Sister Mine

2

The sun was slanting through the glass of the window when Riddick opened his eyes again some four hours later. His head felt thick and heavy, a deep steady ache behind his eyes. He tried to sit up and grunted as a rat bite of pain chewed into his side.

"No, you mustn't!" the novice nun hurried back to his side, gently pushing him back "Lie back and rest. We're safe."

Her hands were cool and refreshing on his shoulders, and Riddick found a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I thought you said if I lay down for a while I could do whatever I wanted."

"Yes, well," she smiled a little sheepishly at him "I may have stretched the truth a little. You need to rest and heal."

"Uh-huh, and how do you propose to keep me down if I've a mind to be up?" Riddick started to rise but quickly fell back when Magdaline jabbed him with a stiff finger.

"What in the blue blazes did you do that for?!" he snapped harshly.

He'd gone pale and sweat formed instantly on his brown and upper lip as cold nausea washed over him from her cheap shot. The girl was looking sorrowfully at him, her eyes a little hesitant while Riddick tried to slow the thump of his heart.

"I've little enough to contain you with, so I'll use what will work. You stay put Logan Riddick or I swear to find a way to tie you."

The grin was back, though fainter now, wary.

"I didn't know you Sisters were into that kind of fun, or else I'da been a church goin' man years ago."

She went a deep hue of pink though her eyes flashed at him in mock severity.

"I'll ask you to mind what you say to me Mister Riddick, or we can maintain silence between us." Her tone was stiff  and Riddick grinned a little wider.

"I swear it to you Sister, I will say nothing that I will not carefully think on beforehand."

His gray eyes were dancing merrily but he said nothing else, and his expression was innocent and bland. Magdaline could find nothing to rebuke him for though she knew he was churning over new ways to tease and flirt with her. Since clapping eyes on her three months ago, Riddick had been kindly, gentlemanly, yet doggedly persistent in his attention. At first she'd been cold, then irritated, then politely uninterested, but no matter how she tried he would not be made to give up. Whatever it was he saw in her, he liked it and wanted to know more. She promptly changed the subject.

"I've found a few dried plants that look like they could be used for medicinal purposes, though I confess to know but a little of such things." She gestured toward the cupboards. "There is canned fruits and vegetables, flour, coffee, sugar, plenty of firewood, even some lard, but no meat. The trees outside look to be fruit trees, and I found a garden that had been growing wild, so there are some fresh vegetables. I suppose that unless there is fish in the river, we'll be eating without meat for a while."

"Well," Riddick mused, his eyes half closed but on her face "I guess it could be worse."

"Indeed, we could be in need of a doctor, or a way out." She smiled at him and he grinned in response.

"Mister Riddick, do you think they'll find us here?" her voice suddenly was frightened and hushed, sounding very young and uncertain.

"I can't say for certain Sister," he tried to sound comforting but knew it was a poor job. "We had a hard road to find this place, and there doesn't seem to be another easy way in. We'll have to just wait, and see."

"I'm worried," her fingers had unconsciously found his, her topaz eyes wide "What will Father Fuentes do when we don't come back? That money is so badly needed for the mission, the town, for all the people who are going to starve without it."