Aura by M.A. Abraham Page A

of a warrior and the demeanor of a peasant.  She thought about it for a moment, the decided to play a similar game with him as she had with the last man.  She checked him out one last time then sat beside him to speak to him before trying to help him out.

"You only have the one injury and I have to tell you it is very serious."

"Serious?"  The word made the man nervous, especially as he had watched her take care of the other man and she had not used that word with him.

"Yes.  I need to know if you are a brave man, especially when it comes to pain."

"I am just as brave as the next man, why?"  The question had definitely chaffed at the man’s pride.

"I ask because I am going to need your help with this.   You see I am just a woman, I can only do so much."  Aura made herself sound almost helpless, something she was not.

The man nodded, this was something he knew about, as women were weaker than men.  She spoke the truth about that.  "Just tell me what you want me to do and I will do it."

"Alright, but it is going to hurt, even with the medicine."  She then gave him the rest of the opiate as she continued to inform him.  "I need to set the bone in your shoulder."

"Jems can take it, do whatever you must."  The opiate had given him extra courage.

Aura chuckled to herself then warned him a second time, just before she set the bone.  He was to brace himself, which he did, and a few moments later he gave a resounding bellow as the muscle was stretched enough to allow the bone to fall back into place.  She then braced his arm and tied it into place, using what was left of his cut up shirt as a sling.

"You can go home, if you have one left.  You are not to use that arm or shoulder for at least a couple of weeks. Do you understand?"

The man nodded, and a few moments later he was gone.

Returning to the third man she checked to see if he was all right, then with some stout pieces of branches she fashioned him a crude pair of crutches.  She showed him how to use them, and sent him off with his wife and family.  She reflected at how lucky the man was that he still had one.  Most had not been so lucky.  Most had lost someone cherished.

The second man was still unconscious when she checked on him, and the first man had mercifully died.  Aura felt saddened at his passing and sighed.  To make herself feel that what she had done had not been a total loss, she examined the second man over again.  She reflected on how one loss seemed to nullify the saving of the others.  When she was sure she could do no more for him she settled nearby to rest, and to await his waking.

A man had been watching her from on top of his horse.  He dismounted and came to sit beside her.

"You have a way with the injured." 

"I try, but I have not been trained properly.”  Aura admitted.  “I don’t have the right medicines and equipment, and conditions are so very primitive that it is a minor miracle that I have had the success rate that I have.  Even those who survived could succumb to infection yet and die."

"You speak strangely girl.  What is it you wish to tell me?"

"I mean to tell you that stitching a man up with silk thread while he is on the ground is no proper way to practice medicine."  Aura snapped in her frustration.

The man frowned still confounded by some of the words she used and her accent.  He decided she must have come from another land.  He also noted that she appeared to be alone.  According to what he could see she had to be an important person.  Her clothing was strange, but well made, albeit a little worn, and she had the general appearance and manners of a lady.  She must have been some noble's daughter, although whose and how she got to be here was a mystery.  He could think of no one he knew with a child such as this, or even one missing a daughter.

He gave her knowledge, possible status, and usefulness some thought.  He then decided to take her with him.  He wanted to