When my focus isn't on Noriko any longer, my eyes scan as always to see what dangers may be here, what this forest holds that my senses may not catch. My eyes are immediately drawn to something that doesn't belong. There's a wagon wheel here, and not old or weathered. Used, yes.
I wonder where it came from and the wind teases me with the scent of blood. Not much blood, but enough to say something or someone is wounded. Blood is tangy, like it tastes, but in large quantities it is more than that. This is just the faint tang of wounding.
I follow the tang and the path of the wheel as it careened. A wisp of wind comes from behind me to reassure me Noriko is following me before I can even think the worry. It isn't too far to a clearing, a path through the woods enters it and leaves it, not well traveled.
On the opposite side is a tumbled wagon, with the horse still on the tongue. That's not good. It's already fought and become too tired and given up. Otherwise, it doesn't seem to be very wounded. It's the man who was thrown from the wagon when the wheel came off that is bleeding from wounds on his leg, one looking rather severe.
In my travels, both with the caravans and then as a wandering swordsman, I've of necessity learned how to take care of injuries. I don't have what I need. A month is too long for the herbs to keep their efficacy. I can find them in these woods, though.
First I need to know if he needs anything else. I put my hand to his throat. "Still breathing. Not much blood." Talking to myself is second nature now. It only happens out loud when I'm alone, and I suppose talking out loud will only help Noriko learn it herself. Perhaps I'm actually talking to her, although that's hard for me to believe when I realize I've been talking out loud at all.
I rise to my feet again, looking for Noriko. She's still at the entrance to the clearing. I tell her I'm going to go looking for herbs, but somehow she wasn't paying attention and she asks to hear it again. I point instead. Words aren't working at the moment for either one of us. We're both tiring.
She rolls the wagon wheel to rest it against the wagon, then walks to me, her brow furrowed. I'm in a hurry. I don't know how long this man has been here, or how he came to be this way, but it usually means bandits the way this reads to me. With signs, she asks me for water. I hand her the bag and tell her it's in there and head into the forest. The wind has brought me the scent of one of the herbs I need and it's rather distant. I don't want to be gone that long.
I've found that herb and harvested its berries when the wind from the clearing lets me know that Noriko said something. I sigh. I'd better find the last herb quickly, but I scented it on the way here. I get to it quickly. I barely have time to snatch it up before I hear her calling for me. The smell of a new stranger has come to me as well. I put on speed. Noriko's panic in her next call has me moving faster.
The blade in the hand of the new man, hovering over the wounded man, was the new scent of metal I'd smelled. Already moving fast, it's better to use my body than anything else at this time. I slam into the bandit's side and carry him along. I'm confused when he suddenly isn't there and I skid to a halt and look around, trying to find where he went.
Between Noriko and the wounded man, but on the far side of the clearing where I entered it the man with the sword reappears. He has an animal on his shoulder. I'm trying to remember where I've seen it before. They are rare, is all I can remember at first.
"You. You have a sword! Traveling warrior, eh?" he taunts me once he states the obvious. I ignore that part. Men like him aren't worth listening to. Only watching to see they don't do damage.
The wounded man is now also awake, and he reaches out for me. "H-help me. That guy is the head of a band of robbers. I ran into them last evening. They'd been robbing travelers. I got away but the wheel of my carriage came off." That's about what I expected. I'll protect him, but mostly because I need to protect Noriko, and because I might be able to be paid, which I also need.
"Ha ha haa," the robber chief laughs, sure of himself in this backwater place he's won for himself. "What are you going to do, help him? You're just a traveling warrior. You're no white knight. Or would you rather die here?"
I'm not eager to fight the man. He'll die in the end. "Not my lucky day. Why do I keep running into trouble?" I say as I draw my sword. To appear too eager to step in and I'll get less coin for my efforts. It's not like I want the bandit chief to remember me, either, if he should happen to get away.
"Ho ho ho! So you want to fight, eh?" No, I think I just obviously stated I didn't. His sword comes up bravely. "Even if you don't want to I'll kill you anyway because you made the mistake of striking me." The weak and cowardly always need words to work themselves up into the ability to fight with false strength. He comes at me sword raised, "You're gonna die, pal!"
With one defensive blow it is simple to knock the sword from his hands. It flies from his grasp, but he's disappeared again, reappearing next to his sword to pull it from the ground, my return blow held before it went through only the air. Again he must use brave words to recover. "You're not bad, eh? But no one ever bests me in sword fighting. They can't tell where I'm going to appear, freak out, lose their concentration, then die.
He disappears and the wind tells me he is reappearing behind me with an overhand strike. That was very predictable and my sword is already in place to deflect his blow before he strikes. I defend myself a few more times, using the wind to tell me where he is going to strike, and always it's predictable. I focus, preparing for the next blow and strike preemptively. I strike flesh and he's disappearing again.
He reappears in front of me to wobble and lose his sword again. He presses his hand to his wound at his side. "I don't believe it," he cries to himself. "How could anyone stab me?" He whines the same as those who must talk themselves up to fight. To pick up a sword is to be cut by one. They never seem to quite understand that when it finally happens to them.
I give chase and he leaves the sword behind to save himself. I'd like to get rid of him, but there's Noriko to think of and the wounded merchant. He can move just a little farther than I can catch up to unless I spend more energy than I want to. I've already spent a lot of energy in this one day. He does yell that he will have his revenge. I can ignore that also, at least for now. He'll need to recover first, and be bandaged. We won't want to dally, though.
Noriko passes me for the wounded man, saying words that approve of the result of the confrontation. I'm a little surprised she's not freaking out about my wounding another man, but she's focused, I see. She's already cut most of the pant leg off from around the wounds and has my water thermos in her hand. I wonder where she got the knife and wonder if I left a little too soon, but I'd needed mine for the herb harvesting. It's likely the merchant's knife.
I find a flat rock suitable to make the needed poultice. By then Noriko is done with putting the water on the smaller wounds so she can free the ruined cloth from them. She hands the water to the merchant and I hand him the berries. "Take these with the water. They will lower your fever," I tell him. "I'll make a poultice for the wounds." He complains to me that the bandit kicked him in the ribs and he may have broken one. I tell him to pull up his shirt so I can see.
I glance at Noriko's hands. She's carefully cutting the cloth from around the rest of the major wound on the leg. I begin to pound the herbs with the pommel of my knife, not having anything better to use. It was hard to find just the one rock in this woods. Rriiip ... rii-ip ... rii-ip. I glance over. Noriko has slit what cloth she's taken from the ruined pant leg and torn it into strips.
I approve. It's far better to use what you have than waste what wasn't necessary to waste. It's another sign she might be frugal, which is much better than the flighty nobles who spend without thought. I realize I forgot to ask her status in her home world, but perhaps that doesn't much matter now that she's here. Here, if she stays with me, she'll be poor unless I luck into good work.
The wounded man protests about the time I'm ready to tend to his ribs and I look again just in time to see Noriko giving him her stern scolding look that says, You're really going to wear these pants again? When that leg looks like that? I laugh silently, hiding it from both of them. It's funny to see someone else getting that kind of scold when it is so obvious, even to him once she's asked it. The untorn pant leg is also cut off and torn into strips.
I do have bandages in my bag, and there isn't enough cloth in his pant leg to tie the poulticed bandage around the merchant's middle, so I pull it out and wrap it around him. He's asking me about Noriko and I tell him what I told her to say. It's the only lie I could think of that would work.
As we left the caves, she stopped me and wrote in the dirt one more time, using her limited words. "Thank you, Izark. Thank you for [saving me today]. Thank you for [my life, and for tomorrow]." It was hard to return her gratitude at the last and I couldn't look at her, had to turn my back to her. She doesn't want to walk with me in my tomorrows. Later, I told her in pictures that she should never tell anyone about that day - how she came here, how we met - none of it. She should only say what I say to the merchant now.
"She's from a distant island, and doesn't know the language. I chanced on her in my wandering. Her family had all died and she was nearly dead herself, her clothing torn to shreds. I couldn't leave her in that state."
The merchant narrows his eyes at me. "Sounds fishy to me. I heard a slave trader say that some island girls he'd kidnapped had escaped. That was in the western city of Ginococo."
I give him a give it up look. "She lost her family. I don't know anything about a slaver. She's far too weak to escape from one of those. ...Unless that man was very stupid." I don't like slavers. His assumption has made me angry, even if it is another acceptable one to explain her presence by my side.
Noriko calls to me. I'm done wrapping his side so I turn to look. She's placed poulticed bandaging on the smaller wounds, wrapping cloth around his leg and tying the ends with a strange knot, rather than tucking in the ends in the manner we do here. I look at that, curious, but leave it. An island girl might have a different way to tie things, given they understand ships.
Noriko points to each of the wounds, starting with the small ones and ending with the large unpoulticed one. "Noriko [yes, yes, yes, yes], Noriko [no]."
I nod and move to take her place. She hands me the large bandage she has prepared but I hold up a hand to stall her and ask the merchant for the water bottle. There's just enough in it to soak the cloth she left in the wound. Another intelligent act. She understands basic wound dressing, but perhaps isn't sure in this place for the deeper wounds that might be more trouble. I pour water on the cloth to saturate it. It will need to come out later and wet will make that happen better than dried.
I ask for the dressing and she hands it to me. I put the last of the poultice on it and hold it in place. I hold out my hand again and she hands me the cloth to wrap around the bandaging. I tie it on, tucking the ends in. So far the bandit hasn't sent any more men to find us, but we need to be moving.
Once again Noriko has been helpful in both accomplishing the work that needs to be done without being asked, and in seeing we move along expeditiously. I like having someone with me who can be a partner in those kinds of things. Many people I protect are merely heavy flesh to drag behind me. "Thank you, Noriko."
"[You're welcome,]" she answers in her own language.
I stop and stare at her a little. I'm surprised she did. She's heard it enough from my own lips to know it by know. I say it slower to make sure she's heard all of the syllables correctly, "You're wel-come."
Noriko shakes her head firmly and uses her own words to declare she can't say it, and says it again in her own language. I raise my eyebrow at her, but leave it be. Perhaps there are some sounds that she never learned to say properly. And maybe she needs more courage to try those. I've learned her way of saying it now, so we'll properly communicate at least that much. I suppose that's a good place to start - with kind gratitude.
Noriko asks about the water thermos. I shake my head at her. I didn't find an easy water source, it's all gone, and will have to stay that way for now. We need to go. She puts it in my bag.
"I'll get your horse up and your wagon fixed, then we should be on the road," I say to the merchant, rising to my feet again. Noriko watches me as I move over to check on the horse. I wake it up and promise that it will be freed of the wagon once we reach safety. It's glad to have someone who can reassure it, and it likes the promise enough to help me get it and the wagon righted.
Noriko has talked to the merchant while I've done that. As I put the wagon wheel back on the wagon, she hands the knife in her hands back to the merchant and he puts it away. I return to pick up the merchant who shouldn't be walking on his leg just yet. As I head for the back of the wagon, Noriko jumps up into it, having to scramble a bit because she's short. She helps me get the merchant into the wagon, but I didn't need that help. I look at her, confused as to why she would have helped with that.
She looks at me with an exasperated look and that makes it worse. What have I done? She hops out of the wagon and drags me far enough away from the man we can talk privately. She bends down and draws, once again simple shapes and simple words until we have an understanding. Yes, I do want to hide my extra strength from him and any man. But, I didn't use that, did I?
She begs to differ. She pantomimes that the man is heavy, then points to me, pretends to pick up the man lightly and even tosses him into the air as if he would weigh nothing. I drop into a crouch and cover my hidden face with a hand. It's very hard to keep the laughter silent this time. That looked so funny. I wouldn't have thought it was such a large difference. The logs to make the raft were much heavier.
I draw the wagon and point to the picture of the man and pantomime that Noriko helped me to make it not so obvious. When she's learned the words for "helped", "hide", and "strength", she uses them in a correct sentence, though slightly odd in word order, to say that, yes, she was helping me hide. I smile at her and thank her. Even in this she's been thinking of me.
That makes me both uncomfortable and pleased again. Uncomfortable because I don't trust her motives as to why she would help me hide. Pleased because I don't have others doing kind things for me often. It's hard to not want that sort of thoughtfulness directed my way.
I set them aside yet again. There's still a lot of learning and observing I'll be doing to understand the Awakening named Noriko. For now, she is a kind, thoughtful girl with great intelligence, and a lot of fear buried underneath it all. We are still similar.
