A/N: I am so please at the response this has been getting. If you left a review, PM, favorite or follow, thank you so much.
Thanks also to MarkeyDeSad for the beta. I really appreciate that too, my friend. Looking forward to what you publish next.
Chuck and S'ra have both been wounded during their journey through the mountains. They have still to reach the relative safety of the plain beyond…
Exo
Chapter 5: Recovery
As daylight broke, Chuck's wounds were still hurting but were feeling much better. He felt he could continue when S'ra awoke. Hopefully, her wounds would also be on the mend.
When he had woken in the night and saw, by the light of the moon, that a zryth had managed to get passed the offensive smelling plants and was pouncing on S'ra, he couldn't get up quickly enough to protect her.
His dream of building a future on this world was collapsing in front of him. The woman who had come to mean so much to him was about to die.
He got up as quickly as possible and grabbed his spear, but was too late. The creature was on top of S'ra. He cried out her name and rushed to her, hoping against hope that she was still alive.
It strained his shoulders and caused pain to the wounds, and it took a while, with him crying and saying "No, no, no!" repeatedly, thinking he couldn't lose her, but he managed to lift the beast off her and throw it to her side.
He found, S'ra hurt but breathing. His joy, when she uttered the words, "I am alive," was more than he had ever experienced before. He immediately dived down and kissed those wonderful lips, so happy that she was still with him.
He sensed her pain and realized he was making it worse, so he pulled away. He needed to tend to her, as she had done him earlier. He rushed to the backpack and found all the things he would need.
He cleaned and treated her wounds as delicately as he could. His tears weren't helping him. He had nearly lost the woman who meant more to him that all others.
At the back of his mind, a small voice was reminding him about his sister, but she wasn't here and he was unlikely to ever see her again. That thought would have to be dealt with at some point, but right now, he needed to focus on S'ra.
She tried to refuse the pake he gave her, but he insisted. At first, he thought she was indicating she was tougher than him, that she could take the pain, but then he remembered how quickly he had fallen asleep. Pake must contain a sedative and she didn't want to fall asleep on him. However, that was what she needed to do.
He was still struggling with her near death as he looked down at her. He had to share his feelings, "I thought I had lost you… I never want to lose you, S'ra."
She smiled slightly on hearing that, and replied, "I don't want to lose you, Chuck."
He remembered a similar conversation in reverse earlier as she tended to him.
As she settled down and fell asleep, he thought about being on this world without this amazing woman. He just couldn't contemplate it. She was what made being here viable for him. Without S'ra, life here wouldn't be worth living.
He now understood what she meant to him. She was the one for him. In only three days, she had captured his heart. However unbelievable it seemed, he thought she seemed to have strong feelings for him too. Maybe as strong as his for her.
When she awoke, he would bear his soul to her and hoped that she was willing to accept him, for all his faults. He didn't know the word for boyfriend, or even if there was one, but he would get the message across and hope.
He settled back against the rock and waited for that opportunity.
S'ra woke feeling the pain in her cheek she was leaning on.
She pushed herself up with the hand of the opposite arm and winced at the pain in that shoulder.
The whole fight with the zryth came back to her mind.
She eased herself back against the rock wall and looked around her.
Chuck, who had clearly been on guard since she fell asleep, greeted her and offered her some water, which she gratefully took.
As she lowered her back onto the ground, she noticed that Chuck looked nervous. "You alright?"
His words came out in a rush. "S'ra I have never wanted anyone so much. Nearly losing you made me think. S'ra I want to be your man." His body tensed after finishing.
His words were just what she wanted to hear. She'd rather hear them without a leaf stuck to her face and pains there, and in her shoulder, though. She could then have wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, whereas now, she could only smile, painfully, and speak.
"Chuck, I feel the same. I have never wanted a man like I want you. I have always been very independent. Avoiding others, and especially men. They offered nothing I wanted." She stopped and gazed at him. "I seem to have been waiting for you."
His huge smile appeared, making her feel even more wanted. She taught him another word, "love." That was what she felt for him, and thought he did for her.
He nodded. "Yes, I think I do love you, S'ra. It has been very quick, but I feel it."
"Quick for me too, Chuck."
She pointed at his shoulders and hers one and her cheek. "We wait for these to heal before we kiss."
He nodded sadly, knowing she was right.
They quietly ate and then carefully packed up. She carried her backpack on just the one shoulder, and they set off.
They were lucky and met no more zryth or xynth during the rest of their passage through the mountains.
They did have to climb, though. The path along the side of one mountain ran to about forty feet up it, but they could see it was the only way. The path narrowed as it reached the highest point, only wide enough for one to pass. That worried Chuck. S'ra seemed slightly less sure of her footing than before her attack. He looked at her with the heavy backpack now only on one shoulder, shifting her balance. That was not good on a path like this, especially as it got so high from the ground below.
Fearing that she was more vulnerable to such a drop, Chuck insisted on carrying the backpack which she reluctantly allowed. She said it was foolish, but did appreciate it as they got higher and the path narrowed. If she fell, she would certainly brake her legs. She did feel better able to cope without the pack on her one shoulder.
After they passed that area, they no longer had to walk on the rocks.
By mid-afternoon, they saw the plain and were soon out of the mountain range. The relief was almost overwhelming.
They didn't stop, though, but continued walking for another hour before settling down to eat and rest.
S'ra was now feeling better. She knew she looked a mess, particularly with the conith leaf now firmly secured to her cheek with a vine that went twice round her head, the first loop starting near the other ear, over her brow, across the top of the leaf, over the nearest ear, around the back of her head, under the other ear and her nose to cross the bottom of the leaf, under the ear and back round her head to be tied to the start.
Chuck felt pleased with himself at this creation. S'ra was less convinced. She found that she now wanted him to look at her with those adoring eyes. This was not normal for her. She usually didn't care what people thought when they looked at her, but now Chuck's approval was important to her.
The other problem was that they couldn't kiss with the vine under her nose. Eating was difficult enough.
So, they sat, ate, drank and looked longingly at each other.
"What will your parents think?" Chuck asked.
She groaned first, then started to tell him about life for a woman in their society. "A woman is expected to wed and have her first child before she is thirty years old. This is the best time to have that first child. My parents want this for me."
"So, you are forced?" Chuck asked.
S'ra shook her head. "They won't force me, but they keep finding men for me."
"And you don't like them?"
She looked at him and said, "I have always been far more interested in my career than men. I don't want to become a wife and mother." She blushed. "I let the more charming ones take me for a meal, to make my parents think I am considering them, but I reject them all."
"Will they have one waiting for you?"
She groaned again. "Yes."
"And how will your parents, and him, react to me?"
She looked him over. He still looked like a mostly unclothed savage. He was growing a beard, which the men of her city never did. The clothes he was wearing had been hand-crafted by her and his chest was still bare. This wouldn't create a great first impression.
"There is a river before we get to the city. You should wash there. I will remove your beard, which will give a better impression. It would be best for me to buy you some clothes before we see them."
He looked down at himself. "I look bad, don't I?"
She chuckled. "For someone in the city, you do."
"I am sorry," he said, looking abashed.
She grinned. "Don't be. You look a lot smarter than when I found you."
He laughed at that.
Then, she grew serious. "You know I am interested in you, not how you dress." He nodded. "Or smell," she added.
She laughed when he sniffed under his armpits. He scrunched his nose. "It's bad!"
She laughed again. "I'm just as bad."
He shook his head. "No. You smell wonderful."
She smiled at him. "Are all men from Urth so good at lying?"
He looked shocked. "I am not lying. I love how you smell."
She grinned. "Well, I don't intend to smell like this when we get to the city!"
"I am sure, I will like how you smell there, S'ra."
She looked fondly at him. "You know I want to kiss you," she told him.
"When we can, S'ra, when we can."
They walked for a further three hours before stopping for the day.
Chuck asked if the meat was still safe to eat. S'ra looked at him confused. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"It has been over two days since we cooked it and in your backpack since then. On Urth, meat wouldn't last that long."
She was still confused. "Why?"
He didn't know the words for bacteria, so pinched his thumb and finger together. "Very small creatures are in the air and get into the food."
"We don't have that," she stated firmly.
He just assumed her people weren't that advanced and didn't know anything about such organisms. He decided to drop the subject.
After they had eaten, S'ra asked Chuck about how he tended to her wounds. "Chuck, you were very careful when helping me after the attack. It seemed more than just how you feel about me. Did you do that as your work on Urth?"
"No, but my sister was a… doctor." The last word was in English, so he had to explain it and hear how to say it in her language before continuing. "She taught me how to treat wounds, but I also watched both her and you do it to me."
S'ra saw how he behaved as he mentioned his sister. "You miss her, don't you?"
His shoulders sagged. "Desperately. When our parents left us, we were all we had. She was four years older than me and acted as my mother, as well as my sister. She is the one thing I miss from that life."
She took his hand to comfort him. There really was nothing she could say to that. She wanted to ask about his parents, but he didn't seem to want to think about them. He obviously thought about it, because he asked how her parents treated her.
S'ra described what her parents did last time she came home. "They invited five men to visit and held a banquet. Each man was expected to dine with me for half an hour. Basically, try to win my interest."
"Why would the men do that? Have they no pride?"
She looked embarrassed. "We are a wealthy family."
He looked angry. "So, they are after your money?" He shook his head. "Why are some men driven by money so much? It happens on my planet too." He gazed at her. "Women do it, as well."
"Same here," she sadly replied.
"You know that is not what attracts me to you, don't you?" he questioned.
She smiled. "You have only just found out about it, so I know that, Chuck."
He grinned. "And it's not just your beauty, either."
She laughed and pointed at the vine over her brow and under her nose. "Thank you, but beauty hardly applies at the moment."
He shook his head. "That can't hide your beauty, S'ra."
She smiled. "You have already won my love and don't need to say things like that."
"I don't say it for any reward. It is what I believe."
She could see he really did think that. She gripped his hand a bit tighter.
After a while, she said, "How are your shoulders, Chuck?"
"They no longer hurt at all," he replied. "Can I remove the leaves?"
"Let me do that and check the wounds," she instructed him.
She carefully removed the vine on his left side and peeled back the leaf. She was surprised to see the wound had healed. There was a scar, as expected, but it had completely sealed. That was surprising for such a deep cut. She repeated the process on his right side, and found the same.
"You are good," she told him.
He grinned. "Yes, and recovered too."
She smiled. "Mine still hurt and will probably take longer to heal. You seem to do so faster than we do." She could see how that upset him. "Don't worry. Mine were lesser wounds, Chuck. The claw dug deep, but did not slice me and the teeth did the same. In fact, the teeth will probably not leave much of a scar."
He gazed at her fondly. "Nothing to hide perfection."
She had to stop thinking about kissing him right now. "I think the face cuts will have healed in the morning, and the shoulder ones either by then, or later in the day."
He nodded, understanding what that meant. "We can still sleep as we did on the earlier nights, S'ra."
"I'm counting on it. You have to keep me warm. Particularly my feet," she teased.
They then talked about their 'jobs' until it got dark.
Chuck was amazed at the technology that existed here. He was obviously wrong about how advanced they were if she flew a craft. It also increased his awe over the woman he was with. She was a flier, as well as a warrior. She had discovered a horde of purple savages tearing through the lands they were leaving, and she was trying to get home to report this threat so her people could prepare.
S'ra, on the other hand, couldn't understand what he did with 'computers' and particularly the concept of 'computer games.' "People battle others without being with them? And they aren't real enemies?"
He nodded. "It is instead of real fighting."
"We only fight to protect ourselves, not for pleasure."
He decided to talk about other games, as this was not something they would agree on. "We also play games that make us think. To challenge our brains." He described a few.
S'ra liked the idea of these games, but couldn't stop thinking about the fact he mentioned the others first.
Eventually, it got too dark to see each other, so she lay down and he brought the blanket to her. He lay down behind her and slipped his legs behind her bent ones.
S'ra couldn't help thinking how this had been just for warmth when he first did it. It was still partly for warmth, but now their feelings for each other had grown. She just relished the feel of his body against hers and his hand against her stomach.
A/N: End of day four. Next chapter, they will reach the city after their final time alone.
Thoughts?
Glossary (pronunciation in brackets)
People:
B'rack (Bur-Rack)– S'ra's previous boyfriend (we never meet him)
Frakku (Frack-Ku) – purple-skinned savages
S'ra (Sur-Rah) – first person Chuck Bartowski meets on the new planet
.
Plants and animals:
Clarek (clar-Rek) – plant that produces leaves that people use to clean themselves
Conith (Con-Eeth) – leaves of this plant produce fast-acting, healing liquids
Deak (Dee-Ack) – small plants that manage to grow in the crevasses of rocks in the mountain ranges
Gritch (Grit-Ch)– flesh of this plant used to clean teeth and breath
Ixtag (Eecs-Tag) – black-colored predator that live in forests
Landic )Land-Ick) – deer-like herbivore
Pake (PayK) – plant, the flesh contains pain-killing properties and is used for that purpose
Vetia (Vet-Ia) – leaves of this plant very flexible and used by Chuck to cover himself. Sap burns people from the planet but didn't affect him
Xaxic (Zacks-Ick) – foul smelling leaves of this plant used to ward off predators
Xynth (Zinth)– flying predator
Zryth (Zreeth) – stone-colored cat-like predator. Related to the ixtag
.
Places:
Garverd –(Gar-Vert) mountain range
Grillain (Grill-Ain) – city state S'ra comes from
Niteth (Nee-Teth) – largest of three moons that circle the planet
Retith (Ret-Teeth) – the planet Chuck was now on
.
Other:
Bract (Br-Act) – nutritious bars carried to eat when access to other food hard to achieve