four
Numair was a lot heavier than he looked, and given his height he looked heavy enough as it was. Daine grunted in a most unladylike way as she helped Onua, struggling to drag the unconscious man upright so they could sling his arms across their shoulders.
"This," Onua gasped, struggling for breath, "this isn't going to work. At all."
Daine, her arms straining in protest and fingers clutching desperately at a sweater that wouldn't stay still, agreed very readily. The man was simply too big and too heavy for two short women. Carting hay bales around and man-handling animals had given Daine strength, but even she wasn't Superwoman by any stretch of the imagination.
"God, I wish Stefan was here," Onua muttered darkly. "This man weighs a ton."
"What if we get him on a pony?" Daine suggested.
Onua grinned almost wickedly. "That is the best idea I've heard all day."
"I'll get Cloud; she's a bit steadier than the others."
Cloud, Daine's ally and companion for years, flicked back her ears and snorted with disgust, obviously not impressed about having to carry so large a burden. "It's only a short work, Cloud, I wouldn't ask you to do it otherwise," Daine reassured the mare, scratching gently under her chin.
By the time Daine had the mare out of the corral and standing impatiently beside Onua, Numair had started to moan and mumble from his position on the ground.
"Shouldn't we call a doctor?" Daine asked hesitantly, looking down at the man in question.
Onua shrugged. "I doubt one little bump could get through his skull to cause any serious damage to anything that might be important in there."
Daine privately thought any bump on the head was something to worry about, but it wasn't her place to argue with Onua. So she turned her concern toward getting Numair onto her pony's back – something she hadn't actually considered when she'd had her brilliant idea.
"How are we going to get him on Cloud?" Daine questioned.
Numair, as though aware of her dilemma, gave a long, loud moan and flopped weakly on the floor.
Onua nudged him with her foot. "Give it a few more minutes; he's starting to come round. All we have to do is help him onboard then – I'm not dragging him all the way back to the house."
Sure enough, Numair opened his eyes and moaned again, before letting his lids droop once again. Daine was beginning to suspect the moans were affected and the dramatics a ploy.
"Numair? How do you feel?" Onua asked, crouching beside him and patting his cheek.
He muttered something unintelligible and flailed around randomly with one of his hands.
"Come on, let's get you up and back to the house," Onua said gruffly, catching the flailing limb. "Give me a hand, Daine."
Semi-conscious, Numair was significantly easier to man-handle than he was when completely unconscious – instead of being like a heavy piece of spaghetti he now had some control over his limbs, even though he lacked co-ordination.
It took a lot of effort (and coaxing on Daine's behalf to keep Cloud standing still), but eventually they had Numair sprawled over Cloud's back like a heavy sack of potatoes. Daine looked at the spectacle, observing the tall man's feet almost dangled on the ground on one side, while he long arms almost trailed in the dirt on the other.
"Thank goodness the ride is a short one. I feel sorry for your Cloud," Onua remarked.
"She's sturdy," Daine returned, starting up the track to the house, "and if she decides he's too heavy, I bet you she'll dump him."
---
By the time they had Numair settled on the couch (Onua had informed Daine she wasn't even going to consider attempting the stairs with the man), Daine's arm felt like Jello and she was very happy to agree with Onua.
Numair himself had been mumbling strange, incoherent sentences since they loaded him onto Cloud's back. When they'd dragged him inside, to his credit he'd attempted to walk, but the strange, staggering action of his legs had not helped them at all and before they'd even gotten up onto the deck his head had dropped forward and he became a dead weight in their arms. Thankfully they already had him weighted on their shoulders, and it was only a matter of grunting and dragging for a few more feet before dumping him onto the couch.
"I'll see to Cloud," Onua informed her after they accomplished their task. "You can look after him."
Daine wanted to argue – Cloud wasn't too good with strangers and didn't like anyone other than Daine looking after her – but something in Onua's tone brooked no argument. Numair, she realised with dismay, was going to be her concern until he was better.
Onua left to see to Cloud, leaving Daine alone in the room with the strange man on the couch. She wondered why Onua was reluctant to call a doctor – head injuries were fairly serious. Daine's ma, a regional nurse, had explained to her that it could seem as though nothing was wrong for a while after a bump to the head, but if the brain got bruised it got worse and worse until the person suddenly turned for the worse. When that happened, Sarra had said, there wasn't much chance to help unless they got seen to real quick.
With that small bit of knowledge tucked in her mind, Daine decided she better examine Numair, just in case his head was hurt worse than Onua thought.
Daine ran her hands carefully through his hair, trying not to think about how silky the long strands felt between her fingers. She found a large bump on the back at the right, and tested it gently with her fingers. No blood; only a hard knot that felt like a regular bump.
She was perched on the edge of the couch, her hip squashed against his chest with her arms around his neck as she examined his head, when his eyes fluttered open again. They were beautiful eyes, Daine thought dreamily, beautiful dark eyes with thick long lashes, and they were very, very close to her own.
"Well," he murmured, "this is nice."
Daine jerked away from him, her hand accidentally knocking the bump on his head. He winced in pain and twisted away from her hands, scrunching his eyes shut in agony.
"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry!" she babbled, fluttering her hands uselessly about his shoulders. "Are you okay? Mister Numair?"
"Fine," he managed, groaning a little. "It was just unexpected."
"I'm sorry," she murmured again. Unbidden her fingers reached for his forehead; it felt cool and slightly damp beneath her touch. She pushed a stray lock of coal black hair back and realised what she was doing.
"Don't stop," he said, his eyes still closed, "it feels nice."
She raised her eyebrows. "I think that bump on your head damaged something," she told him tartly.
"Only my pride," he confessed, a small smile curling his lips.
"You're lucky you didn't damage the chicken. Onua wouldn't have been happy at all."
"I don't think Onua likes me very much."
Daine touched his forehead again, refusing to let her fingers linger. "I'm going to get you a drink of water. Lie still for a bit."
"I'm fine," he disagreed, opening his eyes and looking up at her.
"Lie still," she said again, firmly. "I'll be right back."
She'd barely taken four steps away from the couch when she heard the distinctive sound of movement behind her. She turned back around in time to see Numair rise to his feet, turn a strange shade of pale, and promptly collapse to the ground in a muddle of arms and legs and coal black hair.
"I told you to stay still," she sighed.
He groaned. "I did stay still, but the world didn't listen, Daine. The ground threw me."
A smile tugged at her lips as she moved back to help him. "And next you'll be telling me a chicken attacked you."
"A chicken did attack me!"
---
Dinner was a simple meal; while Onua was talented with horses and kept things clean and neat, Daine realised that cooking was not high on the woman's list of priorities. They ate in companionable silence, both Daine and Onua tired from their day's labour with the horses.
"I wanted to say thank you," Onua said suddenly, her voice low so she didn't disturb the sleeping Numair in the sitting room next door.
"For what?" Daine asked, surprised.
"Your help today. I told you I don't normally like people helping me with the ponies until they're trained the way I like them. You handle the animals well, and you teach them the way I like. You're making my life a lot easier," the woman smiled.
Daine blushed with pleasure, and put her knife and fork together on her empty plate. "It's a pleasure," she said shyly. "And thank you for hiring me; not many people would at my age."
Onua regarded Daine thoughtfully. "I wasn't going to hire you, you know – age can be a prejudice."
Daine smiled as she scratched Tahoi behind his ears. "But you did hire me, so it doesn't matter."
"Right, well, last chores for the night. One of us gets to clean the kitchen, the other gets to tend His Highness in there." Onua jerked her head toward the sitting room, a look of distaste on her dark features.
"Why don't you like him, Onua, and if you don't like him, why's he staying here?"
"It's a favour for a friend who I owe a lot too," Onua said simply. "And he's an arrogant, self centred male. I'd be willing to bet he's a ladies man too, plays them the way a cat plays with a mouse. Mark my words, Daine, that man is trouble. Now, do you want to do the dishes, or do you want to have another round with him?"
Daine privately thought the dishes would be more work, but going by the look on Onua's face the woman would rather wash and dry than spend more time in Numair's company.
"I'll see to Numair," she said after a final scratch for Tahoi. "He's not that bad, Onua."
Onua raised an eyebrow. "He's almost twice your age, Daine, don't you go falling for him."
Daine knew her red hot cheeks gave her away, but she jutted her chin out stubbornly. "I don't plan on falling in love with anyone just yet, Onua. I'm too young for that sort of thing."
An odd smile touched Onua's lips. "You're not a bad kid, Daine. If he gets out of hand just tell him you'll fetch in one of the chickens."
"I heard that!" a loud voice bellowed from the sitting room. "And I'm not afraid of chickens."
Onua grinned. "At least it won't be dull with him around."
"Let's introduce him to the cows tomorrow," Daine whispered, delighted to see a wicked smile of appreciation curve Onua's lips into a grin.
---
I probably won't be updating as frequently as I have been in the next few days – I have several major exams coming up and I would like to actually pass this year! Still, knowing my ability to ignore study and write fic, particularly during swatvac, there probably will be several more updates for a while yet. Just warning you all in advance!
And thanks for all the reviews – I'm a little ashamed to admit I sit at the computer and red them as they come! They're definitely a useful distraction against study and make my day a little brighter.
Cheers,
Sil