Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Patricia ❯ Healing ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

Healing

 

 

Patricia was just checking over the last one when two men came stumping in, supporting the man she had seen the night before between them. Two more men came in after them.

 

“Patricia,” Kelly called getting her attention as they laid the tan skinned man out on an empty medical cot. Patricia looked up from her patient and took in his battered appearance and swordless sheath. She straightened and headed for where they kept the medical supplies.

 

“What happened?” she asked as she gathered bandages, disinfectant, and a knife before quickly walking to the man's side. “Well?”

 

“Swordfight,” one of the guards grunted reluctantly. “He slipped away from us and got into a swordfight with Yuntuan, who gladly took advantage of the situation and his better skill.”

 

Patricia handed the supplies over to Kelly and the white-haired healer as Yuntuan came in, supported by his guard. Kelly was more terrified of the second in command than Emir himself and the white-haired healer was scornful of everyone that was alive, so that left her to deal with him.

 

She directed the guard to set him on a cot three down from the tan skinned man and again collected the necessary supplies. Yuntuan sat on the edge of the cot and rolled up the leg of his breeches to reveal a deep gash in his left calf muscle. Patricia knelt next to him and swabbed the gash with disinfectant, making him hiss in pain.

 

She ignored his angry sounds and threaded the needle she had brought with her with thread and sewed up the wound. Halfway through, he jerked away with a yell of pain, the needle in her hand was yanked from her grasp and fell into the wound itself. Patricia let out a fluent string of curses at his stupidity and picked up the knife that was lying at her feet.

 

After disinfecting it she carefully placed it into the open wound and began the careful retrieval of the needle. “Jerk away from this knife and it'll slice your calf muscle even further, rendering you incapable of ever fighting again,” she warned him coldly.

 

Once she was finished stitching the wound she got up to rinse the blood off her hands when she caught Kelly's words. “The chest wound is too deep, we can't save him.” She abruptly changed directions just as one of his guards snapped, “If you don't want to die, you will find a way to save him. He is the crown prince.”

 

“Back off. No one's going to die here today,” Patricia said coolly. She took Kelly by the shoulder and moved her to the side. Six pair of eyes watched her as she stood next to the prince's cot and paused a moment.

 

Never before had she revealed her natural abilities, but now was as a good a time as any. She raised her hands over his exposed chest wound and let them hover there a moment before they emitted a strange, gold glow. As she moved her hands over the wound, the skin knitted together leaving it flawless and unmarred except for the blood that had seeped from it not so long ago.

 

When she was done, the guards shoved her aside to take a look at their prince and make sure that he was just fine. Patricia was sent reeling into Kelly, sweat dripping from her bare arms and forehead. Kelly caught her just as she fainted.

 

* * *

 

When she next opened her eyes it was sometime in the late afternoon and Emir stood over her, a frown creasing his lips. “Whatever you did saved the prince. What happened?” he asked her.

 

“I healed him,” Patricia said, scowling up at him. It felt as though someone had beaten her with a lead pipe for six hours nonstop. She groaned as she sat up against the cool wall of her personal chambers.

 

“You're a harem woman, then?” he asked, his eyes taking in her chambers.

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“It's fairly obvious from the way you walk around with no weapon and the makeup on that stand,” he commented, ignoring her question. “I understand that you came to this place three years ago. Each girl that Yuntuan brings in I have to approve of. When he brought you in he said that you would strictly be a healer, not a harem woman.”

 

“What did he say that the twin girls that came in with William would be?” Patricia asked sharply, even as the world swayed dangerously around her.

 

Emir raised an eyebrow at her question, but answered, “A cook and a healer. Why?”

 

“Kira is a cook, but Kyra is a harem girl. She's never been anywhere near the healer's tent, I would've known,” Patricia said coldly. “You never look into it, do you?”

 

“No. Why should I? I'm the one that made Yuntuan second in command of the army, so if he were doing something unethical, that would tarnish my reputation,” Emir said tartly. Patricia opened her mouth to retort, but he added, “But that doesn't mean that I warrant the use of young girls in the harem. I just wanted to find out the actual story before I challenged him. We're both wounded, so it'll even the tables. As for the unwilling harem girls, they'll be allowed to go free, no debts attached.”

 

Patricia sat there for a moment she let his words sink in. Relief washed over her in waves, her sisters would be allowed to go free and she wouldn't have to put up with nightly rounds of males anymore.

 

“If you challenge him, I'll stab you in the heel when you come in to be patched up. That wound needs to heal, and if you push it any farther, you won't be captain of the army much longer. That muscle will rip and I won't be able to fix it, even with my natural abilities,” Patricia said with a skeptical smile.

 

Emir half smiled back at her. He stood and dusted invisible dust from his breeches. “I'll make you a deal. I challenge him and then when I come in to be patched up, you don't stab me in the heel or let Kelly treat me and I'll stay off my feet for any amount of time that you request of me.”

 

“I'm still gonna stab you in the heel if you challenge him. At least wait a week for it to heal, if you insist on challenging him in your condition,” Patricia tried to reason with him.

 

“No, it has to be tomorrow,” Emir said stubbornly. He looked up out the window over her bed. “It has to be tomorrow or never. You'll understand why after everything is over with.”

 

As he was about to leave out the door Patricia ventured one last question. “How's the prince doing?” She tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible, with little success.

 

Emir glanced back at her worried face. “He's sleeping right now. You should get some more rest and eat when dinner comes around.” Then he left.

 

Patricia sighed with relief. She hadn't been so sure that her abilities would be enough to save him, with as deep a wound as he had had, but it had all worked out and she was glad for it. Sleep settled over her like a cloak.

 

* * *

 

When she next opened her eyes, it was dark outside her window and well past dinnertime. She sat up and immediately fell back onto her pillow, her head spinning. She had used more strength than she had had to heal the prince, depleting the reserves that she had built up over three years of inactivity.

 

Patricia allowed her body to rest a moment longer before she again tried to get up. She got to her feet and slowly rose from her bed, only to have the floor lurch beneath her and send her flying into the opposite wall.

 

After a few minutes of stumbling around, she managed to get to the door and pull it open. She made it to the mess hall after a few minutes of stumbling around like a drunk that had had three too many drinks.

 

Patricia paused at the door flap to wipe the sweat from her brow. There were still some people in the mess hall, the ones that had missed dinner due to sentry duty, and they all turned to stare at her: News of her healing abilities had spread through the camp like a roach infestation.

 

No one spoke a word as she made her way over to serving counter where the cold leftovers sat out for any late night snackers. She swayed slightly as she loaded an empty tray with cold turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and a whole bunch of other foods that would help her to regain her strength for the next day.

 

When she sat down at the nearest table, some of the other women that she was familiar with and that had stayed up late that night joined her. “Captain Emir disbanded the harem today, did you know?” Trice asked her calmly. She looked at Patricia as though she were seeing her clearly for the first time.

 

“I knew he was going to do something, but I didn't think it would be that extreme,” Patricia said as she chewed thoughtfully on her chicken. “Has he challenged Yuntuan yet?”

 

“No, why would he? He's the one that appointed Yuntuan as his second in command, so challenging him would put a mar on his reputation as being able to choose competent leaders,” Helen said placidly. “Is something going to happen, Patricia?”

 

Patricia's eyes flicked up to the brunette's for a brief moment before she continued eating in silence. With every bite the world got clearer and stopped spinning around her.

 

“Why didn't you tell us you could heal like that?” a third asked.

 

“Yeah, what she said,” Helen griped and the other two girls besides Trice agreed. Trice just watched her silently.

 

Patricia resisted the urge to roll her eyes, barely. “If I had told I would have been asked to heal every scrape, cut, and bruise that came my way and I don't have that kind of strength, so I didn't tell anyone. Earlier was an exception,” she muttered.

 

“Why? Because he was the crown prince or Kelly's life was in danger?” Trice asked quietly.

 

Patricia looked coldly at the five women around her, as she said, “Neither, I would have done it for anyone else whose life was in danger.” That shut them up, allowing her to finish her dinner in relative peace.