Restless Soul - Alex Archer [51]
Annja realized most of the mud she’d been wearing had been washed away. She lifted the blanket and dropped it back down. She was naked. Looking over the edge of the table, she saw a wooden bowl filled with muddy water and her pile of mud-caked clothes.
“That would be Som’s work, Annja. I asked her to clean you up a bit. You must have been wearing ten pounds of jungle mud. Som will find you something else to wear.” He paused and leaned close. “You should be in a hospital, actually. A clinic doesn’t have near the facilities. You and Lu and two of those disagreeable fellows—who you took out with a sword, Som tells me—should all be in a hospital. But there are few roads, and they are all flooded, and it’s still raining and dark as pitch outside, so you’ll have to settle for my ministrations at the moment. But we’ll put you and Lu in an ox cart in the morning when hopefully the weather lets up a little bit and we’ll get you to a proper place where people far more skilled than I can look after you. Don’t know what we’ll do with the two disagreeable fellows. The ox cart won’t hold all of you.”
“Listen, Doc, I—” A wave of dizziness washed over her and she slumped back flat onto the table.
“No, you listen. You’re my patient. Much as I’d rather you not be. Much as I’d rather none of you folks were injured in this village. I’m not a medical doctor, Annja. I’m a veterinarian, a retired one at that. Retired to this beautiful country to be left alone and not to be bothered by people shooting at one another.”
“A veterinarian? Retired? I don’t—” Annja finally succumbed to the sedative he’d given her.
13
Annja’s head was pounding when she awoke the next morning, feeling the sun stream in on her face. She wasn’t on the table in the school any longer. She was on a thick sleeping pallet in one of the villagers’ homes. Luartaro sat next to her, propped against the wall, eyes closed and head wrapped in a pale pink bandage that had a bloodstain on the side. It took her only a moment to realize he was sleeping, his breathing deep and regular. He was wearing different clothes—a pale green tank top over baggy trousers that had cargo pockets down the sides. He’d stuffed the pockets with something so that they looked like the jowls of a chipmunk that had been foraging. The trousers looked several inches too short for his tall frame, the green tank a size too small. She smiled; the latter made his muscles stand out. He was barefoot, his mud-caked boots sitting nearby.
Her arms ached, though not as much as they did the night before, and she felt a dull pain in her right leg, the numbness having worn off. All in all, however, she pronounced herself in more than reasonable condition given what she’d been through. Her stomach rumbled; Annja tended to eat a lot because she was active, and she hadn’t had anything since very early yesterday morning. She needed food to help her recover.
“Gotta find something to eat,” she said. She made a move to get up and realized she was still naked under the blanket. “Where are my clothes?” she muttered.
Doc poked his head in the door. “Being washed, though I’m not sure they’re fit for anything more than rags, what with all the bullet holes and rips. Som is finding something that might fit you well enough. Give her a few moments. She was going to tend to that last night, but got distracted. Things tend not to be immediate here.”
He came in and stretched, and Annja saw that the circles were dark under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been to sleep at all during the night. He was wearing the same shirt and jeans he’d had on yesterday, all of it spotted with blood and mud, the sweat stains deep under his arms.
“Lovely morning,” he went on. “It quit raining about an hour ago. About damn time, eh? Sometimes it rains so much here I expect to see Noah pulling up with his ark.” He came to her side, stooped over and reached for her hand, taking her pulse and looking at his watch.
“You heal quickly, Annja. Quite a remarkable young lady, you. I’d like to say it’s my medical skill responsible,