The next sensation I was aware of – and only vaguely – was that of being lifted and carried. For what seemed a long time afterwards, my mind was filled with strange and terrible whispers, horrible shapes and colors pulsing in the darkness at the corners of my eyes. And also the steady, terrible agony in my side.

That seemed to last forever, or at least a goodly portion of forever, before I came back to the real world, and even then I was hanging on to that world by a mere thread.

I felt myself enfolded by softness. A bed. I was lying in a bed. I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids refused to obey me. I felt panicked, and tried again, but all my strength could not move them. I have read and heard of people saying that they were so weak they could barely move. Not until then did I realize how horrible that was – how your own body can become a prison to you.

I heard the sound of a door opening, and very light footsteps. Then there was a voice.

"You have not slept in two days. You should rrest."

"No, thank you." Jack's voice! He was alive! I felt my heart soar. At least something was right with the world.

"I don't think you will see herr wake, sirr. It is amazing that she has lived so long as it is."

"She will live. She will wake up." I'm awake, I wanted to say, but the muscles of my throat barely tightened.

"I would not get my hopes up if I werre you. I am sorrry. I too rregrret it, forr she saved my kitten's life, but this infection is beyond my skill to heal."

Jack said nothing for a few moments. "If she is fated to die, then I will wait until then. But I still hope to see her recover."

"So do I, but I don't think it will happen. Again, I am sorrry, but…you should look to yourr own welfarre, at least."

"Thank you for your concern, but I cannot." A few moments of tense silence. Then the quiet footsteps and the door again.

Then I felt Jack take my right hand and hold it, tightly, as if by doing it he could keep me anchored to life. That feeling became my whole world – and perhaps it did work as an anchor, after all. I cannot say how long that lasted, but the next thing I remember was opening my eyes to see the rafters of the ceiling above me. My side did not feel so bad now.

I turned my head to look to my right – the effort was great, but at least now it was possible. Jack was sitting there in a carven wooden chair, asleep, his head tilted forward. He looked a little thinner, and I could see circles under his eyes. I decided to let him rest. I could talk to him when he woke up. I smiled to myself.

Then the door several feet from the foot of my bed began to creak open, and a little ginger feline face peeked around it. I recognized it – the child I had pulled out of the path of the mantis bot some time before. I smiled at her. Her eyes widened, then she darted back behind the door. Her shout of "DADA!" startled Jack into wakefulness; he was on his feet with his sword half out of his scabbard before he figured out what was going on. I heard the thumping footsteps of the child running.

Jack looked around the room and then at me. He smiled then, like sunlight breaking through clouds. He resheathed his sword and bowed to me.

"I am glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?" I noticed that he was still wearing his white robe, and I was pretty sure it was the same one, though it showed no evidence of stitching. I sort of wondered about this, but my thoughts were interrupted when two other people came into the room; the ginger-furred child and her gray father, who had thanked me for saving her.

"A mirracle, prraise the Goddess!" he exclaimed. It was the same voice I had heard conversing with Jack before – he must have been a physician. He turned to his daughter. "Irrine, stop starring, tell yourr mother to get a meal rready."

"Yes Dada!" the child said, and she darted out of the room.

I spent the next several minutes being examined by Nathan, the gray-furred physician. Jack turned away discretely while Nathan replaced my bandages. The wound was a small but fairly serious one – the bullet had not exactly made a hole in me, but it had torn skin and flesh and muscle with its passing. It would be a while before I was recovered from it, he told me.

Irine came up with a food-laden tray. When I smelled the meal my stomach started to rumble, and I realized for the first time just how hungry I was. Irine set the tray on the bed – it had little legs on it for the purpose – and I thanked her. She backed away shyly. I shrugged and turned to eating the food; I had to force myself not to try and wolf it all down.

Nathan and his daughter left the room. I felt it would be a good time to ask Jack about how long it had been and what exactly had happened, so I did. I was intensely curious about it.

"It has been four days," he told me. "And I have spent every minute worrying." That was very sweet indeed, but I didn't say so. It would have embarrassed him.

"As to what happened…where do you want me to start?" he asked, sitting down again.

"When Artophon fired the first shot," I answered.

He settled back in the chair. "I saw you turn, then I heard the gunshot. I thought at first that he had missed, but then you put your hands to your side. I looked to the source of the shot and saw the demon aiming his weapon at me. It was foolish of me to charge him as I did, but I was angry," he admitted, his face hardening a little. "He fired and hit me." Then he waited for me to ask the question.

"So how come you're not wounded? I saw him shoot you, I thought you were dead for sure."

He smiled and reached into his robe, then pulled out the dagger I had given him. He probably had some sort of hidden pocket there. I noticed a small hole in the dagger sheath. He turned it upside-down over the bedside table, and out came the dagger – in two pieces. The blade was broken about two inches from the hilt.

I didn't understand at first, but then comprehension dawned. "The bullet…hit the dagger?"

Jack nodded. "Artophon was too surprised to shoot again." He folded his hands in his lap and looked down at them for a moment. Then he looked back at me. "I ran back into the gate and up the ladder. You were lying there on the walkway. Nathan was already with you, trying to stop the bleeding. Once he had gotten a bandage on, I carried you to his house."

The carrying I remembered, although I had not known who had done it. It was silly, but I felt tears in my eyes. "That was you?"

He nodded. "Nahtan stitched up your wound and put a poultice on it. You were very pale." He closed his eyes and I could swear that he shuddered a little. "The next day, you had a fever. Nathan did not think you would live." Then he smiled. "But you surprised everyone. Except for me."

I felt one of those tears trickle down my cheek and wiped it away. If Jack noticed it – and I'm sure he did – he said nothing.

"I am glad you decided to fight. Without you I would have lost." He looked at his hands again, for longer this time. "I wish you could come with me on my journey, but I cannot wait until you recover. If I stay, Aku will surely send a greater force here, and I do not want to put these people in danger." He met my gaze again, but it seemed to take him some effort to do so. "I am sorry."

My heart was a stone in my chest, but I knew that what he said was true. "I understand." I bit my lip. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," he answered gravely. "Thank you again. You are a worthy warrior and a good friend." An awkward pause – we seemed to have a lot of those between us. Then Jack lightened up. "And you are as fine an archer as Robin Hood himself."

"Robin who?"

"I trained with him, back in my time. He was the most famous outlaw in all of England…"

For the rest of that day and into the night, we just talked to each other. We did not mention Jack's imminent departure, or the implications of my cooperation with him. I tried to make it last forever, but I dozed off at some point. The next morning he came to say his goodbyes. I wondered if I should ask him to meet me in Cavatera in a few months or something like that, but he might have found a way home before then (though he didn't), or perhaps he would be unable for other reasons (which he was).

I tried not to cry or beg him to wait for me. He had enough problems without me adding my feelings to the list.

The broken dagger he left with me. I had a Cavateran jeweler blowtorch the sharp edges of the broken blade and make a pendant out of it. It's my good-luck charm.

After I recovered, I left Cavatera, but didn't go back to wandering. I follow in Jack's footsteps – the price on my head is a pittance compared to his, but it's more money than I'll see in half a decade. That's something to be proud of.

I intend to find Jack again some day. He moves around a lot, but I'll catch up with him eventually.  Until then…

~The End~