Chapter 5

Sam shook her head, eyes opening. Her temple throbbed, which was never a good sign. That she noticed that fact was good, though, as that meant she was conscious. She was also upright, something very unusual if she had, as her confused mind suspected, been unconscious. She was still on horseback as well. Hands, someone's, were on her leg and belly...

"Sam!"

Heather's worried voice brought her farther into the land of the living. She turned, blinking. Heather stood on the ground beside Brownie, both hands on Sam. Something had happened. Something ... Her eyes widened.

"Jay!" Sam whipped her head around, a wave of nausea replacing the throbbing. Heather grabbed her tighter.

"Jay's fine! Don't worry, Sam! Jay's fine! Just ... stay still." For the first time, Sam noticed Cathy had her mount close to her left side, a hand she had assumed to be Heather's third holding her shoulder. Her head slowly turned that way, blinking, as Heather talked around her. "Cathy, take Jay, so we can get Sam down here."

Letting the two arrange her as needed, Sam felt the weight of Jay lift from her back. He appeared in Cathy's arms, fussing. She blinked more...

"Gotta feed..."

"In a bit! Here ... lean this way, Sam..." Strong arms grabbed the slender teen. As she felt her feet release the stirrups, darkness claimed her again.

Sam awoke to twilight.

She also awoke to Jay suckling away happily on her right breast. Instinctively, her hands went to him, fingers lightly caressing the back of his head and body. He seemed happy and OK. Satisfied, Sam tightened her grip on him with one arm and pushed herself up into a seated position. She was on a sleeping roll on the ground. A blanket had been put over her, then partly pulled down to allow access to dinner for the baby. She was still dressed, thankfully. Waking up nude in a strange place would not be good. Her head throbbed a bit. Placing a hand to her forehead, she felt a wet bandage.

"You're awake!"

Heather's excited voice brought Sam's attention to the fire burning brightly near her. She must really have been conked on the head, to not have noticed that first thing. Heather was quickly kneeling at her side, one hand on her back.

"Don't move too quickly. Do you feel dizzy?" Her hand went to Sam's forehead. Sam paused, considering if she was, in fact, dizzy, but decided no. Tired and hungry, yes, but not dizzy. She shook her head. Heather smiled, hand dropping down to lightly caress Sam's face. "Good. It didn't look like too bad a hit, but I was worried."

The hand felt nice on her skin. Sam was about to comment on it when it jerked away, Heather suddenly standing. Her expression was hard to read.

"Do you want something to eat? Drink?"

Sam nodded, twisting her body a bit to stretch her muscles.

"Water, then food ... then, what the hell happened."

Sam stood over the body of the mystery creature. Two torches had been placed into the ground next to her, the flickering light adding to the already dreamlike quality of the moment. She held her hands cupped before her, a bandaged but very alert Kik sitting on her fingers taking in the scene. Lil sat beside him, both hands on his body as if he was in danger of falling off. For the briefest moment, Sam wished Heather was holding her.

It was definitely a giant squirrel. Four feet tall, from foot to head, with a bushy tail almost three feet long. Its female features, though, where HUMAN features. At least, Sam had seen no real squirrels with breasts like this. They were the size of apples, larger than her pre-child breasts of the year before. Tentatively, not wanting to drop her friends, she knelt down.

"Was this the only one he had killed?"

Heather, standing next to her holding the blanket they had covered the body with, nodded.

"It must have been the start of his hunting trip. There were no other skins, or fresh meat." Just the thought of eating an obviously intelligent creature made Sam want to throw up. Her eyes went down to its claws again. A silver ring adorned one finger. "We did find what she was probably wearing, a dyed white dress, two pieces, front and back, tied at the shoulders and waist." Heather knelt down beside her. "What do you think we should do?"

Lil wished Kik would sleep. She could do the first watch of the night herself. He needed rest. Oh, nothing had been broken, thank the spirits, but he had been bruised and hurt. She would be able to keep her mind on her surroundings much better if he was safely asleep with the humans...

Oh, who was she kidding. She'd spend the entire watch hovering over him, waiting to rush to his aid at the first groan of pain or distress. You'd think she was her sister, the way she was acting. Lil had always been the strong one, but one sign of pain from the one she loved and she fell apart. Pitiful.

"I know what you're thinking, Lil." She looked, his smiling face reassuring her. "I'm fine. Thanks to you."

"You're an idiot, that's what you are." Her voice was gruff. His eyes told her she wasn't fooling anyone. "Why, damn it, did you have to do that? The damned arrow was bigger than your entire body!"

"I had to try," he shrugged. "Better two hurt than one dead."

"Not if..."

"LIL!" She jerked back at the venom in his voice. Her love's eyes were hard, unforgiving. "You will NOT think like that. They are our companions. Friends. How many times have they saved us? Helped us? It is THEY who are allowing us to travel with them for our own selfish needs, not the other way around. I've abided your snide remarks, because I know that is just you, and you do not mean it, but there are lines I will not allow you to cross."

Lil's eyes widened in disbelief ... then softened. Tentatively, the reached out, touching his bare shoulder.

"You ... consider them friends?"

"You do not?"

Did she? Well...

"Maybe..." she said, softly. Her eyes closed, as his strong hand ran down her back. "Maybe..."

Heather crawled out of the tent, even as Lil was flying over to wake her. The night was warm, which was good. Summer was coming in this strange land. Holding out her hand, even as her feet found her boots, she greeted the fairy as she came to a soft landing on her palm.

"Morning. How's Kik?"

Lil turned, glancing over at a nearby tree, sighing. She looked tired, more so than usual at the changing of the watch.

"He's OK. I think he'll be able to scout tomorrow, at least some."

"Don't worry about it. If he needs a day or two's rest, we'll just go slower, so you're not strained." She couldn't decipher the look the fairy gave her. Boots now on, if unlaced, she walked over to the fire. Putting her palm up to her right shoulder, Heather waited until Lil gently transferred to her new perch before holding both hands over the coals. "We did shitty yesterday, Lil."

" ... yeah." Lil let out another sigh, grabbing Heather's ear.

"If there had been two of them," Heather went on, "or more, we ... we just abandoned the others, left them unprotected, to go after that guy. We were lucky."

"And stupid."

"And stupid." They were silent. Bending down, Heather picked up a branch Sam had been using earlier and stirred the coals. The two watched the sparks slowly rise in the night. "We have to do better. Protect them better."

"I know."

"I love her."

A small hand caressed her earlobe.

"I know..."

With morning, came decisions.

"Why can't we just bury her?" Heather looked at Sam, hoping her friend was kidding. The slim teen, baby already strapped onto her back, just shook her head. "But WHY? She's going to start smelling soon!"

"She already is," Cathy chimed in. Heather was glad she wasn't the only one not happy about this. Sam came over and put her hand on Heather's shoulder.

"It's..." She searched for the right word. Lil, busy turning a satchel tied to Brownie's saddle into a nest for Kik, chimed in without turning.

"It's stupid."

"It's just something I feel is right," Sam said. Her eyes were serious. "We wouldn't leave a human here, if we thought their family was just up ahead."

"The hell we wouldn't," Lil countered, turning. "We'd bury them, mark the grave, and move on. Do that here."

"No. We're nearing, if not the end, then a waypoint. Can't you feel it?" Heather broke her gaze away from Sam, catching the eyes of the others. Yes. Sam was right, and they did feel it. Something was up ahead. Something ... important. Not since they entered the fairy forest, all those months ago, had signs been coming this fast.

That fact told them nothing about how close to the end they were, though.

"OK, OK, whatever you say, Sam." That got Heather a smile from the teen. "However, I'm going to insist Jay ride with Cathy. No, don't object. You're still a bit woozy, and if there's trouble up ahead you can't fight with him on your back. I'm also putting Ben on one of the hunter's wagon horses. We can tie a rope from it to Cathy's mount. And, no Cathy, he can't ride with you while you're dealing with Jay. Ben won't have a saddle, but with a blanket over the horse and the harness he should be fine."

Sam looked at her, then around the camp, considering. Heather and Lil had talked about it, before the fairy had gone off to bed. They needed all the warriors free to act. Reluctantly, Sam nodded.

"Fine. Actually ... yeah, makes sense. Put Kik's nest on Ben's mount. He'll be rearguard." She clapped her hands together. "Let's do this!"