The Token by Kevin Bird (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

pitchfork was jammed into his chest. I’m no doctor, but I’d guess that his lung was hurt since the blood coming from his mouth is all frothy.” Carlee shuddered visibly. “I’m sorry Carlee, but don’t worry, Jacob is great helping our injured animals, and he’s helped some of us before, too.”
Carlee again ignored him. She was into her work and talking quietly to the still form of her husband. In the periphery of her senses she knew Santor was moving out of range so she could talk with Dale privately. She was grateful for that courtesy and saw him go to wait for Jacob by the front door.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered as she wiped his chest. “I didn’t give this place a chance; I didn’t want to meet any of the other wives. I think I felt I was better than they were; I mean, look who my family is and how they spoil me. I know now I’m no better than anyone else. I realize I love you, just as I’m sure they love their men; and if you were taken from me, especially like this, I’d be destroyed. My heart goes out to Adam’s mother right now.” Her tears fell, mixing with the blood from her husband and that of the creature. She didn’t try to hold them back. She felt like she’d crossed a threshold. She hadn’t realized what she’d had in Dale until she saw that he might be taken from her.
Santor’s voice from the door broke through to her, “He’s here Carlee, everything will be fine now, you’ll see.” He stepped aside from the entrance and watched quietly.
Jacob rushed into the room and went straight over to sit by Carlee. He gently lifted her soft, bloodstained hands away from Dale and held them in his larger, callused ones. In an equally gentle tone he said, “Carlee, thanks for washing him, and now let me take a look at him. I’ll do my best I promise you.”
“I want you to tell me exactly what you think when you think it. No surprises, OK?” She sounded strong, but there was also a little girl close to the surface that didn’t want to lose someone she loved. She stepped away from Dale to give Jacob room to look him over. However, she did keep hold of one of her husband’s hands while Jacob carefully felt all over the injured man’s body.
“He doesn’t seem to have any injuries except the obvious one, Carlee. I’m worried about the frothy blood coming from his mouth. I’d guess that he’s punctured a lung. This bruise is right over his right lung and,” he felt carefully at that spot, “I think maybe one of his ribs was pushed into it.”
“Will he live?”
Jacob was amazed at how she had gained control of herself and that her question had come out so calmly. She was obviously still scared about her husband’s well being, but she was strong enough to realize hysterics wouldn’t help him.
“Yes, I believe so, but he’ll need a long recovery with no work. We’ll help out, don’t worry. Right now his body seems to be keeping him asleep for a while to let the worst of the pain pass by. He should be grateful for that.”
“Don’t worry about him, or his work, I can take care of everything. Tell me what I need to do for his lung to recover and how I can help with the pain when he wakes up.”
Jacob could hear the relief in her words. She was now obviously steeled to do whatever it would take to bring Dale back to health. He thought that maybe this was her way to atone for how she had seemingly turned her back on the life Dale had brought her to. She had never given it or the people around her the chance they deserved. Maybe now she was determined to change that.
“Can’t we contact my father? He’d have a real doctor out here to help if I asked.”
In days past he would have expected her to say this petulantly, but now she brought it up calmly as a reasonable option she wanted his opinion on. Once again he saw Carlee differently than he’d done in the past. Later she’d understand that he was just pleasantly surprised by how she had apparently changed after this one event, but for now he could tell that she didn’t really care what he thought of her, just what he thought of Dale’s condition and how to fix him.
“Carlee, you have to realize that Dale is a non-tech by choice, and that means he would not want a technical doctor here helping him. He’d want and expect me to be here, but that’s all. We can’t re-make his choices.”
He saw her begin to respond and then almost as quickly bite her lip and hold back her words; he imagined they wouldn’t have been pleasant ones.
“Let me tell you,” he went on, “that I don’t believe he’s in any immediate danger, nor is he likely to suffer any permanent problems from this injury. What he needs is lots of bed rest and his lung and rib should heal well.”
As he bound Dale’s chest with bandages he told Carlee what he was doing. He told her he wanted her to feel comfortable about her husband’s condition and treatment. “These bandages will hold his chest still so as he breathes he doesn’t injure himself more. In a few weeks or so he’ll be up and around like his old self.”
After Jacob had gone over the steps Carlee should take in Dale’s recovery, he told her he would return and then excused himself so he could go with Santor to offer support to their friend, Gamik. One of this man’s sons was now gone from him, and he would benefit from knowing others cared and that he was not the only one mourning the loss of such a fine young man.
As he left the room he heard Carlee speaking clearly and with authority. “Dale, I’ll make sure you’re better as soon as possible. In the meantime, don’t worry; I’ll take care of what needs to be done around here. You’re hurt because you defended our farm, and me I guess. You’ll be fine.”

---------------------------------------

Jacob and Santor had rushed over to Gamik’s house and as they came into the courtyard area they could hear loud, almost hysterical crying. They went to the open doorway of the low stone house and inside they could see Gamik and Lane trying to console Laren, Gamik’s wife. She was sobbing uncontrollably when she caught sight of Jacob. Suddenly her sobs stopped and she broke away to come to him.
“Please do something for my poor Adam. Please, Jacob, tell me you can do something for him.” She had her fingers locked into the front of his coat and she stared pleadingly into his eyes. Jacob’s heart was torn. He knew these people looked to him for what rudimentary medical knowledge he had, but he knew there was nothing he could do for her other than offer his sympathies. Just one sideways look at Adam’s limp body lying on a nearby table told him this. The body, for that’s what it was now, was lying on its back with the head bent at a terribly unnatural angle.
“Laren, let me take a look at Adam.” His voice was soothing as he motioned for Gamik to come over and gently pry her hands from the material of his coat. Santor walked over with Jacob to the table. Jacob carefully felt at Adam’s neck for a pulse and finding none he leaned over and put his ear to the young boy’s chest then to the mouth. Still nothing. When Jacob turned to look at Laren he saw, that she needed no words from him. The others had been telling her Adam was dead but she had refused to accept. But now, if Jacob could find no life in her son, then that was that. She collapsed in a faint, her husband catching her and carrying her through to a back room.
Jacob rolled the body over to take a closer look at the wound on the back of the neck. It was a large opening that went clear through the spine. “Santor take a look with me. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Both men examined the injury as best they could. Though neither had any knowledge of post-mortems, it was obvious to both of them that this boy had been killed, almost instantaneously, by a massive intrusion to his neck.
“It looks like something just ripped through the flesh and tore out a section of spine and the spinal cord with it.” Jacob backed away and pulled a sheet over the body. “He probably died before he even knew he was being attacked, a small mercy I suppose. What happened out there tonight?”
Santor stepped away from the body. Jacob saw how pale he had become and ushered him outside for some fresh air.
After a moment composing himself, Santor answered Jacob’s question. “We managed to kill one of them that had been kicked by a green, then we were set upon by two or three more. One of them jumped over Gamik’s greens and landed directly on poor Adam. We saw something shoot out from between its front legs towards his neck and then he fell to the ground. Before we got the chance to stab at it the thing jumped away and over the greens again. Another one had already landed on Dale, but it was already dead when I stabbed it.” He paused for a breath and Jacob let him continue without interrupting.
“Jacob, this whole thing only lasted a few seconds! These creatures are amazingly fast and I think they’re really intelligent. They seemed to be deliberately keeping Gamik’s animals between them and us while they killed and took away a green. Once the others were over the fencing the ones attacking us followed them. It was scary and eerie at the same time. They’re not just dumb animals. They must be communicating though I never heard anything.” He seemed to have gone pale again, this time from re-living the horror of such a short time ago.
On closer examination Jacob could see that the wound’s edges were very smooth, not like he would have expected from an animal bite. Then he remembered that when he and Blake had seen these creatures for the first time it had been the lack of a visible mouth that had shocked them both the most. Now, hearing Santor describe the attack, he realized that maybe the thing that had shot out from between the front legs had been some kind of a mouth, though nothing like anything he could imagine. He needed to find out more about what had now become the enemy of the way of life that he had come to love. The more he knew the more he could help those that Marshall was sending out to deal with this problem.
“Santor, it’s almost dawn. I’m going home to let my family know what’s going on, I’d suggest you do the same. Then I’d like you to meet me after sun-up at Gamik’s field. Are you up for that?” Santor nodded. “Good. We need to have a closer look at the animals you and Dale killed and I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about during daylight hours. See you shortly.”


Thirteen


When the Harpy shifted into the outer edge of the Teldar system, Marshall’s vessel was waiting exactly where he’d promised Drake it would be. It was a small ship, one of Marshall’s own. Designed for