My Envied Lady: Chapter 16

Chapter 16
The five stood in silence and stared at the grizzly scene. After the first few moments of initial shock and worn off, they realized that Sabina was still nowhere to be found. In a panic, they began searching the room, but Maenad hobbled over to the rolled-up carpet in the middle of the room and nosed it. Unable to speak, she let out a whine, then laid down. Johan and Peewit went to her, and saw she was badly wounded. Peewit sat on the carpet roll next to her. "We'll get you out of here; we just need to – YOW!" He leapt off the carpet and into Johan's arms. Being wounded and unstable himself, they both tumbled to the ground. The carpet was moving, and it seemed to be making a muffled sound. Maenad looked at them and nuzzled the carpet again. "Peewit, help me get this unrolled," Johan said, limping to the other side of it. Together they were able to free Sabina, who was confused and terrified. Seeing her friends bloody and injured only added to her fear. The boys untied her and she immediately began asking dozens of questions about what had happened, what Fenris wanted to do with them, and fussing over Johan and Maenad's wounds. Tracker was near Maenad, and they seemed to be conversing, though not with words. "We need to leave this place. More humans will be back and she's too hurt to fight them tonight. She'll be well by tomorrow morning, but until then, we need to find another shelter," Tracker said. "Do you think you are well enough to travel, Johan?" asked Sabina. "I think so, once I get to Bayard." In truth, while his boot had protected his foot from the huge wolf's teeth for the most part, his ankle was lacerated, and the gashes that Maenad had put in his left arm had begun to bleed again. He was not as bad off as Maenad, but he would not be able to fight off an attacker either. Instructing Peewit in all she'd learned, Sabina took the linen ties and used them as bandages, first for Maenad, then for Johan. The wolf resisted weakly, but Sabina told her that magical healing or no, she wouldn't sit by and watch her suffer. "Now where to?" asked Peewit. "Maenad says there's a smaller cave not far from here, one we can hide in and rest," said Tracker. "There's also another entrance to this one, one Lothar doesn't know about. We can escape through there." "Can she get us there?" asked Johan, testing how much weight he could put on his leg. Maenad wobbled to her feet, and with both Smurfs on her back, limped slowly to the ledge where they had come in. As the two able-bodied humans, Sabina and Peewit climbed the ledge and then helped Johan and Maenad up, and they crawled through what seemed like a maze of dark muddy tunnels until they heard the singing of frogs and smelled rain. Maenad led them to a small opening on the side of a bluff. It was raining outside and still night. This was actually fortunate, it would cover their tracks until they got to this other cave. It was a six foot jump from the small entrance into soft, slippery mud, one that Peewit and Sabina could make easily. Maenad leapt down and landed with a yelp of pain. Peewit winced and helped her to her paws while Sabina, being taller, helped Johan down. They moved as quickly as possible in the rain-soaked forest, through rocky ravines and up another hill, where Maenad led them to what appeared to be a crack under a rocky overhang covered with vegetation. Inside was a short tunnel, then a brief descent into a tiny room. The air was still, damp, and absolutely dark. The humans could hear the wolf huff in pain as she made her way around the dark. Peewit jumped when he felt something wet and cold press into his hands before he realized it was Maenad giving him something she had picked up in her mouth. He examined the things closer, and realized they were flint, steel, and a torch. When he lit it, a comfortable den was revealed, with a pile of furs and blankets on one side and a few personal possessions on the other. There was a scone for the torch on the far wall. Maenad shook off the rain stiffly, laid down on the furs and immediately fell asleep. She had taken them to her home. Papa Smurf and Tracker decided to go back to the village for some medicines and to search for help. He instructed Sabina to wash Johan's foot and put on clean bandages, since the other ones were caked in mud and lord knows what else. She was out of bandages, so she used strips torn from the hem of her linen chemise and used wine and honey from jars Maenad had to clean the wound. Johan winced with pain, but Papa Smurf had said those would work better than rainwater. While she did this, Peewit helped him out of his tunic and shirt to check the stitches Gilbert had put in his arm, which had thankfully stayed. "Now that you're safe, I think we should go. We'll smurf back as soon as we can. We'll try and find Bayard and Biquette and send them your way. You smurf here until we return." They hopped out of the den and into the tunnel, and the humans all slept, exhausted.