t bite,” i detected a grin in her words and scoffed crossing my air while holding the blanket close. “Fine, stay up, get cold. Just don’t be cranky tomorrow when we ride into town and you’ve had no sleep,” she was teasing me now.

“Wait what do you mean, going into town?” i toward near the bed now, she was laying on her back with her good arm under her head as an extra support, she smiled faintly in the light. “I think you’d be a big help to me and the ships captain,” i blinked my eyes unsure what that meant. “-as a healer” I knelt as my stomach heaved suddenly. “relax mikro’s ly’kos, get some sleep..” i didn’t know what those words meant, it sounded like the ones the lady ‘Artemis’ from the woods spoke but for some reason unlike from before, i didn’t understand them.

With a heavy sigh and heavier eye lids, i laid down on my side facing away from the stranger, Kassandra, and attempted to find sleep. It lead to darkness and nothing but a heavy slumber. There were no dreams, no visions of memory come to haunt me, just the faint smell of honey as sleep claimed me.

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