Hina

The forest bit at my feet as I ran. Each muddied snap propelled me faster. Had someone followed us? I never stopped to check. Too focused on the moon-lit terrain and its cloaked pitfalls. I could not falter now.

“We’re almost there Al.” Every icy breath sliced at my throat. His weight on my back pushed down through my once burning feet, now numb from the cold. As I ran through that monochromatic night, a lock of dripping red hair moved past the corner of my eye

“…a…Alrik?” It clung to my cheek. Smearing its way down as his small frame slumped.

“AL?!” My heart dropped as determination screamed.

“A little longer. Hold on. Nors will save you!” A nickname. It was what Al called me when he was too young to pronounce Nora. A stinging crevasse carved its way down my cheeks as I realized I was crying. My little brother. You can’t leave me. Not like this. I’d make a deal with the devil if I had to.

The devil, I thought… There was a legend, and a rumor. In the middle of these woods lives a witch. The daughter of the world’s most infamous sorceress. Siman. A murderous woman that plunged our society into a four-year reign of terror. Death. And torture. It happened before I was born but you could still see the scars in society. Her war ended with her death. The method kept secret, but most speculated a knife to the heart. Recently, a rumor began to circulate. A daughter was left behind. Kahina. And she lived here. In this forest. I carried us toward her. With no other choice.

If only I hadn’t left Al alone that morning. The sight of his tiny body curled on the floor flashed through my mind. He was already weak. I only wanted to find some food. Why would people do this? How could they? He’s only nine! If only I had gotten home sooner. I had promised to protect him.

Kahina is said to hate all humans. But I would do what was necessary. At all costs. My knees faltered as Al’s weight slipped. Thrusting my foot forward and catching us in time, I refused to fall again. Instead I looked up at the clearing in front of us. There, right in the middle, a silhouetted house with a porch. All covered in plant life. Under the moonlight it looked eerily like the mouth of a monster. Yet I ran toward it anyway. Having flown up the creaky stairs I stopped to readjust. One hand freed, I banged at the door.

“Hey!!” I would wake the dead if necessary. Al’s body began to slip, I caught him in time but found myself handless. So, I opted to kick at the door.

“Heyyy! Please help us!!” A ray of hope sparked as a light turned on.

“Please, we need your help!” The door opened as much as the security chain allowed, and a silhouette moved across the light. Peering out at us.

“Please. My brother is dying. Please help us.”

“Don’t you know where you are?” The voice questioned.

“Of course I know where I am! Please, help us.”

“What makes you think I’ll help you? I hate people. Leave.”

“I’m begging you!” Stupid security chain!

“Get your doctor or one of the adults to help.” The door shut. No! I kicked with all my might and screamed,

“I’VE TRIED THAT ALREADY!” My emotions swirled as the tears poured. Al would die before we could arrive anywhere else.

The door creaked open.

“Please.” I begged. As she reluctantly opened the door.

“Hurry up.” She gestured with her head.

We hurried inside, right to a young girl’s room. A surprising amount of pink. With a sole worn stuffed rabbit sat in the center of the bed.

“Put him here.” Kahina directed as she helped lift him from my back.

“First I need to know what happened?” She said, scanning Al’s appearance. I looked over at the witch, now bent over Al. She was younger than I had thought. Her dark-chocolate curls up in a loose bun, a colorful bandana used as a head band and a thin frame draped in pajamas. She did not look like the daughter of a murderer. But, I still had to be careful.

“Three men beat him.”

Kahina paused and looked my way. I noticed one of her eyes was half silvery blue and half brown. They pierced, and told me she knew there was more. Instead of asking she shifted focus back to Al. Lifting his arms and moving to take his shirt of.

“What are you doing?!” I snapped.

“I can’t treat his wounds and then cover them in filthy wet clothes can I?”

Frozen between choices, I flinched as a hand flew up past my face.

“That drawer. It has clothes.”

I turned to see a white dresser with gold decorative handles.

“I don’t have shorts for a boy but we can put him in a dress for now.” I found myself rummaging through the draw making use of my antsy energy. As I brought back a dress, Kahina stood up.

“Where are you going?!” I questioned as the rollercoaster of anxiety began to grate.

“Follow me.” She said, half way out of the room already. I followed in an awkward hop between running and brisk walking.

We made our way down the hall and into one of the rooms. The bathroom. It was the first time I had seen myself that night. My eyes locked on the smear of blood that ran down my cheek. It lead my eyes down to what I had thought was my wet shirt. But instead was confronted with its vivid redness. It clung onto my mud coloured hair. Dying the ends a horrible shade of red. This all seemed so surreal.

My concentration folded as towels were shoved into my arms. Just as well. I’d done enough crying for now. Kahina then added a few face cloths and disinfectant to the ever growing stack. Following along, we left the bathroom and made our way to the laundry. The whiteness of the room lead my eyes to a pair of orange gumboots that sat next to the door. The colour reminded me of Al’s hair. The swoosh of steaming water hitting an empty bucket echoed as it splashed. Kahina grabbed the bucket and flicked her head to say it was time to move on. Our final stop was the kitchen pantry. I stood outside the pantry looking up at the baskets and dried herbs hung from the ceiling. I wondered if they were for spells. As we returned to Al’s side, Kahina wasted no time,

“Watch closely.” She said as she dipped the corner of a towel in the warm water. Then lent over Al’s injury, cleaning the wound with great care. As she finished, she looked up at me. I nodded and the towel and bucket were passed over.

“Don’t use the same part of the towel twice. It has to be clean. Start from his head and work your way down. We’ll do the cuts on his back last.”

I nodded and began.

The silence that fell was only interrupted by the sound of displaced water. It felt as though we were headed in the right direction. It would all be ok. I glanced up at Kahina’s concentration before continuing. Perhaps she wasn’t that bad after all?

“How long has he been unconscious?” She questioned as she put her towel down. I looked as his autumn coloured hair now covered in brown crusty chunks of blood and replied,

“I’m not sure. It was right before we arrived here.” Time had been a blur. I didn’t even know what time it was now. As I looked back at Kahina I asked,

“Can you save him?”

“I’m not sure.”

Her reply had caught me off guard. I had assumed everything would be ok. We had made it here. So why?

“Don’t worry." She said. My eyes furrowed. I hated that statement. How could I not worry? Our eyes met and she clarified,

“I’ve trained for this. But I won’t give you false hope. He has serious injuries that need a lot of time and effort. Although, healing magic happens to be my specialty. So. Don’t worry.”

“We have a good shot.” She summed up.

My heart squeezed and my throat tightened. My breath escaped me as I inhaled sharply. Again and again my eyes swelled with tears. She was right. That was so frustrating.

“I’m going to cast a spell now. I recommend you close your eyes.”

All night she had said things without an offer of explanation. Why did I need to close my eyes? Was casting spells some sort of secret? Her hands crossed over Al’s deepest cut. She then shut her eyes and took a long sharp breath in. As the spell activated it sent out a blinding light.

“Ok.” Kahina reassured as I noticed I had closed my eyes.

“Keep cleaning.” She continued as I peeked through one eye. I looked down at the cut. The bleeding had stopped! In a flash of light, ‘Specialized in healing’ made sense.

“Don’t get too excited. All I did was stop the bleeding from one injury. He’s still got a very long way to go.” My eyes lowered and mouth shifted to one side. I pondered what she meant by she had trained for this.

“Tonight will be a long night. Prepare yourself.”

The rumors were wrong. She’s infuriating not scary. My instincts pushed for retaliation, but I thought to wait until Al was safe. I relented and continued my work. As I made it down to his feet I noticed they were covered in both old and new cuts. We had not had shoes for a long time. It had taken a toll.

“I thought you hated humans.” The moment this thought fell out, I regretted it. Unable to scrunch my face, my toes curled instead.

“I do.”

The answer was so straightforward and emotionless, it confused me.

“But, we’re human… and, you’re being nice to us.” A brief silence was followed by,

“What about you?”

“Hu? Me?” My head cocked.

“Never mind.”

The conversation had veered in such a way I failed to noticed I had finished cleaning the cuts.

“Oh. Done.” I said looking up at Kahina.

“Good.” She replied as she threw a clean towel at me.

“You know where the spare clothes are. The shower is down the hall, on the right.”

“I can’t just go take a shower!”

“What can you do then?” She quipped back.

“I can help you! Help Alrik! He’s MY brother.”

“How? Do you happened to know some healing magic?” The speed at which she countered me grated at my nerves.

“Of course not! I’m a human!”

“So?”

“So? What do you mean so?” The night’s emotions shoved forward.

“A witch is made not born.” She spewed.

“What? Don’t lie! That’s not possible.”

“Oh really? And why is that?” She chuckled.

“Well for one, witches have no heart.” That was a pretty significant difference if you’d ask me.

“Would someone heartless be saving your brother right now?” She scoffed.

Frustratingly, she made a good point.

“Fine. Even if you have a heart, we are fundamentally different. Witches have power. Humans do not.” There was no way around this point. It was as she said, I did not know any healing magic.

“Guns and explosives aren’t powerful? Remind me again who famously died all those years ago? A human or a witch?”

“She killed humans! Innocent people!”

“MURDERERS!” Her eyes shot up and hands stopped. I froze.

“They were murders. Not one innocent person died. At the time we desperately asked for help. Yet instead of helping us, you shunned us. Then acted surprised when my mother took action. Deciding instead to kill her and protect the murderers. As if that was not enough you now celebrate her death. Every. Year. Those innocent people took everything from us.”

Taken aback, I processed what she said.

A sigh rudely interrupted me.

“Just trust me. There’s nothing you can do to help me past this point. I’ve done nothing but help you right? Would I really have put this much effort into saving him only to let him die now?”

My fists balled. A logical argument only made things worse. Contemplation and a deep breath saw me let it go. What mattered now was Alrik.

Clothes in hand I left.

After my shower, as the fog dispersed from the mirror, blood shot eyes looked back at me. I had cried too much that day. My thoughts drifted and my hands shook. I would never forget the amount of crimson stained water that washed off me.

Today sucked.

I gathered myself and opened the door. As I made my way down the hall a photo caught my attention. A young girl, maybe 6 or 7. She twirled on the beach with absolute joy. Her hair flung and her dress flared. Was this Kahina’s daughter? The pink bed Al was laying in came to mind. I wondered where she was? The ring of a kettle interrupted me as I rounded the corner and locked eyes with Kahina.

“Do you drink tea? Do kids drink tea? I have rosehip tea, that’s pretty sweet. We can add sugar to it too. Kids like sweet things right?” She said as she poured the cups before I could answer.

“My brother?” I questioned. As she turned to face me the kitchen light illuminated her sparkly caramel skin. She was covered in sweat. It brought a hundred questions racing through my mind. Had it all gone wrong? Was it more than she could heal? Had he died while I was showering? But as I spiraled, the corners of Kahina's mouth lifted into a gentle smile.

“He’s fine. You can go see him if you want. But be quiet. He needs to rest and recover.”

I ran towards the room and burst through the door. Only noticing too late how much noise I’d made. His body lay there, quiet, covered in bandaging. His eyebrows had loosened. No longer strained through pain. His face was still pale but no longer had an undertone of blue. It looked as though it would turn pink at any moment. The fluffy pillow hugged his head ever so gently. Even the pink quilt, covered with white soaring birds seemed to wrap him preciously. I approached the bed, just to check. Putting my finger under his nose, I confirmed. Small but consistent breaths. In and out. My knees buckled as one hand gripped at the pit of my stomach. He was alive. The other covered my mouth. I strained as best as I could to stop any noise from escaping. I couldn’t believe it. My eyes blurred and my hands shook. I thought I would lose you. I thought I would be all alone. My mouth hung open, but no sound escaped. I doubled over. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Al.

A hand placed itself on my shoulder. It was Kahina. Despite all that had happened. Unable to speak, I grabbed hold of her. Hugging her as tightly as I could. Thank god she helped us. She rubbed my back. In a last ditch attempt I bit my lip before loosing all self-control and sobbing. Through my relief I felt the patter of drops hit my forehead as Kahina’s breaths became heavier.

“Lunja…sorry… I’m so sorry.” She whispered beneath her breath.

As we recovered, we made our way back to the dining table. Kahina place a sandwich and two cups of tea down. Then vanished into a room I had not yet seen. When she came back she had a few things in hand.

“You should eat.” She pointed.

“This is for me?” It had honestly not dawned on me. No one had ever given us free food.

“Of course. I didn’t make it just to be looked at.” My hands still shook as I reached for it and began eating.

“So what’s your name?”

“Nora.” I replied between bites.

“Nora, what a nice name. Will you let me look at your legs?” She said as she opened the first aid box from earlier. She must have planned to treat the scrapes on my feet. I held one leg up and then the other. As I finished the sandwich I asked,

“Why aren’t you using magic? Like you did with Al?”

“There’s a price for everything. Nothing is free. I’ve reached my limit for today.”

“Because you healed my brother?”

“Yes. He had some serious injuries. A few broken bones and some internal injuries. After hastening their healing, I used a spell that stabilizes his levels. So that he may recover as quickly as possible.”

“Hmmm” I nodded. Finishing up she grabbed the cloth behind the first aid kid and handed it to me.

“Here, take it. The shirt you’re wearing is clearly too small. This jumper will be too big, but it’s better. At least you’ll be comfortable.”

Having taken the knitted jumper I left to get changed. Stopping on my way back to thank the twirling girl for lending us her clothes.

“Is that your daughter?” I questioned. Kahina glanced at the pictured before replying,

“My sister.”

“Your sister?” The mood had changed.

“But… I thought you were Siman’s daughter?”

“I am.”

“She only had one daughter. You. Right?”

“There were three of us. Two girls, one boy.” Her tone had sharpened as she got up and started washing the dishes. I wonder what had happened. Was it the reason why she hated humans?

“Why do you hate all humans?” The dishes clanged at my question. Perhaps this was not the right time.

“Many things have happened in the past.” She finally replied, dodging the question.

“Like what happened with your mother?” I knew I was pushing but I did not understand why she would not give me a proper answer.

“Why don’t you hate humans?” She replied as the water screeched, rushing down the drain. Her question feeling more like a shot than a question.

“What do you mean? I am a human. And my brother’s a human. I couldn’t possibly hate humans.” I pointed out as she sat across the table from me.

“Sure you could. Did a single human offer to help you today? When your brother was dying on your shoulders? When you knocked at their doors drenched in blood. Or what about the men who did this to your brother in the first place? Do you like them? Are they your friends? What about the people who took one look at you and decided you weren’t worth saving?”

Shocked, I couldn’t string together a thought.

“Those people probably had reasons why they couldn’t help us.” I said as I crossed my arms.

“mhhm.” She raised one eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“Judging by the clothes you turned up in. And the fact you turned up here at all, instead of asking your parents for help, you are orphaned street kids. Right?”

“What would you know?” I pushed through my teeth.

“You’ve heard a few rumors, turned up at my house, and done nothing but make blind assumptions.” She replied.

My scoff turned into a half chuckle.

“Me?! You’re the one making assumptions! You have no idea what it’s like! You live here in your fancy house. In warmth and comfort, with enough money to buy food as you need it!” Her chair screeched as it slid backwards before falling on the ground. Fists clenched she stopped to take a breath.

“You seem to think that when my mother was killed, my sister and I magically had a house to live in. The children of the murderous witch. Despite what you’ve heard my mother didn’t just start killing people without rhyme or reason. You all say she snapped when my father and brother died unexpectedly. But none of you ever wondered how they died. If you think living on the streets is hard, try doing it when the whole world knows your Siman’s daughter. I spent ten years on the streets of that wretched town. Four of them with Lunja.” The room fell silent. She lived on the streets? Like Al and I?

“Come. The lounge is a pull out bed. You can sleep there for the night.” Kahina changed the topic once more, pulling me back from my thoughts. I regretted broaching the subject. It was clearly as painful for her as it was for me to think about today’s event. As I climbed into bed, Kahina made her way out.

“Sorry.” I said, catching her before she left.

“And thanks... For everything.” I added.

Kahina nodded and gave me a gingered smile.

“Don’t thank me just yet. If you and your brother are going to stay here for a while, I expect you to help around the house.” She retorted.

“Get lots of sleep so you’re ready to go first thing,” She added. Despite the fact that she says she hates humans, she treats us well. I chuckled as I replied,

“Yes ma’am!”

“Don’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel old… call me Hina.”

“Yes Hina” I replied, as she made her way once more.

“Wait!” I recognized the ice was thin, but I had to ask.

“Yes?”

“Why are you helping us? If humans hurt you this badly why help two of them?” I questioned.

“ You could have just turned us away. Like everyone else.” The thought crossed my mind that perhaps I should not point out that solution. But her shoulders lowered as a sad smile crept onto her face as she said,

“Because, I would have given anything for help when it was me carrying my sister.”