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Chapter 25: Broken
Kate’s eyes eventually opened. The battlefield was oddly quiet, she heard nothing but the soft rustle of wind and the distant crackle of fires still burning. She didn’t feel much else, remembering falling into the muck but not remembering the impact and not feeling the cold, or warmth, or indeed much of anything, other than her eyes and ears things seemed largely blank.
She tried to sit up and found it impossible. Her muscles weren’t responding to her, something that would have been much more concerning if she wasn’t so groggy. She tried to take a breath and suddenly her chest inflated as air rushed in, more forcefully then one would expect for normal breathing. When the ‘breath’ reversed and erupted form her mouth it came with a voice.
“Awake” The voice said, in the unmistakable strange tone of ‘the wind’ when it spoke. In a moment she was surrounded by faces she didn’t recognize, they wore uniforms of soldiers, almost all male, but oddly the uniforms didn’t all match. She glanced around and slowly realized that she did recognize at least one of the faces.
A general by the name of Morven, an older mountain cat of some variety she had seen a few times in her time as a servant to the ‘great’ lord Xavier. She had no idea why he was looming over her, though he was one of the few faces that looked like they had maintained a bit of composure.
She tried to speak but was distracted by another voice form the small crowd around her, “Inanna?” The scared sounding male asked
“Can’t be.” the general said, not sounding fully sure of himself, “She was a… One of Xavier’s slaves only months ago. A fresh one he had recently acquired. She… She broke the beast out and escaped with him.”
Another voice chimed in, “An ordinary slave girl, and a newbie at that, overcame all your security and made off with that beast? Bullshit”
“It’s what happened.” The general insisted
“Maybe she was just posing as a slave to get in?” another offered.
“It is Inanna”
Kate was desperately trying to place that name ‘Inanna’ but wasn’t remembering. Didn’t help much that she was starting to feel dizzy. She realized she hadn’t actually taken a breath in awhile and tried to inhale. It was rather difficult for the first couple seconds till air once again forced its way in, filling her lungs full, and returning her consciousness.
As the air rushed out of her mouth, she moved her throat to speak, “Where? … am I? … What … Happened?”
The crowed seemed to turn to the general, both his allied soldiers and the other ones, expecting him to say something.
“What. why’s everyone looking at me?” he blurted.
“Well you like... know her. Sir.”
“As a slave I barely even spoke to, much less got to know” he started before groaning and, apparently realizing there was little other option, stepping forward, “Ms. uh. Inanna, I suppose. I do not recall ever learning a name before, but… you are in a medical tent, we have a bit of a battlefield truce it seems after your display.”
The wind once again filled Kate’s lungs, “Where’s Lex, Why can’t… Move?”
“Lex? if you mean the, uh, creature? … I admit I had expected a grander true name for the ‘god of war’ but he is outside. He seems asleep, the men are to scared to go near, and... he is smaller now. Still as big as a Clydesdale, but no longer dwarfing an elephant.” The general paused for a moment before answering her next question, “You broke something that was on his back, then got thrown. You… How are you alive... you must have fallen 80 feet after being thrown? You are… Ok you are not in great shape, in fact… The medic… says you should be dead”
“What?” Kate gasped on the next breath, “Nothing … hurts… just can’t… move…”
The general motioned for a mirror, the medic brough a small one over and they held it over Kate’s face so she could look at herself. To say she looked rough would be putting it mildly. She lay naked on a stretcher, not moving except for when ‘the wind’ forced its way into her lungs. Ordinarily she would have been embarrassed by the nudity, but she was mostly used to it for one, and for two, all the folks around her seemed to freaked out to eb lecherous. As for the state of her body, the 80-foot fall had left multiple limbs with extra joints, and the rough rippled shape of her chest implied her ribs weren’t exactly intact either. Might explain why ‘the wind’ was breathing for her right now.
“Can’t. Last” The wind added.
“Doesn’t, hurt” Kate protested.
“And a small miracle there” a young otter medic spoke up setting down a pitcher of something sweet smelling, “You’d be in hell right now if you were still feeling the pain, ma’am. And I can’t really help you much more. So before the pain comes back…”
General Morven interrupted him, “You aim to euthanize her? That’s poppy wine isn’t it?”
“She can’t recover from this, and shouldn’t suffer”
‘shit shit shit’ Kate thought over and over, were they serious? was she really so injured? Nothing hurt! well nothing felt like anything, and the wind was pumping her lungs for her… ‘oh lord…’ she said to herself, closing her eyes and trying to remain calm.
The sound of something being poured into a glass didn’t help her calm much, nor did the increase in nervous shuffling from around her. Morven’s voice was the first to speak, “Look, doc, I’m. I’m certainly not saying I believe all the things some of the men are saying here but if she somehow IS this Inanna… We all saw her fight like a warrior angel against the beast. That wasn’t the abilities of a mortal woman”
“May have just been this… spirit thing … that is surrounding us right now” the medic replied, “If she was a goddess how would a fall shatter her like this?”
The medic finished pouring the strange drink and looked over at Kate, “It won’t hurt, but, since you can talk I guess I should ask you first, if…”
“Awake” The eerie sound of the wind broke in.
The medic cocked an eyebrow, “yes we know she’s awake”
“Other … one”
Kate had never seen a dozen heads snap around so fast in her life. She briefly wondered if they had given themselves whiplash as they all stared out the flap of the medical tent. The slightest sound could be easily made out as the soldiers seemed to have decided not to breathe anymore than Kate herself could right now. The sound she heard was a wet slapping noise in the mud. irregular footsteps that made it clear that the one that was approaching wasn’t walking very well right now.
A shadow came over the tent entrance and suddenly all the other occupants of the room were pressing themselves to the far wall. Kate couldn’t really see what was coming due to her immobility and the fact that maintaining consciousness was becoming more difficult, but she had a good guess. A guess that was proven right as an enormous wolf came into view, fur dripping with the browns of mud and the reds of crimson gore that coated him.
“Lex…?” Kate gasped the next time the wind filled her lungs, “Are … you … you?”
Lex looked at her, he had no ferocity in his eyes right now, just the look of fatigue and sadness, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry”
“You’re … back” Kate smiled as she slipped back into unconsciousness.