Little Red Pixie
Part 4
The scorching heat of the desert they were walking through was burning their minds. Zedd drank the last drops of water but the group still had a few hours until sunset.
"Thirsty… Thirsty… Thirsty… Thirsty… Thirsty… Thirsty…"
"Cara, stop it!" shouted Richard who already had enough of the whining.
"Stop what?" The blue eyes met grey ones. She sounded so innocent that he was angry with himself to raising his voice at her.
"Cara, everyone's thirsty. If you say it 1,000 times, it won't rain anyway. It's a desert!" He said calmer this time.
"Did I say it out loud? I'm sorry. I didn't realize." She apologized.
The Mord'Sith looked like a nest-doll because Kahlan wrapped her in a long white cotton scarf to protect her face and body from the blazing sun. As stubborn as Cara was she had put up a fight until Richard warned her that she would never ever get back her agiels and would be thrown away from the Mord'Sith's kind.
The sun disappeared over the horizon when the child stumbled over again. The previous time Zedd had to heal some bruised knees and elbows. That's why Kahlan supported Cara as she held her by the hand. The landscape changed a bit. Here and there the wanderers ran into crooked, stunted trees and bushes. Little lizards and small crawling insects started to occur more often. The air became cooler but not much. The lack of water redounded to their exhaustion. Cara was going slower and slower. Together with the Mother Confessor they lagged far behind the two men. The Mord'Sith tripped again. So, Kahlan took the child into her arms.
"No, put me down. I'll walk!" The girl pronounced tiredly. She had a cobweb in her throat. So, the voice sounded weak and hoarse.
"Of course you will, but it'll be faster like this. Can you wrap your legs over my body? It would be much easier for me to hold you." For once Cara did as she was asked for without any comment or fighting. She snuggled over the Confessor's body, wrapped her small arms around Kahlan's neck and put her head on Kahlan's shoulder.
"Thank you!" She mumbled closing her eyes.
"Sleep! We have a long way ahead," said Kahlan softly into child's ear.
It was noisy in the tavern of a small village which they found a few hours later. Drunk men were singing an obscene song when Richard with Cara on his shoulder together with the Mother Confessor and wizard entered the tavern. The Mord'Sith woke up and rubbed eyes with her tiny fists trying to understand what was going on.
"Pretend that we are a family," Richard whispered into her ear putting her down near the counter which now seemed enormously big for a five-year old.
"Good evening, we are looking for shelter. Can we rent two rooms?" The Seeker put on the counter two silver coins. That was more than enough for the best rooms in this second rate inn.
"Dad, can I have some water, please!" begged Cara pulling his pant leg.
"And water, please, we haven't had a drop of water for the whole day," said Richard.
The owner looked at them suspiciously, asked some questions about their travel and told the servant to give water to the travelers.
The Mord'Sith drank a huge two-pint mug of water and then she asked for another Zedd mocked at her.
"Won't you explode if you drink one more?"
"Pour one more and stand back for me not to splash you with water if I explode," she answered giving him her mug.
The customers, who heard the dialogue, burst into laughter.
"You have a smart kid!" said one man tapping Richard on the shoulder. "Give these men something more refreshing than water!"
"Yeah, thanks. She's as witty as her great-grandpa." The Seeker smiled relieved that they were welcomed by these people with from all walks of life.
Kahlan was wrapped in a shawl and a slip-on long dress, so nobody could see the long hair of the Mother Confessor or the Mord'Sith's inappropriate dress with high-heeled boots that was hidden under the scarf. In this part of the world these were usual clothes for women. Nobody asked questions. The Seeker and the Wizard also were wearing baggy trousers and shirts made of linen which covered their arms till wrists. Zedd put an invisible spell on the Sword of Truth. So, all four looked like a travelling family.
The servant brought Richard and Zedd's backpacks into the room. They stayed with the merry crowd downstairs, while Kahlan and Cara went upstairs.
The moment the Mord'Sith entered the room and the door closed behind the servant, she took a stool with a basin for washing the face and dragged it somewhere.
"Hey, it's heavy! What do you want to do?" Kahlan asked watching Cara's hard work.
"This sand got into every curve of my body. I want to wash it away!" the child replied.
"It got into what?!" The Mother Confessor couldn't suppress a giggle.
"Don't make fun of the handicapped!" Cara said quite offended.
"Sorry, and you're not a handicapped!"
She helped the Mord'Sith to pour water from a huge pitcher into the basin, that now was standing on the floor behind the screen, which was unexpected to find in such a low class tavern.
"Do you want me to help you wash?" Kahlan asked when Cara returned behind the screen with a small piece of soap.
"I'm a child not a handless physically challenged!" The girl frowned.
"Fine," Kahlan rolled her eyes. "Tell me if you need to rub your back."
While the mother confessor was taking out some necessary things for the sleep, Cara was splashing behind the screen.
"Can you imagine I'm so minuscule that I can sit in this damn basin?" said a very dissatisfied Mord'Sith.
"Yes, and you can cozily sleep on my shoulder," she smiled at the memory even if it was hard for her to keep up with Richard and Zedd when she picked up Cara in her arms. The Seeker saw and helped her taking the little girl in his arms but it was nice to have a five-year old in her arms. The Confessor thought of her own children one day.
"I'm sorry. I've never thought that it is so hard to be a child. It's like at the beginning you have all energy in the world and in no time you can't stir a finger. I try to work more on my endurance," answered the child from behind the screen.
"Actually, you shouldn't. If I were you, I would enjoy every minute of being a child once again."
"Really? I'm tiny as a mouse, fat as a pig and weak as a kitten. What's so wonderful in it?"
"Everyone wants to protect you. You are the sweetest girl I've ever seen!"
"You are exaggerating! Besides, we are at war. The Imperial Order kills children. It doesn't protect anybody except of the monsters they call their people." Cara strongly disagreed.
"Anyway, I go bring some food and hurry up that servant with the hot bucket of water. I don't want to wash in cold water," said Kahlan and disappeared behind the door allowing Cara to enjoy her basin.
When she turned up in the room with a tray in her hands, the Confessor heard a splash of water so loud as if the whole ocean suddenly came into the room. It was followed by a suppressed giggle. The puddle on the floor that came from under the screen began to grow.
"What are you doing here?" Kahlan went behind the screen to find a very satisfied 5 year-old covered in soap foam. Cara was standing in the half-empty basin because a lot of water was already on the floor.
"Look!" the child said with a big smile and leaped up splashing the water on the screen, Kahlan, wall and finally the floor.
Probably, another time Kahlan would share this childish enthusiasm but she was exhausted and hungry. That's why Cara met a stern look on the Mother Confessor's face.
"You! Take a mop and I want to see this room cleaned in a short candle mark. Got it!" She snapped at the Mord'Sith.
"Party-poorer!" frowned the Mord'Sith but took a wiper, which Kahlan gave her, and started to wipe the water from the floor.
Richard came right in the middle of their late supper. Kahlan was sitting at the table eating the stew, while Cara was sitting with both legs on the chair only in her Mord'Sith's panties, which Zedd so wisely shrunk to fit her tiny figure, and she was eating the stew holding the wooden spoon in her small fist.
"Cara, would you mind to put something on?" The Seeker turned his back to women in a gentleman way.
"Why are you allowed to walk in the street shirtless but I'm not? I don't even have boobs now! So, I can dress how I want!" She said nonchalantly not giving a damn if the man was comfortable or not. "On top of that, my clothes don't fit anymore. Other things are dirty and Kahlan doesn't let me wash them. So, I have nothing to wear."
"Tell Zedd to shrink my night-robe for Cara. I hope I won't need it tonight," the Confessor said playfully to her husband putting the night-robe on his shoulder.
Richard sighed and went out to find the wizard.
Although the gown was too long, but it fit the Mord'Sith, who told Richard and Kahlan "Good night" and went to sleep in Zedd's room with two single beds.
The wizard was soundly asleep while Cara was tossing and turning because of the heat outside and inside the room. As she was wide awake, the child took out a horse from her backpack, went to the window, climbed on the window-sill and stared outside at stars playing with her only toy.
Zedd woke up somewhere at 3 a.m. in the morning from a strange sound of some sack falling down on the floor. Cara also woke up but the reason was different. She found herself on the floor face down and the right side of her body hurt. The wizard lit a candle with two fingers and looked on the floor.
"Fell down?" he asked.
"Yes," the child collected herself from the floor rubbing the bruised place on her body.
"Does it hurt?"
"I'm a Mord'Sith. I can bear some bruises." The girl answered bravely, nevertheless, her right arm hurt as hell.
"Let me see. This bed is quite high for a child of your complexion."
He scanned her with his magic and found just a small injury of the elbow. Zedd pronounced a spell and the pain disappeared.
"Thank you but it wasn't necessary," told Cara going back to her bed. She could hardly climb it. "I'd better sleep on the floor."
"You don't need too. Let's take these two chairs and put them next to the bed. If anything, you fall on them but their back will prevent you from going down."
She took one chair and the wizard put another one. Zedd helped her to climb on the bed.
"I'm pathetic." She muttered to herself but the wizard heard it.
"You know Richard also fell from the bed when he was your age. A lot of things are the same in childhood, adulthood or senility. We start to understand and respect something only when the perfect time has passed. So child, sleep tight. Tomorrow you'll have another amazing day full of adventures." He smiled at the Mord'Sith watching as she covered the sheet over her small body and closed her beautiful blue eyes.
To be continued…