Never Let Me Go

"Shawn!"

I sighed and shuffled tiredly into my father's shop. I'd been sitting outside , taking a break. I was his courier and I'd been sent everywhere today. When I stepped inside, it smelled like warm, fresh bread. "Yes, Father?"

He dropped a huge bundle of breads and other foods in my arms. "All of these go in the cart behind the shop. Take that cart here;" He marked the place on a map he laid on top of the bundle. "It's a large inn just outside of town. These are their rations for the month."

"For the month?"

"Yes, these our gifts from the townsfolk to the people who own that inn. It is thanks for keeping us safe and providing us with free healing... so we feed them and give them provisions to help them run their inn."

"Why didn't I know about this?"

"It doesn't matter, now you do. Just go, they'll be expecting you pretty soon!"

I nodded and ran off to the cart and was soon on my way.

"Here you go, ma'am!" I sat down a glass of milk on the table for a woman who had been waiting, "This is on the house, I'm so sorry for the wait, we're busy today because of the merchants and traders passing through."

"Not at all, darling! It's just fine, I understand. Here..." She put a small bag of coins in my hands, "This is for being such a lovely hostess."

"I couldn't-"

"I insist." She smiled to me and then I walked back into the kitchen after dropping the bag in my apron pocket. We all worked at the inn with my grandparents and my parents. More recently though I was bored of serving and wanted to help as a healer which was what I trained for when my grandma had time to train me.

"Got more birds!" Dad said as he came in through the back door.

I gasped and stepped away, "D-DAD." I came back too soon, he was bringing in the remains which would later be dinner.

"Sorry..."

"E-Ew..." I ran back out after dropping the order paper on the counter near my aunt Ania and she looked at it without a word. I went out the side door and decided to take a walk. For whatever reason I couldn't stand the sight of dead animals, freshly... anyway. It was frustrating to say the least.

I kept walking so I could relax just for a little while. It had been such a busy day.

I could see the inn in the distance and smiled some. They would get their provisions soon! I was so confident I would get there safely that I stopped paying attention, really. Big mistake. I heard loud barking and growling and I looked around frantically and saw a pack of wolves chasing us. I urged the large mare I was riding to go faster, and she did... too fast for the cart. She jumped over a small boulder and the cart caught, jerking us back some. I fell out of the saddle and rolled off. I heard a snap which was the rope breaking off of her saddle and the mare turned and ran back towards home... the pack of wolves following. I groaned I got to my feet. My arm broke when I fell and it looked and hurt really bad. It was bleeding too. I grabbed the rope attached to the cart and stumbled forward. I couldn't just leave their food out there. I wasn't that far away... was I? I couldn't tell how big the inn was.

I heard a lot of crashing and noise during my walk and ran in the direction. It wasn't too far away from the inn when I found a man with a car and a lot of items strapped inside. He was injured!

"Sir?!" I called as I ran to him, "Sir, are you alright?" Why was I asking that? Of course he wasn't! He was bleeding! I tripped on the hem of my dress but quickly caught myself and continued to run.

"Let me help you!"

I sighed in utter relief when I saw her running toward me. I hid my arm. Part of the bone was sticking out and I didn't want her to see that. It was gross. "Th-Thank you. Are you from the i-inn?"

"Yes! Let me help you before you move anymore though... I'm training to be a healer... my grandmother here is the resident healer though but I knew enough. Oh and I can get a horse so we can pull your cart to the inn!"

I stopped and realized just how heavily I was breathing. "I'm so tired... where do you want me to go?"

"Just rest here a moment... you need to calm down a little or you'll bleed worse." I pulled some cloths out of my satchel and then pressed them against his wounds. "Your arm doesn't look good... you must have had a hard fall."

"Some wolves startled my horse..." I gulped. "I fell off. Luckily she didn't take the cart with her... Ow!!" I frowned and tried to jerk my arm away, but she had a pretty firm grip on it. T-T

"That's bad..." I looked over it without moving it much and sighed, "I'll have to put it back into place or it could... possibly not heal correctly and then you could lose use of it." I frowned. "I don't think I have the pain medicine with me."

I pulled my belt off with one hand and put the leather strap in my mouth. "O-Okay, do it." I said through my teeth, and braced myself.

I judged the bone and then cringed at the idea of the pain he was going to be in. I made sure his eyes were closed and then I moved it with two quick snaps until it was straight.

I screamed... and was suddenly thankful for the usefulness of my belt. I didn't know I could scream so loud with something over my mouth, but apparently... I could. Once she set it, I sighed in relief and rocked some. She caught me and I gulped, dropping the belt out of my mouth. "Th-Thank you."

"You're welcome... I'm going to splint it until we get to the inn. This might sting..." I started to use a couple of wooden boards I had in my satchel and wrapped bandages around them. "I'm so sorry..." I finished and put the things away.

"Me too... this definitely won't make my father happy." I frowned. I stood up and picked up the road and began pulling the cart. It wasn't too heavy, so I didn't want to leave it out for animals to get into their food.