Soldier

CHAPTER TWO.

..............A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it- Jean De La Fontaine...........

"Mama! Help.", Maria shouted as she and her brothers entered the treehouse.

Her mother, Nira, came rushing out of her room after hearing the suddenness in her daughter's voice. As she came towards Maria's room,she halted at the door after glancing at the horrible sight on Maria's bed.

On her bed was a badly wounded man, who was of course bleeding profusely and was in a warrior's armor. In utter surprise, Maia looked around the room, and there was Maria and her brothers.

"What...?!", She exclaimed.

"Mama, there is a reasonable explanation for this.", Nira gestured uncomfortable for Maria to continue.
"But could you least help him before he bleeds to death."

"You want me to save a strange man who has a sword right beside him? And how is it that he is alive?", Her mother asked unbelievably. She was surprised at how he had survived with deep cuts all over his huge body.

"He is barely living, Mama.".

"At least, share with me how you came by him?", Still amazed, she moved closer to the bed and had a good look at him. His armor looked, if clean and polished, expensive, it had both tiny and bold details of warfare but on the steel covering his shoulder had a distinct illustration of a foe, despite the scratches and blood covering his armor, Nira could tell he wasn't from the West.

"I promise you an explanation, Mama. But first, save him..." Her blue eyes plead heavily as if she had known him for years. "Very well. No one must be aware of this." She said as she sat on the wooden stool beside the bed and relived him of his armor. She removed his helmet and his whole face came to view.

His long chestnut brown hair was heavily stained with blood, she could tell it was his since blood was rolling down the side of his face. His long stubble added to the distress on his face. Soft groans let his thin lips, his eyelids twitched slowly, showing the olive green based in his eyes. Cuts were all over his strained face, anyone who looks at him would immediately feel pity for him.

"Go fetch me some clean water, Maria. Heat up some water, Abel, get some fresh bandages and clean clothes, Michael. Light the fire, Aaron, and heat up your knife." She ordered the way she does whenever she had to do an urgent work in the town's clinic.

They all left, to do what Nira had ordered them to do, leaving Issac and Aaric in the room with their mother.

"Aaric move to the other side of the bed so you could hold him when I need you to. For now, Issac, I need you to apply pressure on the wound on his side ", And they obliged.

Just immediately, Maria and Michael entered the room with the items then placed them next to Nira. She dipped the cloth into the bowl of water Maria had placed beside her and wiped clean his wounds.

Then she saw that the cuts were much deeper than she thought, she glanced over to Michael and stated "I will be needing the needle and thread to stitch up his wounds, they are a lot deeper than I thought.".

Michael left for the needle and thread while Abel and Aaron returned. Nira dipped the cloth into the hot water after she was done cleansing his wounds with the cold water, then she lightly dabbed the cloth over his wounds making him wince gently.

At the sound of his wince, Maria grimaced, slightly relived that he was alive and was going to be fine.

Then, Nira took the knife from Aaron's grip then looked over at Abel and Aaric and said "Hold him tight. He must not slip out of your grips." And they nodded before they gripped tightly on his shoulders just like their mother had ordered.

"What are you going to do now, Mama?" Maria asked innocently as Nira wrapped the cloth around the knife's handle.
"I am going to burn his wounds to yield them from infections."
"Is it going to hurt him?"
"Of course, Maria. Now stop asking obvious questions and go bring the stove in here."
Maria hurriedly left the room to bring in the coal stove.

After taking in a deep breath, Nira finally placed the knife on his smaller wound, which was similar to a cut a person gets when cut with a small dagger, when the horrid pain hit him, he let out an ear-splitting scream.  As she kept the hot knife on his wound, he continued to screamed and shift in pain.

"Hold him tight." She said over his scream.
"It appears that we are not the only one with manly strengths here." Issac complained.
    
And then Michael entered with the needle and thread and saw what Nira was doing, then he broke into sweat. Behind him was Maria, holding the stove, who also gasped at the sight before moving to their mother's side to place down the hot stove.

"Michael, be kind and help hold him down.", Aaric grunted, while Michael moved closer to them in hope to help hold the man down.

Few minutes later, Nira removed the knife from his wound when it started to cool, placed it back on the hot stove, and quickly placed a cold cloth over red skin and smoothened the pain a little. He painted heavily from the pain and placed his head on the pillow.

"Is that all?" Maria asked as she swallowed the lump in her throat heavily as though she was the one who had the hot knife on the skin.  "No. That was the smallest part of it all." Nira answered as she removed the cloth from the wound, then she stitched up the wound.

She continued to place the knife on each of his wounds one after the other and closing the wounds with stitches until it had stopped bleeding while he kept screaming until he passed out. The room was then silent, no one said a word except the heavy breathing from the man on her bed.

Maria gently sat beside his head and used the cloth to wipe off the sweat on his face. She knew nothing of this man and yet she had a strong feeling to help him, protect him as if he were an innocent child, and perhaps, heal him.

When her mother was done stitching him up, she asked everyone to leave him alone to rest.

While others went out the door, Maria took a glance at him and was happy to see that he was looking better than he was an hour ago. Then she smiled just before she closed the door behind her.