The Bride of the Immortal (8 page)

The candle was still burning, illuminating the image of Virgin Mary. With a silent sigh Adrijan sank down on the bench near the wayside shrine. His arm was pulsating and he was feeling slightly dizzy. Apparently the adrenaline was wearing off. His sudden weakness made him wonder if he would have enough strength to go on. Maybe he should’ve asked Walther for help back at Sunflower Garden but he was aware that such a task as stalling their pursuers would already prove difficult enough. The girl was standing close to the shrine observing him curiously. He would have to do his best not to worry her too much. Obviously she had gone through a lot and it was his duty to get her out of here. If he wanted to succeed he couldn’t afford turning her into more of a nervous wreck than she already was. Nonetheless, he required her assistance.

“Mairin?” Again he had made her flinch. “It’s alright,” he said, attempting to calm her. “I need your help. Could you please check the saddle bag for a small red box with a white cross on it? And don’t worry, he won’t bite.”

Adrijan gestured towards the grazing horse with a slight movement of his head and tried to put an encouraging smile on his face. Once the girl had her back turned to him, looking for the desired item, Adrijan started to take off his coat. It took all of his willpower to suppress a scream when he finally managed to free his arm from the sleeve. A silent moan escaped his lips and due to the pain he decided that the rest of the coat could remain where it was. Adrijan was annoyed at himself for having hesitated back in Mairin’s room. He should have killed the scumbag at once upon discovering him there. And he shouldn’t have been so foolish as to pull out the knife. Adrijan took a deep breath. The cold night air rushed into his lungs and made him realise that this wasn’t the right time for regrets. For the girl’s sake he was hoping that his feelings weren’t written all over his face and if they were that she would not notice them in the dark. By the time Mairin finally presented the first-aid kit to him the pain had become so bad that he had started to wish that he hadn’t thrown himself between the knife and her. He regretted the thought the moment it entered his mind and discarded it at once.

“Thank you,” he whispered, put the box on his knees and opened it with his right hand. First he took out the mobile phone and checked for unanswered calls. There weren’t any. Without paying much attention to Mairin’s puzzlement he attempted to call the immortal and was annoyed when he was forwarded to the voicemail inbox. After three more tries he decided to give in. Frustrated he impatiently listened to the recorded message.

“Dear caller, as you know, this is the immortal’s
ahem ahem
– MY – voicemail. I don’t give a damn if you leave a message or not, but if you do,
do
wait for the Beep! Oh, and be aware that I might not be in the mood for listening to your crap. Toodeloo!”

Adrijan frowned and forced himself to talk.

“Hey Viv, I’m on my way to the border with the girl. Bleeding though. Knife wound. Please send support if you can and return my call.”

Adrijan ended the one-sided conversation and turned on the phone’s flash light.

“A… prayer?” The girl had observed him the whole time with her eyes slit and her head slightly inclined to the right. Adrijan nodded without showing how much her remark and her behaviour amused him.

“Something like that.”

He was surprised she didn’t comment on the bright light that obviously didn’t result from a candle. There was no time for an explanation anyway. The next item he produced from the first aid kit was a pair of bandage scissors. He handed it to Mairin with the handle pointing to her. Once she had accepted it and looked at him with the apparent question in her eyes he carefully started to explain.

“I was injured in the fight back in your room and the wound has to be treated. First the left sleeve has to be cut open. I know it’s going to be difficult, but please assist as good as you can.”

Adrijan saw that she swallowed hard. Then she looked him in the eye and stepped closer. “Hold it! Put these on first.”

Adrijan watched the girl open the packed pair of sterile gloves he had handed her and clumsily put them on while juggling the scissors around. After taking a deep breath she finally started to cut his sleeve open. The way Mairin’s hands were shaking he was glad that she wasn’t using a normal pair of scissors. With his right hand he lifted the phone a little to make things easier for her. He felt relieved when his arm was finally freed from the cloth and there was no more danger of her sticking the small blades into the wound. Quickly he put down the light and searched for the small bottle of antiseptic with his hand. There it was. He opened it with thumb and index finger, tossed the screw cap into the box and slowly poured the fluid over the injury.

“Almost done… almost done,” he kept telling himself. Most of the pain subsided a moment after and Adrijan handed the almost empty bottle to Mairin. With further instructions and the girl’s help the wound was cleaned thoroughly and then covered with antibiotic ointment and a sterile gauze pad before his arm was bandaged.

“Thanks.”

Mairin nodded and started to put everything still usable back into the first aid kit.

“You should treat your wound as well. At least apply some of the fluid in the bottle to it. Please.”

Adrijan turned off the light to make her feel less watched and took a look at his mobile. There was still no sound from the immortal. With a deep sigh he activated the key lock and put the phone into his pocket. Necessary as it had been, treating his wound had taken up a lot of time. “I’m afraid we will have to move on as soon as you’re done. I own a cottage near the forest – if we ride Nebel half the way and walk the rest we should be able to get there around dawn.” “Mhm.”

The girl surely didn’t seem to be the talkative type. After she had put away the first aid kit and Adrijan concluded that she was done treating her wound he untied the grey, led it closer to the bench and mounted it.

“If you climb on the bench I should be able to pull you up on the horse,” he explained. The girl seemed to be reluctant to follow his plan.

“But...” she mumbled.

“There is no time for hesitating. Nebel won’t bite and neither will I.”

Adrijan tried to make it sound like a joke, while he was aware that getting closer to him was probably the last thing the girl wanted. He watched Mairin slowly climb on the bench and hoped that the use of his mobile’s flash light hadn’t alarmed the pursuers. The small wayside shrine had been chosen carefully for treating the wound since a source of light could easily be expected here. Luckily there was always someone who kept Virgin Mary from being forgotten in the dark – today it had been Adrijan himself. Carefully he reached out for Mairin and helped her get on the horse. Her constant effort not to reveal her chest and not to let go of the blanket she had still tightly wrapped around her shoulders made the process even more difficult and put an additional strain on his wounded arm. Even so Adrijan didn’t complain and when she was finally positioned, her back leaning against his healthy arm that also held the reins and with her feet tangling down the other side of the horse, he signalled Nebel to start moving.

Mairin wasn’t sure if he was a fanatic priest or a total lunatic. On second thought she considered the option that he was both. After what she had seen, she was still uncertain if the immortal’s servant was a threat to her but she was aware that Adrijan was her only chance of leaving
Traumstadt
behind. There was no guarantee that her life on the other side would turn out to be heavenly instead of hellish, but Mairin tried to keep her hopes up. And anyhow, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Meanwhile they had left the small path and cut across country travelling over patches of high grass. The stallion wasn’t moving as fast as Mairin wanted it to, yet she was glad that the alleged priest paid attention to its wellbeing. If he was good to the mount there was a slight chance he would do the same for her.

Mairin felt silly being reminded of having imagined this kind of situation at least a hundred times – sharing a horse with her saviour, being held tenderly in his arms and gently brought to safety. Of course reality had its flaws: Adrijan was a priest or at least a servant and no Prince Charming. Furthermore he wasn’t very gentle and – to her relief – instead of trying to stay close to her, giving her as much space as possible whilst supporting her back with his arm to prevent her from simply falling off the stallion. In her dreams she hadn’t been wounded either and escaping the villain had not left her shaking but had only been a small yet essential detail to her fantasies. If there was no danger, one couldn’t be rescued after all.

Secretly she had also hoped that the immortal would turn out to be her knight in shining armour…

To sum it up, the horse was probably the only thing her dream had in common with reality. Mairin quietly sighed. After today she wasn’t so sure she wanted to get close to a man anyway. Maybe the stories she had read hadn’t been more than just that – stories. Maybe all men were like that. Maybe that was what was waiting for her beyond the borders of
Traumstadt
. A shiver ran down her spine. Maybe it was best to run away while she was still able to.

A raindrop hit her nose, interrupted her chain of thoughts and kept her from being overcome with hysteria. It had started to drizzle. The sudden movement of Adrijan’s left hand reaching for the reins made Mairin flinch, even before she was gently pushed in the back. She automatically bent forward and felt his right hand suddenly grab the blanket behind her neck. The unforeseen attack gave her the impulse to struggle and scream but before she could do either, Adrijan had pulled the blanket higher and over her head. Unable to decide whether she should protest or be grateful she tightened her grip and drew the blanket closer again. When she had calmed down, Mairin realised that she felt more comfortable, well hidden, with the bedspread covering her head. It was only then that she noticed that she had been leaning against Adrijan’s wounded arm and hastily changed her position. This time, the soft pressure of his arm in her back even gave her a small feeling of comfort and safety, and more than ever she felt bad for having thought ill about him.

Her reaction had surprised him and put a sheepish smile on his face. Instead of complaining the girl had calmed down a little and soon after she had dozed off. With her body relaxed and her guard down, her covered head had slowly sunk against his chest. Adrijan couldn’t imagine a less suitable situation for falling asleep but he didn’t begrudge her being able to rest. It was cold and raining and constantly being shaken by the horse trotting over the meadows the position she was in was everything else than comfortable. The same thing could be said about his condition. When he had temporarily changed the reins from the right into his left hand to be able to adjust the girl’s blanket, his coat had slipped off his shoulder and the cold had started to creep in. He could literally feel the chillness work its way deeper and deeper into his body. The only thing keeping him somewhat warm was the vulnerable bundle in front of him. Knowing what he knew, the urge to protect her wasn’t welcome to Adrijan. There had been plenty of good reasons for saving her from the attempted rape – and maybe even murder – besides the obvious one but he was aware that any further involvement would not turn out well. He readily blamed his profession and the discrepancy in age for his feelings and dismissed the troublesome thoughts. Clearly he had no intention of permanently becoming the girl’s babysitter.

Adrijan was glad that unlike earlier today the rain wasn’t pouring. As few drops as there were, they were already sufficient to make the situation less comfortable and from time to time they managed to sneak past his tied-back hair and the part of his coat that was at least still covering his body. The cold water on his neck reminded him once again how much he wanted the night to end and he swore that he would take another warm shower as soon as possible. For now though he had to focus as he was in danger of getting lost in the dark. More than once he used his mobile phone as an aid and feeling a sharp pain in his arm whenever he had to fish it out of his pocket, he cursed having to rely on the navigation system to lead him back to the cottage. The route he had carefully chosen kept them away from the few roads leading outside the centre of
Traumstadt
and therefore raised their chance of escaping tremendously. The next time Adrijan checked the map, his phone started to vibrate in his hand. Eagerly he answered the call.