Witching Hour (complete)

(21) One big family

Christine POV:
'Good grief,' I say when I see Alana's house appear around me. Four anxious faces watch me closely. One by one, my team appears. Finally the teammember materializes with Rose in her arms. I had to hand her over after carrying her on the gurney, I was too excausted to teleport her with me.

'Rose, oh, Rose,' Alana sobs. I see her tremble before sinking to the ground. Suddenly Michael is there and manages to catch her. He pulls her up and turns her around. Then he folds his arms around her. Alana throws herself around his neck.

'It is okay, she's gonna be okay,' he whispers while holding her close. Then Sindre appears in the room.

'Do you have an update?' I ask. Joshua is still there, fear is gripping my heart.

'He is fighting. He found Lucas and Jason, both in bad shape, and sent me forward to help prepare,' she mutters. After that she turns to Rose. Sindre takes Rose in her arms.

'Follow me, we have a room prepared,' Lucinda's voice raises above the chatter.

'Ghislaine, check the others and tend to them, please,' she orders. Ghislaine nods and starts to work. Michael leads Alana to a chair.

'Stay here, I will go with Lucinda,' he says softly. Alana looks up to him, but doesn't react. Poor thing, she's in shock. My team is scattered in the room, some are being bandaged, two need stitches. There are only four of us left, after leaving Jason and Lucas behind. I walk around the room, chatting here and there and helping Ghislaine. When the worst work is done, I fetch some water for Alana. There is still no news of Joshua, it must have been two hours now.

With a glass of water in my hand I walk over to Alana. She takes the glass without looking, hands trembling. Slowly she looks up, following drips of blood. Suddenly she screams.

'Y.. you... your... your face!' she shouts. I lift my hand up to my face and feel something wet. When I look back to my hand, it is dripping with blood. I walk over to a mirror and see a deep gash from my chin to my ear. Confused, I look to Ghislaine.

'Sit down, love, sit down. Let me look at that,' she coaches me to a chair, fetches another one and sits down in front of me. Gently, she cleans my face with a hot cloth. I whimper under her touch.

'I'm sorry dear, but you know I got to do it. It looks like you need stitches, but Lucinda is better at that,' she murmurs. I just sit still, knowing she is right. Some sounds reach us from upstairs, I can hear Lucinda scolding. Then Michael comes downstairs and kneels for Alana, who turned pasty white while she listened.

I couldn't really make out what Michael said, but it was something about internal damage and unconsiousness, maybe even a coma. My knees are becoming wobbly. We lost so many people already, please not Rose too. Before I can sink to the ground, someone catches me.

'Stay with me,' the voice says, demanding. I cup the face in front of me in my hands, feeling if he is really there. Joshua.

'I thought, I...' I stumble over my words.

'It's okay, I'm okay,' he answers. I feel him shaking as well.

'The twins?' I ask.

'It is bad, real bad, but they are here,' he mumbles.

'Follow me, there is a room upstairs. We can care for them there,' I say. I look at Alana, still sitting there with Michael. Ghislaine followed my gaze.

'Michael, would you take Alana upstairs and help Christine and Joshua with the twins?' Ghislaine tunes in.

'Uh, yes. Yes, of course,' he mutters. Together we take the men upstairs and walk over to a free room with two beds in it. One of the bed is a real one, the other is a campbed. Michael helps Joshua to put down Jason on the campbed first. Then we lay Lucas in the bed together. Both of them are badly wounded, covered in cuts and blood. I hear Micheal shuffle out of the door with Alana and start stripping Lucas down to the underwear. I hear Joshua do the same as I carefully assess the wounds and start cleaning them.

'How is the rest of your team?' I ask, keeping my eyes on Lucas.

'They're okay. We killed most of our enemies. There were five of them against the six of us...' he speaks softly.

'It was a close call, and one of them almost killed me, but Jason threw himself in front of me,' he continues. I hear him cry. The boys were his best friends since they were little. They always did everything together. Seeing them in this shape hurts, but hearing my brother cry hurts even more.

'I... I think he knew he was going to die,' Joshua mutters between tears. I lay my washing cloth down and turn to Joshua. He is sitting on the ground now, his hands folded around the left hand of Jason. I sit down next to Joshua and pull him close.

'The damage is just too much, I can feel it... Why, for gods sake, why?' he shouts between his tears.

'Hush now, you did everything you could for him. Time will let us know,' I say as I kiss him on his cheek. 'For now, there is another bedroom. Get some sleep. I will ask Lucinda to come over and get my face stitched, okay?'

He nods.

After tucking Josh in I find Lucinda with Alana and Michael, the three of them standing over Rose. Alana slowly caresses Rose's hair.

'Lucinda, Jason and Lucas are back. They need immediate care,' I disturb the silence between them and startle Alana. Then she turns back and starts working on Rose's hair again. Slowly but steadily, Alana washes out the clots of blood, cuts out the worst of them, and combs the hair. Lucinda and I watch for a while before leaving them alone.

'Will she pull through?' I ask Lucinda.

'She will, with time. It is going to be a long way, but she will make it,' Lucinda answers. Together we care for Lucas and Jason. Lucas seems to keep hanging on, but Jason slowly slips away. Time ticks away as he continues to worsen, and there is nothing we can do.

'Get Joshua, it is time,' Lucinda whispers, as to not disturb Lucas. I get Joshua out of his bed, no words are needed. I walk next to him to the room, arms entwined. He says his final goodbyes and falls back sobbing as Lucinda sends Jason away. At last a smile appears on Jasons face, then he is gone.

Lucinda starts singing the final song. Slowly, I and then Joshua tune in. The notes reach the people downstairs, as they start singing too. Michael comes over with Alana to pay his final respects. The final song is an old druid song, sung when someone passes away to give his spirit eternal rest. After the singing stops, the house is silent.

One by one, the teammembers come to pay their respects. Joshua is sitting in a chair downstairs, sunken in his thoughts. After a while, the whole village is coming through the house. Helping hands reach out, bringing clothes, food and medicine before going, giving the feeling that we are one big family.

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Hey all,

A new part, as you can see! I hope you like it. Tell me what you think!

Love,
Anne