Chapter 40 part 2

Beth motioned for the children following her to make themselves comfortable on the ground, though she wasn't sure what else she could do for them. Yet, before Beth could allow herself to relax, even a little, she went over to Hesha and her sister. If nothing else, she wanted to check on the sister's wound, which she hoped at shown signs of improving. Especially since she didn't know where Amelia was.

As Beth thought about Amelia, she was about to check on Hesha's sister, but at that moment, as she thought about Amelia, she suddenly remembered about Hannah. She hadn't seen or heard from Hannah since they'd become aware of the village being under attack.

Even though Hannah was the kind who would avoid fighting, she would at least have shown up to help protect the villagers. Especially since they knew the villagers hadn't done anything to have deserved this. However, as she thought back, she had tried using her magic to call out for Hannah, but she hadn't gotten a response.

Not that it had worried her at the time. After all, she hadn't gotten a response from any of her other friends, so it didn't really strike her as odd. Only now she had realized that Hannah hadn't said anything for even longer than that. When Beth had arrived at the village, Hannah should have gotten to here shortly after her, but it was clear that she hadn't.

However, as much as Beth wanted to go out and explore the possibilities of what happened to Hannah, she knew that it would have to wait until she had gotten some food to feed those she'd saved. If nothing else, that would be important, Especially since she couldn't have anyone to watch over the children while she went off to search for her friends.

That wouldn't do. She needed to be with the children, no matter what else might happen that day. Not that she knew really what she should do right then or not.

Beth quickly made her way over to check on Hesha's sister and was at least happy that her healing of the young woman seemed to have held, even though she couldn't be sure that it would continue to hold while it healed. She was sure that Amelia would be able to tell, but couldn't say when she'd get here.

When she finished with Hesha's sister, she checked Hesha then Ralph. Even though neither of them showed any obvious wounds, they could still have been injured after Beth had last seen them.

When she was done, she sat on the ground, near the fourteen year-old who had mentioned about food in a cellar that was 'somewhere.' Beth wasn't too worried about it right at that moment, but she was wondering if there was anything she could do herself. Even as her mind was working on shutting down to rest, regardless of what Beth would like.

As she closed her eyes to give herself a brief rest, largely to give her brain that rest it was seeking, she heard the rustling of leaves, indicating that someone was coming towards her. Or at least nearby. Yet, the rustling didn't make her feel alarmed, not that she could be sure if that it was because she was able to subconsciously tell it was someone she knew or because she was just too tired to care at the moment. Of course, it could be both as well.

When the rustling stopped, she opened her eyes and looked in the direction she'd heard the sound from in the first place. She could see Tim standing there with an expression of surprise mixed with concern.

"What happened?" Tim asked.

Beth shrugged. "One thing after another," was all she said in response.

Tim sighed. "Yeah, I need someone to help me. Amelia's not doing too good and Hannah's in trouble as well," he said, his shaking hands drawing Beth's attention.

"What happened?" she asked, unsure if she should be alarmed now or not, but she could feel a surge of energy. Whatever she had been worried about her charges at the moment had been pushed to the side.

"Well, first a bandit caught Hannah off guard and she's hurt pretty bad, thought I didn't really see how bad, but Amelia was knocked out and I can't tell if she'll be okay when she wakes up or not," Tim answered.

Beth sighed. "When it rains it pours," she muttered, as she slowly stood up. "Alright, lead the way. I'll do my best to keep up."

Tim nodded and started to turn around to head back the way he'd come. Clearly not interested in waiting, not that Beth could blame him.

As she was about to follow, she suddenly remembered here charges. Hesitating, she glanced at the children who had followed her to this location. Many of which she could see had fallen into an exhausted sleep. No matter what, even if Ralph, Hesha, and Hesha's sister weren't here, she could tell they wouldn't be up for more walking.

"Would you keep an eye on everyone for me?" Beth asked the fourteen year-old, not sure if she shouldn't be asking her for her name.

The girl looked at Beth as if she just realized she was there before slowly nodding. Which Beth decided had to be enough. She didn't really have time to spend on making sure the girl understood.

Taking a deep breath, she started to follow Tim, hoping that things weren't about to get worse. Even if the bandits didn't return, she doubted that she had enough magic to do much more. At least before she was out for the night. It didn't take her long to catch up to him and matched his pace when she did, mostly so she wouldn't lose him or make him go any slower, especially since she couldn't say how much time they really had. At least assuming time was a factor in this at the moment.

"How far is it?" Beth asked after she and Tim had been traveling for a few minutes.

"I think it'll take us maybe an hour to get there," Tim said, his tone serious.

Beth sighed. "Can't you get us a mount or something?"

Tim shook his head. "Sorry, mine faded out from under me on my way over here. I'm kinda tapped out of my magic."

Beth sighed. She had hoped that when the fighting was over that things would be simple on what to do. Yet, now there were certain things that were popping up that had hadn't even thought of as something to deal with. None of which was making her happy.

The only things that she'd thought that she'd need to deal with was finding a place for everyone to rest and finding enough food for everyone. One of the first complications had been finding the 'safe' building had been torched to the ground. While she had heard her friends talking about it, she had at least hoped that it would have been put out quick enough, not that she'd really thought about how that would have been accomplished.

Yet, now she was finding out that Amelia and Hannah were in trouble. Which might explain why Cinder and his family hadn't shown up yet, but she couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling at the back of her mind that the headaches weren't over yet. The other shoe hadn't completely dropped yet.

The only thing she really was conscious of as she walked with Tim was the fact the sun had set a while ago and it was continuously getting darker. She could only imagine what things would look like once they returned to where her charges were. As well as Ralph.

She hoped that Wes wouldn't worry about where she was, since she hadn't thought to leave him a message or anything. Although, she doubted any of her charges would have the presence of mind to remember any message she might have left for Wes. Even a simple message would probably either be forgotten or hopelessly mangled.

Eventually, Tim moved off to the side, where there was a good amount of overgrowth covering a small mini-valley. Beth followed Tim into the growth, unsure of what she was going to find. Or what to expect in general.

Beth didn't like having to fight with the branches of the bushes that clawed at her as she tried to squeeze in between them, nor the scratches they left on her exposed skin. The only comfort she had about it was the fact that Tim had to deal with them himself, given he was leading her through them.

Eventually they made it through and Tim pointed down a small ditch or riverbed; Beth couldn't be sure which. All she could really see was that it had gotten too dark to make anything out down there. Although, she had to admit that since she couldn't see any flashes of light, or sounds for that matter, she had to assume there wasn't any running water down there.

"Hannah's down there. You can't really see her now, but I could earlier, but I didn't want to risk going down on my own if there wasn't anything I could do to help."

Beth nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out. She wasn't sure what to expect either, only that she didn't have much of a choice at the moment.

"Would have been nice to have a little more light," Beth remarked, mostly as a joke, but partly serious. She didn't blame Tim for getting here so late, but she wasn't sure what she'd be able to do if she got stuck down there herself and she needed help healing whatever was wrong with Hannah.

"Sorry, forgot my flashlight in my other jeans," Tim remarked, drawing a smile out of Beth.

While it wasn't exactly a good joke, it did at least help lighten the mood. Which at least helped Beth feel a little more at ease.

"Alright. Let's get this started," Beth said, hoping this would be the worst of the trip out here, even though she was skeptical on if that would be the case. Given how Ralph and now Hannah were.

"If you hop down, the ground should be a little farther down than your height," Tim said. "I'll wait here and help pull you out when you got Hannah, okay?"

Beth couldn't help but smile in amusement. Of course she'd be the one going down there. It wasn't like Tim was that interested in checking on Hannah. Nor was he able to tell just how much strength Beth had with using her magic at the moment. Tim might have been tapped out, but that didn't mean Beth was or wasn't.

So, she crouched down, turned around and put her palms on the ground firmly before she lifted her feet over the edge and started to lower herself down. It didn't take long before she was just holding herself up over the edge by her arms.

When she dropped off the edge, she could only hope that Tim was correct about how far down it was. She could make out a few of the shadows above her, but otherwise it was just like any other night. Yet, even though she trusted Tim, she couldn't help but feel like her heart, and stomach, weren't falling with her. That they were being left behind.

As her feet touched the ground, she had to grab the wall of the ditch in order to keep from falling. While she couldn't see, and was sure she hadn't been falling for more than a second or two, she couldn't dispel the sense that she was hundreds of feet down from where she had been. Even trying to trick her mind into ignoring that sensation, she found that she wasn't having much luck with it.

Maybe it was because of the lack of light down here, which certainly wasn't helped by the fact that the light that she could see past Tim was quickly fading as well. Which only highlighted the fact that it would be fully dark soon. Which meant if she didn't hurry with this, there might not be any light left to work with once she was out of this ditch.

"Remember, the longer you take, the longer it'll be before you can get back to where Ralph was sleeping peacefully," Tim's voice said from above her, almost like it was right next to her as well.

"Yeah, I know," Beth replied, calmly. She knew that if Hannah was indeed down there, then she probably wasn't going to be happy if she had to stay down there all night. At least if there wasn't a real reason for that.

Sighing, Beth started walking down, half expecting that she was going to misjudge where her next step would be, as she made her way down the downward slope, unable to see anything in front of her.

"Who's there?" Beth heard Hannah say after Beth stepped on a twig, snapping it, her voice full of pain.

"It's me," Beth replied. "Tim brought me, though he wanted me to come down in to see how you were doing?"

"Well, it's something that I thought I'd try," Hannah replied and Beth couldn't tell if she was joking, being sarcastic, or indifferent. "Though, I guess you prolly can't see what the problems is."

"Sorry," Beth said. "It 's just a little hard to see down here."

Hannah laughed for a second before she stopped as she groaned in pain. "Don't make me laugh," Hannah begged. "It hurts too much when you do."

"Sorry," Beth apologized, trying to zero in on where Hannah was from her voice. "What happened?"

"Nothing much, just when I got to the edge of the village, I got hit with an arrow," Hannah started to say.

"What!?" Beth cried in alarm, interrupting her. "Are you okay?" Beth paused for a moment as she realized where Hannah said that she'd been hit. "Wait, you were on the edge of the village? How'd you get here then?"

Hannah sighed. "I would have told you that, but your interrupted me. If you don't want to listen to me, just help me get out of here," she said, her tone letting Beth know she wasn't in a very pleasant mood.

"Sorry," Beth apologized again. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Hannah sighed. "I just said you could help me get out of here," she answered, her annoyance clear in her voice. "Or did something happen to you in the village that affected your hearing?"

Beth sighed. She was just too tired to deal with this now, although she had to admit she was pretty much the one at fault here. "How about we take a minute to calm down, okay?" Beth asked. "I'm rather tired myself and while I didn't get hit with an arrow, I've run myself pretty ragged. So, I'm sorry if I'm not hearing everything you say."

Hannah groaned, and Beth was able to find her, although not in the way she'd hoped.

"Ow!" Hannah cried. "What'd you do that for!?"

"What?" Beth asked stopping her moments, confused at the sudden outburst. "What happened?"

"You're standing on my hand!" Hannah cried, her voice mixed with pain and outrage.

"Sorry," Beth said again taking her foot off of Hannah's hand, starting to feel like a broken record. "I can't really see down here. It's like I'm walking at night with my eyes closed."

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Hannah said. "I only knew you were here when you stepped on a twig, but even then I didn't know if it was you, someone else, or one of those who were attacking the village."

Beth knelt down next to Hannah, checking on her, making sure that she was as alright as she could be given the circumstances. She found Hannah's hand, then started tracking her arm back to the rest of her. Then she started to feel around to see if she could find where the arrow hit, as well as if there were any other injuries.

"Hey!" Hannah cried in indignation. "Don't touch me there! You know I don't swing that way. Even for you."

"Sorry," Beth said, unsure how else she was to proceed with this, given she couldn't really see Hannah other than to use her hands. Besides, her hand had just barely touched the side of Hannah's breast. It wasn't like she'd tried to really grope her. "I'm just looking for the arrow. It needs to be removed if I'm to get you out of here."

"Arrow?" Hannah asked. "I already took care of that. That's how I ended up wearing myself out."

Beth sighed, pulling her hands away from Hannah. "I guess you were going to tell me that, but I interrupted you, huh?"

"Bullseye," Hannah said.

Beth took a deep breath, starting to wonder if she'd be able to find her way back to where Tim was waiting in the darkness. She hoped she would. There was no way she wanted to spend the night down here.

Irrespective of the children she'd made her charges, who were most likely waiting for her to return, she didn't want to be stuck in this darkness with whatever wildlife might actually consider this place their home. Even if there weren't any predators that would be a danger to her, or Hannah, she was sure she wouldn't be able to get much sleep in this environment.

"Well, why not tell me quickly," Beth said. "I'd rather not stay down here and if you already took care of the arrow, I can't see why you'd still be down here if that's all that had happened to you. So, tell me so I don't end up touching other parts of you that you'd rather not have me touch."

Hannah sighed. "Well, when you put it like that, it's kinda hard to refuse," she said, and Beth imagined she had a smile on her face as she said that, although she couldn't be sure if she did or not. "Anyway, what happened is after I got hit with the arrow, I quickly started going back the way I came, not sure what was going on. I had a hard time breathing, and I think the arrow might have punctured a lung or something, 'cause I started coughing up a good amount of blood." Hannah paused and Beth wanted to say something, but didn't want Hannah to stop again, so she merely forced herself to be quiet.

"I'm not sure if whoever shot me with the arrow followed me or not, or even how far I walked with the arrow in my chest, but I then saw some other women that I know I hadn't seen around the village before. I didn't like the way they looked at me and I knew I wasn't in any condition to fight them, so I just ran into some bushes," Hannah said, but then paused again.

Beth couldn't help but get worried about Hannah's pauses. They didn't sound like she was merely thinking what to say next or anything like that. It was more like she was running out of breath and needed to catch it.

Yet, unless Hannah stopped talking completely, Beth had a feeling she should let her friend take as long as she needed, even if she didn't like how long it was taking. Or unless Hannah indicated she wasn't catching her breath or something.

"Well, I could hear them after me and I didn't want to have to confront them with the arrow still stuck inside my chest, so I yanked it out," Hannah said, then paused, her breathing becoming rather shallow. "God did that hurt."

Hannah paused again, but this time it was clear it wasn't for the same reasons as before. Though, Beth could at least understand some of what Hannah probably had done to use up her magic.

Hannah sighed after a minute, before continuing, "Anyway, I used my magic to force my body to heal. I mean, I don't know how the body works like Amelia, and I haven't been working with Amelia like you've done a little, so I wouldn't know what I'd be looking at if I scanned my body with my magic. So, I merely forced it to heal."

Hannah stopped and Beth wasn't sure if she'd fallen asleep, or if it was because of something else. Just that Hannah had stopped talking. Not that it helped Beth's nerves any.

Hannah groaned after a minute, which caused Beth to sigh in relief. Part of her had worried that Hannah might have died or something, since she couldn't see her friend at all.