Isildilia.(Book 1 of the White Lily trilogy)

Chapter 33- True test of survival

(Picture- The fire lizard) 

    Something kept tickling Isildilia face, forcing her eventually to wake up.  She tried to lift her left arm, but there came a jagged line of pain. She let out a muffled yelp, making the creature by her side leap up. She slowly cracked her eyelids; it was only just morning as the sky above was partway between deep blue, and orange from the east. She realised that she was looking at the gap in the canopy she created as she fell.  She was still lying where she hit the ground. Something crawled up beside her and peered down at her, whiskers tickling her nose.  The small forest-tiger cub stared with unblinking green eyes.

   “Hello, Jundi,” she croaked. The cub’s form shivered and the small red-haired girl now sat in its place.
   “Are you alright?” she whispered.

   “Why does my left side hurt so much?”
   “You have a few broken ribs and a broken arm.”  Her lip trembled as she spoke. Isildilia took a deep breath and found the task near impossible, like her lungs were moving out against a wall of needles. She winced.

   “How long have I been...?”
   “At least three days, you were in so much pain, we didn’t know what to do, you were too big to move.” She stood up and put her clothes back on, and then she brought out a small horn from her belt.

   “Where did you get that?” Isildilia asked.

   “We made these from some large bones we found. It was so we could find each other if we got separated.”
    “Then, how did you find me?”  Jundi twiddled her thumbs a little.

    “I’m sorry, we disobeyed you. We wanted to see what the strange smell was so we were heading this way when we heard you scream. It was horrible; it sounded like you were being tortured.” The remaining blood in Jundi’s face drained out. “Then we started to pick up your scent and found you. But we couldn’t wake you.” Tears started to stream down her face. She quickly wiped her face and blew into the horn, which echoed through the trees, startling many animals nearby. “They should be nearby,” she explained. Isildilia nodded.

    Lily...She could feel White Lily stir slowly.  But she didn’t say anything. How are you? Isildilia asked. The response was slow and lethargic.

   The same as you. I have felt pain through you before but nothing like that, I don’t know how you could stand it.

   Can you help us?

   I'm already seeing to speeding up healing our wounds, unless you haven’t noticed, she said, almost irritated.

   Where would I be without you? she praised, but even she knew healing wounds such as these, even for her, would take time. She rolled up her shirt and cringed as she saw her entire left side was purple and black with bruising, like some weird exotic fruit. Her right hand shook as she brought it across and prodded it lightly. She yelped and pulled away, then placed her hand back as she tried to work out how many were broken. She counted three altogether. She looked across to Jundi, who was still crying silently, trying to not let Isildilia see.

   Isildilia was about to say something, when the others suddenly arrived.  Each of them was red in the face as they responded rapidly to the sound of the horn.

   “What's wrong? What’s happened?” Snoli questioned, and then he saw that Isildilia was awake. He and the others almost burst into tears instantly.
   “Now, now, what’s with all the sad faces?” she whispered. She started to slowly prop herself upright, grimacing as she did so. Already she felt a slight dulling in the pain.