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Once I have cleaned almost all of his wounds, I get out my sewing kit and thread the largest needle with strips of cotton gauze.
“It’s probably better that you’re asleep for this,” I murmur and place my hand briefly on his forehead.
I tell myself that I’m checking for a fever, but deep down, I know that I am drawn to touching the orc for reasons that I do not want to investigate.
It is late afternoon when I have finished sewing up all the largest wounds I can find. I end off my first day of treatment by giving the orc an herbal tincture.
He’s a fighter. I’m sure he’ll make it through the night with everything I’ve done.
But despite reassuring myself of this, I spend most of the night getting up to check on the orc. What little sleep I get is fitful.
The next day flies by so quickly that I am almost dizzy. I wake early to tend to the wolves. Kira, a wolf who I believe to be Safira’s sister, is pregnant with a litter of six pups.
She is still too thin for my liking, so I encourage her to eat strips of raw meat from my shed where I preserve and cure meat from animals that I have hunted with the pack.
The orc does not wake. He has been unconscious or asleep since we started dragging him to the house.
I spend the rest of the day cleaning his wounds again and replacing the bandages.
“I don’t have enough of anything left to take care of anyone!” My voice is loud, shrill, and filled with exasperation.
My cupboards are bare. I have used up most of my fresh fruit and vegetables, along with most of my herbal tinctures and salves.
“This should have lasted me till winter at least,” I grumble to myself as I pull on a pair of cotton trousers and a cotton shirt, along with a pair of old leather boots.
The closest human settlement is five miles away, and I run for about two miles before I slow into a brisk walk.
“Shannon!” The settlement leader, an elderly woman who trusts me about as far as she can throw me, turns and narrows her eyes when I walk up to her.
“What do you want, wolf girl?” She snarls and spits off to the side of us.
“I’ve got preserves, good meat and fish, in exchange for some more medicines.”
The settlement always needs more food because it means less hunting, so she points me to the little town at the center of the camp.
The medicine woman, Ariana, has everything I need.
“I just wish I had something for pain,” I murmur, more to myself than to her.
“I’ve been hearing, from humans who pass through, that there is a wonderful medicine that cures all pains. It makes the pain go away completely.”
I laugh mirthlessly.
“I don’t suppose you know where to get any?” I ask her, although I already know the answer.
“No. If I had it, I wouldn’t be able to use it fast enough. We’ve got three little ones infected by lake water, and they’re howling their faces off.”
“Thanks, anyway,” I tell her and adjust my now heavier satchel before setting off.
The new supplies help and I spend the next three days tending to him, in between helping Kira, who went into early labor, and getting the shack ready for winter.
“We’ll need to hunt some more,” I tell Safira, who looks at me with disdain in her eyes. She knows that I just traded about fifty percent of my preserved meat for the herbs for the orc.
“Just three hunting trips. If we can get some deer, and maybe a bear or two. I’d love some bear fat for cooking. And for my creams.”
Winter is coming, and the daily temperature drops more swiftly every day. I need to prepare.
I realize one morning that seven days have passed since I found the orc and brought him home.
