Rescue by Muted Dragon

I was restocking the bandages when the flap of the tent flew open and Lelan’s head popped in. “We got several young girls out here. There is a male among them.” He motioned his hands over his face.

“Give me a moment.” I replied. He ducked back out. After snatching up the dark green veil from a seat in the corner, I threw it over my head and pulled the small peephole to the front. I glanced around, hoping that my tent was presentable.

The tent was small, no more than ten by ten. There were two veiled windows on each wall to allow the random breeze to enter. Beside the walls were wooden cabinets reaching as high as the waist with lower benches a fair distance from them. Labeled bottles made of the sturdiest clay, infused with earthen magic to prevent breakage, sat atop the cabinets. In the center of the tent was a large wooden table, which doubled as my bed. A thick mattress of wrapped moss and dry leaves cushioned my sleep.

“You may enter!” I called out as I pushed open the flap. Three pairs of eyes looked up at me from behind their veils. I held out my hand toward the interior of the tent. They nervously scuttled past me. Behind them, I saw a man of average stature and clean looks—if you didn’t look at the stubble appearing on his cheeks and chin. I dropped my eyes when I saw his eyes, bright with emotion.

In his athletic arms rested another veiled creature. I nodded to her and pulled the flap wider for him to bring her in. He sat her onto the table. From the way he did not immediately stretch out his arms, I knew he had traveled a long distance to bring her here.

“What is the problem?” I asked, knowing they had not journeyed here for small talk.

“Her ankle,” answered the man. “She stepped incorrectly and fell on her ankle.”

I pulled a crude stool over the packed earth floor to sit at my patient’s knee level.

“A simple sprain,” I said after a moment of inspection. I set her foot down and went in search of the bandages I had just packed away. “You should sit while I give her a cast.” The three veiled girls immediately collapsed onto the benches.

“We cannot offer you much.” The man said; he remained standing. In a softer voice, he continued, “Though I suppose you would not need much.”

I was thankful for the veil at these times, knowing that I could bite my lip without worrying that he would see me trying desperately to hold back my rage. Elders have told me that others are jealous of us, for we have powers over the elements. But growing up in a community surrounded by those like myself, I could not see why. Then I joined the traveling caravan of healers as they trekked across the Anumi forests. At first, it was difficult to offer help to people when at the first sight of you, they spit at your feet to keep you away. Slowly, people had to turn to us for medical care. No one but our people had the abilities to handle their injuries.

“We expect nothing from you.” I said as hospitably as I could. My hands were already binding the young girl’s foot to a piece of light wood to keep it straight. She hissed under her veil as I moved her ankle back into its normal alignment.

“Is that because we are so lowly?” hissed a voice from above me. I could see his clenched fists in my peripheral vision.

“Not so. A wise man knows when to ask for aid.”

“Then you must be wiser than a wise man to give all us maggots help without a price, or so you would like us to believe.”

My hands trembled as I secured the final wrap. I traced the healing rune onto the cast, disguising it as a simple fidget of my fingers.

“I do this without a price.” I stood, finding my eye level with his chin. “She will need to be off her feet for a few days. She should try walking when she feels ready.”

The man scoffed. “We work with our hands and our feet, unlike you who simply twirl your fingers and the world bows down to you.”

Finally, I turned to him and met him in the eyes. “Then let her work with her hands, as I have just done.”

“Girls, go outside a moment. Do not separate.” The man ordered. The three veiled girls helped my patient from her seat. Together, they left. Then he drew his body up and close to mine. “Your kindness does not destroy all of the hardship you have caused us.”

“How have I caused you hardship?”

“Your brothers, father, uncles, and husband have raped our women, and killed off our families. You and the women of your kind, flaunt more than your powers when you walk down the street, with your powers on your fingertips, dressing like whores!”

“So you force women to suffocate and become practically blind with this veil? I’d rather be called a whore than be blind and subject to your bigotry!” I bit back the rest of my words, sounding only a hiss. “Goodnight, sir!”

--

“I can’t stand any more beet juice.” Lelan grumbled after he recapped the container that he had sniffed.

“When are the shipments coming in anyway?” His eldest brother, Oturek, asked as he took the container from him. Oturek took a quick swig and grimaced as the bitterness washed down his throat.

“A week, right?” He looked over at me. I grunted in acknowledgement, stirring my gruel.

“Something must be wrong when the two guys are talking while the girl remains silent.” Lelan joked as he took a seat beside me with a mug of water.

“This man came in today, accused us of atrocious things.” I pushed the gruel away. “Why should we sit here, suffer with horrible supplies, when the people, who we’re trying to help, curse at us while we bandage their wounded?”

“Oh, don’t you start sounding like a missionary!” Oturek said as he sat at the table across from me. “You came here to take a break from your schoolwork.”

“And you came here to find a girlfriend,” I shot back before I could stop myself. “While you have a wife at home,”

“Not to worry,” Lelan said as he nudged my ribs. “She probably already forgot he exists.”

Oturek glared at Lelan as he stood.

“Hey, hey,” I shouted. “We were joking.” His wife, Anzia, wouldn’t dare to breathe without his permission. “Cool it.”

Oturek took several deep breaths before stalking out of the tent.

“I really wish there was a double standard in relationships,” I said as I glared at the space he left.

“Me too,” Lelan flinched. I knew that flinch. He was remembering the night Anzia came to him with a bloody nose and one eye swollen shut. She refused to say who did it to her, only that she needed to have a clear face by morning. Anzia doesn’t have powers or else she would have healed the nonfatal wounds overnight.

Lelan called me over to check the extent of her wounds. I couldn’t tell him about the wounds under her clothes without choking back my disgust.

“He wouldn’t do this.” Lelan said as he watched Anzia sleep the healing slumber. He had ogled over Anzia since his brother brought her back as a girlfriend from one of his healing expeditions. His eyes would glaze over when she spoke about her homeland and her family. When Lelan had offered to take her back, Anzia had shaken her head and stared at the ground.

I didn’t reply to Lelan’s denial and distracted him with a trip to the kitchen for more food to fuel our healing spells. I was in the pantry when Oturek stormed into the home. He and Anzia had moved out months earlier, anxious to get out from under the weary eyes of his parents.

“What did you do to her?” Lelan asked.

“Mind your own business,” Oturek pushed him aside and lifted his sleeping girlfriend out of our healing spells.

“Oturek,” Lelan shouted as his brother reached the door. “I’ll report you to the authorities!”

“And spoil her image? You know how coy she is, with her shy looks. She decided to go off with some man. It got rough. Then she used you to help cover up what she did. Now stay out of my business.”

The door slammed. I reappeared beside Lelan.

“If murder were legal,” I said softly as I turned back to disassemble the spells.

“I don’t know if she’ll ever see the real Oturek.” Lelan said as he slumped into a chair. He was right; Oturek and Anzia were married within a few months. The beatings got worse. Nevertheless, Anzia always ran back to the man who healed her miraculously when she thought she was dying in her middle-of-the-jungle village.

Lelan was far from accepting this. “We can file a divorce for her.” Lelan’s family had connections like that, and some knew of Oturek’s temper. “Once she’s separated, I think she’ll realize what’s really going on.”

“But how will we keep him from learning about this?” Some members of the family were also loyal to the bastard.

“He loves his treks around the jungle villages. You can’t send mail to a tent, so once the documents are past the last due date, it is as if he had signed him. We’ll go along with him to make sure he doesn’t find out.”

And so began this trip.

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