Читать книгу Worlds Apart - William L Frame - Страница 9

Chapter 3

The Morning After

Jennifer awoke inside a cave feeling very vulnerable, finding herself dressed in what remained of her cold sleepwear lying between soft, warm animal furs. Her leg was throbbing and pulsating with pain emanating from her broken bone. Raising the top fur, she looked down at her leg. “Oh, gross! Don’t puke! Don’t puke! Don’t puke!” she exclaimed disgustedly, looking at a bloody skin of an animal hide wrapped around her leg. “God, that’s really gross.” Her leg was obviously set and wrapped in some animals hide and tied into place with leather straps. Although she didn’t want to admit it, the wrapped hide was preventing her leg from moving. “What the hell am I doing in a cave?” She asked loudly, wondering if anyone was around and hoping no one was. Someone had tended her injury, that was obvious, she thought, taking in her surroundings while trying to remember something important.

Her view outside was partially obscured by strips of meat drying on crude racks and smoke from the firepit. What she could see above the racks was the top half of the cave’s entrance, which appeared to have a series of crudely drilled holes arching over the opening. She glanced at the rock walls of the cave that appeared to be limestone, but she wasn’t sure. Her eyes then surveyed the meat drying on the racks around the fire.

“Damn! That’s a lot of meat. Who’s coming for dinner?” Jennifer quipped as she continued looking around. Tiny beams of light were streaming inside the cave’s small opening that passed through the branches and leaves of the shrub from outside. The few blades of grass, weeds, and shrubs growing between the rocks and stones on the hillside above the cave’s entrance hid a secret—a small hole penetrated down and through the cave’s ceiling. It was approximately a foot in diameter and ten feet inside the cave from the entrance. The naturally formed hole through the stone made a perfect chimney for the fires escaping smoke.

She estimated the cave to be eight to twelve feet in height depending on where you’re standing, roughly twenty-five feet wide and forty feet deep. On the left side of the cavern in the back wall was a dark black fissure, she assumed it leads somewhere into the depths of the mountain.

When the hunter returned and entered the cave, he noticed the girl had awakened during his absence. She had removed the tight-fitting cap that had covered her head and hair. He didn’t expect her hair to be so long and beautiful as it lay over her shoulders. He thought the long red hair enhanced her natural beauty. During his fitful night’s sleep. He dreamed she was a goddess who had fallen from a fire-filled sky with hair as red as the fiery realm she had come from and she filled him with wonder.

She stared at him quietly with curiosity clearly expressed in her eyes. At first, he didn’t know what to do as her stare made him feel uncomfortable, except to put his weapons down near the cave entrance in order to show; he meant her no harm. He knelt beside the firepit and poured some water from the pouch he was carrying into two wooden bowls. He then added some sliced strips of fresh meat and the last of his grains and dried fruit to the water. It wasn’t enough for two, so with a tinge of regret, he broke the last of his mother’s special treat into two pieces and placed each half cake into the bowls. She quietly watched his activity with interest from the sleeping furs as she was famished and savored the thought of a hot meal.

With the aid of his wooden spoons, she saw him deftly retrieve the hot stones from inside the fire and drop them softly into each of the small wooden bowls. Steam hissed with the insertion of the stones, and the water quickly boiled softening the cakes and dried fruit as the water’s heat cooked the tiny bits of meat and grains into a crude thick porridge. He knelt beside the fire waiting for the food to fully cook but made no sound as the porridge simmered in the bowls, acutely aware she was watching his every move.

Her curiosity and hunger finally got the better of her, when the sweet smell of the meal prompted Jennifer to say something. And so she whispered, “Hello.”

The hunter remained motionless when he heard her speak, as he was still unsettled by her presence. He didn’t understand her word but assumed it was a form of greeting. Yet he had to tend to her needs, so he picked up a spoon and stirred the porridge, mixing the ingredients evenly, and tossed in a handful of fresh orange berries on top for added flavor. He then stood, walked around the drying racks, and knelt beside her and handed over the bowl by placing it in her hands. “Thank you,” she said to him as she accepted the bowl.

“Your welcome,” he replied in his own language seeing her smile in reaction to his voice as she accepted the warm bowl in her hands.

He indicated by signs that he wanted her to hold the bowl securely and then stepped behind her and propped her shoulders up against his knees into a sitting position. Jennifer felt him lift the fur underneath her and slide her gently backward. When he neared the cavern wall, he stepped over her once more and knelt. They were face-to-face and only inches apart, and he smiled in reassurance, then gently lifted her up with his strong hands until she could recline comfortably against the wall; not once did they break eye contact, each fascinated and curious of the other. She winced with pain from the movement but made no other sound, knowing he was only trying to help make her comfortable.

His long auburn hair was tied behind his neck and hung down his back out of the way. His skin color was the most beautiful shade of copper she’d ever seen. His eyes were oval in shape with piercingly bright, inquisitive green eyes. His eyebrows arched nicely over the eyes with three creases on his forehead right above a slender slightly flared nose that accented his face perfectly. His strong, rugged chin was squared off with firm inviting lips, and when he smiled, he revealed a mouth full of beautiful white teeth.

“Oh, that’s much better,” she said as she took a spoonful of the porridge into her mouth. “This is really good!” she exclaimed with a smile, savoring the wonderfully strange but somehow familiar flavors of the ingredients, before dipping her spoon into the bowl for another bite.

He had no idea what she was saying but guessed from her expressions she was enjoying the food. He stood and pointed at his bowl by the fire while indicating with hand motions that he’d return to sit beside her. She nodded in understanding and watched him retrieve his meal and return. He sat beside her in a cross-legged position against the wall and began to eat in silence, not knowing what else to do.

From the lack of solid food in cold sleep, her stomach filled quickly as her body demanded her long-dormant stomach to begin the digestive processes once again. She felt so stuffed after only eating half of the porridge, but she honestly couldn’t take another bite. So she set the bowl down beside her and turned to face her ruggedly handsome savior, determined it was time to make introductions. “Jennifer,” she said to him with a smile while pointing a finger at herself and then turned it to point at him.