Freyja's Fire - Chapter 17 - A'mara Books

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(Edited)

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Previously...

17

(Wirnday, cont.)

Erion Sands

.
Aurelia accompanied Doc into one of the tents with the new patients.

“Adrick is having more tents erected in the morning,” Doc said. “We need covered pathways too, the rain has held off almost too well!”

Aurelia nodded. “We have been fortunate,” she agreed. Suddenly, she froze as she recognized the man in the far bed. He was the one who had tried to attack her… and now had the young maid bending over him, looking concerned.

“You recognize him.”

Aurelia nodded again, half tempted to explain to the doctor why the man should not be treated. But there was something about the way Fawn doted on him that spoke to her heart.

Fawn looked at her, barely keeping the tears out of her eyes. “I spent the night with him. He started coughing and sneezing. He was scared, your highness. I comforted him.”

Aurelia could imagine exactly how Fawn had done her comforting, but how could she condemn them? The man had only threatened her. Now, he lay fighting for his very life. “How old are you, Fawn?” Aurelia asked.

“Fifteen, your highness,” Fawn replied. “I’ve been working the pub for five years. I know what you’re thinking… that I’ve been sleeping with men that entire time. I haven’t. I think this was only about the fourth or fifth time I had to do that. But there’s something about this man – something tender. The gruffness tries to hide all that.”

“I’ve seen it work,” Aurelia said, unable to remain completely quiet. She now wondered what might have caused the man’s gruffness and callous opinion of princesses who dared to gamble well. “I play Wolff better than him.”

“He…,” she lowered her head. “He was very jealous of you last night. Said he’d do nasty things to you.”

“He will die if he tries,” Aurelia assured.

“He may die even if he does not,” Fawn replied, the tears close. “If he lives, I will do my best to make sure he never threatens you again, your highness. You are kind – though you have that same rough edge that he has. That’s why you clash, of course.”

“No!” Aurelia barked. “I have nothing in common with that man!”

“And that’s exactly what I mean, Your Highness. I mean no offense either.”

Aurelia felt the censure and knew the girl was right. It was one of the things her brother had hinted at, she knew. “You’ve known the man less than a whole day. How can you feel like this for him? I know he didn’t romance you.”

“I don’t know,” Fawn replied. “Maybe it’s because he’s so helpless now.”

“I hope it works out for you,” Aurelia said, realizing she genuinely meant it. “I need some air.”

Aurelia hurried out of the tent, then back to the man she knew was Kolt’s brother.

She placed her hand over his sweaty one. “How?” she asked. “I haven’t even met you.” She wiped a tear from her eye. A man who could evoke tears when he wasn’t even awake to aggravate her. That was a first.

She heard a noise at the door and looked, but saw nothing there. She turned back to the unconscious man. She pressed her lips to the back of his hand. “Get better,” she told him. “I’ll be back later.”

Aurelia walked back to the tent Doc had declared to be his office to see Gemina, Sister Naemi and Deby getting refreshment. She joined them. She tried to clear her own thoughts of the man called Garrick as she looked at her cousin. Adrick came in a moment later, also apparently hungry. She listened to their chatter silently, not able or willing to voice her feelings.

Gemina noticed her cousin seemed preoccupied as they both ate their lunches. Adrick seemed agitated as well, having trouble just sitting while he ate.

“Sit, Adrick. You need a few moments of calm,” Deby encouraged.

A moment later, Doc Rod came in, looking distressed. His gaze sought the eyes of his wife.

“What is it?” Deby asked, giving him a comforting hug. He clung to her as if she were his lifeline.

Gemina watched, picking up on the distress as if it was her own. Her breath caught as she waited for the news.

“That one who was improving this morning, remember?”

Deby nodded.

“He just passed,” Doc informed.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I thought he was going to live.”

“Me too. He should have! He was improving as of two hours ago.”

“Who?” Gemina asked, unable to contain herself any longer. Please, Vasana!

Sister Naemi looked at Aurelia and back to Gemina. “Kolt and Garrick are fine,” she reassured. “It was another one of the sailors who was awake this morning.”

“I’ve been through everything I can find!” he said, pointing at a strangely lit object. “Even the ancient texts about Plague. What we’re seeing here is wrong somehow!”

“Rod,” Deby soothed. She pointed at the lit device. “Should you be sharing so much?”

“To Hell with the bloody Prime Directive!” he shouted. “I’ve lost a patient that I shouldn’t have! Something’s wrong!”

“Could the bacteria have mutated here? We don’t know how far back the strains separated,” Deby said calmly, evidently used to the stress-induced anger after all these months together.

He ran his hands over his face and scalp. “I had avoided the possibility. But that’s most likely, I fear. I’d better call Stella.”

Deby handed him another object that Gemina hadn’t seen before. He held it to his mouth, pressed a button and spoke. “Stella! Need advice, please.”

A noise sounded when he released the button, but no reply came.

“Stella!” he tried again. “We seem to have an emergency. Please come in, Stella!”

“Excuse me,” said another voice. Gemina turned to see Kolt standing in the doorway. Except the amulet he wore around his neck on a piece of cord, he was as naked as the day he was born. She let her eye take in the entire handsome image as her cheeks reddened.

“How is my brother?” he asked.

“I will take you to see him,” Gemina replied, trying to recover. She tried not to look down as she led him from the tent. “Maybe you could put some clothing on...”

“Did someone grab my loincloth from the ship? Clothing is so uncomfortable!”

Gemina tried not to react. Loincloth?! Did this man have no concept of what his appearance did to a woman?!

♥♥♥

NEXT CHAPTER

If you have enjoyed this book, I would be grateful if you could put your thoughts as a review on [Goodreads](coming soon) for me.
Buy at: Books2Read



Other Chapters of stories about Velantia...

Legends - Creation of the Sacred Trio (Whaleshares) , Sentence of Tharn and Ríosín

Royal Trouble - Chapter 1 - 4631 KV (about 1309 BTCE) - (NSFW story about King Finn II)

Brighid's Blood - Chapter 1 - 4726 KV (about 1213 BTCE) (Whaleshares)

Freyja's Fire - Chapter 1 - 4728 KV (about 1211 BTCE)

Maps and Guides

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If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.

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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
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blogging on: Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu


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4 comments
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Comforting a man that is sneezing and coughing sounds like a hazard in these days haha 🤣

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Yeah, agreed! Oh man, the timing of this book is hilarious! This is the one I wrote from scratch in Oct/Nov, so didn't know about Covid-19 then!

(I'm actually thinking about throwing together a book inspired by Covid-19.)

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