Chapter 1

 

'Please help me! Help me bring this man into my dwelling!' Cassandra shouted out, appealing to her people for help as she looked down at the badly injured man at her feet.

On hearing her hurried and worried words, three men ran to her side to look down also in shock at the new arrival to their home territory.

'He is almost at death's door,' one of them, a man named Gregory, said. 'I think we should remove his body away from here. He can only bring us danger. There is no telling whether someone may be looking for him, and if we offer him sanctuary, it is very likely that they will continue their search, which will bring them closer to our mountain hideaway.' He bent down to inspect the body, making note of the dying pulse from the wrist of the unconscious stranger.

'Gregory, he is not dead just yet,' Cassandra insisted, defiantly. 'He still has a chance. I will not just leave him here to die when I know there is a possibility I could save him. What is the point of all the plans we are organising for the rebellion, if we are afraid to help this one badly wounded man? I refuse to continue to live in fear each day. If you don't want to help, that is fine, but I will not leave him!'

'Ok, have it your way,' Gregory said. 'We will take the body back to your dwelling, where you can try and save the poor fool, but I think it will be to no avail and no good can come of it. But we will need to inform the council of what we have done, so they can decide the risk for themselves in harbouring a stranger.'

'Thank you, Gregory. I will definitely let the council know as you have said.' Cassandra let out a sigh of relief as the three men picked up the male and walked back to her home, carrying his injured body. She saw that a slight smile had formed on Gregory's face; no doubt he was delighted that she had had to come to him for a favour, meaning that she now owed him. Gregory had been pursuing her affection, without any real luck, for some time now, so he probably thought that this new turn of events might be used to his advantage, to appeal to her to show a new kindness towards him.

She quickly removed this thought from her mind: it was a problem for another day. She focused on her newly acquired patient as the men laid him on her bed upon entering her dwelling. She thanked them all for their assistance and then bid them to leave hurriedly so she could start administering her care. She knew she had to work fast or she would lose him, and all the effort to move him here would have been for nothing!

She worked tirelessly till the night, inspecting his wounds and then pouring out the medicines from the bottles she had stored in her rooms. She chose ones she thought would be the best suited to give him for his aliments. As she lifted up his head and pushed open his mouth to pour the bitter liquid inside his body with a spoon, her patient coughed heavily as the medicine ran down his throat. That was some form of relief to her, as she knew that he still lived and he had not slipped away from her just yet! She then proceeded to clean his wounds, as well as wash the blood and mud from his body.

She stared at his face with surprise as soon as she had cleaned the dirt off to make him more visible to her. His face was that of a young handsome man, with perfect chiselled features including a strong square jaw line and prominent nose. His hair had been shaved down in a customary army style, and he bore the mark of the Jarrick army on his neck-a tattoo of two interlocking dark eyes! She looked at the mark with some measure of horror; it was how she had guessed, although she had hoped to be wrong! She calmed herself, knowing that there was no point getting worried and speculating just yet. The man still needed to be bought back to good health first, and only when he was fully conscious and well would she be able to find out more about the mystery surrounding him. She hoped she would be able to find out about the story behind how he had managed to escape the Jarrick army, to be found by her as she journeyed to get ingredients for the medicines she was stockpiling for her people and their fight ahead.