He blinked at her in owlish confusion, as though not understanding quite what had happened. "Sorry," he said in a hoarse voice that made it sound like he was seconds away from death already.
She glanced at the wound on his leg, and pulled apartthe severed cloth of his trouser leg so she could see it better. She gasped at the sight of it and bit her lip. He shouldn't have been walking at all. It needed stitching immediately. Blood was flowing freely from the wound as it struggled to clot.
But there was nothing they could do until they reached the village. At best, they were twenty minutes away from her house.
"Beam," she said anxiously, but firmly. "We need to keep moving, Beam. It's too cold for you to be out here with no shirt on, and your leg needs stitching straight away – if you lose any more blood, it'll be dangerous."
"I got it, sorry," Beam said, using a tree to climb to his feet again.
Nila watched, shaking her head. "You have no idea the state your body is in, do you? Here, let me take those. And use my shoulder. We can't have you collapsing again."
"Sorry," Beam said again, his forehead wrinkled in frustration. He hesitated to put his arm over her offered shoulder. "I'm going to get blood on your stuff…"
"Idiot," she said, barging him so he had no choice but to fall on her anyway. "As if I'm going to complain about a little blood after you saved my life. Here, let me take those as well," she said, reaching out for the bag.
As soon as she put her fingers around the bag and Beam allowed her the full weight, she felt her arm be pulled to the floor. "Heavy…" She groaned, glancing at Beam again. "Just how strong are you?"
He really didn't look like much, in that small little body of his. Even if his muscles were hard and lean, they were relatively small, he didn't look like he'd be able to lift enormous weight. And yet he'd hefted all these heads by himself, without a single complaint and without even both legs to support him.
"I think it's only natural for a boy, right?" Beam said. "C'mon, I can at least carry them. Having you to lean on is enough. I reckon I could walk a good few miles ."
Reluctantly, she handed the bag back, knowing that she'd only slow them down if she argued. "Please don't collapse again," she begged. "If you need to, we can take a break."
"I won't," Beam promised, carefully feeling his way forward as he leaned some of his weight onto Nila. He found her to be a more reliable shoulder than he had expected, and he was surprised by how pleasant she smelled too. He turned away, irritated with himself for noticing.
Eventually, they managed to break their way through the tree line, thanks to Nila's support. Beam had a hard time keeping his eyes open at this point, from the blood loss. But at the same time, since he was putting less weight on his hurt leg, he could feel that the blood was drying somewhat and clotting, slowing down the rate at which he was losing blood.
They slid behind the rest of the houses, towards the outskirts of the village to the west, where Nila's family lived.
Nila knocked on the locked door, calling out to her mother as she still supported Beam with her shoulder.
A quick glance at the sky told her that it was midday. Around this time, she should have been home preparing lunch for her and her sister. She prayed to all the Gods that her mother's routine had not changed that day.
And at least one God must have been listening, for her mother soon had the door open, the smile that she wore on her face as she was about to greet them soon faded, as she saw the state of Beam and his bare torso covered in blood and scars.
"Oh goodness…" She said quietly. "Get him inside," she said, before even asking her what happened. It was moments like these that her mother let her true life experience show. Often times, she seemed airheaded and ditzy, as though she constantly needed someone to look after her. But in times of peril, Nila knew that she could rely on her.
Nila nodded, helping Beam down the steps into the house. Her brother and sister stared with wide eyes at the bloodied body brought into the room. Nila lowered him into a chair, and Beam sat there, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"His leg, mother," Nila said urgently. "He got cut bad on his leg. I think he's lost a lot of blood, but I'm not sure how much."
"I understand. Let me see to it," her mother said, returning with a needle and thread from her sewing kit. "Warm some water over the fire and get me a cloth to clean him with. Get the honey from the winter storage too."
"Sorry for intruding, ma'am," Beam said weakly, as he sat there, half delirious.
"Sssh, nonsense sweetie," she said, "you just keep talking to me, okay? Keep yourself awake whilst I get you all stitched up, okay?"
"Got it," Beam said. "About the… firewood… I had to leave it… I'll see that you get it next week at latest."
Nila shared a glance with her mother, and shook her head. "He was going to try and bring it back, despite the state he's in. Some people really need other people to look after them, I guess."
She brought over a bowl of water that had already been heating on the fire. It seemed her mother had just been about to prepare food with it and it was already more than warm. She stuck a cloth in it and offered it to her mum.
"Can I cut your trousers here, dear?" Her mum asked, as she struggled to get a better view of the wound on Beam's leg. "I can stitch it back together later for you."