Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Vax began to shiver violently below her, spurring her into action.
“Think, Riya. Think,” she muttered, eyes darting across the beach for a sturdy fallen branch, driftwood, anything that might help her move him inside before the harsh elements claimed him completely.
A faint glimmer caught at the corner of her eye, pulling her gaze.
The sled. She almost laughed at herself for not thinking of it sooner.
It leaned against the side of her cottage, and she ran to it, cursing herself for not repairing the cracked slat in its center sooner.
She only used the old thing for hauling firewood and large game from the forest, so there had never really been an immediate need.
Huffing, she grabbed the thick rope firmly attached to the runners and pulled it back down the slope to Vax.
There was no time to fix it now, not with the storm ready to batter the shore. She’d have to make it work.
Pulling the sled up beside him, she knelt behind his head, looking down at his strange pink face.
Vax’s jaw twitched as if his teeth were clenched either from cold or pain.
Something twisted in her chest. Why did she care so much?
For all she knew, he could be a criminal or a madman wandering the coast for reasons she’d rather not think about.
Yet watching the life drain from him mere feet outside her home felt like a stain she’d never wash clean from her conscience.
Pressing the sled hard into the slush and sand beside him to hold it in place, bracing herself, she slipped her hands under Vax’s arms and yanked with all her might.
He barely budged, but she gritted her teeth, using the strength of her whole body as leverage, legs and arms burning from the effort.
Vax emitted a low whimper as she was able to lift him just enough to shimmy the left side of his shoulder and torso onto the sled.
The cracked slat groaned under his weight, and Vax’s eyes fluttered open, glassy and crazed.
He flailed an arm, yelling out and smacking Riya square on the forehead, sending her sprawling into the snow.
“Vax! You’re okay, calm down, I’m trying to help you.
” Riya pleaded, scrambling to calm him so he didn’t slip off the sled completely and all her hard work would be for naught.
She grabbed his arms, pushing them down against his chest. The muscles shifted beneath her grip, and she could feel their girth.
He should be strong, be able to overpower her, but he couldn’t even push back against her hold.
He stilled, and she cautiously released him.
His eyes were pinned on her in an unnerving way, as if he was looking straight through her.
She raised a hand, gently placing it against his cheek.
Fire erupted beneath her palm, startling her, but she didn’t pull away.
There was something that held her there.
The heat didn’t feel like that of a fever, it was like a force caressing her skin.
It sent a tingle along her hand and up her arm, warming her from the inside until she was practically sweating beneath her furs, fighting the urge to remove a layer.
Vax sighed at her touch, nuzzling further into her palm, his lids growing heavy again, reminding Riya of their present circumstance.
“Vax, stay awake. Don’t go to sleep. I need your help.”
He grunted, blinking slowly as if that small movement was taking every ounce of his strength.
“Can you work your way further onto the sled?” She moved her hand from his cheek, and all the warmth seemed to evaporate, the chill of the day seeping into her bones once more, causing her to shiver at the suddenness of it.
But she shook it off and moved down to his feet.
“When I lift your legs, try to roll your way further onto the sled, okay?”
His breathing was shallow, but he nodded his head ever so slightly.
“Okay, roll,” she said, lifting both of his surprisingly heavy legs and doing her best to take as much of his weight as she could.
To her surprise, he was able to roll himself onto his side until his entire body was on the sled, although he yelled out in pain at the movement, and his body slackened, falling out of consciousness once again.
Riya let out a sigh of relief, lowering his legs back down. They were long and hung several feet off the end, but he was on it, and now she could pull him up the slope of the beach and into her cottage.
She gripped the thick rope and leaned all her weight back, boots slipping in the wet sand and slush of the snow, but she dug in her heels, moving the sled inch by inch.
The sled groaned, and Riya could hear the splintering crack of the already weak wooden slats beneath his weight breaking further.
Clenching her jaw in determination, she pulled, ignoring the burning in her thighs and the tightness in her chest from the exertion.
The wind swirled around them, picking up speed, slapping her hair across her face, but she didn’t dare release her hold on the sled.
Her fingers, raw and reddened, gripped the sled’s rope so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Her shoulders burned with each labored step, but she was determined to get him safely inside before the storm rolled in.
As if on queue, a clap of thunder rumbled overhead, and Riya chanced a look up at the sky, greeted with tendrils of black reaching over the ocean toward the beach.
She grunted, pulling harder, groaning against the strain as the temperature began to drop, the warmth of the morning sun chased away in a mere moment, as if it had never been a glorious day at all.
“Come on!” she grunted. “Almost there…” She pulled hard, using all the strength she was capable of until the sled was up the bank and only a few feet from her front door.
Just then, the frozen rain began to fall.
Little pellets of ice smacked her on the face, and she wanted to curse, but instead she found herself laughing as she removed her outer furs and threw them over the man, shielding him from the sleet.
Barely an hour ago, she was enjoying her mug of tea and watching the calm waters while the sun shone brightly overhead, and now she was hauling a pink-skinned, red-eyed foreigner uphill before an impending storm blew them both away.
Her morning tea leaves came to mind—the broken ring, it seemed, had foretold what was to come sooner than she would have expected.
She huffed, shaking the thought away before pulling Vax as quickly as she could into her home.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the scent of cinnamon hit her like a comforting hug, and she slammed the door closed behind them.
Tugging off her sodden boots, she looked down at Vax, his arms and legs hanging limply over the sides of the sled beneath her furs.
He took up so much space in her small cottage, looking like a great salmon-pink apparition dropped from another world.
She hovered over him nervously. Now that he was inside, she realized she had not the slightest idea of what to do next.
She didn’t have houseguests. Her entire home consisted of her kitchen, a small dining room, and a bed in the corner, which was really basically a part of the kitchen and the washroom, which thankfully had its own small space off the back of the cottage, closed off by a door.
At this moment, she was very grateful that her grandfather had thought of making a private washroom.
Vax groaned suddenly and rolled so far to the side that he fell off the sled and onto the hard stone floor face-first with a solid thud. He muttered something under his breath, and she crouched beside him, placing a hand on his back and shaking him gently.
“Vax?” she said, trying to rouse him to consciousness once again.
His vest was soaked through. She didn’t know much about taking care of injuries or illness, but she was fairly certain that lying in cold, wet clothing wouldn’t help.
So she did the only thing she could and carefully removed his clothing, all except for his pants.
Even if they were soaked through, she wasn’t about to venture into that extreme of an invasion of privacy.
As soon as his back was completely uncovered, Riya gasped. Along his back was a huge area of purpling skin that seemed to wrap around his side. She brushed her fingers gingerly across the mark, and Vax flinched, yelling out in pain.
He turned onto his side, and Riya could see the rest of the bruise, snaking across his ribcage. “Water,” he muttered, suddenly.
“Of course,” she said quickly, scrambling to the kettle on her stove and pouring the liquid into a cup before pressing it into his hands.
He wrapped his fingers around both the cup and her hand, pulling it to his lips and taking several long gulps until it was gone. “Thank you,” he rasped.
Riya nodded. What a strange situation she had found herself in. Who was this man, and what had happened to him? And where had it happened?
“Y—you’ve been badly injured. I think there might be internal bleeding,” she stuttered.
“I—I don’t know what to do. The nearest town is two days' ride from here, and I…” It was only then that she noticed he was still grasping her hand around the cup, and he squeezed gently, the warmth of his skin intensifying in that moment, making her furrow her brows at the oddness of it.
“I’ll be alright,” he practically moaned. “I’ve had worse injuries from those blazing, no good Gnomes.”
Riya opened and shut her mouth several times, but no words came out. What the hell was a Gnome? Instead, she said, “You might be more comfortable on the bed. I—I do have some herbs and remedies that could help with your pain. Oh! And also for your fever. Your skin is unbearably hot.”