April Challenge
Use the following words in an h/c story
hives
salves
fever
bandages
honey
"I'm sorry but there's nothing more I can do. It's up to the gods now".
It was an all-too-familiar aftermath: tending wounds after a battle. But Hercules thought to himself that he had never seen Xena so upset before. In such situations in the past, she had always been calm and competent. This time there was no doubt that she was still competent, but her calm clearly had been shattered.
"I've got it stitched. Give me the bandages" ordered Xena, her stern tone contrasting with her pale and shaken expression.
Hercules cut in, "Look Xena, I'll take care of that".
"No," came the firm answer. "You've got to hold that leg down til I can get a bandage on it. If there's any movement at all, those stitches will rip and the bleeding will start again. You're the only one strong enough to hold on!" The last words had just the slightest tinge of hysteria.
Hercules nodded grimly and took a firmer grip. "It's going to be all right", he said softly, sending an unaccustomed prayer to the gods that he wasn't making a liar out of himself. He stroked the sweat-soaked golden hair. "Just hold on. You heard Xena - you have to stay still!"
Gabrielle, looking almost as white and sick as her friend, handed Xena a tiny clay jar. "There's only a little healing salve left" she murmured.
"What better use for it, than this?" demanded Xena sharply as she gently smeared the yellow-green substance over the long, bleeding slash. The scent of honey and sage filled the air. She started to wrap the bandage around the wound. At the first touch, a shriek burst forth from her patient's foam-flecked lips.
"Easy! Easy!" whispered Hercules, torn between his own anguish and the need to stay calm and help, even though the sight before him twisted his heart.
Xena felt the tensing of the torn muscles beneath her fingers and was suddenly remembered when they were whole and strong and she had wrapped herself around them. "My poor friend!" Tears stung her eyes. "Where's that damned healer?" she snarled. "They should have been here ages ago!"
Not releasing his grip on the injured leg, Hercules replied calmly, "Corinth is a dozen miles from here. It's going to take some time to find someone and bring them back - " but Xena was not listening. Even as her fingers moved swiftly to wrap the torn strips of linen around the injury, her words poured out in a torrent.
"This is all my fault. I got us all into this. If I hadn't been in such a fever to go after those bandits, the ambush never would have happened!"
"You can't blame yourself, Xena - " began Gabrielle.
"I can. I do. I should have been quicker to see that fellow with the axe - ".
"Xena, those guys came out of the woods like bees out of burning hives! You couldn't be everywhere all at once. None of us can! Not even Hercules!"
Hercules broke in. "Xena, stop this. There's not one of us here who'd hold you responsible, if it had been us who'd been wounded!"
"But YOU weren't the one who was wounded! Nor was Gabrielle! Look who's paying the price - " most uncharacteristically, Xena burst into tears, stifled them immediately, wiped her nose with an impatient gesture, and addressed the golden figure who was now so still. "I've done all I can. It's up to the gods now. Forgive me!"
Hercules suddenly thrust out a hand and stood frozen, listening. "Do you hear hoofbeats?"
All three of them looked in the direction of the sound. It was indeed hoofbeats, and they were growing louder every moment. Finally around the bend in the road came two horseman at a dead gallop.
"Oh thank the gods", muttered Xena. Once again she brushed back the sweaty blond hair of the sufferer and whispered desperately, "It's going to be all right. Hang on. It's going to be all right. Help is coming".
Gabrielle rushed out into the road and waved frantically. One of the horsemen returned her wave, and several heartbeats later both thundered into the encampment.
"Iolaus! You took long enough!"
"I was as quick as I could be, Herc" answered the golden-haired hunter as he slid from the saddle. "It took me a while to find the right man, but here he is. Xena, this is Hippalcimus, the finest horse doctor in Greece, and now that he's here, Argo is gonna be just fine!"
FINIS
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