Life Redux
Lexi gasped and opened her eyes.
Puffy white clouds, blue sky and…silence. That was her first hint.
Lexi coughed. Her chest felt heavy, liquid-like, a similar feeling to the time she had pneumonia. She coughed again and felt water run down her chin. She reached up to wipe it off her face only to have a bloody hand enter her field of view.
"What the…."
She struggled painfully onto her elbows, her chest and abdomen were on fire. She looked down, shocked at the amount of blood that covered her chest.
Movement on the edge of her vision.
Lexi turned her head to see an old man, in a big grey hat and dress?! He looked as flabbergasted as she felt.
Another flare of pain shot through her.
It was all she could do to whisper "Help…me…" before her elbows gave out and she resumed pondering how pretty the sky was again.
The old man got in the way of her view.
"Trahalive è pratnüe vardue" he said in a kindly and reassuring voice. "Cartinlan doan fâverka å stuergatt". *
Lexi just stared. Maybe it was the pain affecting her brain, but she couldn't place the language. Maybe it was some colloquial form of Norwegian? She was a linguist for gosh sakes, she should be able to place it.
A frisson of fear shot through her as another spasm of pain wiped all thoughts from her mind.
The old man leaned over and picked her up.
The pain was unbearable and Lexi sunk into blackness again.
Lexi opened her eyes. Was she dead?
Panic shot through her as she took in her surroundings. Nothing was familiar to her. Nothing.
She was lying in a bed, in an unfamiliar room.
Bile rose in her throat. She cast around for something to throw up in. There was a basin on the side table to the bed she was in. She emptied her stomach into it, not that there was much to bring up.
Her abdomen was agony.
She flopped back down on the bed, weakly cradling the basin beside her. She was sweating profusely but terribly cold at the same time. Her teeth chattered.
The door to her room opened and a whole retinue of people followed in a tall, stately looking, long- haired man, with a crown of sorts on his head. The old man, bareheaded was with him.
The regal man glided over to her, sat on the edge of her bed and placed a hand on her forehead.
Unable to do anything but watch him, Lexi did just that.
He spoke sharply over his should to his entourage. "Tula sa asor" **
He turned back and continued to speak quietly and kindly to her in what was, quite frankly, one of the most beautiful languages she had ever heard. If only she could recognize it.
By the manner of their dress, she thought it might be a derivative of Turkish-Azerbaijani, but again, she couldn't seem to understand in at all.
He reached out to brush the hair back from her forehead and she took the opportunity to grasp his hand with one of hers and say, "Thank you".
He looked at her curiously and then glanced at the old man. Looking back at her, he asked her what seemed to be a question in his musical language.
"I'm sorry." Lexi whispered, "I don't understand what you're saying, but you seem to be helping me and for that I am grateful."
The kingly man quirked and eyebrow and looked back at the old man once again. No one seemed to know what to say.
The door opened again and a tall slim woman, with dark hair to her waist glided into the room with a tray of bottles and instruments.
The lordly man gave Lexi one more long look and then ceded his seat to the woman. She immediately felt Lexi's forehead and started measuring out quantities of liquids into a cup. She held it up to Lexi's lips and held her head while she drank it down.
The effects of the draught were almost immediate.
Lexi's pain lessoned; she felt warmer and drowsy. She drifted off to sleep.
* Be at peace little one. I will take you to a healer
** Fetch the healer