Aura (6 page)

A howl in the distance alerted both Wolf and Aura to other dangers.  The evening was beginning to set in, and they were in the open without supplies or protection.  She gave the comatose man a disgusted frown then sighed in resignation.  It was not his fault he had been attacked by outlaws.  Nor was it his fault that he couldn’t manage to fight them all off on his own, after all, he was just some poor Joe who had ran into bad luck, not superman.
Aura was too tired to move the man at this moment.  She gathered some dry moss and wood to make a fire with, in order to provide them both with a little heat and light, to keep the more aggressive wildlife away while she rested and regained a little more strength.  She sat near the fire and ate a small meal.  While she recuperated she sewed up the wounds that needed attention.  The head wound, she decided, she would tend to when they got back to the cave.  After making sure that she had tended to his worst injuries, she sat back and watched him as she made plans.
He had not moved yet, which, to Aura, was both a blessing and a curse.  He had been hit on the head with that metal ball and there was a nasty bump under the untreated gash. Aura was sure that it was this injury that made him sleep.  She doubted if this sleep was a healthy one, although it had given her the opportunity to set his shoulder without being challenged.
Preoccupied as Aura was by her patient's problems, Aura failed to even notice the man himself.  To her he could have had three eyes, a flat nose and pox-marked complexion.  That was not the case though, for even in his sleep the pride he bore was plain to see and was stenciled throughout his body.  His character developed by years of responsibility and hard work.
Some might have considered his features handsome, his jaw strong, and his nose aristocratic.  His cheeks and chin were beginning to show a shadow from the new growth emerging from a formerly shaven beard. His chest barreled out, framed by arms well muscled, and tapered to an equally well-developed waist and hip.  There was nothing soft about this man, and even laying as he did, there was no mistaking his strength and maleness.  Aura saw him only as a patient, someone in need of what few medical skills she possessed, and she was determined to not fail.
After pondering their predicament for an hour, Aura rose.  She had, she hoped, come up with a workable solution, or at least something that had possibilities.
She had remembered watching a movie about how primitive peoples had made up stretchers to transport people.  She decided that, as the horse was well rested, she would take advantage of his strength.  She made her stretcher, finishing the last of it by the light of the fire, rolled her patient on to it then attached the apparatus to the horse. He snorted and flattened his ears back, as he rolled his eyes in objection then, sensing his master's presence, obeyed her commands, even to the point of letting her lead him by his reins.
The cave, as she had expected, was cold.  The fire had gone out hours before, and needed resetting.  She sighed deeply as she felt the humidity in the air.  It would take a long time to dry out her home before it was fit to be occupied.
Aura made a fire, and when it was burning to her satisfaction, she returned to her patient.  She untied him, and dragged him into the cave then left to tend to the horse.  The animal stood still while he tolerated her touch.  She removed his saddle and trappings then tied him to a tree with a long rope, before returning to his master.
The man was breathing irregularly when Aura re-examined him, taking short, shallow breaths, and although she knew it was unlikely that he would wake soon, she hesitated to touch him.  She had become aware of a sense of power and danger about him, and she felt unsettled by being forced to keep him company.  She couldn’t justify the change in her perception but it was there.  She gathered extra moss to make up a bed for him then transferred him from the stretcher to his new resting place.  By the time she had him moved and felt satisfied with her efforts, the fire was almost out and needed tending.  She added a small armful of wood to the fire then banked it for the night, before going outdoors to bring in some fresh wood to use in the morning.  She then returned to check on her patient.
He was shaking, as if cold, yet, when Aura touched him he seemed warm enough, and he was not running a temperature.  She sat back on the heels of her feet and tried to remember what she had been taught about people in his condition.  There were several possibilities that sprang to mind.  First and primary, was that he could be suffering from a reaction to his injuries from the battle.  It was also possible that he could be having a reaction to the cold or perhaps even a combination of events.
Aura was not impressed with the solution that came to mind.  It was obvious that he was going to need more heat than the fire could provide.  She called Wolf to her side and ordered him to lie down beside the man, to provide him warmth from that angle.  She then took all of her blankets and covered him.  Then she watched to see if it was going to help.
An hour later she gave a sigh of resignation.  Her efforts, while not without some merit, had not been completely successful.  That left her with the one option that she had tried to avoid.  She sat closer to the fire, and unbraiding her hair as she remembered the words of her teacher.
"In primitive surroundings, in cases of shock due to exposure, nothing works better to warm the patient than skin to skin contact.  For one body lends its heat to the other."
Aura removed all but her thin underclothes and sat combing her hair for a few moments, while warming her feet.  There could be nothing cold touching her patient if she was to be successful.  She rose, when she felt warm enough, and made her way over to his side then, taking a deep breath to fortify her decision, she slipped under the blankets beside him.  He felt hot to the touch; although he still shivered, and she slid her arms around him as she pressed her semi clad figure against his, taking special care not to hurt him further as she did.  She sighed as she settled her head against his good shoulder then fell asleep.  She was so tired that she didn’t even wake when he stopped shivering, or when his arm curled about her shoulders to hold her closer.

Feeling warm and comfortable the man woke with the first rays of sunlight.
  He squirmed then winced at the pain the slight movement caused.  Where was he?  How did he get here? He gave the matter thought, but could remember nothing beyond the fight that he had been involved in.
The light movement of a person at his side alerted him to another presence and he moved to view that person closer.  It was a woman.  One he had not even noticed when he had woken earlier.  She was asleep and he was finding it almost impossible to keep his eyes off of her.  This was no village wench that he had taken to his bed to warm him during the night.  He noted the deep healthy shine in her hair, the clear complexion of her face and the sweet smell of her body.  He gave a smiling sigh of contentment, pleased with what life had dealt for the moment.  He closed his eyes and went back to sleep, pulling her body back against his to draw her closer.
Aura woke an hour later and extracted herself from her patient’s side with exaggerated care, so she could dress and tend to her fire.  When she had everything under control again, she turned her attention back to him.  He was slightly flushed and showed traces of a fever.  She frowned at this turn of events, but was not really very surprised.  He had been hurt and had been chilled by his exposure to the elements.   She should expect him to show some effects.
She turned her attention to his head injury and noted how it had already started to heal.  The wound looked good, but she was not too pleased about the sanitary conditions surrounding it, his hair was caked with blood. She doubted if it had been washed in a long time before the incident had occurred, although she could be wrong about that.  She thought about what she should do about him then decided that if he did not wake within the next hour or so, she would have to find a way to bathe him and to wash his hair on her own.  He needed to be clean or he would catch an infection.
The man was awake, although he could not seem to bring himself to open his eyes or speak.  He felt ill, hot and achy, too much so to bother with things about him that was in direct contrast with the way he had felt the last time he had woken.  The woman he had held tended him, and he was aware of her ministrations.  He felt her cool touch as she felt his forehead and a while later he felt her bathing him with warm water.  She had a gentle touch, and he wished he could gather up enough energy to tell her how grateful he was for her attention. 
He did not wake, so Aura heated water and sponged his body down, for he was sweating quite freely with fever.  She heated more water and washed the blood out of his hair, as well as ridding him of any other unwelcome inhabitants, should he have any.  When she had finished she made a broth and fed him as best as she could, when he was restless,  When she had managed to feed him a full bowl of the clear fluid she left the cave to wash and clean herself.  She returned to the cave to find her patient even more feverish and racked with shivers than he had been.  Her patient, it seemed, was intent on testing her skills as a physician.  Considering that she had none to speak of, she was not overly taken with the idea of being put in this position.
For the next seventy-two hours Aura got little to no sleep, while her patient tossed about and muttered incoherently in his fevered state.  The only clear words he spoke were in Latin.  Aura believed this meant that he was an educated man for she had not heard many of the people she had met using it.  Only those in the higher classes spoke Latin.  She sponged him down with cool water collected from the stream outdoors and continued to pour broths and liquids into him, until the fever broke and he slept naturally.  When she was sure of her patient's state of health she laid back down next to him again in a sheer state of exhaustion and she slept.  She woke to find herself cradled in his arms.
Aura blinked as if to clear both mind and sight, all the while feeling that she could use more rest.  It was, however, something that she knew she would be ill advised to do.  The fire needed tending, as did her patient.  She slipped away from his side, and moved about the cave, getting some wood to build up her fire with.  When she was satisfied with the heat it was throwing out, she turned to check on her waking patient.
He was watching, studying her every move, and she felt a sudden unease.  She did not like feeling like some germ under a microscope.  Trying to avoid his steady gaze she took his temperature and pulse.  The first was almost normal, and the second strong and steady.  When she had determined that he was over the worst, she left his side, to go outside to make them both something to eat.  When it was done she took the cooked food to him.
The first thing Aura noticed as she entered the cave was the empty bed that announced his absence.  Her eyes flicked from the moss that had served as his mattress, to the fire, and she saw him, crouching down as he placed new dry wood on to the low flames.  He was weaving slightly as he sought to be careful not to smother the coals while he tended his chore.  Despite his obvious weakness Aura gave a swallow.  She felt intimidated by his size.  She placed their food on a boulder then sought out Roger, in an unconscious way of using him as an equalizing factor.  The man took one look at the snake as it wound itself about her then reached for his sword, which he had gathered from his belongings during her absence.  It now hung from his hip as if it was a part of him.
Aura took one look at the weapon as it flashed from his scabbard, and she screamed as she backed against the cave wall.  "No!"     He did not seem to listen as he swung the weapon at the snake and missed as she dodged.  He stared at her, confused by her attempts to protect the creature, along with the docility of the snake itself, and she suddenly lost all fear of the man as she realized that he was no different than anyone else.  She took Roger to the mouth of the cave, where he uncoiled himself from about her, and slithered off to go hunting.  She returned to the interior of the cave to face his questions.
"Who are you?"  His tone of voice and accent echoed his wonder, as well as his educational and social status.
Aura, not understanding his language very well, replied in Latin, as she remembered him using it during his moments of delirium.  "I am a woman.  I have raised Roger since he was little more than two feet long.  He trusts me, and we are used to each other, nothing more, or out of the ordinary."
"You tamed the wolf in the same way?"  He replied, also in Latin.
She nodded then turned the subject away from herself.  "I want to check your wounds."
He grunted and motioned at the roasted rabbit and the other oddities, which she had brought in to eat, and gave an alternative suggestion.  "Perhaps we should eat first, while the food is still hot.  Then we can get to know each other better at our leisure."
She nodded, taking the statement at face value then brought her homemade platter filled with food over to the side of the fire where she set it down as she sat closer to the flames, to catch some of the heat.  The man tore a quarter of the rabbit from the spit and began to eat, while she sat and watched for a few moments before pouring water into a wooden cup for him.  She poured another for herself, then settled down to enjoy her meal.
"How long have you lived here?"  He asked between mouthfuls.
"A while," she answered evasively.  She was still wary of the man, and still tired from the days that she had spent nursing him. 
"You cook well.  You have put something into the meat," he observed.
Aura shrugged a shoulder and changed the subject.  "You have removed the bandages from your arm.  Why?"
"It got in the way.  Besides the arm will heal quicker.  Who taught you to set bones?"
"Nobody," Aura admitted then shrugged the matter off.  "Generally I believe common sense comes into it a lot."
"So the people who know how to do it properly have told me.  What is your name?"  He asked, but received no answer.
The man assessed the woman before him.  Somehow he knew she did not fit in the lifestyle she was living.  Her accent was wrong.  She had the manners and bearing of a lady, and who knew what else she hid behind that mask that she wore.  He had to admit, she was rather attractive, and there was something about her that his instincts told him, was familiar.  Something that he should recognize, and he frowned at the thoughts going through his mind.  She wasn’t the only fair maiden he had ever been attracted to, and he already had too many women throwing themselves at him.
After a while of watching her he wished that she would say something, anything to dispel the air of mystery that seemed to cloak her.  It was not to be.  She remained quiet, choosing to shroud herself in obscurity.  For the first time in his life he had the feeling that he was with a woman he could trust.  He was having a hard time justifying the feeling with his mind and he was surprised he was even trying.  After all, she was just another woman.
Aura was less bold about her examination of the man, as she sat across the boulder from him.  He asked her name, she had no intention of telling him.  Something instinctive told her it would be a mistake.  She didn’t want to know him.  She would help him and he would go, they would never meet again, that was for the best.  They would never be more than memories with no names, no labels.  It would be easier to forget that they had ever met, easier to pretend that the attraction she felt to this stranger had been no more than a fanciful dream.  
She snuck little glances at him from under her eyelashes.  He felt huge to her and he made her feel inadequate. That was something that should have irritated her, but failed to.  Instead she felt drawn to him in ways that made her feel warm all over.  She was very uncomfortable with the sensation.  She accepted the fact that she knew nothing about men.  She knew that without her back up team, Roger and Wolf, she would have been terrified of him.
She licked her dry lips to wet them as she considered the man before her.  His hair hung past his shoulders in an unruly riot of waves and curls, which she thought would look better with another wash.  She noted her own odor and decided she could use a proper bath as well.  Despite that thought she wrinkled her nose in distaste at the smell of him.  She finished her meal, got up, wiped her fingers and mouth on a makeshift napkin, and approached the man.
"If you have finished eating I will tend to your wounds now."
He nodded as he scowled up at her, and reluctantly removed his tunic.  She bit at her lip as she examined his cuts, his muscles twitched as her fingers seemed to play over the surface of his skin with a feathery touch.  The role she played as doctor gave her a more secure feeling.  It tended to distance her mind from her body’s reactions to his presence.
The man was not so removed from his feelings.  He felt his blood heat, and his hands itched to touch her.  After being celibate for so long he was surprised that his more basic instincts had chosen this time to surface.  But then again, why not, she seemed a likely candidate for his attentions.  A smile spread across his face as an unlikely thought crossed his mind.  Perhaps she even wanted his attentions.  He had to know.
"You afraid to touch me, or do you wish to invite me closer?"  He half growled, half taunted.  He was unsure of what type of reaction he wanted from her.  His mind and body were battling it out and he fought a growing sensation of lust that burned hot through his veins and made him grow hard.  No woman had ever made him feel this way before and he sought to suppress it by sheer will.
The question took Aura by surprise, and she felt a searing surge of anger at the implication.  She tossed him a clipped laugh and snapped off a snarky reply.  "You are not that irresistible mister.  If you are looking for a good time, go find yourself a red light zone.  In the meantime, you seem to be healing well.  In another couple of days we will take the stitches out and you can go home."
"I cannot wait that long, I should have left already."  Came his reply.
"That might be so," Aura shrugged an indifferent shoulder as she answered him.  "But your injuries are not ready, so make the best of it.  This might also be the perfect opportunity for you to take a bath.  I will even supply the soap if you do.  I made it myself and it really is quite good."
"A bath?"  The man asked as if he had never heard the word before.
Aura gave a groan of exasperation and rolled her eyes upwards as she snipped.  "Do not tell me, you have never heard of a bath or a bar of soap before.  No wonder you could be smelled from a dozen paces when I found you."
The man looked at her in disbelief as she spoke.  He could not believe she was speaking to him in such a manner.  Had she no respect for him?  No idea who or what he was?  She wanted him to bathe?  Here?  She could not be serious.  What was he to bathe in?  She had nothing large enough to hold the amount of water it would take him to have a proper bath.  Or did she?
He frowned as he watched her, deep in thought.  Perhaps it would not be so bad, especially if she joined him.  She was rather attractive, if somewhat plainly presented.  It was a thought that made him watch her even closer in his continued speculation before deciding that she probably was not his type.  There was something about her that told him that she would be the kind to be very uncooperative.
Aura noted his frown and sighed in misunderstanding.  Did that mean that they did not bathe here?  She was not going to let that stop her from getting clean.  The water in the pond outside of the cave was beginning to get very cold with the coming of winter, but it still would serve for more baths for a while. Believing in a definite order to things Aura decided to straighten up the cave first, then she brought in some wood, this time with the man's help.  He was feeling stiff, sore and weak, but he was dammed if he was going to let a mere slip of a maid see to him like some mewling babe.  When she was finished with the wood she bundled up the moss that had served as their mattress and, much to his surprise, she burned it.  As the fire reduced the mass to cinders she spread some fresh moss, picked up a bar of soap and a large towel.  She then turned to the man to give a few last minute instructions as he fed the fire.