The Blood Forest

Goddess of the wild North

Chapter 10. K.P.H
Watching her drown was like being stung by a jellyfish, surprising and surprisingly painful.
I watch her blonde hair tangle together in the raging water.
Silently I chant for her to surface.
Swim! I urge.
Breath! I pant.
Live! I beg.

She's been under too long, she's stuck on something in visable under the water.
I pull off my shirt in a swift motion and jump in head first trusting the deep current to pull me down.
Good thing I spend every morning swimming laps, it's made my muscled tight as steel cords.
My lungs start to contract from lack of air but I push past instinct to surface for air.
If I'm out of air then so is Calla.
Time stops when I see her, she's looking straight at me with the most amazing gold tinted blue eyes that are blurry.
Her shirt caresses her skin, only half on, it's floating like a black hallow around her curves.
Her delicate fingers reach out towards me, bubbles touch her hands like tiny globes of light.
I haven't ever seen something so perfect. 
Then I'm cut off, shaken awake when her eyes slide shut.
Whatever air was in her escapes in a large bubble and her body starts to convulse.
I grab her arm and yank so that the material of her pants rips away from the pipe it was caught on.
Struggling to swim with only one free arm I  fight feircly to the surface. 
I gulp in air, I've never been so grateful for lungs full of oxygen.
Calla slides off my shoulders as I gently roll her onto shore, I crawl put after on my hands and knees.
Her lips are stained blue like she rubbed a bunch of blueberries all over them for fun.
I waited too long.
I place my hands on her chest, not to feel her up but rather to try and save the spark I blew out.
Down.
Up.
I pump up and down to the rythym of my own straining heart.
Air.
I press my lips to her cold ones and tilt her head, blowing all the air from my lungs into hers. I decide I will talk her out of dying.
"OK Calla. This is not the end. This is not how you die. How can I tell your son that his mom died by a little water?"
Down.
Up.
"I remember when I first saw you. I never told you that I wasn't actually a doctor but I was stealing medicine from the hospital for my mom, she's dying."
Air.
"You were rolled in on a gurney with More blood all over your body then I've seen in my whole life."
Down.
Up.
"I was wearing a lab coat so they gave me your medical chart. It said you had signs of abuse and that you had been shot trying to flee."
Air.
"They said you wouldn't survive but I figured if you survived all those times he beat you that you must have some fight in you."
Down.
Up.
"So  I swore that if you survived all that blood leaving your body that you must be the Goddess of the wild north. Because nothing kills her. And I decided that the wild must stay wild and I would save you. So just fight a little more. Cheat death just one more time."
I lean down and press my lips to hers but this time I feel air hit my cheek, warm breath comes from her nose.
She's alive.
I let my lips linger for a moment, savoring her salty sweet taste.

Then I push myself weakly away. I can't be found here, not like this.
I can't think straight and that's dangerous, if I can't think straight then I can't execute the job and if I can't execute the job then my mom dies.
Her eyes flutter then she rolls and pukes all over the rocky ground.
I spin on my heel and run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. 
A long ways away from where i pulled Calla out across the river stands George and a man in a white hood. They see me and instantly aim their bows at my head.
Stupid idiots, wasting their time on me when Callas laying half dead down the beach.
I duck behind a tree just as two arrows splinter the wood of the tree I was just in front of.
I spot my sachel I had dropped and run to pick it up, arrows flying at me in two directions.
I spot a narrow Valley with a cave and decide that's  a good hiding spot.
The  cave is decently warm and very dark.
pile together a small pile of twigs near the rear of the cave and pull out my lighter.
The small flame glows in the protection of my hands.

My life so far has been a collection of close misses and cold caves it seems.
But Calla.
Calla Wren is my lighter full of flame.