Chapter 5 -When Reality Smacks You in the Face

By the time they had reached the village’s entrance, all three moons were in center sky, their soft glow providing enough light to find the doctors home. -Secrets 5

W

hen were you planning informing someone about the wound on your shoulder?”

Sabrina stiffened at Landon’s question.  How the hell did he know she was wounded?  Glancing at both him and Fumiko, she saw that her friend had finally fallen asleep.  Sighing, she met Landon’s vivid green eyes and lied, “What wound?”

          “Don’t even try to lie Sabrina.  It’s been irritating to see you in pain and discomfort while in my presence.” His eyes narrowed as he continued, “I can understand that you may have kept the information to yourself for Fumiko’s sake, but you should have informed Noland and I.”

          She rolled her eyes, “First off.  His name is Jiao, not Noland.  And second, it’s not that bad.  It stopped bleeding a while ago, so cool your jets Pretty Boy.”

          “When we make camp, I’m going to check it.  Jiao would throw a fit if you came back sick with infection.” He gave Sabrina a look that dared her to argue.

          Her jaw fell slack, “Maybe I don’t want you to touch me.”

          He simply looked at her, “I’m going to examine it Sabrina.  No ‘if’s’ or ‘but’s’ about it.”

          She stared blankly at him, “Says who?”

          He just looked at her and shook his head. “You can try and fight me if you want, but that wound of yours is getting cleaned and bandaged whether you permit it or not.”

          Sabrina’s brown eyes narrowed, “I’m not a pushover.  If I say ‘no’ it means ‘no’.  Touch me and I’ll scream so loud your eardrums will burst!”

          Releasing a sigh, Landon left her last comment alone, all but ignoring her as the sun began to dip behind the distant mountains.  As they approached the edge of the forest in silence, they both heard Fumiko make a small sound of pain.

          “What’s wrong?” Sabrina had her horse beside Landon’s before the words had even left her lips.

          Landon released his reigns and shifted Fumiko so that her legs hung off to the side.  With an arm wrapped protectively around her, Sabrina watched him pull her friend closer to his chest. The dark circles under her eyes looked larger and darker, while her skin looked more ashen.  All in all, Fumiko was getting worse and their luck was running out.

          The reality that Fumiko was dying was finally hitting Sabrina.  It was a slap in the face to see her friend so sick and hurt.  Tears began to swell in her brown eyes as she continued to take in Fumiko’s health.  She was so pale…

          “Sabrina.”

          Blinking back tears, Sabrina brought her tearing gaze to Landon’s face.  Instantly wishing she hadn’t.  His eyes, for whatever reason, seemed to see everything.  Her feelings of anger, confusion, regret. 

          Seeing the discomfort on her face, he returned his gaze to the road and released a sigh, “Don’t fight your tears.  If you need to cry, then cry.”

          More tears began to fill her eyes, causing her vision to blur.  She wasn’t the crier, Fumiko was.  She was the strong backbone in the friendship; it just wasn’t like her to cry.  Her tears apparently didn’t agree.  As they rode in silence, she cried, shedding tears she would rather hold inside.

          When they came upon a tree large enough to withstand an army of tanks, Landon announced they were going to set up camp.  Sliding off her horse, Sabrina winced at the pain searing through her arm.  Gripping her shoulder she took in a breath and focused on ignoring the burning pain pulsing in her shoulder.  This whole, being-sucked-into-an-unknown-world trip was far from a vacation.  The only things she seemed to like were the extremely large and beautiful trees, and the fact Fumiko was with her.  Thinking of her friend, she felt her chest tighten.  Would they be able to save her before it was too late?  The idea of losing Fumiko was enough to cause her heart wither in agony.

          When she rounded her horse, she was surprised to see that Landon had settled Fumiko on a heap of neatly folded blankets and was already tending to her wounds.  Slowly walking over to them, she prepared herself for whatever she might see.  When Jiao had tended to Fumiko’s wounds the first time, Sabrina had stayed back, unable to cope with the sight of her friend’s torn skin, now however, she felt the need to know to a certain extent of what Fumi might be feeling.

          In a quiet voice she asked, “How is she?”

          Landon unwrapped the wound at her side, “There hasn’t been any change.  She still has a fever and the wound appears to still be bleeding.”

          She placed her hand on her stomach as she looked over Landon’s shoulder to see the damage Fumiko had sustained.  As he pulled away the last bandage, Sabrina bit her lower lip and felt tears burn in her eyes once again.  The cut that marred her friend’s pale skin was jagged with buries already formed around torn skin.  Blood still trickled from the savage wound and looked like a minor infection was already brewing.  Dropping to her knees, she folded her hands on her lap, keeping her eyes on Fumiko’s face. “I should have stopped her…”

***

L

andon bit back his anger as he cleaned Fumiko’s ragged wound.  Jiao hadn’t mentioned her soft flesh was torn.  He was expecting a minor slash that needed stitching, not what he saw marring the young woman’s warm, delicate skin.  The tattered wound stretched from below her ribcage nearly to her bellybutton.  Not only was it long, but it was deep too.  From the look and depth of the wound, Miss. Fumiko would bare a gruesome scar. 

Reaching for the pouch at his side, he dipped his fingers into the ointment Jiao had provided him and gently applied it to the wound. “She stopped to fight them correct?”

Sabrina looked both shaken and in utter despair.  The tears he could see swelling in her brown eyes were enough to fuel is already festering anger.  The girl was stubborn though, refusing to let her tears fall.  He admired that she had a strong spirit, but wished she would allow those tears to fall.  He remembered Jiao telling him stories about this woman.  About how she held her tears and pain inside to protect herself, and not worry others.

When the smaller female spoke, he could hear the fatigue and worry coating her voice. “Yeah, she broke off a tree branch and started swinging away until she smacked a guy in the knees with it and got his sword.” She slightly smiled at that, and then continued, “You should have seen how she was swinging that thing, Landon.  Like, I knew she took kendo when she was younger, but I didn’t think she would be able to use a sword what was thicker than a katana.” She paused for a long moment, the smile disappearing from her lips. “When I saw the guy she knocked down sneaking behind her…I don’t know, I just snapped.  I picked up a sword and stuck it into his back, but…” He heard her take in a shaken breath, “It was too late.  He’d already cut her.”

While wrapping her side again, Landon processed Sabrina’s words.  Two outsiders, no, two women took on trained solders from the Empire?  He didn’t know whether to be surprised or relieved.  When they got Fumiko back on her feet, he was going to have to see her fighting style.  Glancing at Sabrina, he decided to teach her to defend herself too.  In case they were ever left unattended again, he wanted to make sure they would be able to at least fend off any attackers.  As he tied off the bandages, he tugged down Fumiko’s stained and torn shirt over the wound.  Looking at the tattered material, he made a mental note to buy Fumiko and Sabrina some clothes when they reached their destination.  Now that they were in a calm setting, he was finally able to take in their current clothing.  Yeah, new cloths were a must.  The two looked out of place with their outsider clothing.

Turning to face Sabrina, he met her brown eyes and offered his hand, palm up.  She looked at his hand and lifted a dark brow at him in question.

He gently took her hand and pulled some fresh bandages from the bag he had set near Fumiko’s makeshift bed. “I said I was going to have a look at that shoulder wound.  Now let me see it.”

She simply looked at him and shook her head, “You’re not going to let it go are you?”

He lifted his own dark brow this time. “That wound could become infected, which would cost me money, and peace of mind.”

Narrowing her brown eyes, she gripped the bottom of her half shirt and pulled it over her head, leaving only her dark tank top. “Don’t you dare mention this to Fumiko.”

Landon felt his anger rise again at the puncture wound marring Sabrina’s shoulder. “When did this happen?” The wound looked a few days old, having crusted blood and sported inflamed edges.

She averted her eyes from his to look at her friend, “A little before we got sucked into the portal thing?”

He looked at her face briefly before he gently took her arm and began cleaning the wound, “What were you hit with?  I’ve never seen a wound like this before.”

Sabrina sighed, “A bullet.  One of the b******s shot at us while we were being pulled into the portal…” glancing at her face again, he could see the anger blazing behind her cool gaze.

“That’s ammunition for a gun, correct?” If his memory served him right, Jiao had mentioned the weapon before.

She nodded, “I didn’t even realize I was hit until I woke up here in the rain.  Hurt like Hell.”

He once again dipped his fingers into his pouch and applied the ointment to her inflamed injury. “Why didn’t you speak up sooner?”

“Because I didn’t want Fumiko to worry about it…And it kind of slipped my mind…”

Has he began wrapping her shoulder, he lifted his brow again, “It slipped your mind?” He had expected the part about not wanting to worry Fumiko, but the fact the injury had slipped her mind bothered and shocked him.  These two outsiders were beginning to become quite the handful.

Once her wound was cleaned and wrapped, Landon rose to his feet.  Popping his stiff joints and stretching his arms, he walked over to his horse to retrieve more blankets.  Fumiko may be hurt, but that didn’t mean Sabrina had to sleep on the uneven ground.  Walking back to the girls, he folded the blanket over and over, and then laid it beside Fumiko’s.  Sabrina looked at him, her dark brown eyes narrowing as she misinterpreted his actions…again.  Sighing, he fought back the urge to smile at the expression on her face. “Now Sabrina, what could your mind possibly be conjuring?”

She tilted her head to the side a bit, “Are you going to sleep next to Fumi?”

He smiled slightly at that and folded his hands together, looking at her through his lashes, “No actually.  You are.”

“I am?  Then…”

He smiled again, “Where am I going to sleep?  Right over there.” He pointed toward the trunk of the large tree where the horses where standing.

Sabrina just sat there before asking, “Landon?”

He rose to his feet again, “Yeah?”

Her eyes were on Fumiko’s face.  Worry and pain tightening her soft features. “Do you think we’ll be able to save her?”

His eyes softened at her question.  It brought him a great deal of relief to see that there were outsiders that could care from someone other than themselves. “From what she’s been through since you two got here, I’d say she is going to be fine.” Though she was more than likely going to have a dreadful scar from the gruesome wound, Landon doubted she wouldn’t survive.  

Sabrina smiled slightly and folded her arms over her chest.  Whatever she was thinking, it couldn’t have been good.  He could easily see the discomfort on her face, as well as the pain and worry clouding her brown gaze.  He watched her curl her legs close to her chest, then rest her head against her knees.  He eyes was focused on Fumiko’s sleeping form.  Looking at the girl himself, he could understand her worry.

Fumiko looked as though she were in immense pain, which was more than likely the truth.  Her skin was ashen and beads of sweat slid from her forehead and neck.  All in all, it was beginning to seem she was losing her battle for survival.  The needed to get her to the village’s doctor, and they needed to do it now.  Walking toward Fumiko, he lowered himself so that his knee was touching the ground, and then gently as possible, lifted Fumiko into his arms.

“What are you doing?” Sabrina asked in a worried tone. “I thought you said we were going to rest?”

“We were, but she’s not improving.” With one arm cradling her against his body, he climbed onto his horse. “She’s getting worse, the longer it takes to get her to a doctor, the less likely she’s going to survive the treatment.”

Sabrina stared back at Landon, unable to move, let alone speak.  She had known Fumiko wasn’t really getting better, yet she seemed to be getting worse.  That would explain the ashen skin and the reason the dark circles under her eyes were getting bigger.  The painful realization that Fumi was getting closer to death frightened her.  Rising to her feet, trying to steady her shaking knees, Sabrina jogged to the horse Jiao had lent her.  Once on the saddle, she turned her wary gaze to Landon’s face only to find herself looking at Fumiko’s limp form.

Seeing the wary look in her eyes, Landon drove his horse toward Sabrina’s and took the reins from her shaking hands.  She offered little protest, which added to his concern.  Pulling her horse along with his, he urged both animals toward the road leading to the village. 

With Fumiko sound asleep in his arms and Sabrina slowly drifting to sleep herself, one dilemma plagued his thoughts.  Ten years ago, the country of Burminea had passed a law that all outsiders were to be registered.  Any outsider seen without a master would be taken into custody and punished.  Outsiders that hadn’t yet been registered were immediately taken to the Empire in the South District, were they would be branded and put up for sale.  The fact Fumiko and Sabrina weren’t registered would be a problem later on.  Fortunately the doctor residing in their destined village was a trusted man who was known for never turning away a patient, whether they couldn’t pay or were unregistered outsiders, he was always more than willing to offer treatment and help.

By the time they had reached the village’s entrance, all three moons were in center sky, their soft glow providing enough light to find the doctors home.  Sabrina had managed to drift asleep, the exhaustion finally overwhelming her small body. 

Sliding off his horse, careful not to wake Fumiko or stir her painful wounds, he walked to the wooden door and knocked.  Hopefully the doctor lived up to his reputation, because if he didn’t, Fumiko wouldn’t make it through the night.