Okay, time to introduce two main characters to my
story!!!! HOORAY!!! Please enjoy, this is kind of a slow
chapter.
The Crimson Pendant:
Chapter 3-I'll be
Your Angel
A brilliant light seeped into Janus's closed eyelids,
awaking him from his unconscious state. Slowly he opened his eyes, squinting in the early morning sun and
letting his eyes adjust on the setting around him.
"Where
am I?" He whispered once his
surroundings became visible enough to distinguish shapes. Looking around he noticed a shut window next
to him, shining the only light the room had through holes in its ancient
shutters. He reached his hand out and
gingerly touched the wall below it, feeling its texture. "Rough and splintered," he pulled his hand
away from it, "Probably a shed or something. But how did I get here?" He
continued; trying to make out the inanimate objects scattered about the room.
Footsteps
through the grass outside alarmed the disgruntled boy. Hastily he pulled the coverings he had up to
his chin and closed his eyes, trying to look comatose again. After a moment, Janus heard the old door
squeak open and soft, delicate footsteps moved into the room. Bit by bit they scrambled up toward him,
almost sounding hesitant. Then, he felt
pressure against his arm as his visitor leaned over him to open up the window.
"Now's
my chance!" He thought to himself,
opening his eyes and immediately grabbing whoever was above him. A young girlish scream came from his victim
as he yanked her down to his eye-level to examine her. She was young, only about nine years at the
most, her hair was as blonde as the sunlight radiating through the window, and
her blue eyes whirled with fear as she wailed loudly, tears streaming down her
freckled cheeks.
"Where
am I?" Janus interrogated, not knowing
what else to do with the frightened child. She didn't answer but continued to cry uncontrollably. "Why am I here?" Still she did not respond to him. "Answer me!" Frustrated
with his progress, he began to shake the little girl.
"Get
your hands off of her!" A voice
demanded from the doorway. Startled,
Janus looked up to see who was there and was greeted by a hard punch to the
forehead, throwing him back against the old wall.
"How
dare you!" The boy snapped back, trying
to lunge at his challenger. Before he
could even get off his bed to a standing position, a pain ripped across his
stomach and with a soft groan, he crumpled onto his bed once more, helpless and
feeble.
"Serves
you right!" The voice scoffed, moving
closer to his side. Cheers of joy came
from the small girl as her protector sat down on the edge of the bed to help
the suffering boy. Janus submitted to
the person's care and soon he was lying on his back, his eyes closed as he
tried to control the throbbing of his abdomen. His body tensed as something cold and soft was pressed against his
belly. "This should help dull the
pain." The voice cooed, changing from
its harshness of before.
The
pain began to reside after a few seconds, and Janus's mind eased. "Why…" He sighed, opening his eyes to focus
on the voice's owner, "Why are you helping m…?" Instantly his ability to speak left him as his eyes first took
sight of the aid. He quickly jumped up
to a sitting position and began to back away from her. She was a young girl of about fourteen or
so, her hair was dark brown with highlights of blue scattered through it,
giving it a purple glow, and her eyes were the green of the forest's
leaves. But, it wasn't this that
startled him; it was the fact that she looked exactly like…
"Schala?" He scrutinized, edging closer toward the
look-alike.
"Excuse
me?" She questioned, becoming nervous
by his actions.
Realizing
his response to her appearance, he slowly moved back to where he was before,
humiliated and frustrated at himself. "I'm terribly sorry," he muttered, not daring to look at her again, "I
just thought you were someone I knew."
"That's
quite alright," She replied.
"Leila!"
The little blonde interrupted, turning her innocent gaze to the older
girl. "I still have the food you told
me to give to…" She pulled a wooden tray off a nearby box and raised it above
her head, smiling, "…to give to the man."
"Thank
you Fiona," Her elder chimed, taking the food from her, "You did a very good
job. You can go now if you want."
The
little girl then became distressed over her senior's words. "But…but…but what if he tries to hurt
you!" Janus sunk into his sheets.
"He
won't Fiona," The brunette reassured her, "Not if he knows what's good for
him."
Janus
turned to see the elder girl's face staring down at him and again he sank
farther into the covers.
"Okay,"
The blonde commented, turning to the door and hurriedly skipping out.
"Now
then," The brunette sighed, turning back to Janus once the young child had
gone. "I suppose you have a lot of questions
that I can answer for you."
The
boy nodded childishly, a bit uncomfortable by her resemblance to his beloved
sister.
"So?"
Taking
a deep breath, he sat up. "First of
all," He remarked, trying to sound strong and authoritative, "I would like to
know where I am and," he glanced at her quickly, but turned away so as not to
stare, "who you are."
"My
name is Leila," the girl answered, "You are in the forest between Dorina and
Porre in my shed to heal from your wounds." She pulled the covers away from his body, exposing a damp cloth across
his stomach. Then, ever so gently, she
peeled away the cloth to expose the long gash Janus had acquired from his
previous battle. It had been crudely
stitched up to stop the bleeding and was extremely swollen. "Please excuse the poor stitching," Leila
laughed nervously, "I've never had to sew up a wound before."
"How
did I even get here?" He questioned,
not even paying attention to Leila's remark.
"After
the battle near here was finished, I went over to check it out and found you
and two other soldiers badly wounded in the brush. So, I brought you back here, in order for my mother, sister, and
I to treat you."
"But
where are the other two soldiers?" Janus queried, looking around the shed.
"We
put them inside the house to…" Leila then stopped, seeing the look of
disapproval on the boy's face, "But…I only did that because you are a mystic
and the other two soldiers are humans and," Her voice lowered to a whisper, "my
mother doesn't know you are here."
Janus
turned away from the girl, gazing at the window into the forest beyond, "She
doesn't know?"
Leila
shifted in her seat, "No, so I'd really appreciate it if you stayed in here so
she can't see you. She never comes in
here so you should be safe."
"Agreed,"
Janus gave an awry grin but continued to stare out the window.
"Well,"
Leila sighed again, standing up, "I have more chores to do. You can eat the food my sister has so kindly
brought you," Janus frowned at the sarcastic tone of her voice, "Or relax." She smiled at him, "I'll be back in a
bit…um…what was your name?"
Janus
thought for a moment, "Jack, my name is Jack."
"Okay,
I'll be back in a while…Jack."
She
then left, shutting the door behind her.
"Leila,
huh?" He looked down at the food tray
the girls had left him. The food looked
very inviting and his hunger only helped the urge to eat. Shrugging, he grabbed the tray and inspected
his meal. The soup was still hot, and
the bread was still a bit warm, too appetizing to resist. With a sigh, he then began to gulp down the
fare.
The
day gradually dragged on, leaving Janus to sit and contemplate the day's
events. Why does Leila look so much
like Schala? Could it be possible that
he didn't remember what his sister looked like? Afterall, it had been eleven years since he'd even seen her face.
He
shrugged it off, staring down at his injury. It was beginning to bleed a bit and whatever Leila had put on it to numb
the pain was beginning to wear off. "Why are you even taking care of me?" He questioned, dabbing the emerging blood with the only thing he could,
his covers. "I'm not sure I
understand." Sighing, he turned his
gaze back to the outside forest; the sky was tinted red, signaling the approach
of dusk. Again the boy sighed, it was
so peaceful here, he wasn't sure how he was going to survive the tranquility of
this place. With a soft chuckle, he
continued watching the sun sink behind the horizon, waiting for Leila to
reappear.
"I'm
sorry I'm so late," Leila's gentle voice apologized after a few minutes, "I couldn't
get out here without my mother noticing until now." She carefully moved into the room, shutting the door behind
her. Gingerly, she juggled a tray full
of food and other various items toward Janus's bedside. "Could you please help me?" She pleaded, nearly spilling a bowl of
liquid from her hand.
Janus
leisurely sat up and took hold of the food tray she was carrying, placing it on
his lap. Hungrily he eyed the sizzling
meat and mixed greens decorating the tray.
"You
can't eat that yet." The brunette
giggled, placing the other items she held onto a nearby box and grabbing up the
tray from Janus's lap, "I have to take care of your wounds first."
"Wounds?" Janus scanned over his body, "I only have
one."
The
young girl put Janus's food tray down to pick up a small cloth and the bowl of
liquid she had almost spilt. "What
about your arm?" She soaked the cloth
in her bowl, then placed it against a bandage on his shoulder.
The
sudden chill of the fluid and the burning tingle of it's antiseptic sent a shiver
through Janus's body. "Two
wounds?" He scoffed under his breath,
"How could you have been so careless boy?!"
Leila
pulled the cloth away, dipping it again in the liquid. "You were very lucky," she remarked, trying
to lift the scowl off his face, "The other two soldiers have so many injuries
that I had to use a whole bowl of antiseptic on each of them." She smiled pleasantly, placing the cloth
against his open belly. The fluid sent
a fiery pain wrenching through the boy's belly, making him jump a bit.
"Are
you alright?" Leila queried, her eyes
filled with worry.
"I'm
fine," Janus replied through clenched teeth. The pain was beginning to dull, helping him to relax his tensed up
muscles.
"Don't
worry," The brunette giggled, "I don't have to hurt you anymore." She peeled the saturated cloth from his
belly, dropping it back into the bowl. "All I need to do now is bandage your stomach then you can eat." With that word Janus's eyes zoomed over to
the food. He hadn't eaten since
morning, and his mouth was watering just staring at the food.
"Oh,
by the way," Leila chimed, beginning the processing of wrapping his belly with
a dry cloth, "If you start to feel any pain at all in your abdomen just drink
that cup on the table," She pointed to a solitary mug next to the bowl of
antiseptic, "that's a special drink I made up to numb your body and put you to
sleep." She tied a knot to keep the
dressing secure. "If you need anything at
all just knock on my bedroom window, it's the first one on the left side of…the…house…"
Slowly the girl bent down to examine Janus's beddings. "There's blood on these sheets." She cautiously pulled them off of him, "I'll
be right back with new ones. I'm sorry
about that."
Janus
nodded, watching as the young girl left the shed. Then, losing the last of his patience, he grabbed the tray of
food, swallowing it quickly. "This is
pretty good for a peasant's dinner," He thought finishing off the last bit of
meat, "I might actually like it here." He laid his head back down, staring out at the emerging stars, "But it's
still too peaceful." He chuckled, beginning to feel a sudden wooziness coming
over him. Yawning, he closed his eyes
and without waiting for Leila's return, he fell into a restful slumber.
"The
throbbing is too much," His mind complained, awakening Janus from his
rest. Opening his eyes, he groaned
loudly, the wound on his belly had woken him up before even daybreak. Slowly he sat up, pulling off the clean
linen Leila had provided after he was sound asleep. He sighed with relief at the sight of his wound, the blood wasn't
through the bandage; but even still, it terribly hurt. The boy laid back down, trying to ignore the
pain.
Minutes
went by as he tossed and turned, as he attempted to find a comfortable position
that would numb his stinging abdomen. Then, when he couldn't take it anymore, he sat up.
"What's
wrong with you!" He spat at himself,
hitting his fist against the bed. "You
can't even take a little pain, can you!" Silently, the boy sat there for a moment, hoping that either the pain
would go away, or he would pass out from sleep deprivation. His eye then caught a small cup Leila had
forgotten on a box near him. "What's
this?" He queried, picking up the mug
and examining it. The cup looked
exactly like a regular drinking mug, but the liquid inside didn't have the
aroma of anything he'd ever smelled before. Then a thought occurred to him, "This is the cup of that drink Leila
said would put me to sleep."
Reluctantly,
he sniffed the drink again. It smelled
so foul, how could anyone swallow it? Then with a sigh, he hastily gulped the concoction down, cringing at the
bitter taste of it. Then, placing the
cup where he had found it, he rested his head back on the pillow.
"This
better work," He moaned trying hard not to let the pain in his stomach
overwhelm him, "Or else Leila has some explaining to do." An amusing thought popped into his head, an
image of Leila sitting in front of a pot, trying hard not to let the smell of
that sleeping brew overpower her. "I
wonder who taught her how to make such stuff, perhaps her mother…"
Then,
another startling thought emerged. What
if Leila was the daughter of Schala! She just reminded him so much of his sister, there just had to be a
connection between Schala and this girl Leila. Perhaps his sister was also brought to this age, got married, and was
living the life of a peasant! Janus's
eyes widened at the thought. It could
be that he was going to see his beloved sibling again, and soon. He tried to smile, but fatigue began to run
over him. "I'll ask Leila tomorrow," He
sighed, closing his eyes, "I can think more about it later." Without another thought, the drink
subjugated him and he was again sleeping.