The moment Jovan began to regain consciousness, he swore. If not verbally, then he did so in his mind. Blinking slowly, he looked up at the ceiling and realized he could hardly move. So, he chose not to try to move just yet. Instead, he willed himself to at least look around.
He was grateful to be alive. He did not shy away from the pain he felt. Pain was good. Pain was positive. Pain meant he was still alive, and alive enough to feel the pain everywhere in his body. Everywhere. Especially in his right shoulder where it had been pierced by the horseman's arrow. If he had any doubts previously about whether his current circumstances were real or not, the piercing pain he was feeling erased them.
As Jovan looked up at the ceiling, he tried his best to recall what had happened the last time he was conscious. There was a fight. An uneven one. And that infuriated him. There were three horsemen. One left while the other two were probably in worse shape than he was in at the moment. There was also a woman with the most incredible eyes he had ever seen in his life. He saw something in those eyes. Something he could not give a name to just yet.
He closed his eyes and swore again but out loud this time. So, what if he had just met the most stunning woman he had ever come across in his life? So, what if she caused his gut to twist sideways in the split second their eyes met? They met - but now she was gone. All because he failed to save her life.
He swore again. His right shoulder hurt beyond any pain he had felt before. Even the recent pain left behind by ramming his chin against the threshold of Bojana's hut could not compare to what he felt now. As another jolt of sharp pain shot through his shoulder, he turned his head to the left and... caught his breath.
Or rather, sucked it in...
The mysterious woman, with the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen, was laying beside him. On Bojana's cot. On Bojana's pillow. With her delicate and wondrous face turned to him. She was hurt and clearly unconscious, but she was very much alive.
"You will live," Bojana said softly when she realized he had awakened.
"It doesn't feel like it," Jovan replied, not taking his eyes off of his mysterious companion.
"She will live, too. I have no doubt about this." Bojana added when she realized why Jovan kept silent for a longer while.
Jovan closed his eyes and hissed from the pain. "But I do. Some hero, Bojana. I told You before. You have got me pegged for the wrong man."
"I beg to differ. You saved a woman that was in need of saving but was too stubborn to ask for help," Bojana advised him as she leaned over Jovan to check the woman's forehead.
"I thought she was Your defenseless friend Anil," Jovan replied as he opened his eyes to look over at his new companion.
"I am not defenseless," said a young man from the other side of the kitchen, in a definitely sulking voice.
Jovan turned his head in that direction and the sudden movement caused him a jolt of pain. He swore again, in English. Hissing out the words using the old Albanian dialect again, Jovan said, "You will be defenseless when I get off of this bed."
"Then Your pain makes both of us fortunate." Anil replied in a definitely cheery voice.
"Count Your fortune now, for You are a lucky man," Jovan replied to Anil.
YOU ARE READING
THE TIDES OF TIME
Romance⚔️ "Being born and raised to respect life and its rules, Jovan Galanis made something of himself. He was ambitious, outgoing, disciplined, and righteous to his very core. His parents died when he was a young boy, and having been raised by his Macedo...
