The Swords of Gregara - Jenala, a sci-fi romance (2 page)

It was not going to be pretty when he was done and certainly not after it healed.
 
This seam would close the wound, no more no less.
  
She didn’t really care.
 
As long as she could work when she got back home.

“His name is Santro.
 
He’s been asking around about Zlaten.
 
I think there is bad blood between them.
 
Did you see the man’s face?”

“Yes.
 
He has a pleasant face.”

“Pleasant face?
 
Girl, the pain meds must be working or I haven’t given you enough.
 
I can only believe that you didn’t really see him.
 
He has a curved scar on his face from his right eye down to his chin.
 
And considering the way he spat out Zlaten’s name, I would guess he got the scar from that thieving, piece of zogamac dung.”

 
Jenala laughed and regretted it immediately when Brenton skidded the wand across her skin.
 

“Hold still, would you?
 
I’m almost done.
 
Get that red hair of yours up and out of the way.
 
You’ve got a new seam across your back more than twelve inches long and I don’t need your hair in it.
 
I’ve done the best I can with this portable med tech unit.
 
What would help you most now, is rest, but I know you and know you won’t rest as you need to, if at all.
 
I’m also going to give you an antibiotic shot.
 
We’ll do our best to keep the wound from becoming infected.”

“Now Brenton.
 
I’ll do the best I can.
 
You know that.
 
I’ll stay at Wardson’s Bedstay for one, maybe two days, and then I have to leave so I can get through the pass before the first snow of the season closes it again.
 
All will be well when I reach my valley.”

“If you survive.
 
Done.”
 
He wrapped bandages around her ribcage from her arm pits to her belly button.
 
“Here are some additional pills for pain.
 
They’re new, so remain at Wardson’s until you’re aware of your body’s reactions before you get on that beast you call a pet.”

“Lottie is a sweetheart and you know it.”
 
Jenala thought she might take one of the pills tonight and see how she felt, but there was no way she’d be in a stupor for two days on pain meds.
 
Ashara!
 
Just the thought of being that vulnerable left a bad taste in her mouth.
 
Besides, there was only a twinge now where the skin was knitted together.

Brenton laughed.
 
“She’s a snarlot and doesn’t let anyone near her but you.
 
She’s the only reason you don’t have more visitors in that valley of yours.
 
Ashara!
 
I might even visit if not for her.”

“You would not and you know it.
 
Galinda would never let you come alone. For a five year old your daughter’s very bossy.
 
But you’re right.
 
Lottie’s saved my hide numerous times.
 
There’s no doubt about that.”

“With that beak, she can take on a zogamac and win.
 
I still can’t believe your father brought her back from Delaz for you.
 
Do you remember how small she was when you got her?”

“Yes,” she laughed and got a sharp pain in her back for the effort.
 
“She was tiny, less than a foot tall.
 
Runt of the litter.
 
You know I measured her the other day and she’s nearly eleven feet tall now!
 
Not the runt of anything.”

“Good grief.
 
You’d need a ladder to get on if you hadn’t taught her to bend her leg and let you crawl up.“

She smiled.
 
“I had to teach her so I could get the saddle on her.
 
I made it you know, so I could ride and carry supplies at the same time.
 
It’s actually a good thing that she’s so big, I don’t need any pack tankipas that way.”
 
Brenton gave her the top to one of his uniforms to put on, her bloody shirt in tatters.
 
“Thank you Brenton.
 
May I pay you at a later time?
 
I spent all my beras on supplies and the bedstay.
 
I hadn’t expected to be attacked in an alley by that bastard Zlaten.
 
I won’t make that mistake again.

“Sarina Wardson will offer extra days.
 
She knows my beras are good, as do you.
 
I’ll have more kalcion from the mine.
 
Hopefully a lot more, but enough to pay you.
 
I promise.”

“You know I’m not worried about it.
 
How’s it going at the mine?
 
You obviously haven’t hit the big vein yet.”

“I know I’m so close.
 
I’ll find a little vein and take a half bag out of it and it’s gone.
 
So far it’s only been enough to pay my bills.
 
But I know there’s a mother lode in there.
 
Dad was sure of it and so am I.”

“You’re not the only one who thinks there’s a rich vein in that mine of yours. The Delasa kalcion mine is legend.
 
You know that.
 
There are hundreds of stories about it and the kalcion hidden there.
 
So, your beautiful self isn’t the only thing that Zlaten wants from you.”

“I know.
 
The mine is what brought him here in the first place.
 
I’m just the easy way to get it.
 
At least he thought so until tonight.
 
Now he knows he’ll have to kill me just as he did my father.”

“He won’t give you a second chance, you know.
 
Given the way he killed your father, you need to be on guard or he’ll stab you in the back as well.”

“I’m all too aware of that.
 
Thanks for healing me. I do appreciate it, even if I whine a bit.”
 
She kissed his cheek and made her way to the Bedstay, conscious of the revived skin and tissue pulling at her back.
 

*****

Santro heard the clash of metal on metal coming from the alley to his left.
 
He walked over intending to watch the outcome of what was likely young men trying their mettle against each other.

What he saw momentarily left him frozen.
 
There in from of him was Zlaten Vandalar fighting with a red haired woman.
 
The woman appeared to be holding her own against the evil man she fought.
 
Coming to his senses Santro yelled at Zlaten.
 
“Stop, Zlaten.”

The woman glanced at him and Zlaten moved in.
 
She missed her jab, Zlaten swiveled, slashing her along her back.
 
Then he looked up at Santro, paled, said something to the woman, turned and ran out the other end of the alley.

Santro went to the woman, on her knees now, sword still clasped tight in her hand.
 
She looked up at him, fear clearly in her eyes.
 
He took off his shirt to staunch the blood that flowed freely down her back.
 
Her fear was replaced by relief.
 
He felt it radiate from her.
 

He was unable to tell how serious the wound was, only that a lot of blood covered her now.
 
He wrapped her in his shirt as gently as he could.
 
Then picked her up in his arms and started out of the alley.
 
As soon as he picked her up he felt an electricity up his arms and down to his groin.
 
Never had he felt that with any woman.
 
And to feel it now.
 
Well it was damn inconvenient.

“Take....me…to…the…nupenian.
 
Not the doctor, the nupenian.”
 
She said it, gasping in between words.

She was light in his arms.
 
He ran with her to the nupenian whose office he’d passed not long ago.
 
It was lucky they were close, though why she’d want to go to the animal doctor, he didn’t know.
 
But he would take her.
 
She was in too much pain for him to go looking for the regular doctor anyway.

He burst through the door of the nupenian, “I have an injured woman here.
 
She insisted that I bring her to you.”

The nupenian looked up.
 
“Jenala!
 
Come, put her on my examination table face down.”

As soon as he put her on the table, she released her sword and it clattered to the floor.

Santro watched him remove his bloody shirt and then the girls, cutting it away from the angry wound.
 
It looked worse from here now that the shirt wasn’t covering it.
 
“Will she be all right?”

“I don’t know yet.
 
What happened?”

“She was fighting with Zlaten Vandalar in an alley near here.
 
I’m afraid I distracted her from her fight and Zlaten wounded her before he ran away like the coward he is.”

“I’m Brenton and he’s not just a coward, he’s a murderer as well.
 
Killed her father six months ago, though she can’t prove it.
 
Not yet any way.
 
Who are you?”
 
He talked while he worked cleaning the wound.
 
Now that Santro could see it, he couldn’t believe that she still held her sword until he’d brought her in here.
 
The wound was a long, angry slash from her left shoulder to her waist on the right.
 
It had to be more than twelve inches long.

“My name is Santro Baltin.”

“You’ll find a shirt in the cupboard above the sink.
 
Thank you for bringing her to me.”

“She would go nowhere else.
 
The only thing she said to me was to bring her here.”

“Considering her wound I’m surprised she was still conscious enough to tell you.
 
She’s a very strong woman.”

“I can see that.”
 
Amazing was more like it.
 
He’d never seen any woman fight like that.
 
She’d obviously been trained from an early age to fight.
 
Why would anyone take the time to train a woman.
 
Extraordinary.

“Will you see that she is taken to the Bedstay in town after she is healed.
 
You can heal her can’t you?”

“The instruments I have are not for people.
 
They are for animals with much thicker skin than Jenala.
 
I’ll do the best I can but I’m going to have to set it low.
 
It will seal the wound against further blood loss, but she will still need to heal on the inside.”
 

Santro watched Brenton move the med tech wand slowly over the wound.
 
Back and forth until the wound sealed.
 
He would do a small section at a time, sealing and moving on.
 
It would take it quite a while to seal the whole wound.

“I must leave.”

Brenton pulled the wand away from Jenala’s wound, put it in his left hand and held out his right.
 
“I can’t thank you enough for coming to her aid.
 
She is like a daughter to me.
 
Anything you need that I can do for you, let me know.”

“There is something.
 
I need to know where Zlaten Vandalar is staying or camping.
 
Would you know?”

“You’ll be better off talking to Jenala when she is better.
 
Vandalar is squatting in her valley.”

Santro looked down at the girl on the table.
 
He would have her help with or without her knowledge.