MEMOIRS OF

MAJOR GENERAL JACK O'NEILL

(Re-activated)

1. La Haia

Chapter Three

By Arrietty

2008

The next three days passed in a haze for me. La Haia seemed to know where she was going. I do remember releasing her from her bonds. I also remember her feeding me those husks and some berries which tasted like blackberries, but were bigger and redder in colour. On the fourth day I awoke clear headed. The fever had gone and my arm was back to its normal size. I rolled over and pulled myself up into a sitting position. Beside me on some leaves were the biggest berries I had ever seen. They were dark red – almost black. I heard the sound of gravel shifting, looking up; I saw the tussled head of La Haia pop over a small rock. I was then rewarded by one of Sam's 100 kilowatt smiles.

My heart felt the pang of loss. This wasn't Sam, this was still La Haia. I smiled back.

"Faye," she said and pointed to the berries. I picked one up, they filled my mouth with juice, but they weren't enough. I was weak with hunger. The hollow pit in my belly ached as it contracted trying to let me know to feed it.

The berries were quickly gone, but still leaving my belly unsatisfied.

"Come, Master." La Haia took hold of my hand. I was careful this time to not mention that she was speaking. I stood carefully and watched the hills spin, and then stay still. La Haia was holding me upright, her arms wrapped around my body pressing painfully into my chest. I'm pretty sure I'd fractured a rib or two. Leaning heavily on her, we climbed around the rock and on to the trail that led further into the hills.

When we reached the bottom of the steep incline, I shook my head and sat down, almost falling as my body complained at the exertion. I was exhausted.

"Rest," I puffed as I spoke.

"Please, Master, come."

I shook my head again and said, "No." quite sharply.

She winced and sat down near my feet.

"La Haia."

She looked up at me fearfully. I knew I had spoken to hastily and I had to make it right.

"Don't call me that, my name is Jack."

She nodded. "Master Jack."

I shook my head again. "No, La Haia. Just Jack."

"Yes, Just Master Jack."

I gave up, leaned against a sun warmed rock and closed my eyes.

After a while, La Haia managed to pry me off my butt and get me moving again. I struggled up the steep grade, my bruised and damaged feet protested with each painful step.

As we reached the brow of the hill, I could have kicked myself. I really should listen to La Haia. Over the steep hill, nestled a small valley was a stream and grazing on the lush grass along the banks of the stream were three fat horses. Still hobbled from when we had left them all that time ago.

We scrambled down the other side. The horses, hearing our descent, immediately came toward La Haia. She was hugging, patting and murmuring quietly to them. I ignored them and stumbled towards the cave. I was so far gone, I didn't even check for occupants.

Our stuff was just as we had left it. I could see our packs in the dim light coming in from the entrance way. Nothing had been moved as far as I could see. I sank to my knees, opened my bag and pulled out the branding machine. I turned and looked over my shoulder to see if La Haia was behind me. I wanted to remove the ugly reminder of what she had been through, but she was still out with the horses. So instead, I placed the machine on my arm and pushed the healing button down.

I screamed. Unbearable pain shot through my arm and blood began to flow from the gaping would that the machine had left. I dropped the machine to the floor and clutched my arm trying to stem the blood flow. The pain didn't let up and increased in intensity.

2031

"Daniel. What brings you here?"

"Janet told me that you were terrorising the nurses again and you needed to be entertained."

"Oh! Do I see a chess set under your arm?"

"Yes, you do."

"There's a table over there you can use."

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much really. I'll just move it out of . . ."

2008

"Carter." I cried out, calling for help. "Carter!"

A shadow in the entrance, then La Haia was kneeling beside me. She snatched up the branding machine and moved it towards my open wound.

"No!" I shouted trying to fend her off.

"Yes, Master Jack. It will heal."

I shook my head and moved away in fear.

"Trust me, Master Jack," she implored.

I nodded. My body was tense, waiting for the certain agony this machine would inflict as she placed it onto my arm. A hum, a tingle and then it began to tickle. Slowly it healed.

She lifted the machine from my arm and I could see new pink skin where the red line had been. She pushed my hand away from the open wound and covered it with the healing device. Immediately, the bleeding stopped and again I could feel the tingle and the pain recede.

"Thank you, La Haia."

She smiled at me.

"Please give it to me," I said.

"No, you cannot heal yourself. The brander has a trick in it."

"Booby trap?" I asked. She frowned at my words. "Yes, a trick. I understand," I assured her, "but I want it to heal your arm."

She turned away and delved into my pack and pulled out my sleeping bag and unrolled it beside me. With a gentle shove she pushed me back onto it. "I will heal you first; this will take a long time."

I soon fell asleep to the gentle hum of the machine as La Haia healed my arm.

We stayed in the cave for several days. I had given up asking her to stop calling me Master Jack. Now that La Haia had started to speak, she wouldn't stop. Her constant chatter would have normally have driven me up the wall, but I was so pleased to hear her talk, I didn't mind. She spoke with an odd mixture of English and Ellinika, surprisingly more English than Ellinika, but even though she couldn't remember her former life, she seemed to know a lot of English words. Ones that I had never used in her hearing.

"Master Jack." La Haia bounded into the cave with all the exuberance of a six month old puppy. "Look what I have found – Lewberries." She held out a handful of deep purple berries with pride.

My heart went cold. An uncontrollable anger coursed through me. Without thinking, I knocked the cursed berries out of her hand so they scattered along the dusty floor. Ignoring her cry of dismay, I ground them under my boot until they were a smear on the ground. The action left my body trembling. 'Would I ever be free of the addiction?'

"Why, Master Jack?" La Haia asked.

I looked up into La Haia's frightened eyes. "They are poison," I shouted at her.

I saw tears fill her eyes, just seconds before she turned away.

It took two whole days before she spoke to me again. Not because she'd forgotten, but because it took that long for me to swallow my pride and explain what had happened to me in Leocold. She then explained to me the healing properties and that was what she had collected them for, nothing else. With my heart pounding, I then asked her to forgive me for shouting and scaring her. Her forgiveness was sweetness in the form of a hug. I held her tightly back, not wanting to let her go.

In the afternoon after my confession, I was sitting against the wall of the cave. It was stormy outside and La Haia and I with the animals were cooped up inside the cave for the second day in a row. I observed La Haia as she tended the horses. She was Carter, but not. Her face was different, her hair was even different, but then I had cut it with my knife. I couldn't help smiling at that. Carter'll kill me if she remembered before I could get her to the hairdresser.

My injuries weren't fully healed. Unfortunately, because of my previous experience with the lewberries, I was unable to eat any of them to speed the healing of my damaged ribs. But we used them liberally for our cuts and bruises.

We waited until my feet were healed before leaving the cave. Even though I'd been wearing my boots, my feet weren't quite up to long distance travelling. And if we met any marauders along the way, it would be hard to fend them off in my state.

The morning we left was clear and crisp. Spring was in full bloom and the days were getting longer and longer. We were nearly out of feed for the horses and we would need to buy some more when we arrived in Leocold. Even though Homer and Marge only carried my two packs and there was plenty of room for La Haia, she still rode behind me on Meadow. It was her choice, and I certainly wasn't going to suggest anything else.

It was dark as we drew near Leocold, which nestled in a valley. Bright lights twinkled in the gloom. The sky mirrored the town as the stars slowly popped into view as the sun sunk over the horizon.

The lights shone brightly in the town as we entered Leocold. Shopkeepers were closing and locking down doors, scurrying inside to their warm hearths.

Even though it was a lot warmer during the day, the evenings could still be quite chilly. La Haia pressed up against me from fear or from the cold I wasn't quite sure.

"It's okay, La Haia. These are good people."

I felt her relax, but she still held me tight. Somehow through the journey, we had managed the weapon problem and she could circle my waist with ease. Much to my satisfaction.

With each passing day, La Haia was growing closer to my heart, and a small part of me was going to miss her when Sam remembered who she was again.

Finally, we drew to a halt near Leocold's inn. I quickly swung my leg over the pommel of the saddle and jumped to the ground. A sharp pain in my knee made me wince slightly, but the pain soon went. La Haia slid forward into the saddle and stayed on Meadows back while I led all three horses around to the stables that were situated around behind the main Inn. I remembered hearing the horses while I got over my addiction when I was here before. Surprisingly, at the time, I had found the sound quite comforting.

Leocold's youngest son Brunoc was busy shutting the stable up for the night. I called over to him in greeting. He turned, saw is was me and his face broke into a smile.

"Jack. It is good to see you once again."

"I have three for lodgings, do you have room?" I asked while anxiously peering at the rather full stable.

He expertly eyed up the three horses and nodded, all the time grinning. I quickly nodded to La Haia to get down and unstrapped my packs and left the feed in capable hands. They would be paid well for looking after the horses and we were both very tired after our run-in with the slave traders. I noticed that La Haia was reluctant to leave the horses, and I have to admit I was too. Meadow had been placid the whole journey, but I wasn't sure what would happen when we left him with someone else. But I assured her that they would be fine.

"Come, they'll be all right, they are in the best of hands." I took her hand and encouraged her to follow me back to the front of the inn. I could see she was nervous with the surroundings. La Haia's memories of people would be filled with cruelty and abuse. She stood close by my side, clutching my hand painfully tight.

I turned the handle and pushed the door open. It was Leocold's night off and the Inn was empty, except for his old mother who was sitting by one of the tables, nursing a mug of something hot.

"Kind Mother." I spoke gently and quietly.

She looked up. "Tzak." She immediately stood up to greet me. A smile spread across her wizened face.

Unsuccessfully, I tried to let go of La Haia's hand. Giving up, I walked towards Leocold's mother and gave her a one armed hug. It is rather hard to use two when someone is hanging onto one of the arms.

She started to chatter away in her dialect, every so often I heard the name 'Tzak' in there, so I knew she was talking about me or to me. La Haia was nodding and smiling. She let go of my hand.

"Kind Mother." I clenched and wriggled my hand around to get the feeling back in it. "This is La Haia." I held out my bruised hand to La Haia and touched her gently on the shoulder. "La Haia, meet Leocold's Mother."

La Haia then started to prattle away in Mother's dialect. I was stunned. They walked over to the fireplace and Mother lifted down a large kettle and put it onto the fire. I stood still and looked around, wondering where Leocold was.

"Jack O'Neill," boomed a great voice.

'Ah rescued at last.' "Leocold, great to see you." I clapped him on the back and found myself pulled into a big crushing hug. My vision turned slightly grey, I found it difficult to breath and my ribs were complaining bitterly at the treatment.

I heard a faint, "No!" It sounded a bit like screaming, but all sounds were like rushing water in my ears.

The tight grip on my body was released and I felt myself falling backwards, crashing into a table and a hard wooden bench along the way to the stone flagged floor.

I lay on the floor trying to pull in great whooping breaths, each time a sharp pain dug into my chest. My vision began to clear, and I could see Brunoc and his brother trying to pull La Haia off Leocold's back. La Haia's teeth were sunk into Leocold's shoulder.

"La Haia." My voice was weak and raspy. I took a couple of small breaths and tried again. "La Haia!" 'Ah that's better.' Everyone stopped in mid fight. I struggled to a sitting position.

"La Haia, release him now," I admonished.

The boys pulled her off and sat her down on one of the benches.

"Jack, are you all right?" Leocold knelt down beside me, rubbing his sore shoulder.

I peered at his shoulder. "Did she draw blood?" He shook his head.

"Are you injured?" he asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." I climbed painfully to my feet and sat on one of the benches. La Haia was sitting looking at the ground. "My ribs took a beating again, plus a few other things."

"Bandits?"

"Nope. Slave traders this time." I grimaced as I prodded my rib cage.

Both women were watching. They didn't seem to know quite what to do, or what was going to happen next.

"Sorry about the shoulder, but she thought you were hurting me." 'She was right.' "Leocold, this is La Haia. La Haia, Leocold."

Leocold's mother realised that things had calmed down and moved over to me to check out my injuries. I fended her off. This time she let me.

"Leocold, can you ask your kind Mother to look after La Haia? She needs clothing, feeding, and a bed. Oh, and a haircut. Not necessarily in that order."

"Sure, Jack." He smiled at me. "What about you?"

"That's easy, I just need a bed."

He chuckled.

I stood and walked over to La Haia. She shrank from me. After all this time, I'd have thought she would realise I would never intentionally hurt her, even though I had yelled at her.

I softened my voice. "La Haia, thank you for helping me." She looked up at me, her eyes bored into me. My heart began to quicken its beat. I dragged my eyes away and coughed into my hand. 'Wished I hadn't – it hurt.' I turned back to La Haia. "I would like you to go with kind Mother, she will look after you. If you want to know where I am, just ask her, she will tell you." I gave a small smile. She nodded. She promptly stood up and walked over to kind Mother. I watched them both walk through the side door into the passageway.

I knew she would be safe with Leocold's mother. For the first time since I'd left this place I relaxed.

"Leo, I need to sleep."

"Come, you can have your old room." He led the way which was just off the main bar room. Leocold twisted his head over one shoulder and asked, "Did I hurt you much, Jack?" I could hear the worry in his voice.

"I'm okay, Leo. Just need sleep."

He opened the door; the bed was made ready for travellers. I dumped my bag onto the floor, pulled my coat off and handed it to Leocold. He noticed all my weapons inside it and nodded to me before shutting my door. I knew he would put it in the safe. I promptly sat on the side of the bed, removed my boots and socks. I don't remember what else I'd done, because the next thing I knew was that someone was in my room.

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