The Others

Chapter Six

It had been dark for quite a while, before I arrived home. I could see because of the candlelight that lit through the windows, that my mother was not sleeping yet. I tried to find the little dragon for about five minutes, but it was too dark and I did not hear anything, so I quickly went to my mother.

‘Mother’, I say when I enter the house. My mother is sitting at the dining room table. I want to ask her who she betrothed me to, but I quickly swallow my words when I notice the man sitting with her.

‘Dad’, I say excited. I run to him, hug him and sit down next to him. ‘You are home!’

My father laughs. ‘I arrived not very long ago’, he says. I can hear in his voice that something’s wrong with him. I take a second to observe him, and notice very fast that he’s wounded. One of his legs is bound off with a white, blood-drenched, cloth. Part of it is missing.

I utter a gasp. ‘Father, your leg’, I say. Father coughs, he does not sound healthy. ‘What happened to you?’

Father coughs again. ‘We got attacked by wolves’, he says. ‘Manos did not make it. I am happy all I lost was half my leg.’

I bite my lip. ‘And how are you? How long have you been bleeding? Have you had proper treatment, and medicine?’

‘Maya’, my mother says. ‘Give the man a rest, will you? He has not been home for long.’

‘Petra’, my father says to my mother. ‘Could you do me a favour and get me some fresh water from the well? My throat feels dry.’ My mother gets up from her chair, and leaves the house.

My father turns to me. ‘I am sure it was an Other’, he says. ‘I do not want your mother knowing about it, because of your brother. But this was not a wild animal. He was coming for us, like someone told him to come for us. It knew how to attack men, and how to dodge our attacks. It was no coincidence, Maya.’ He coughs, I grab his shoulder with my hand.

‘Let me heat you some water, father’, I say. ‘I want to clean your wound.’ My father nods.

‘Use the fresh water your mother will bring, and boil it through and through. I feel like the wound is infecting already’, he agrees with me. Fear makes my heart skip a beat.

‘Tomorrow I will go back in to town’, I say. ‘We need to get you something antibacterial, maybe I can get us some alcohol.’

I only slept for a couple of hours. It couldn’t have been long, because the sun was not rising yet when I started my trip. I ran for as much of the road as I could, but because of my lack of sleep, and food for that matter, I couldn’t go as fast as I wanted to.

It had been light for a long time, when I arrived. I instantly run to the doctor’s clinic, but no one’s there. ‘Doctor?’ I say, but there’s no response. My mind’s making miles, and miles, worrying for my dad. When I cleaned his wound yesterday, it already stunk. I need some alcohol, I need something to clean it.

I run out of the clinic, and through the town. ‘Doctor?’ I yell. ‘Where is the doctor?’

The butcher comes out of the butchery, his robe drenched in blood. Porty follows him. ‘It’s Maya’, he says.

His father yells: ‘Doctor’s out of town, left yesterday. What’s wrong, hun?’ I run to the man. I have never liked him, he’s a mean, arrogant guy. But I need help, and I do not care where I get it from.

‘My father’, I pant. ‘He’s wounded. He got attacked by a wolf. I need medicine, I need alcohol to help him. It’s already infecting.’

The butcher grabs the blood-covered piece of cloth, hanging from his belt. ‘If it’s already infected, you are too late any way, snuss’, he says.

‘How can you say that’, I yell at him angrily. ‘Can you help me, or not?’

The butcher shakes his head. ‘Your bills with me are too high already. I can not add expensive stuff like that, while knowing you will never pay off your debt.’

‘Father’, I hear Porty say. ‘Can you not-‘, the butcher slaps his son on the back of the head. ‘Get in, you lust filled teenager, and do not get out before I tell you to.’

Porty turns around, and enters the butchery, his father following him.

‘You’re a monster’, I scream at the man, before I turn around. Keira, I need to get to Keira.

‘Keira, Keira’, I scream as I enter her house through the backdoor. The house is empty. No Keira.

Without a second thought, I open up her cupboards. I draw her drawers, and open her cabinets. She must have some medicine, or alcohol, somewhere.

‘Where is it… where is it?’ I say heated.

‘Maya, what’s wrong?’ I hear Carl say. I turn around and see him in the backdoor’s doorpost.

‘My father’, I say in-between tears. ‘He’s hurt. I need alcohol.’

Within three steps Carl reaches me, he grabs my hand and pulls me with him. ‘Come to the smithery’, he says.

Together we run to the smithery. He unlocks the door, and instantly walks to one of his cupboards. He pulls out a small bottle filled with a clear liquid. ‘It’s all I have’, he says.

I shake my tear-covered face. ‘It’s perfect’, I say grateful. He hands it over to me.

‘I have to go’, I say. My heart’s beating fast, I have got no time to loose. ‘I have to run.’

I want to run out of the smithery, but Carl grabs my hand. ‘We’ll take my horse’, he says and he drags me to the stable.

Carl’s the only one in town with a horse. He’s the only one that ever goes places, so it’s worth it for him to make such an expensive purchase. The fact that he has a horse, and that he could help me, hadn’t even occurred to me.

He helps me on top of the black mare, and takes place behind me.

I have never ridden a horse, but I am more grateful for the creature existing than I have ever been of any animal. Carl puts his arms around me, to hold on to the brace, and together we gallop home.