A Right Hand Woman

Returned.

Pain returned. My body felt as though I had been trampled by horses. I tried to move my legs and a jolt of searing pain ran up my side. My eyes shot open and I cried out in pain. Hands pressed down on my shoulders and pushed me back. I started to struggle against them when Elray spoke ‘Oh would you just lay still. It is not that bad, you sook’. My eyes started to focus and I saw Elray smiling down at me. ‘Welcome back Raven’ he said kindly as he helped me to sit up a bit.

I looked around myself trying to figure out where I was. My eyes fell on the blond haired little girl. She was sitting in a chair, slumped over on the bed I was laying in. Her small face was turned to me with her eyes closed and sweat was beaded on her brow and lip. ‘Elray, who is that? What happened to me? And where the hell am I now?’ My voice was rising with each question and I was getting mad. I truly do not like to feel confused.

‘Calm down Raven and I will explain’ He said raising an eyebrow at me. ‘What do you remember?’ I thought about it. Well my friends had been killed, I lost my mind and butchered as many of the mongrels as I could, but then someone got in a lucky swipe and stabbed me in the side. I pulled the sheet back and ran my fingers down a healing scar. ‘I lost too much blood and blacked out’ I said, knowing it was not the truth and dreading what Elray would say next.

‘Ha, you wish!’ Elray laughed. ‘You died sweetheart. I saw you go down. By the time me and a few of my ‘friends’ got to you, you barely had a pulse. I brought you straight back here and sent for our young friend Lillian’ He indicated to the sleeping child. ‘Before she even got here, you stopped breathing and your heart quit. Her family are from some ancient line of healers, what did she call herself… a ‘walker of the Grey’? She has this weird little stone and when she got here, she pushed me out of the way and held it against your chest. It was strange, the room felt like it was charged, like when there is a bad storm and lightning strikes. When I looked at you, you had a blue light coming out of you, straight through your skin. She started to chant some language I had never heard before and then I saw you take a breath, but you did not wake up.’

I looked at the child again, reaching out and moving a few strands of hair from her face. She looked distressed in her sleep; her eyes scrunched shut and her breathing short and shallow. ‘Do not wake her. She said no one was to disturb her after she brought you back’ Elray said quietly. ‘You see Raven, the problem was not with getting your body to live again. She said that your essence had passed from this world and if I wanted you back, she would have to walk the Grey and find you. She has been searching for you going on two weeks now’.

‘What do you mean, the Grey?’ I asked. Elray just lifted my arm and ran a wet cloth along it. My skin was covered in ash. I raised both arms and looked. Then I threw back the covers, much to the complaint of my wound, and saw that yes, I had burn marks on the insides of my thighs. ‘It is where you go when you have lived a violent life. From what Lillian said, she was not even sure she would find you at all. Said the place is filled with unimaginable creatures that feed off any who enter and that you were most likely gone for good. But I knew better. Can’t keep a good bitch down, isn’t that right Raven’ I smiled at him.

‘Well I would ask how you knew where to find me but I will just assume that you followed me when I snuck out. And when you saw that I was in real trouble, you went and got some of your lads?’ Elray just smiled and nodded. ‘So what is wrong with her? I inclined my head to Lillian. ‘Well as I said, she has been searching for you for two weeks now. She has only come out long enough to eat something quickly and to catch an hour’s sleep here and there. She is exhausted. Just before you woke up, she said she had found you and to leave her be until she awoke on her own’

‘Alright then wise arse, if you know everything, then tell me the only thing I could possibly want to know’ I grinned cockily at him. ‘Seven, only two of them got away. You killed five, I killed one and another of my lads killed the seventh’ I did not know what to say. I pulled open my shirt and saw that yes, there were new flowers marked on my chest. Elray saw my discomfort and lowered his eyes. ‘That day the Weaver came and told you, you would need my help. Well after you left the cave, we spoke some more. He said that the only way I could help you was if he gave me a gift, then he touched me, but I did not feel any different. I did not know what he meant at the time but as soon as we got into town, I started to hear things, evil things and then when I got near one of the men that you want dead, I could hear this strange noise. Like crickets chirping really loud. I can not stand it Raven, all I can hear are evil thoughts from evil people. But what scares me most, is I can hear a lot of your thoughts as well’

I could not believe it. This needed to be tested. I thought, I will slap him in the face, as hard as I can. Before I could even move, he leaped back from the bed and out of my reach. ‘Damn it! I cannot go around having you hear my every thought’ I exploded. I couldn’t believe the Weaver had done this to me. How was I meant to break off from him and do my task in peace if he knew my every move? ‘Please don’t leave without me. I just want to help you. The sooner you complete your task, then the sooner my head will return to normal. I do not want to hear these things but I cannot help it. Please Raven!’ The pleading in his eyes was too much to bear. He looked so small and frightened and ready to jump out of his skin. I couldn’t leave him like this after everything he had done for me. He started to smile. ‘Knock it off! Yes, you may come with me but can you please at least pretend that you cannot hear my every thought?’

‘I will try’ He said, spreading his hands and smiling at me cheekily. ‘So what’s the plan boss? You need a few more days to rest up, but I can snoop around a little and see where we may need to head to next?’ Damn, he was like a puppy that had just had its belly scratched. ‘Alright, well I have a few people I wish to talk to before we depart, so I will need you to round them up for me and something needs to be done for my friends. They were kind, caring people and they need to be given a proper burial’ I felt the pain and sadness building up inside me. There would be time to let it break out later. Right now, I had things to do. ‘I will give you a list of people to find for me and the name of a good coffin maker in the area. Can you handle that?’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Sure thing. You do not have to worry. I will take care of it’ Elray said softly, while reaching out and placing his hand on my arm. I think he knew my pain but knew I would not talk about it with him.