Chapter 3
Red woke up to the smell of fresh bed linen. She had almost forgotten what that smelled like. She lay with her eyes closed for a minute, taking in the scent. There was a hint of beer in the air too and some kind of stew. Where was she?
She felt reluctant to open her eyes. Apart from the feeling of lying in a clean bed for once, she felt awful. Her head ached, her whole body felt too warm and too cold at the same time and it burned in her side. And she was so tired. The exhaustion seemed to reach into her soul. She felt drained to the core.
Then it all came back to her. The hunter. The full moon. The torn hood.
She jolted up from the bed, but only got halfway before falling back down, too dizzy to see straight. God, it had been close. She had taken a critical blow to the side, she could feel that. She lifted the crème colored covers to get a look at her injuries. The one on her arm was almost gone, only a thin pink line was left. It would become a thin white scar in a matter of a few days. The flesh wound in her side was a different story. It had been bandaged, but something was still oozing out of it, coloring the gaze with a disgusting shade of yellow. It burned like hell. There must still be silver in there.
She also noticed that her clothes had been changed. The girl must have switched it for whatever tiny shred of clothing had been left after her turn.
Red closed her eyes again and tried to remember. The hunter had torn her hood and she had turned for the first time in two years. She had killed him. She couldn't remember doing it, but she knew she had. Then she had woken up in the forest, covered in both their blood. She had been feverish then. It was difficult to remember, like it was all happening in a dream, but she had found the hood and some of the hunter's clothes along with what was left of her own. She had stumbled through the forest. Then she met… some girl. This she could barely recall. She had been so sick. The girl didn't know of her. She went for help. She hid the hood. Where was the hood now? At this thought Red forced herself to open her eyes again and take a look around. Nothing would stand still and trying to focus made her nauseous. The room was small she could tell. There was a madras on the floor and a small table with a chair. Beside her bed was a bucket of water with a sponge floating around on top. A small window was letting in fresh air.
Where the hell was she?
A creaking sound coming from the door made her eyes snap up to it. Slowly the door opened and a girl came in. Through her blurry vision Red recognized her as the girl she had met in the forest, before passing out. The girl looked right at her. She was pretty. Red couldn't keep focus long enough to discover any more details. She let her eyes close again and listened to the sound of the girl's footsteps coming closer to the bed. The door was shut.
"Are you awake?" She asked in a soft voice. She had an accent, so she must be from a different kingdom. Of course they were far from Red's own home, so for all she knew that could be a normal accent around here.
Red didn't answer her. The girl drew a light sigh and Red felt her sit down just beside her. There was a cool hand on her forehead and she sighed internally. The girl's skin was soft. There was a sound of water, probably from the bucket beside her and the sponge replaced the hand. The cool water felt so unbelievably good and Red settled for just enjoying this. The girl obviously didn't know her. If she did, she wouldn't be this nice. It was a pleasant turn of events at least for now. The longer she could go on pretending to be asleep or at least too weak to talk, the longer she could avoid what always happened. The recognition. The hunting.
The girl continued to cool her down, moving the sponge down her arms as well. It went on for a couple of minutes before the sponge abandoned her skin and dropped into the water again.
"If you're awake", the girl whispered. "I'm letting you know that I just have to check your bandages." Movement. Then the covers were removed and Red felt a chill as the breeze coming from the window touched the parts of her body that was now uncovered.
She heard a sigh. "I have to change these again. I'll be back in a minute." Footsteps towards the door and then silence. Judging from the shade of yellow she had seen before, her wound was still inflamed. It would continue to be until she could get out whatever remains of silver was left in there, which was preventing her natural quick healing. She would have to do something about that. Preferably when this sweet girl wasn't looking. She was a brunette, Red remembered. That was about the only thing she could recall from the few feverish glimpses she had had of her. Thick dark brown hair that framed her face. She had a hard time remembering what her face looked like.
Just then the door opened again and the light footsteps returned.
Her voice sounded close to Red's face when she said: "I'll just change them quickly. It might hurt. I'll try to be careful."
A sharp pain coursed through Red's system as soon as the girl touched her. She kept a straight face and clenched her teeth together, while silently thanking her unnatural high threshold for pain. Otherwise, this would have been torture. The girl was quick. Red's skin was uncovered for only a short while before new gaze was wrapped around her. She felt the girl lifting up her midsection to get the gaze around her, but did nothing to help, as she was pretending to be asleep. Despite the pain it was nice though. She couldn't remember the last time someone had treated her this kindly.
"There. All done. I have to get back to work, but I put a piece of bread on the table for you. I'll come back later."
She pulled the covers back over Red's body and left the room. Red smiled internally and drifted back into sleep.
When Red woke up again the room had gone darker. She didn't feel one bit better from last time she woke, but she hadn't expected to. The silver was still in there.
She wasn't alone this time. The girl was sitting at the table, reading something. At the muffled groan Red let out, she turned her head and looked at her. For a moment they looked at each other. Her eyes were blue, Red noticed. Then the girl smiled.
"Hi", she said.
Red's throat felt slightly swelled and irritated so she settled for a nod.
"How are you feeling? Better?"
Red felt bad about lying, so she nodded a little. At that the girl smiled again. In the dim light from the lamp on table Red had a chance to really see her face. She had a sort of round face and her skin was a light tone, maybe not as much as her own but still. There was a hint of dimples, when she smiled and her eyes were kind.
"Good", she said and turned around in her chair to face Red. "I'm Belle. What's your name?"
Red opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again almost immediately. It was nice for once that someone didn't know who she was. What she was. She wished to keep it that way for as long as she could. The girl, Belle, seemed to understand.
"Okay. Well, you need to eat something. I had the cook put aside a bowl of soup for you. I'll go get it for you."
Red nodded and smiled gratefully, however vague the movement of her lips was. She felt horrible for denying her sweet caretaker a request as simple as giving up her name, but it would be the end of this blissful intervening time in between running.
She came back with a small bowl of something that smelled… well better than most things she ate, but sort of thin. She would take it though. She needed nutrition.
"You are going to have to sit up", she said as she put down the bowl on the table to close the door again.
This would be a problem. Red got up on her elbows and tried to pull herself up on the pillow, but the excruciating pain from the wound in her side made her fall right back on the pillow with a gasp. She needed that damn thing out.
Belle looked worried. "Let me see the wound again. Hold still." She got up and pulled the covers off Red again. From here Red could see the inflammation still oozing out of the wound to moisten the gaze. "Maybe we should change these first, what do you say?"
Red nodded. God, please do.
Belle nodded back and started to unwrap her. As soon as it was off, Belle left to get fresh ones with a "Hold still, I'll be right back."
This was her chance.
Red felt her way towards the injury with her fingers and when she reached it she stopped for a moment, clenched her teeth and prepared herself. Then she dug her fingers in. The pain was so intense she felt like throwing up. With everything in the room spinning out of focus, she dug deeper into the bleeding hole in her side, just above the hip, until she felt the metal burning the tips of her fingers. With a scream just barely suppressed in her throat, she closed three fingers around the splinter and started pulling it out. She could feel it burning the inside of her flesh all the way out to the surface and melting off a few layers of skin on her fingers as well. She gasped as the damned piece of silver finally exited her body and she threw it down at the foot of the bed. She could already hear light footsteps coming from the hall. She tried to wipe her fingers in the linen and fell back on her pillow, fighting the tears and the blackening of her vision, just as Belle reentered.
Red avoided her eyes and hid her right hand, as Belle bent down to redress her in bandage. Belle stopped halfway and Red prayed she wouldn't notice. It would be hard to explain.
"The wound broke up again. I told you to hold still", she said in a voice that was slightly chiding, but far from angry. Red said nothing and Belle wrapped the bandage around the wound again with careful fingers. "There. All done", she then said, just like last time. There was something adorable about that.
She pulled back and retrieved the bowl of soup.
"Can you sit up now, you think?"
Red wasn't sure, but at least there wouldn't be silver burning inside her whenever she moved now. She tried. As the fever and most of the pain from the screaming nerves inside her wound was still there, she found it difficult and settled for staying partially upright, leaning against the wall.
"Maybe I should just hold this. If that's okay with you?"
Red felt a prickle of injury to her pride at being fed, but the choice came down to being fed or risking passing out, while trying to eat by herself. Not to mention risking exposing her hand, which she had kept beneath the covers.
She nodded and let Belle lead the spoon to her mouth.
However unsolid it was nice to finally get food in her system. She smiled welcoming at Belle, who kept the soup coming. While eating Red looked around the room. Belle seemed to catch that.
"We're in a tavern. I had help from a few men working here with getting you in here from the forest where I found you. You were out for almost two days. I hope you get better soon, but don't worry. Take the time you need." She lifted the spoon to her mouth one more time before adding, in a lower voice like when speaking of a secret. "And your hood is safely hidden."
Red smiled again, grateful beyond words, which was fine since she had no intention of speaking soon anyway. She wondered though. The men that Belle had helping her didn't recognize her either. Maybe rumors hadn't travelled here yet. It was a pleasing thought. Feeling an ounce of relief, Red ate her soup and thought to herself that she could get used to this.
