I was sent on a mission by my father to find the traitor men who have been terrorizing land too close to the border between the Greeks and the Persians. My orders were to leave no one alive. It was easy enough, but as I was making my way through their camp, I caught word of a girl who had been captured three days before and was being held down in the cellar. I made her my first priority. The men here aren't very strong, they were easily beaten.
I reached the cellar room to see that they had placed only a single guard by her holding area. Come on guys, you need to do better than that. Once he was down I slowly walked over to the cell to see a younger girl squeezing her eyes shut, sitting in the corner of the dark room, she was in the shadow of the cell so it was hard to fully see her. I must have startled her for she flinched a little when she finally opened her eyes. I gave her a gentle smile to assure her I wasn't an enemy. I stepped into the cell and I reached out my hand for her to take. "It's okay now," I said, "you're safe now." She took my hand and I hauled her to her feet. Once standing I was able to get a better look at her. She was dirty and obviously hungry and had only a tunic and shalvar. She stared at me and I stared back, that's when I saw them, those big brown eyes, eyes I haven't seen for many years.
The poor girl was only given a little to eat each day and barely enough water to keep her alive. She could barely speak let alone stand, and with no shoes, I had to carry her on my back just to get her out of there. She was deathly silent as I walked through the woods. I hadn't realized but she had fallen asleep on me and was now quietly making a purring sound as she had her arms lightly wrapped around my neck.
After about half an hour of walking, I felt her begin to stir again."You doing alright?" I whispered as I carried her through the forest. I felt her nod her head sleepily against my back. "We need to find you some food and water, I know of a creek just up ahead and I have a few berries in my sack but it's not enough for a meal." She once again nodded her head.
I tried to pick up the pace but it was hard since I wasn't used to carrying another person for so long. But I didn't want to put her down for she seemed so scared, like a young fawn who just discovered the world. I can't believe I found her, I finally found her…
We reached the creek and I placed her down in front of a tall fur tree, gently leaning her up against it. I hadn't noticed before but around her arm was a slightly blood stained rag. "Did they hurt you?" I asked, a little angered. She didn't answer. I moved closer to her and took her arm in my hand. Very gently I unwrapped the cloth and revealed a cut about three inches in length, it didn't look too deep but it wasn't able to be treated very well in that cell of hers so it could become infected. I decided I was going to clean it up for her. I gently let go of her arm and let it rest against her. I dug through my bag until I found a cup that had been buried in my belongings, I fished it out then got up and walked to the creek where I filled the cup with water. Creek water was filled with substances that weren't very good for an open wound, or so has been rumored to be. I would have to boil the water first before applying it to her wound.
I went back to where the girl was sitting and cleared a small area of leaves and rocks and made a small ring out of the rocks I had moved away. Within the ring of stones, I started a small fire with a handful of brush and set the cup of water on top. The girl just sat there and watched as I worked. It took a little while but I finally got the cup of water to start boiling. I let it go for a few minutes before pulling it off the fire and setting it on a nearby stone to cool off. While it cooled off, I dug back into my bag which was still around my shoulder, and found a cloth. I took the cloth in both hands and tore it in two which seemed to make the girl flinch. I took one half of the cloth and dipped it in the now cool water and set the other over my shoulder. I rung the soaked cloth out and once again picked the girl's injured arm up. Very carefully I dabbed the wound, cleaning up the blood around the opening in her skin. She only twitched once and I kept looking up at her to make sure I wasn't hurting her in any way, she just stared down at the wound. Once cleaned up, I put the dirty cloth back into the cup. I then took the dry cloth I had put over my shoulder, folded it a few times and wrapped her arm up. I stepped back and looked at my work. "Is that better?" I asked. She only nodded her head in response. I let out a deep breath, a little in relief and a little because I didn't realize this simple errand for my father would lead to all this.
I finally unslung my sack from around my shoulder and pulled out a small canteen and a bundle of berries wrapped up in a red cloth. I handed the berries to the girl and walked over to the water to fill my canteen. I saw a fish swim by and got an idea. After my canteen was full, I walked back over to her to see her slowly eating the berries. She must have been starving but took her time. She once again stopped and just stared at me, I wonder if she remembers me. I gave her a little smile and handed her the water, she almost drank the entire thing before she stopped to take a breath. It was a long deep sigh as if it was the first breath she's taken. Then she spoke for the first time since I rescued her, it was only two small words but they meant the world to me. "Thank you."
I held my breath, I didn't know what to say. I've been thanked dozens of times after saving someone but this is the first time it felt like they really meant it. I grabbed her hand in mine and looked at her, her face full of shock at the sudden movement. "I can't believe I finally found you," I said, "I've looked for you ever since I first rescued you, I regret ever leaving you at that dirt road all those years ago."
A small smile played across her face, but she straightened it out as if it wasn't even there,"You remember me."
"Of course I remember you!" I exclaimed a little too loudly, I cleared my throat and lowered my voice. "How could I ever forget you. I'm just surprised you recognized me."
She laughed slightly, it was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. "It took me a little bit but I recognized that three knife twirl right before you attacked the guard in the cellar. Not many people around here are that good with knives."
A huge grin played across my face. I realized I was still holding the girl's hand, I quickly let go. "Oh, uh," my face felt warm, I hoped it wasnt red. I cleared my throat again.
"What's your name?" she asked, changing the subject and pretending like nothing just happened, "It's only right if I know the name of the one who saved me."
"Bahar," I smiled, "What about yours?"
"Daphne." She returned the smile.
"Well, if you don't mind Daphne, I'm going to go catch us some food." I got up and walked back over to the rushing water of the small creek. I took off my shoes and rolled up the legs of my shalvar till they reached my knees. I slowly waded into the creek, when I got to about the middle, I stood very still, careful not to disturb any of the silt under my bare feet. Before too long, I had returned with three creek chubs, trying to squirm back into the water. I held them up to show Daphne as if I was a child who just won a trophy.
I waded back through the water and onto dry ground where I dried the bottom of my feet on the soft squishy moss that grew along the creek bed. I headed back over to Daphne where I sat down and used a rock as a table to butcher our freshly caught meal. "You ever done this before?" I asked her as I gestured toward the chub meat laying skin down on the rock.
"Yes, plenty of times before," She said after taking another long sip of water, "I'm one of the only hunters at the orphanage, I have to if I want to keep all the children from going hungry"
"So you still live there then."
"Yes, I can leave anytime I want but it's the only home I've ever known and they could use the extra set of hands." She took another drink of water and I could tell it was getting low by the way she shook the canteen to hear the water splash around.
"Here, let me fill that," I said, holding out my hand. She gave it to me and I walked back over to the stream to fill it up. When I turned back around I saw that she had taken the knife and began slicing open one of the two fish I hadn't finished. I was amazed at how swiftly she was able to do it. Within no time at all, she had the meat cut and the scrap in a nice neat pile. "You're really good at that," I said, handing the water back to her.
"Like I said, I've done this before."
"As I can see."
She put the knife down on a nearby rock and once more took a sip of water out of my canteen. "Thank you," Daphne said quietly as she looked down at her lap, "I don't think I could thank you enough for what you've done."
I just watched silently as she sat there, legs criss crossed, playing with a weed she had pulled from the ground in front of her. "What happened to you?" I asked.
She looked up. "What?"
"What happened to you?" I repeated, "The little girl I saved all those years ago seemed so happy and hyper, so innocent and just excited to be alive. It's like the shine in your eyes went out."
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I just spent three days locked in a cellar eating nothing but moldy flatbread and mush, what did you expect." was all she said, then gently laid the plant she'd been playing with, got up, brushed herself off, and started walking away.