"Hello?" A loud voice came from behind the door when Tom's hand reached it.
"Who's there?" He asked as his hand stood tightly wrapped around the hilt of the sword, trembling slightly. All the muscles in Tom's body were tensed and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead from the effort required to stand.
"Oh, hello, I'm called Marcus Vizir, and I'm the chief of the village north from here." A raspy voice answered with a calm tone. "I heard there was someone in this cabin and wanted to come by and introduce myself."
Celia looked warily out of the kitchen window and saw an old man, together with a little boy standing by the door. She exchanged a knowing look with Tom and he opened the door slightly to see outside without leaving his front unguarded.
"We're new here, just arrived a week ago," Tom replied while scrutinizing the stranger. "My name is Henry and this is my sister Jane." He turned to Celia for a second and then stretched a hand to shake with the old man.
The old men took his outstretched hand and shook it firmly. The smell of blood mixed with that of crushed plants was imbued in the walls of the cabin but seemed to go unnoticed by the man standing at their door. He appeared to be well over 80, but still strong enough to walk around without being hindered by his old age. His white hair was hanging loosely in a short ponytail while old-looking clothes were wrapped tightly on his slim body. His hazel eyes were deepened in their sockets by the passing of time, and his bony hands trembled to grasp the walking stick he had. Behind him, a little boy was standing, shying away from Tom's curious look, still young, his curly black hair fell over his forehead, hiding his eyes. He looked no older than 10, and he reminded Celia of the kids back in her small village, making her heart squeeze at the memory of her life there. She instantly took a liking to the two guests.
"We're just passing by, my sister and I." Celia heard Tom say and a feeling of unease took hold of her. She didn't know why, but she didn't like it at all.
"Me and Tommy here just came over to say hi. You're a bit far from the village but if you need anything, just let us know. It's been a while since we had new neighbors." The man offered as he bowed slightly towards Celia.
"Thank you! We'll surely come to visit one of these days after we get settled in." Tom politely replied and looked over at the little boy tugging on the coat of the old man.
"We should go now, the day is becoming shorter, and we wouldn't want the night to catch us traveling these woods. See you around Henry, Jane..." The old man bowed even deeper now and taking the hand of the young boy, made his way towards the dense forest.
Once alone, Tom made his way to the bed and seated himself slowly, while holding his hand over the now bloodied shirt. Celia noticed his wound was open again but she resisted the urge to scold him. She knew that all he did was in order to give them a cover in case people started asking questions; even if that meant forcing himself to open the door and acting as if he didn't have an open wound in his abdomen. Celia reached towards the concoctions she prepared before and she hurried over to his side, helped him take his shirt off. She carefully cleaned the wound and wrapped it again, with some blood stopping salve underneath.
"Stop moving so much. We have to get this wound closed before anything else, we can talk about the rest later." She couldn't resist and snapped a bit at Tom who looked over at her with a small smile.
"I promise to behave." Was his response and before she could say anything else, he laid on the bed, surrendering himself to her care. Soon enough, he was drifting into a deep sleep, while Celia was trying to keep his rising fever under control.
From time to time, she would wake him up and feed him foul-tasting liquids with some warm water afterward, that seemed to sooth the disgusting taste of the liquids.
The whole process seemed to have lasted for only a day according to Tom, but Celia felt it in her whole body as the hours she had to take care of the giant stretched into days, and only after a whole week was she able to sleep peacefully knowing Tom was out of danger.
In this time, when Tom was unconscious, old man Marcus had kindly offered to bring Celia some food and basic necessities, without asking any questions. Although wary at first, she could feel the man was kind-hearted and decided to trust him, after all, they needed help right now and she couldn't leave Tom's side as he still needed supervision in case he got worse.
One day, while Celia was out in the forest, Tom woke up to see a young woman dressed in black at the foot of the bed. In her hands, she had an old, dirty book, covered with thick covers, with strange symbols drawn on.
"My Lord, I have been tasked by Madam Beatrix to bring you this." Tom heard the thin voice say.
"When?"
"Last time we had met. I was away on a task all this time. I apologize for my sudden disappearance."
"It's okay Kara, you did what you were instructed. Did Beatrix say what this is?" Tom asked taking the book in his hands.
"She just instructed me where to find it, and said it should be shown to you." She curtly replied.
"I understand. Thank you! Are you alright?"
"Yes my Lord."
Just as he wanted to ask more, the front door opened and Celia walked in. She looked tired and dirty, but her cheeks were tinted with a shade of pink from the cold air of the morning, and her hair fell disorderly around her shoulders, making her seem even messier.
"We're done for now. Stay close." He simply added and with a grunt, he forced himself out of the bed, and towards the kitchen area where Celia was arranging her plants on the only table available.
"Good morning!" He shouted, making Celia jump up in surprise. "I've got a gift for you." He continued and dropped the heavy looking book over the plants on the table. Celia simply took a long look at him and breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're finally awake." She said with a tired voice, and without waiting for a response, she made her way towards him and looked over the bandages he had on.
Tom stared with a confused look at her, but he was also amused at the straightforward approach she had towards him. She never was one to be shy, but she was still wary of him when they were back home, after all, she grew up only with her grandmother. However, it seemed that her recent work of taking care of Tom had made her get used to something she would once feel shy about.
"Aww, did you miss me that much? Can't a man rest for a bit in this house?" He jokingly asked only to realize that Celia was standing in front of him with a serious look on her face.
"Rest all you want, as long as it doesn't take you a whole week to wake up... It's tiring to take care of a grown man all alone...."
This shocked Tom as he was under the impression that he was asleep for merely a couple of hours. He would have never guessed he was so out of it for such a long time if it wasn't for Celia's rugged look.
"Oh, I didn't realize... " He wanted to excuse himself but it was hard to do so when she was staring at him both relieved and annoyed at him. He approached her and patted her shoulder lightly, resting his hand on it. "Thank you!" And he felt her shoulder drop is a relaxed state as she was finally assured for his health.
"Anyhow... I have something for you." He continued while turning her to the kitchen and pointing towards the book on the table. "It's from Beatrix..."