Fan Fiction ❯ Mystify ❯ Sam ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: Sam

 

By: Brynn Parker

 

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It's been three days since the pale girl came to our village, and she's been asleep ever since. Today it's my turn to watch over her for a few hours, which will most likely be nothing but nap time for me. She hasn't done anything since she got here, and I'm not as eager to watch her as I was when she first arrived.

 

After our healers took care of her burns, we could easily tell that she was Khryssan. That's the reason I don't want to watch her again: my people, the Sol, have been at odds with the Khryssan Empire for years. We all used to be united in our country: the Sol, or people of the sun, the Ceyla, people of the moon, and the Astra, the people of the stars. But the Ceyla, or Khryssans as the were called now, had amazing destructive abilities and soon tried to exert their dominance over the Sol, who had healing powers, and the Astra, who had creative powers. When the Khryssans began losing their people to disease, they fled into the mountains, leaving only a few villages of the Sol and Astra left. Soon the Khryssans' skin and eyes became paler to adapt to the dark caverns, fully separating them from the tan Sol and the dark skinned Astra. My people mostly live in the deserts west of the mountains, and the Astra fled to the forests soon after the Khryssan campaign.

 

She stirs slightly and I freeze, wondering if I should go and get an older healer. This is the first thing she's done since she got here.

 

When her eyes open, I know that there's no way to go get anyone now.

 

Because I can't move a muscle.

 

Where am I? a voice says in my head. I respond using my mind and she smiles weakly. You were the one that saved my life?

 

I nod and politely ask her to get out of my head, even though I want to scream at her like a child and run away. She obliges though, and I sigh in relief.

 

She sits up slowly, revealing her tattered clothing. I try not to stare, but I really can't help it - hey, I'm a sixteen year old guy! - and she's so unlike my people, yet so beautiful.

 

“What's your name?” she asks me unsteadily, speaking in a slight accent. I can easily tell that she's in pain as my healing powers reach out to her, but she seems to ignore her own pain.

 

“Sam,” I tell her as she looks around the hut with wide eyes. “My name's Sam.”

 

“Sam,” she repeats, playing with my name. She speaks my peoples' language more delicately, curling her tongue around R's and stressing T's and K's clearly. It's music to me; I don't know why, but I'm drawn to this girl. “My name's Freya,” she says.

 

I'm afraid to say her name when she stands and walks around the room, touching the herbs and animal pelts hanging around the room gently. I just know that I won't get her name right, and I have no intention of making a fool out of myself in front of her.

 

As if suddenly realizing that she's barely wearing anything, she pulls up the blanket that was wrapped around her earlier and sits down quickly, surprising me a little. It's easy to see the blush spread across her white face. “Do you have any clothes I can borrow?” she asks, grinning sheepishly. I jump up and walk to the door as I shake myself out of my trance, hasty to get out of the room.

 

“Yeah, wait a minute.”

 

As soon as I'm outside, I'm immediately breathing in the fresh air and soaking up the sun. I swear, she must have somehow made it colder in there.

 

May, the lead healer, walks over to me when she sees how I look, a frown on her face. The old woman is very wise, the priestess and ruler of the whole village and remaining Sol. Her brown eyes are filled with years and years of learning and experience as she looks into my green ones, most likely reading my thoughts.

 

“She's awake?” May asks, smiling a knowing smile at me. I'm a bit taken aback; even after seeing how terrified I am, she's smiling at me? She must know something I don't...just like usual. “Why are you so afraid?” she asks, laughter dancing on her lips.

 

What? Of course I'm afraid... “Well...she's Khryssan...powerful...” I stammer, confused. I'm scared out of my wits, and here's this old lady making fun of me?!?! That girl could kill any of the villagers in an instant if she wanted to.

 

“That's the thing,” May says, reading my thoughts again and beginning to lead me to her hut nearby. Huh...? We finish the walk there quickly and I sit down on a wooden chair in the hut, which smells strongly of herbs and is filled with incense smoke. “If she'd wanted to kill you, she would've already, right?”

 

She doesn't even give me a chance to consider as she starts pulling some winter clothes out of a chest and piling them in my lap. I blink; it's the middle of summer, and the dark brown wool clothes should be far too warm...

 

“Her skin is more sensitive to the sun,” May explains, topping off the growing pile of clothes with a long brown scarf. “She'll want to cover all of her skin so she doesn't burn. She's probably never been outside of the caves, from what I know of Khryssan culture.” I think to ask what she means, but she cuts me off. “You should ask her yourself. You know her name?”

 

“Freya,” I answer, stumbling over the pronunciation a little.

 

May nods, motioning me to the door. I struggle with picking up the pile of clothes as she rolls her eyes at me. When I finally get up, she pushes me towards the door, stopping me before I leave. “I've placed you in charge of the girl,” she says seriously, “Get her to change, then find her a place to stay. Show her around, and find out why she's here and what her past is like.”

 

“But May!” I say, catching the door before she shuts it in my face, “I'm...” I stop. I need to stop acting like a young boy! “I'm afraid. What if she tries to hurt someone in the village-“

 

May grabs my shoulders roughly, glaring at me. “Sam, you are about to come of age!” she says sharply, “You must get over your fears! You saved her life, and she is indebted to you until she returns the favor. Remember that!”

 

And with those words she pushes me on my way and slams the door shut.