Eden's Root (35 page)

She kept her voice and touch soft and comforting. When she finished with his left arm, she moved to prop his left leg up so she could lower his left arm and place his wrist on it.

“Keep this elevated for me ok,” she asked him, her gaze serious. He smiled and nodded at his nursemaid, and then closed his eyes as she moved to work on his right arm. Little by little, she removed the shirt strips he’d used to temporarily cover the two wounds on this arm.

“No, no,” she clucked, shaking her head. “No, you have to do this right,” she chided him under her breath. The wounds on this arm were not too serious. There were a few superficial slice wounds on his arm and a small, but painful looking gash on his right hand. That one was difficult to bandage, but Fi managed. She set up his right arm in the ‘elevated’ position on his right leg.

“Just keep both arms up as much as you can for the next few hours,” she urged him and he nodded. She smiled and flipped her long red braid behind her shoulder. “I know it feels silly, but we don’t have another way to easily elevate both your arms,” she explained and he laughed. He did feel awkward, but the elevation did help reduce the throbbing in his arms.

If he had not been in so much pain, he might have noticed that his heart rate continued to stay elevated after she was done with her work. Oblivious, he also missed Sean glowering at him with his good eye. Instead, he sat with his arms propped and eyes closed, comforted by Fi’s attention. His eyes flew open when his relaxation was broken by a low wail.

----------- Fi -----------

“Oh no!” Fi searched her pack and her heart began to pound. “Oh my God, where is it? Where’s my gun?” Fi turned to Sean’s pack and rifled through it as if there were any chance it was there. “I left my gun. And we left yours,” she said to Sean in a shaky voice. “We can’t afford to lose two guns. How will we protect the Family?” Her stomach felt sick at the thought and her ribcage throbbed. Asher spoke and Fi whirled, still on her knees by her pack.

“Well, I’m not sure how much longer we are going to be able to get ammo anymore anyway,” he began, “but if it makes you feel better…” his voice trailed off. He smiled and reached behind himself with a groan and drew Fi’s gun from the waistband of his pants. “Here,” he said, holding it out.

“You have it!” she exclaimed as her face lit up. Leaning forward, she placed her front hand on the ground and reached to take it from him. Suddenly he pulled it back away from her and she froze, her eyes wild with renewed panic. She remembered the man who had backhanded Sean and her heart sank. Why did he rescue us, she wondered? Was it just so he could kill us now? Had the world really become that cruel? From her position on all fours, she rolled away in an instant onto her toes, balancing in a low runner’s crouch, ready for battle.

Fi could see the transformation on Asher’s face. He had been smiling as if amused but now he wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked shocked. She bit her lip, but did not move from her offensive position. Sean stirred behind her and Asher put his hands up in apology.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice contrite as he tossed the gun into her waiting hands. “Don’t worry,” he said, “If I wanted you dead, I would have let Sid take care of you both.”

Fi grabbed the gun with a sigh and held it to her chest like a lost puppy. Oh thank God, she thought. The cool metal felt reassuring in her hands and her heart began to slow as she plopped down cross-legged and stroked the barrel with her fingertips. Asher made a noise and she turned to him and saw amusement in his eyes. He cocked his head.

“I gotta hand it to you Fi,” he said. “You’re by far the most unusual girl I have ever met. I’ve never met any woman who loved a gun that much.” His lips parted into a warm, friendly smile that filled his whole face, crinkling his blue eyes at the corners. Under his warm gaze she felt her skin prickle, leaving her confused for a moment. She shook it off with a grin and tucked the gun into the back of her pants. Her holster had broken in the fight. Oh well, she thought, Asher was probably right about the ammo anyway.

“Hey, can you blame a girl for loving her partner in crime?” she joked, an easy smile spreading across her face. A strange, strangling sound came from Sean. Fi and Asher both turned to him with quizzical expressions.

“Sorry,” he said. “Clearing my throat.” He peered at Asher from his good eye, icepack still pressed to his left. “Sooooooo,” he said with sarcasm. “Let’s be straight here, Asher. First you strap me to a chair and beat me up…and then you save my life.” He tried to make a face but he winced instead. “Not sure what that means really?”

Asher nodded. “I’m sorry about the whole thing, Sean, I truly am. Suffice it to say that I was my gang’s Leader. I don’t know if I have to explain how hard it is to be in charge in the middle of all this,” he gestured at the devastation around them, “mess.”

Sean nodded. “I understand,” he said, his tone still bitter. He shifted his hips over on the ground and threw his arm around Fi’s shoulders in a possessive gesture. “You gotta do what you gotta do, right? Fi and I would do anything to protect our Family.” Fi frowned at Sean’s arm around her shoulders in confusion. Why was Sean acting this way, she wondered? I mean, she knew he would do anything to defend his Family, but let’s face it, she didn’t need his protection. Annoyed, Fi shifted away from Sean’s arm.

“So what’s next then, Asher Grey?” The question hung in the air between them.

Asher’s gaze flitted from Fi to Sean and back to Fi, his eyes uncertain. “Well, I guess you could answer that as well as me. What were you two planning to do next?”

Fi considered the small garden. “How much time do you think we can spend in this location?”

“I don’t know, but not longer than tonight,” he said, rubbing his head with his left hand and pushing his blonde braid back over his shoulder. “I know that the Lobos will come looking for us if they can tell that someone escaped the warehouse. We killed their leader and they will be out for blood.” Though his voice was serious, Fi felt a sudden wave of humor.

“You mean you killed their leader,” she teased.

“Yeah, well it’s all the same to the clam,” he said wryly to himself, startling Fi for a moment. A swordsman who uses children’s poetry references, she thought, perplexed. Who is this guy? He continued, “I moved us out of the heart of Lobo territory and into the heart of the Deacons’ territory, which isn’t that much better except that they’re not looking for us.”

Fi considered this. “I think that now we need to wait for dawn to move because it’s getting too late today and I don’t want to leave this spot,” she nodded at the low sun overhead and Asher agreed.

“Even though the gangs are mostly active during the day I think we’ll be ok as long as we’re smart and move swiftly. I’ll get us out of the City, I promise you that,” he reassured her.

Fi felt comforted by his knowledge of the gangs. “Do you think we are safe here until then?”

“As safe as we can be, yes,” Asher replied. “We can’t let our guard down though.” Fi turned to Sean briefly and noticed that he seemed a little chagrined to be left out of the discussion. Usually they strategized together. But he stayed quiet, loyal to his place in Fi’s Family. “And what then?” Asher asked her. She took a careful seat on the edge of one of the low brick flower boxes.

“That,” Fi said, “is the real question. I can tell you this much, if you can get us back to the bridge safely then I can get all of us north from there.” Asher raised an eyebrow. “Sean and I live up north, we belong to a Family. We are devoted to each other and we protect each other.” She nodded at Sean and smiled and he half-smiled in return, wincing as the smile stretched his sore face. “We have rules that are enforced and everyone survives because of them.” As she talked, Fi reached behind her and unwound the elastic at the bottom of her braid. She shook her hair loose but failed to notice the simultaneous intake of breath from both men at the gesture. It was typical of Fi to fail to notice the effect she had on men, mostly because she hadn’t had any effect on them in the past.

“Ah,” she sighed. It felt good to have her hair free. It was so long that it grew heavy wound into the braid. “So,” she leaned over and rested her elbows casually on her knees, “the question is would you want to join our Family?”

“Tell me about your Family,” Asher said. “What would it mean to join?”

“Good question,” Fi nodded.

For the next few hours they sat and talked about the Family as nightfall crept over the garden. Fi explained the Consideration process and the Rules as well as describing her Family Members.

“Asher, I trust you enough to offer this because you went back to save Sean when I asked,” she explained. Nearby, Sean had settled into a fitful sleep on the ground. “So, I know that you have some integrity.” Making the case in her head as she went, Fi continued. “I also was impressed with your fighting prowess, obviously. The Family could really use another good fighter,” she said and then paused when she saw Asher’s expression. He looked amused. Fi blushed. She could tell that he realized that she’d meant she was the good fighter for her Family. She hoped that he couldn’t see her flush in the darkness.

“The question really is could you live by our Family rules?” This was a critical question. Keeping her gaze steady, her brown eyes searched his for understanding. Musing, he scratched his head with his good hand.

“You mean could I live with you being my Leader?” She nodded, her gaze open and serious.

“Think whatever you want, but it’s been my role for a year now and my Family trusts me. I can’t have any question about my authority or their safety.” Almost involuntarily, her head shook back and forth as she spoke. It came as a surprise to her when Asher smiled. Despite the darkness, she could see the curve of his mouth as it turned up at the corner.

“You know, I didn’t really like being the Leader. I don’t even really like to fight, I just happen to be well-trained.” He sighed, changing position on the uncomfortable brick floor. “I spent my last year trying to keep the lid on a violent group of thugs while defending them from other violent groups of thugs.” His voice was weary and he paused once more. “I think, all things considered, that I would be happy not to be the Leader anymore.”

As he said this Fi felt the truth in his voice. He examined her face, surrounded by its thick fall of curls. She held his gaze and lifted her chin. Of course he thinks I should be some sort of soft high school girl. But I’m not, she thought intently, hoping he could read her thoughts in her eyes.

“Tell me,” he asked her, his tone suddenly curious. “Don’t you want not to be the Leader anymore?” Fi was startled by the question, her eyes widening in surprise. No one had ever asked her that before. It hadn’t even occurred to her to think about not being the Leader. Her eyes narrowed in understanding as she searched his face. Asher understands the burden, she realized. Maybe even more so with the ‘family’ he’d had to deal with.

Before answering, Fi turned just to make sure Sean was sleeping. Hearing his mumbles as he dreamt, she turned back to Asher and nodded in the darkness, confused by her own honesty. Why did she keep this truth from the people she’d protected with her life, but in one day she had come to trust this stranger enough to tell him? It was stupid, she thought. Or maybe she’d just been dying to admit it for so long.

“Yes, I want not to be the Leader,” she admitted. She rubbed her eyes and winced at the pain of her sore eye. “I mean, in the real world, I’m fifteen years old,” she admitted with a sideways glance at Asher to gauge his reaction.

She could see his surprise, but she was never sure if people thought she was younger and were surprised to find she was fifteen, or if they thought fifteen was too young. What she knew was that her age was actually irrelevant. She smiled a half-smile and tilted her head. She spoke in a mocking singsong way.

“But what I want is really neither here nor there, now is it?” She turned away and spread her sleeping bag out on the ground and got into it, taking care not to bump her sore rib. She rested with her hands on her chest in the most comfortable position for her aching side. She spoke into the night air. “So it’s settled then. You come with us.” She didn’t wait for his confirmation. She just assumed it. “As your new Leader,” she joked in a tired voice. “I order you to watch over us while we rest.”

Though he knew she was only teasing, Asher took her seriously, and moved to sit with his back to the open wall they had scaled.

“Ay, ay boss,” he quipped.

Fi wasn’t sure why she trusted this man. What if she woke up from sleep and he was gone? She wasn’t sure where they were in the City at this point. What if he’d led them into danger? Though her mind was filled with ‘what ifs’, soon enough her pain and exhaustion won and she closed her eyes and slipped into a restless sleep.

----------- Asher -----------

Asher’s head lolled forward and he woke again, startled. Blinking, he shook himself awake. Whew, he was beat. His arms were killing him and he kept falling asleep sitting up. Some sentry he was turning out to be on his first night’s duty, he thought with guilt. It was late at night, he thought, or early in the morning. It was impossible to tell now that the moon had set. Squinting, Asher peered into the darkness and saw Fi and Sean sleeping in little bundles on the ground. Nothing was stirring. All was well.

He sighed and shifted the blanket Fi had given him beneath his aching limbs. Pain rippled through his body in protest of his sitting up any longer. Though he was determined to stay awake, he moved to lie down by the wall. Suddenly he heard a noise and he bolted up again. It had sounded like a moan. His heart pounded as he listened, his senses buzzing and his hand hovering above the sword beside him.

“No,” he heard a voice murmur. “No, come back.” As he listened to the whisper, he realized it was Fi. His pounding heart started to slow down a bit as he relaxed. She made some more sounds, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. She rolled over and then whimpered. Probably at the pain from her rib he thought with a frown. Should he wake her? It didn’t sound like she was having a very good dream. He closed his eyes wearily in recognition. The last time he’d slept well was beyond his memory now. Fi murmured again, her voice plaintive.