Out of breath, Kira stopped and collapsed in the tall grass just outside of the tree line. They had finally made their way out of the Black Wood, but she was too exhausted to feel any relief. The sun was beginning to come up and the piercing dark of the night was fading away. Only the brightest of the stars could be seen through the blue glow of the sunrise.
She was exhausted, and confused and angry; angry that after everything, they had failed their objective. She had tried to look as much as she could while they ran, but there had been no sign of any more Night’s Widows. What would they do? They hadn’t collected enough flowers to save their father and there was no time to go back in, not without her spear to protect them. She peered over at her sister in the dim morning light. Kaya had also collapsed to the ground, her chest heaving as she desperately gasped for air.
Tears began to roll down Kira’s cheek. She didn’t know why exactly she was crying. Everything was so awful that it was hard to pinpoint any unique source of her misery. Her whole body ached, the gashes on her arm screamed in pain, and her ankle throbbed incessantly. She could barely remember everything that had happened; it was such a blur. Who was that strange woman they’d met? Was she some sort of spirit of the forest? She certainly didn’t appear to be human; not with the way she had glowed or the way she moved.
Kira lay back in the grass, catching her breath and crying while she stared up at the fading lights in the sky. She was glad the sun was returning but it did little to raise her spirits, as it meant they were running far behind schedule. She wanted so badly to just fall asleep, but that wasn’t an option. The only hope their father had was for them to return as soon as they could. But even if they rushed home now, they were still a flower short. She closed her eyes and just let the misery and pain wash over her. The tears rolled down her cheek and fell into the grass with greater frequency. Rolling on to her side she curled up into a ball and began to sob uncontrollably. It had all been for nothing and her father would die because of her failure.
Kira was so angry and disappointed in herself. She had known it was a near-impossible task when she started, but the thought of failure had never crossed her mind. What would they do? Should they rush home and hope that one flower was enough? Or should they risk staying and looking again for more flowers, burning the precious time they had? Was it better to go home with their mission only half-accomplished only to have him die from not enough medicine, or to collect enough just to arrive too late? Either way it was her failure.
Kaya must have noticed her sister crying because she got up and walked over to Kira. Sitting next to her in the grass she gently rubbed Kira’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. In a quiet voice she asked, “Why are you crying? We made it out of the woods…”
It took a moment for Kira to control her sobs enough to speak coherently. Between gasps of air she replied, “But we failed. We didn’t find enough flowers…”
Kaya’s face brightened, despite her apparent exhaustion. “Don’t be silly, we haven’t failed. Look!” Pulling open her satchel Kaya pulled out two flowers and showed them to Kira.
Kira blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing. She looked up at Kaya uncomprehendingly and asked, “How?”
Kaya grinned. “While you were fighting the sabercat. I knew we wouldn’t find any more, so while it was distracted I ran over to the flowers and grabbed them.”
Kira was speechless. She couldn’t have expressed the love she had for her sister in that moment if she had ten lifetimes to do it. She wanted to hug Kaya, but found she was too exhausted to move.
“I would have told you earlier, but with that strange woman showing up and us running like crazy to get out of that dreadful place, there just wasn’t a chance. Speaking of, who was that woman?” Kaya asked.
Kira’s tears faded as the knowledge of the additional flowers sunk in. Everything seemed suddenly better, and even the pain she was in seemed to subside. She stared at Kaya for a moment, not saying anything. She had set out to protect Kaya, to take care of her and yet, in the end it seemed more like her sister had been there to protect her. Without her, the whole trip would have been a failure. Wiping the tears from her cheeks she responded truthfully, “I don’t know who that woman was, or where she came from, but I don’t think she was human.”
Kaya nodded, “Well whoever, or whatever she was, without her help we wouldn’t have made it out of there. Do you think she followed us?”
Kira shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. She would have caught up to us long ago if she had. I doubt we will ever see her again.” Starting to feel better, she sat up and examined her arm. The gashes were deep, but had finally stopped bleeding.
“Let me see,” Kaya said, reaching out to examine Kira’s arm. Looking at it for a moment she opened her satchel and pulled out a small clay bowl wrapped in leather. She unwrapped it, revealing a dark brown paste. Dabbing her fingers in the bowl, she gather the brown paste and began to rub it into the gashes on Kira’s arm.
The substance instantly caused the gashes to burn with renewed pain. Kira wanted to cry out, but they were still too close to the Black Wood to make that much sound, so she clenched her teeth in agony instead.
After a few moments of tending to her wounds, Kaya rewrapped the clay bowl in the leather covering and placed it back in her bag. She frowned and said, “I’m no expert, but I think you’re going to need more than that to keep it from getting infected. We need to hurry; can you walk?”
Kira nodded, and with extreme effort and some help from Kaya she climbed to her feet. Her ankle had gone far beyond being sprained and was now purple and swollen. Without her spear she didn’t have anything to help her walk besides her sister, and so for a long while that is how they moved, the two girls walking side by side as Kaya helped support her weight. They went on like that for some time until they came across a fallen tree branch that was just long and sturdy enough to serve as a sort of walking stick for Kira.
They walked silently for hours, too exhausted to carry on any meaningful conversation. They did share a laugh when they passed the grove of trees where they had met up the day before, but that was the extent of their talking. Both just wanted one thing and one thing only: to be home. Around midday they stopped to eat and drink what was left of their supplies but other than that, they did not stop to rest.
As the hours dragged on, the two girls moved more slowly as their fatigue began taking its toll and the lack of sleep started to weigh heavily on both of them. Finally cresting the last hill, they could see the valley of farms and fields of crops between them and their home. They looked at each other and smiled, but only half-heartedly as they knew that their expedition had taken longer than expected and there was a chance their father was already gone.
They began their slow descent down the hill into the valley, almost stumbling their way down the hillside. A few of the laborers in a nearby field stopped working and stood to watch them. Realizing who the girls were, they dropped their tools and ran over to give Kira and Kaya their assistance. Kira was only familiar with one of them and he looked quite concerned as he and the other men approached. Kira, barely able to stand and beginning to feel faint in the warm sunlight, sleepily asked, “Is my father still alive?”
The farmer tried to answer but before he could, Kira collapsed. Reaching out his arms he caught her before she hit the ground, and with the help of the other laborers they were able to stand her back up. Kira’s head swam as the world seemed to rock back and forth. She knew she had to get the flowers to Felmar but she couldn’t feel her legs anymore. The exhaustion of the trip had finally taken its toll on her and before she could hear his answer, everything went black.