Chapter 9
Anya immediately caught Taylor when the other woman was beginning to sway visibly on her feet. She had lost consciousness before Anya could have said anything to her.
The general scooped the unconscious woman up into her arms, inspecting her closely.
Taylor's skin had become alarmingly pale, as she was wearing a dark sweater and trousers, it was not possible to judge just how much blood she may have already lost.
"Is she…?" Lexa immediately stepped closer to her former mentor, looking worried. She could not wrap her mind around the fact that this complete stranger had just put herself in the way of a bullet for her.
Anya shook her head in the negative; she could feel that the woman within her arms was still breathing. "She is unconscious, but still breathing" she said and a hint of admiration was audible in her tone.
"How had she known of this attack happening at exactly this moment?" Lexa mused after a while.
Her mind was in utter turmoil. She was angry that the invaders indeed had just slaughtered defenceless villagers. The warriors which usually resided within this small village had all been killed in front of the invaders' metal contraception, burnt alive.
This attack showed her though that she could not just lead a small unit of the Trikru warriors against the invaders. If one single armed young man could kill 18 people in just a few moments, just how many warriors would they lose in a real fight against the rest of the invaders?
Lexa had seen of course that the boy had shot blindly. She highly doubted that he possessed any training with such a weapon. Their scouts had reported that the new camp of the invaders was patrolled by adult soldiers who indeed knew very well what they were doing with their guns.
If Taylor knew about this massacre, what else did she know?
And why did this woman think that she needed to survive?
While Anya had explained to her how Taylor had known beforehand who she was, where this thing under her skin was hidden and that the Sky people would shoot at them, Lexa had not been sure if she ought to believe this.
What they had seen just a few moments ago, made Lexa believe Anya's words though. She still did not understand why this stranger wanted to obviously save them in particular. Taylor could have most likely stayed with the Sky people as well, but Anya had emphasised how Taylor had just tried to save herself and insisted to accompany her to speak with the commander.
Lexa would immediately wish to read all the papers which this woman had written down once they got back to the camp. She would also send out riders to order reinforcement to join them before they could march against the invaders in full force.
Anya adjusted her grip a little on Taylor's unconscious form. She felt how one of her hands was getting moist slowly with the woman's warm blood and she was worried that they would not make it back to the camp in time for a healer to take care of this wound.
"She is very pale" Lexa assessed after a long while in silence, looking worriedly at the unconscious woman dangling from Anya's arms.
Anya slightly shook her head "She has been pale before, but not like this" she agreed "She is still breathing though".
Anya was still feeling relieved once the camp came into view between the trees.
Lexa ordered the general to carry the unconscious woman into the tent in which she herself stayed currently, as she would look for a healer in the meantime.
"I..it…it's alright" Taylor suddenly spoke up, just having woken up within Anya's arms "I can take the bullet out myself" she said, voice getting stronger with each second.
Lexa raised a brow in surprise, while Anya carried her into the commander's tent.
Taylor let herself sink into a sitting position and waited with a groan on her lips for healing instruments.
Anya had stayed beside her, handing her a cup of water.
"I am fine" Taylor insisted, although the paleness of her skin belied her words. Taylor took a slight sip of the water, knowing that she needed to keep hydrated with the blood loss she had suffered. She knew that she was able to take out the bullet herself without help.
"There is no healer" Lexa returned with a huff and her tone clearly showed how displeased she was about the situation. She still had brought back a few instruments.
Taylor just gave the commander a weak smile. She would have wished for some alcohol or something else to disinfect the wound, but she knew that she needed to remove the bullet as soon as possible. She could only hope now that whatever internal damage she may have suffered would heal without real assistance.
She chose a pair of long tweezers from the instruments Lexa had brought and without much further ado shoved up her black sweater. The wound the bullet had left behind was small and Taylor was lucky that the tweezers actually were fine enough for it.
She took a deep breath and held it right in the moment as she inserted the tweezers into the wound. Her hand was steady as she pushed the tweezers deeper and she bit into her own lip, groaning at the intense pain pulsing from the wound outward.
Lexa and Anya exchanged surprised gazes as they watched in fascination how Taylor slowly dug the bullet out of her own body.
Taylor pushed a piece of cloth onto the wound for a moment. Her vision was swimming and she knew that she was close to fainting again. She needed to close the wound though. She did not inspect the needle and threat any closely which was among the materials.
Taylor grunted and breathed heavily as she slowly worked on sewing the wound shut. She guessed that she was lucky that it was no clean shot, otherwise she would have needed to shut two wounds.
"I am a doctor…" Taylor brought out heavily, just finishing the last stitch. Her mouth tasted of blood as she had bit too hard onto her lips and she knew that she still had groaned a lot during the procedure.
Taylor placed the needle and rest of the threat next to her with a shaky hand. "I am gonna…" she started to say, wanting to warn the other two women that she would pass out, but she already fell over.
Anya quickly jumped forward, making sure that Taylor would not slump down from the bed and she pushed her fully onto the mattress instead, pulling a fur over her form to keep her warm.
"A doctor" Lexa echoed thoughtfully; she had heard this term before. She needed a moment to remember that she had read the term in one of the old books in Polis. "She is a healer" she mumbled with astonishment.
It had been clear that Taylor definitely was not a warrior. Healers and especially skilled healers were rare in their world though.
"She obviously knew how to deal with such a wound" the commander assessed with veneration in her green eyes.
"Yssa seems to hide much more abilities than visible on first glance" Anya agreed, tucking the fur around Taylor's body carefully.
"Yssa?" Lexa questioned with a raised brow. Anya had told her before that the woman was called Taylor.
Anya nodded "She told me to call her Yssa" she explained with the hint of a smile.
Lexa suddenly turned around, calling out loudly to Gustus and ordering him to bring the papers from Taylor's tent to her right now.
"Let us see what she otherwise knows" Lexa said, turning back to her former mentor.
They both waited in silence for a few moments and both actually watched Taylor breathing while they waited.
Lexa accepted the few pages of paper from Gustus only a few moments later. The burly guard immediately left the tent again.
"And?" Anya asked, turning her gaze from Taylor over to Lexa and the sheets of paper in her hands.
"Let me see" Lexa said, turning the pages around.
What both of them had not expected though, was for the pages to set aflame suddenly the very moment as Lexa tried to read the words written on them.
Lexa let them drop with a slight startled shriek, instinctively stomping the small fire out.
She shook her head in disbelief at the ashes of the pages "How is that possible?" she asked incredulously.
Anya did not have any answer either though "Maybe Yssa has an idea when she wakes…".
