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And she’d have to treat it, regardless of his shifter physiology.
She bent down to him again, smoothing down his hair. The movement seemed to comfort him, and she kept doing it. She stroked his forehead with her thumb while she considered everything.
Usually, she’d treat a fever with pain medication and fluids. But while they had lots of water from the stream, paracetamol would be hard to come by.
“Hold on,” she murmured. “I’m going to help you.”
She got up and quickly searched through his bag for a first-aid kit. Charlie huffed with exasperation as she realized he’d not packed one. What kind of idiot didn’t carry Band-Aids? A shifter, apparently.
Then, going over to a cluster of wild fruit trees, she started rooting around.
After a while, she found some wild ginger and garlic. She also took the empty bottle they’d been sharing and scooped some water into it.
Charlie went back over to Hammer, who was still conscious but hadn’t moved. She set about cleaning the wound. He had to be really out of it because he did not even wince.
She scrubbed the wound as best she could, using a lone sock she had found in his bag. Then, she pulled his heavy body over to her. Soon his head was resting in her lap.
She’d need to treat the wound with whatever plants she could find. Charlie would also have to whip up a tincture if she identified anything useful.
Hammer was looking directly at her, his eyes glossy.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered, stroking his forehead again. “I’ve got this. And I’ve got you.”
TWELVE
CHARLIE
Hammer was completely unconscious by late afternoon. The skies were gray and heavy when Charlie looked up at them. The weather had turned so suddenly.
A brisk wind had picked up, and rain was a clear threat.
She shivered slightly as she went about picking the herbs she had identified. Charlie was grateful for her eidetic memory for the first time in her life.
One of her anthropology courses had provided a list of medicinal herbs across the world.
Charlie exhaled with relief as she looked at the bundle in her hand. She had already used up most of the wild ginger and garlic treating Hammer’s fever.
His high temperature seemed to have dissipated slightly. But the wound was still infected. And as long as it remained festering, the threat of a fever remained.
Now, Charlie took the milkweed, gooseberries, and nettles over to where Hammer lay. Taking some sweetgrass, she twisted the bunch of herbs until it became a poultice.
Then, ripping up more of her shirt, she packed the wound with the herbs and bandaged it again.
Just then, booming thunder cracked overhead. The noise was deafening, and a growling rumble lingered in the air. Even after the thunder dissolved.
It was starting to feel like the monsoon season. And Charlie was reminded again that they were in a strange country. In the middle of nowhere. Without proper food or shelter.
Now that Hammer’s wound was packed, she set about making shelter.
She was not going to let her educational degrees go to waste. There was no way she would let anything happen to herself, or Hammer, just because she was afraid.
Charlie had learned years back that fear was a waste of time. And very unproductive. She would allow herself to be afraid later. Now she had to protect herself and Hammer.
Dragging Hammer beneath the small grove of trees in the clearing would be the hardest job. The dragon shifter was heavy and tall. And built like a damn brick wall.
She did that first, huffing as she pulled him by his feet. Charlie winced as his head hit several small stones as she dragged him.
Well, he was unconscious. Hopefully, the small cuts would have healed by the time he woke up. After she had nestled him on piles of moss and sweetgrass, Charlie looked around for supplies.
