~Chapter 6: Recovery – Part 1 ~Nieka~

Nieka held onto the horse as it walked slowly back to its master. She could see Torn heading their way too from the other direction and hear the voices of the towns' folk from behind her, but she wasn't ready to look. She brought those things here and if it weren't for the woodsman warriors in front of her the demons could have slaughtered her small town; possibly taking more captives. And it would have been all her fault. She had never thought of the consequences her escape would have on others, her only thoughts had been for herself. She felt sick and made yet another silent prayer to the gods for her sister, the other prisoners, and her town.

"Are you alright?" Takal asked breaking into her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied nodding her head and looking out over the slaughter and sighed in relief that they were dead, though some still twitched making her stomach uneasy. There were so many. How had they killed so many? "You saved our town," she said still looking at the carnage. "I, we… could never thank you enough". Her voice was small and she wasn't sure he heard.

But then he said simply "It's my job. Here, I believe you dropped this."

"It's yours, I just borrowed it" she said blankly.

"Well, you broke it so it's yours now," he said still holding it out.

She took it not sure if she should thank him or apologize.

"What in the bloody hellions happened here?" a man asked from the edge of the carnage.

"Demons" Takal answered, as another man poked a corpse tentatively with his pitchfork.

"We should burn the bodies." Torn said, "So the rot doesn't poison their fields and water."

With a small nod to Torn, Trails stepped forward and spoke in a commanding tone for all the villagers to hear. "I need some volunteers to help move the bodies into one or two large piles". Only about six came forward. "Be careful. Make sure they are truly dead before you attempt to move them. Now for the rest of you, I need you to each bring back some oils or other burnable material you can spare. Then start hauling buckets of water up here to wet the ground by your fields; least you want them to go up in flame." The mass of townsfolk ambled away some nodding, others whispering to their neighbors.

Nieka stayed and helped drag bodies into piles while doing her best to ignore the looks from her fellow towns' people. Torn and Takal each manned a pile and when a body was dragged to them they would heave it on top. After struggling with her first headless hybrid she started picking up heads and other small pieces she could find. After they covered the piles with whale oil and other greases, the grasses surrounding the Piles were wet with extra buckets on standby. She watched Torn and Takal light their piles and back away to where she stood with Shadow a few yards from the rest of the towns' people. The crowd was bigger now and they watched the fires with mixed expressions, and all was fairly quiet except for a few whispered words here and there. That is until her name was yelled out over the whispers and crackling fire.

"Fennica, Fennica." Her father shouted moving towards her. "Oh Fennica, you're all right, you and your sister had us so worried, Aves the butcher told me he saw you." he looked her over closer noticing all the blood for the first time. "Oh gods, are you ok? Are you hurt?" he said holding her at arm's length. Her mother had walked up to them now her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes.

"I'm fine dad, it's mostly demon blood," Nieka said her voice sounding small and distant

"Oh, thank the stars," he said raping her in a big hug. Over his shoulder, she saw the warriors stop, exchange a few words, and head towards the crowd.

"Where's Luscinia? Where is your sister?" here it was her most dreaded question.

She took a deep breath and stared at her feet, "She's Trapped, the demons held us, prisoner, I escaped but she and the others… the demons have them." She forced herself to look her father and mother in the eyes. "We'll get her back though, I promise. I'll stop at nothing to get her back." she was crying again despite her strong words.

Her father hugged her and she cried harder, barely able to get out the words "I'm sorry". Holding her close her parents lead her away. Her father stopped to talk to the innkeeper and she heard him ask that he give the boys that saved his daughter a room for the night on him. Nieka looked back for the woodsmen warriors but all she saw were the bloodied fields, scared villagers, and the two big fires sending pillars of black smoke into the air. The fresh salty air now reeked of burning flesh.

Once at home, her mother started boiling buckets of water then poured some cool fresh well water into the tub and instructed Nieka to get the soaps and her medicine basket. When she had got back, her mother began to question her, starting out with easier questions about the demons, the attack, and the men that brought her home. Though the shaking in her voice told her harder ones were on her mind but that she wasn't yet ready to voice them.

While waiting for the water to finish boiling she answered questions about how the demons captured them and how she and her sister were treated in captivity and how her sister was doing when she 'left'. And whether or not her sister would be safe and for how long… She avoided the questions as much as possible giving only short positive answers. Then she decided her mother needed a distraction to keep her occupied; so she suggested her mother make the warriors a nice hot meal and she could bring it over with her medicines later.

Her mother thought this was a good idea. She left Fennica seemingly still in a state of shock to inspect and clean out her wounds in peace coming back a moment later with a clean dress for her to change into when she was done. Thankfully it was just a simple blue dress and matching shoes. Then they added the hot water to the tub and her mother left her to go scrounge up a good meal.

Nieka just sank into the warm water thankful for the temporary escape and having no idea how she would deal with her parents and her guilt. She scrubbed the blood and dirt away from every inch of her leaving the soapy water a dingy pink. Discussed she stood up rinsed off with the extra bucket of warm water and wiped her skin off feverishly until her skin was raw and pink. She applied the lilac lotion her mother left her to sooth her irritated skin, got dressed and grabbed her basket of healing supplies. She fallowed the mouthwatering aromas snaking through the house until she reached the kitchen.

Her mother smiled when she saw her there staring at the food. "You look so much better dear, but we'll have to do something about that hair." She grabbed a towel brush and ties where she had laid them out in obvious preparation. She started to groan when her mother cut her off saying "why don't you have something to eat while I fix your hair. It's a little underdone but should make you feel better." She said scooping stew from the pot onto a plate and setting it in front of her. Umm food… she grabbed a fork and dug right in, not caring that it burned her mouth. She barely paid her mother much attention as she brushed and braided her hair. She cleaned her bowl with a slice of fresh bread as her mother prepared two bowls for the warriors. After placing them in her medicine basket her mother gave her a huge smile and said "good luck."

"Hopefully there are no injuries serious enough that I have to rely on luck." She said choosing to ignore her mother's ever-subtle hints about finding a husband.

Good heavens was there ever a moment when her mother wasn't thinking about matchmaking? She rolled her eyes and walked out the doors deciding that she would visit the horses first as that task seemed less daunting now. She found Shadow in the stables but Torn's horse was nowhere to be seen. Shadow had a cracked and bloody front hoof from stomping the demons and several scratches around her front legs and chest from demon claws or tails. Shadow grew nervous as she went to kneel in front of her so she spoke softly thanking the horse for saving her. Shadow seemed to understand her and stayed relatively still as she cleaned her wounds and applied a thick leafy paste that would help numb the pain and aid in healing.

Having done what she could she walked over to the inn across the street just a few minutes later. She asked the innkeeper which room the woodland warriors were staying in. The man gave her directions and mumbled something about wanting the trouble makers out of there before they brought more demons to their peaceful little town. Feeling guilty because it was her fault, not theirs she hung her head and quickly walked past the man up the stairs. Once at the door she took a deep breath and knocked not having the slightest idea what to expect from the warriors.