Chapter 6

Basta

One of Basta's strong, sun tanned hands grasped the lucky amulet he kept around his neck. Curses tumbled out of his mouth as if they were a language of their own. He was riding his horse through the Wayless woods. When his beautiful blue-green eyes caught sight of the castle walls, he sighed in relief.

Countless days ago, Basta's highly stung mount, Puzzle, had bucked him off, knocking him unconscious. When he'd woken up, he swore to himself when he realised that the Adderhead's men had left him. (Either that or they didn't know he got bucked off in the first place).

Basta leaned forward and patted his horse's dappled neck. The animal nickered softly and continued to walk in her springy gait. Basta swore under his breath. He couldn't see the castle gate…

Right or left?

He wondered, then something else caught his eye. He kicked his horse into a trot towards a motionless figure lying in beside the castle wall. Basta dismounted, and tied his mare to a tree. Silent as a cat, he approached the body of a woman. Basta sucked in his breath. The woman had blood dripping out of her mouth. Her shirt was untied and open, revealing her breasts. A cross bow bolt stuck out of one of them. Basta found it hard to believe that someone had shot such a beauty. Hell, this woman was even more beautiful then Roxanne. So beautiful, it made his heart rate excel. He dropped to his knees and searched for some signs of life. He traced his hand over her mouth and wiped away some blood. His eyes lingered over her breasts and he saw that she was breathing. He cursed under his breath and picked her up, putting her atop his enormous horse. He mounted up to, and asked the animal to turn right.

Basta galloped Puzzle through the streets of Ombra, looking for an inn with a stable. He wasn't a very talented rider, and he slipped many times, especially while turning a corner. The entire time, he held the unconscious Pfeiffer against himself. When he arrived at the inn where the Adderhead's men's horses were stabled, Basta dismounted and handed his reins to a stable boy. He pushed open the door to the inn, and was greeted with buzzing commotion. Basta frowned and covered the woman's breasts with his cloak.

"Basta! Basta's back! And he's got the girl!" That was Slasher's croaking voice.

"Indeed…" growled Firefox. His face was flushed red, out of alcohol, embarrassment or rage, Basta didn't know. But he did understand, from the hostile glances towards the woman, that he may have made a mistake bringing her here.

"Um… hello?" Basta wasn't sure how to react. The injured woman in his arms stirred, grabbing his attention.

"Give her to me." Firefox's voice was stiff, and Basta noticed some red lipstick all over his face. The kiss marks seemed to travel down his neck, to.

"What happened to you, Firefox?" Asked Basta tediously. He was rather envious of the action the redhead had received.

"That does not concern you." He growled in reply. "Now why is she sleeping in your arms?" Firefox's voice did not sound happy.

"She has an arrow in her breast." Grumbled Basta, wishing there was no cloak draped over her chest.

"An ARROW? DAMN!" The drunken film over Firefox's eyes lifted, and he sprang into action. "Get a healer over here NOW!" He cried, coming towards Basta. Firefox looked at Pfeifer with a strange expression on his face. It puzzled Basta. Was it love or hate? Bother perhaps?

"You two know each other?" Asked Basta hoarsely.

Was it the injured woman who had given Firefox pleasure?

It made Basta sick to think that. A mental image came to him, and he resisted the urge to gag.

"Oh yes. Pfeiffer and I know each other quite well." Firefox's voice was flat. He slowly took the cloak off of Pfeifer's chest, inspecting the wound.

Or is he inspecting something else?

Thought Basta bitterly.

"Is it bad?" Basta tried his best to keep the concern out of his voice.

"I'm not sure. I'm not an expert in healing." Firefox ran his fingers over Pfeiffer's eyelids, making Basta want to swat his hand away.

"Any one call for a healer?" A short man with greying hair stumbled over to Basta and Firefox. "Oh dear" He said when he saw Pfeiffer's wound. The little man stared into Pfeiffer's face, as if he was lost in her milky white skin. "Well come on! Bring her into a room!" The little man scuttled up a flight of creaky stairs, waving the two soldiers to hurry up. "Alright, alright, put her down, gently now, that's it. Alright, I need some assistance. One that is not drunk. You, with the black hair, you seem to have a gentle hand. You, redhead, OUT!"

Ha. Me? Gentle hand? What has that man been smoking… I want some to.

Thought Basta. Firefox stumbled out of the room, stunned. Basta on the other hand, felt very smug. So he knelt down beside the healer, holding a bowl of herbs that smelt good. The little man worked the herbs around the wound, then looked at Basta.

"Alright. I'm going to pull. It won't be pleasant." He gripped the bolt in his small hands, and pulled. The silence was broken with Pfeifer's scream as the bloody bolt emerged from her chest. Her scream made Basta feel faint, but seemed to have a worse effect on the healer man. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I must go now…" The little man got to his feet and stumbled out of the room.

Basta felt very alone all of a sudden. He had mo idea how to soothe someone, especially a woman who just had a crossbow bold yanked from her chest. Pfeiffer was breathing quickly, looking for an escape from the pain. Basta averted his eyes away from her breasts, and held her hand. The woman's eyes shot in Basta's direction, and she squeezed his hand even tighter. Blood streamed over her breasts and pooled in her shirt. Basta frowned.

"You're Pfeiffer, right?" Even though he already knew the answer, he just had to ask. Pfeiffer nodded.

"Who are you?" Her voice was thick with pain, but it flowed like a smooth stream of water.

"B-b-basta" He stuttered.

"The physician?"

"Umm…no….not exactly…" Basta gulped. He could see the pain on Pfeiffer's face as if it was written there.

"Help me…" She looked at the bowl of herbs Basta was holding. "Clover" she said. "Work it around the wound." She was breathless, and Basta found breathing to be difficult too. He nodded abstractedly and rubbed the green mush around her wound. Pretty soon, the breathing slowed then stopped. But Pfeiffer's shirt was still soaked in cooling blood. "Help me out of this…its cold…" Basta's eyes widened. A woman had just asked him to help undress her…if he was alone, Basta would have squeaked in excitement. With trembling fingers, he unlaced the strings keeping the shirt in place, and bunched it up into a bloody black ball of material, and threw it in the corner of the room.

"I'll get something for you" He said, walking towards the door.

Luckily, Basta remembered seeing some clothing hung on a line when he brought Pfeiffer to the inn. He snatched her a light bluish-mauve tunic and a long sleeved white shirt to go underneath it. The clothing was clean, and smelt of river water and wind. He bolted back to the inn, and panted as he scampered up the creaky wooden steps, back to Pfeiffer's room. He scowled as he jumped over Firefox's passed out body in the hallway. He pushed open the aggravatingly creaky door, and cleared his throat.

"Here you go, miss." He said, tossing her the clothing. Basta turned around, his back facing Pfeiffer, until he heard her gasp and swear quietly. He turned around to face her. "Need help?" She nodded. Basta could tell she wasn't particularly happy to be in the situation she was in. Then again, he wouldn't either. His fingers shook as they buttoned up to white shirt, and then slid the tunic over her head.

"Thanks" she breathed, putting her hand to where the bolt had once pierced her. Basta just nodded, trying to figure out how someone could have shot such a beautiful woman. He racked his brains, wondering if he'd killed any beautiful women in the past.

"Why are you being kept hostage?" Asked Basta, itching to hold Pfeiffer's hand again.

"I'm….wait, who are you?" Pfeiffer narrowed her eyes and looked Basta up and down.

"…Look, I'm Basta…just…Basta." Luckily he was wearing a cloak over his green tunic with the Adderhead's emblem on the front.

"You're the physician's assistant?"

"Uh, yeah." Pfeiffer scrutinized Basta once more, taking in all his features with great interest. From his messy, ink black hair to his dark blue green eyes, to his light skin, now suntanned, and his narrow agile build. She was pleased with what she saw. She found Basta extremely attractive, but she was clever. Much too clever to fall for a "just Basta". So, she grabbed his cloak and gave it a yank. Just as she'd expected, the Adderhead's coat of arms. Basta stared at her, open mouthed and shocked, while she stared back, a board expression on her face.

"Were you the one who rescued me?"

"……yes….."

"So you're not the physician's helper."

"Not really….well, not long term anyways…"

"Are you a friend of Firefox?"

"Friend?" Basta twisted his mouth in scorn. "Hardly" Pfeiffer nodded.

"Where is he now?"

"Passed out in the hallway."

"I should have guessed… So, are you in search of the blue jay?" Pfeiffer's eyes locked with Basta's. She had to make sure he wasn't going to lie. Basta sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"No. My quest is quite different." Basta was still, his eyes searching Pfeiffer's face for some kind of understandable expression. She just nodded and met Basta's gaze once more.

"Can you get me out of here?" Pfeiffer begged Basta with her eyes; although she remained weary of the danger she was putting herself into.

Basta nodded slowly, wondering again why the Adderhead had her captured. For another wife, perhaps?

"Where do you need to go?" Relief settled on Pfeiffer's angelic face.

"To Roxanne's farm." Basta's stomach tied itself into a knot. He despised Roxanne now more then he'd liked her in the past. "Can you or can you not take me to Roxanne's farm?" Basta heaved a sigh.

"Under one condition." Pfeiffer's face fell at his words. But her need to get away pushed her to nod her head. Basta forbid himself of asking her the thing he wanted most. Oh how he wanted it, but he thought that perhaps he'd want to make love, when he and a partner were in love. Strange thoughts to be going thought Basta's head. Especially since he's kept to himself all his life. He'd never even successful kissed a woman before. That was Basta's deepest secret. Even Capricorn had thought Basta had shared himself with someone. No. Not Basta. Never.

"I need you to tell me why you are being kept hostage, and why Firefox is so deeply interested in you." If the answer to his second question was what he feared, he may just have another name to add to his hit list…

"Firefox and I have had off and on affairs" started Pfeiffer, rolling her eyes and ignoring the look of envy on Basta's slim face. "And as for your second question…" very cautiously, Pfeiffer took a small blue jay feather out of the waist line of her pants. She put the blue feather into Basta's hands and looked into his eyes. "Let's keep that between us."

Basta couldn't believe it. Pfeiffer was the Blue Jay? He stared longingly at the warrior's soft lips and tucked the feather into his own pants. He nodded his head, and turned towards the door.

"I'll get you out in approximately one week's time." He smiled weakly and left the room. Hurt sat in his eyes, along with jealousy.