Hidden Truths - Ethan

44 - A Father's Love

A strange foreign smell drags me out of my thoughts and I try to concentrate on the direction it is coming from. A shriek scream and the only thing I know is that I need to find the girl I promised to protect. I start running, shoving aside the beasts in my way with my bare speed and mass. My eyes search the clearing with the working stations to find Nora close to one, where we are used to splitting wood.

She is throwing pebbles into the direction where the odor of black powder is coming from. She shivers and keeps on screaming and crying as the silver gun with the wooden attachments is still aimed at her. There is no blood, she must have missed her the first time.

The blonde beast roars up at the missed chance. With the already reloaded gun, she aims for another shot. It would take me the same amount of time to get to Maria as to get to Nora and she even has a second gun in her other hand. Making up my mind out of intuition I run to get to Nora. Another shot breaks out of the iron barrel and my pounding heart marks the spot when I realize I maybe won't make it.

I jump to throw myself in front of Nora and knock her off her feet, holding her close in my arms. Blood. One more shot and a hot bullet bites my back. I growl out but Nora's cries hurting me far more than every bullet could. The two of us fall into the dirt and I press her small shivering body against my chest.

I'm not entirely sure what happens behind my back but Lyall's barking of orders and the overall stomping of feet betray that they are about to get her down. Maria. I made the same mistake as Gwendolyn did. I didn't kill her when I had the chance. The blood rushes through my ears and my breath slowly leaves my lungs.

I softly stroke over Nora's head and the crumpled brown locks. The tears running down her cheeks in a steady flow and crash at my chest. I try to calm her in hushed tones. "Hey little angel, I'm here. Everything will be fine again. Shhh...". Wiping her tears away with my backhand I press hard at her side where I hold her. Blood.

I can smell it and I need to stop it. A small body like hers doesn't have enough of it to stay alive too long when it floats out of the wound a bullet leaves behind. "It hurts...", she cries out and if I would not just have pretended to have no heart one could easily hear it shatter at her words.

"Naveena!", I scream over Nora's head like an order and she darts next to me as I sit up. A sting of pain where the bullet hit my back, but I concentrate on Nora in my hands. I hate those stupid guns!

I keep on talking to Nora, trying to calm her but it's of no use. Naveena looks at me and Nora appraisingly. "Naveena, I know you can help her. I beg you to help her as you helped me. I need your different talents now."

She nods once more. "You need to calm her and I need to get my supplies. Keep her from bleeding out. The faster her heart beats the more blood she loses.", she answers and disappears to get whatever she needs. My grip on Nora's wound tightens and I know that I will be able to do that part, but the calming is not that easy.

"Nora, look at me...", I try my best. Celeste kneels down behind me and before I realize it she shoves her finger into my wound to get the bullet out. I tense up with a growl at the sudden sting of pain but concentrate on Nora instead of Celeste.

"Oh dear, is it better now?", Cassy's sweet voice at my ear but I can get a glimpse at her concerned face when she looks at Nora. At least, that's what I want to believe. She also reaches out her hand over my shoulder to stroke along Nora's cheek. "We are here, sweetheart. Daddy got you.", she says softly and even if it doesn't help Nora it helps my own anxiousness to sink and think.

An idea strikes my mind and the irony in it is so cruel that it can actually work. "Cassy, do you have some opium with you?", I want to know. After a questioning look in my serious face, she nods. "I have, do you think that's a good idea?"