Baki looked up. “Go to your mother, son.”
After the little footsteps receded, the shepherd looked back at her, grim. “I’m so sorry, Rae, but this is going to hurt.”
Pulling her gently onto her side, he laced his hands underneath her legs and shoulders and lifted her into his arms. The movement stretched her torn skin, and the pain was white-hot.
This time, she screamed.
Then Baki was running, as fast as his legs could carry him. Rae’s head lolled on his shoulder, and she saw the grazing fields turn to wheat.
“Ankhu!” the shepherd shouted. “Ankhu, you must come quickly!”
She couldn’t bear to see the look on her father’s face as he emerged from the fields, but thankfully, she didn’t have to. Her body, knowing that the worst was finally over, released its stranglehold on her mind, and she fainted.
***
“Will she be all right?”
It was the first thing Rae heard when she came to again. She was lying on her sleeping mat, dressed in a fresh tunic and covered in a thin blanket. She no longer felt sticky and gritty with dirt, and she wondered who had bathed her. When she turned her head, her father was standing at the door of their house with a portly man who she recognized as the local healer.
“The blow to her head was not hard enough to causepermanent damage, so I would leave that alone,” the healer replied, hiking his leather satchel up onto his shoulder. “But I’ve applied a linseed ointment over the injuries to her back and left you a bottle of willow, dill, and myrtle extract that she can take with her beer for the pain. A few drops will do. Still, the damage was extensive… She may always experience some discomfort due to the scarring.”
Rae shifted. Her entire torso was wrapped in linen bandages.
Her father nodded, looking at the floor. “Thank you for coming. I will have the brewer deliver a week’s worth of beer to your household as soon as possible.”
The healer waved away her father’s words. “Do not worry yourself about payment now, Ankhu. You have your hands full finishing the harvest. Rae shouldn’t move from her bed for at least a couple days, until the wounds begin to heal.”
There was a pause. “I do not know how I will do it without her,” her father whispered.
Rae winced.
The healer put a beefy hand on Ankhu’s shoulder. “The tale of what Raetawy did for Baki has already swept through the farms, my friend. I have a feeling there will be many hands to help.”
Her father put his hand over his mouth and nodded.
After the healer left, Ankhu came to her side. Rae closed her eyes, feigning sleep. She felt like a coward, but she wasn’t ready to face him. Wasn’t ready to answer the questions he was bound to ask.
Why?
Why couldn’t you let it be?
Why did you have to fight?
She listened to his short, shallow breaths. She felt his hand touch her hair, brushing it from her eyes. Then he said something that made her feel worse than any angry words or threats ofpunishment ever could.
“My brave girl,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
***
Rae waited until her father had gone to sleep.
She rose from her sleeping mat, quietly so she wouldn’t wake him. Her legs were weak at first, and every movement set fire to the wounds on her back. She was dizzy too, so she grabbed a jug of water and drank half of it, tipping it until cool rivulets spilled over the edges of her lips. It helped, a little.
She peered out the window. There was still some light left. She’d passed the remains of the day in and out of fitful sleep, dimly aware of voices speaking in hushed tones outside the house. Curious neighbors, most likely. Her father must have been so exhausted from the ordeal that he turned in early.
Perfect. Omari will still be working.
It was a short walk to the workshop, but it felt unbearably long. At one point, she lost her balance and nearly fell, but managed to catch herself against a palm tree. She felt one of her wounds reopen beneath the bandages and gasped. But she kept going.
