To Stand Beside Her (36 page)

As Roger left he stopped by Nalick, Anatolio, and Nikias.
“Please keep an eye on her.
She is not very good at resting.”
T
he men nodded their heads.
As Roger stood on the shore watching the boat sail away
, he hoped for once in her life
Leila would follow his directions.
She had always been impatient in the past.
Twice
Roger
caught her sneaking off on an assignment before she had
fully healed
.
He could understand that her youth made her impatient and her quick healing actually made it acceptable for her to do what she did, but Roger had worried that a time like this would occur where she would
actually need the
rest to get better.

After the ship was loaded and began to sail, everyone took their position for the short ride to their own ship across the sea. Leila sat alone
with everyone wandering around the deck on their own tasks
.

“You can’t even spare a moment to see how I am doing?”
Leila
asked sarcastically
as Anatolio walked by
.
He
stopped and turned to face her.
He wanted to lie to her, but it would never work.
It was his job to protect her, and he didn’t.

“I’m sorry,”
Anatolio
said without looking her in her eyes.

“There is nothing for you to be sorry about.
You
couldn’t help it
,” Leila replied trying to make him understand that she did not blame him.
Anatolio moved closer and
stared at her to see if she was really telling the truth
.

“It will not happen again
.
”

“That’s why I asked Roger to give you the pack he gave you earlier,” she said.
Anatolio was surprised.
He did not think she was watching him wh
ile
he was watching her.
“It is what we use to build up our
endurance
to the various drugs out on the market.”
Roger was not the best in courier assignments when he was a courier, but he was excellent at analyzing substances.
Anatolio kneeled to be face to face with Leila.

“Are you really fine?” Anatolio asked with tenderness in his voice.
He kept his hands to himself as he wanted to reach out and touch her to make sure for himself.

“Yes.
I can’t say I’ve done worse before, but I
am fine now
,” she
replied
.
“So I guess training you to fight will have to wait for now.”
Anatolio nodded.
He had forgotten about their deal.

“I’m still sorry,” Anatolio said before standing and leaving.

Chapter
21

Two weeks passed quickly for everyone but Leila who had nothing to do but sit around.
The day before Roger was to return
,
Leila sat on the balcony and sulked.
She wanted to be down at the market as she watched the people walking towards the center of the town and could not help but be disappointed.

“It’s not fair,” she complained to Nalick who was sitting outside with her reading his papers.

“I know,” he replied with
out
looking up from his work.
Nalick
was as eager for Roger to come as she was.

“I don’t understand why I can’t be down there,” she added.

“Because it would be obvious to whom you are,” Nalick replied setting down his papers.
“Theo promised to bring you back treats from the market.”
Nalick stood and moved over next to her.
“Roger will be here soon, hopefully.
Tomorrow is not that far away.”

“I found him at the market,” Theo said while walking out on to the balcony
with someone behind him
.
Leila strained to turn to see Roger standing with Theo.

“You’re early,”
Leila
cried trying to stand to greet him
,
momentarily forgetting
about her leg.
Nalick quickly stopped her.

“I figure Nalick would need some relief dealing with you,” Roger replied.
Theo
stood
behind Leila vigorously nodding his head.
“Do you have a hospital wing in your palace?” Roger asked Nalick knowing the answer.
“Is Anatolio around?”

“I will go get him,” Theo replied quickly
hurry
ing
out of the room.

“Have you been behaving?” Roger asked Leila.

“As much as I can,” she answered.
“Though I am not happy to have to sit in one place all day.”

“It’s good for you,” Roger said.
“It should help teach you patience.”

“I have patience,” Leila responded.
“I just don’t like to over use
it
.”
Roger smiled and patted her hand.
He missed her quick
wit
and was finding it quite lonely in the north knowing she was not coming back.

“You can get your first lesson.
How to remove stitches
,
”
Roger said to Anatolio entering the room.

Anatolio brought Leila to the hospital ward of the palace, and Nalick finally was left to get his work done.
W
ith Leila around
,
Nalick's
unfinished work load seemed to only increase day after day.
Nalick
finally understood why his father always had extra men to help him.

The hospital staff quickly cleared several rooms for Roger to use.
Leila
sat
alone as Roger and Anatoli
o cleaned his tools in the near
by room.
She was bored with waiting, but they had not left any sharp tools in the room
for her
to do it herself.
Roger returned along with Anatolio.

“So I hear you have not tried to remove the stitches in you
r
leg?” Roger asked.

“No
,
I could find anything sharp enough,” Leila said truthfully.
Had she found anything that would cut, she would have removed them a week ago.

Roger smiled and patted Anatolio on the back.
“Then I guess for once I get to do the honors
.
”

Leila carefully pulled the edge of her skirt up to her thigh to reveal the stitches.
Anatolio was shocked to see how many there were.
Roger moved closer and studied the area.

“Did you take all of the medicine I gave you?”
Roger
asked.

“Yes,
all of it
,”
Leila
said also looking at her leg.

Roger began to worry. He explained the procedure thoroughly to Anatolio and then began cutting the stitches, pulling slightly to remove them. When there were only a few left, Roger offered his small scissors and tweezers to Anatolio and asked him to try. Leila watched as the young man meticulously copied the movements Roger had made. Roger stood beside Leila watching also. Roger moved next to her broken leg. He examined it.

“It has healed enough for you to put a little pressure on it.” Roger examined her leg with the cast removed. “Now I am not saying you can walk on it, but you can use it to balance your weight when standing. You can use crutches to get around now, but I will need to check back in a few weeks to make sure it is still healing. It seems your leg was further away from the poison and not as affected which is fortunate for you,” Roger explained as he reached over and took her hand. Quickly he pricked the tip of her finger.

“Thanks for the warning,” she said sarcastically. Roger put a drop of her blood on a tin plate. Leila watched as the blood turned from a red color to yellow. “What’s that mean?”

“You still have some of that poison in your blood. It should have been out of your system by now,” Roger explained. “There must be more left in you. I need to take a look at your back.” Roger rummaged through his bag. “I tested the stones reactions and found something that will indicate where the left over piece is - even through skin.”

Leila sat on the table and began unhooking the straps of her dress. Anatolio quickly looked away and began to blush when he realized she was undressing in front of him. Leila laughed moving her top to her waist and laid down on the table with her back exposed for Roger. Leila was not shy around Roger.

“Roger, I think your new apprentice has never seen a naked woman before,” Leila teased.

“Leila, be nice,” Roger scolded.
“He is just a young one.” Roger began to remove the stitches in her back.

Leila laughed again.
Anatolio’s reaction
amused her
.

“I guess the best way to lo
se you when you follow me is to just undress.”
Leila cringed fe
eling
Roger spread a cold cream on her back.
“You could at least warm it up first,” she complained to
Roger
.

“And you could at least be a bit nicer to this boy
. He will be around for quite a long time
,” Roger replied.
He too found it amusing that Anatolio was embarrassed to see Leila’s body
,
but
Roger
needed to defend the young man.

“
This is not good
,
” Roger commented.

Leila picked up her head to view Roger’s reaction. Over the years she had learned to read his facial expressions, even through his attempts to cover up the truth. Roger was obviously not happy and a bit worried.

“Leila, how have you been feeling?” Roger asked as he began removing more of his tools from his bag, setting them aside on another table in the room.

“More tired than normal,”
Leila
replied
giving a yawn to prove her point
.
Leila
had known since the day she left him in Cath something did not seem right
,
but she assumed it was from being poisoned.

“I count six more pieces in your back,” Roger said.

“Good thing Roger came to visit,” Leila said to
the entering
Nalick as she
lowered
her upper body slightly to keep herself covered.
Anatolio noticed and chuckled to himself.
She was modest with Nalick, but did not seem to be with Roger.

Roger put Leila back to sleep and then removed the extra pieces of poison he had missed.
Anatolio watched as Roger delicately cut the skin on Leila’s back.
Afterwards he carefully sewed the incision closed and
checked again
.
Anatolio was amazed by the quickness and accuracy that Roger was able to remove the stones.
After
Roger
was finis
hed, Anatolio went to get Nalick
.

“
All finished
,”
Roger
explained showing Nalick the small pieces he had removed.
“She should heal much quicker now.”
Roger placed the stones in a small container.
Gently
Roger
pulled her dress top back on and rebuttoned it.
“You can take her upstairs.
If you could get me some hot water, we will join you shortly to wake her back up.”

Nalick tenderly scooped Leila into his arms
leaving
Roger and Anatolio
to clean
the surgical
instruments.