AKwxlady Obi Wans Daughter Part one Chapter three

The people of Gilfari saw the starship trailing smoke as it arced across the sky over their village toward the nearby mountain. They could not hear the crash, but the large column of black smoke from the mountain was evidence enough that the craft did not make a normal landing.

“Guess we should get a group together and go see if anyone survived,” said Geirrod Harbard, a man in his early thirties riding a horse, or at least what passed for a horse on the planet Jolnir. “Buri, Skad, you commin’?” Geirrod nodded toward two other men.

“Might be some good salvaging. I’m in,” replied Buri Tengler, a slightly older man leading a horse and cart. “Let me drop off this stuff at the house and I’ll meet you on the road.”

Skad mounted his horse saying, “Let’s get going. You can join us up there. If anyone is alive, they’re going to need help.” Skad Villion was a little younger than Geirrod, and the only one of the group who seemed excited about helping out strangers who might be in trouble. “Should we let Kerawyn know she might be getting some new patients?”

“Na, she’ll probably know long before we get there. You know how she is,” Geirrod said. He nodded at Buri, then turned his horse onto the road that lead out of town. Skad was already heading that way.

It took Geirrod and Skad about an hour to reach the crash site. “Not much left of the ship,” Geirrod grumbled looking around. “At least the fire didn’t spread. I don’t expect we’ll find any survivors, ‘though.”

Skad was looking at the track of the craft through the trees and thought he saw something caught in the boughs of a tree about 20 meters from the fire zone. “Hey, I think I see something over here!” Skad yelled as he ran toward what looked like cloth caught in a tree. As he neared the area he saw the man on the forest floor. “Geirrod! There’s a man over here!”

Geirrod ran over and knelt down next to the injured man. The man was lying on his stomach, with one arm and one leg at obvious broken angles. Geirrod placed a hand on the man’s back, “He’s breathing. Go to the road and see if Buri is there with the cart.” Skad looked again at the badly injured man, shook his head, and ran for the road.

While Skad was gone, Geirrod started searching around the area. A few feet from the stranger he found a cylindrical object of shiny and black metals. He could hold it in his hand and had what looked like a switch toward one end. Geirrod quickly hid the item inside his tunic. “I’ll just see what you’ll pay to get this back, friend,” he said, quietly to himself.

Skad came running back to the area carrying a couple of rolled bundles. “Buri is just getting here. I brought the blanket rolls from our horses. Maybe we can wrap him up to keep him safe for the trip back to the village.” He dropped down on one knee next to the man and started to lay one of the blankets out along his side. “Looks like we’d better splint his arms and legs before we try to turn him over,” Skad added. “I’ll go cut some branches.”

Skad ran off toward a stand of deciduous trees as Buri walked up to Geirrod. “Where’s he goin’?” Buri asked, pointing a thumb after Skad.

“To cut splints,” Geirrod replied.

“Did you find anything good to salvage?” Buri asked looking around.

“No, it looks like everything burnt in the fire.”

“Well, maybe the folks who come looking for him will pay a reward for getting him back,” Buri said, while moving the leaves and brush on the forest floor around with his foot.

Skad came running back, his arms loaded with cut branches. “I’ve got the wood for the splints,” he said, a little breathless. “I think we’ll have to use one of our tunics for the ties.”

“Use his clothes for ties,” Buri spat. “They’re ripped up enough as is.”

It took Skad about an hour to splint the injured man’s arms and legs, trying not to bend them any more than he had to. He had tended to the broken bones of farm animals and knew some of these breaks were pretty bad. Finally, they rolled him onto his back on the blankets and lifted him into the cart. Skad just hoped they were not doing more damage to him before they could get the man to Kerawyn, the local healer. She would be able to fix him up. He was sure of it, if the man survived the ride down from the mountain.

The healer Kerawyn’s house sat on the edge of the village of Gilfari. It was a small home with one main room. The surrounding grounds had small livestock, the type a single woman could care for, a large garden with a rather odd assortment of plants and a solar heating system for water. Night had fallen when the three men from the village approached with the cart carrying the injured stranger. Kerawyn rushed out to meet them. “Is this the pilot from the starship that crashed in the mountains?” she asked, looking over the side of the cart as it stopped near her walkway.

“See, I told you she’d know about him before we got here,” Geirrod said.

“We tried to keep him as safe as possible while bringing him off the mountain,” Skad said. “I put splints on his arms and legs.”

“Thank you, Skad, Geirrod, and you too, Buri,” Kerawyn said with a smile. “I’ve got a cot ready for him by the fire. When you are ready, bring him in.”

They lifted the injured man from the cart by the blankets and carried him into Kerawyn’s house. The pallet was indeed ready near the fireplace. As soon as he was laid down on it, Kerawyn opened the blankets. “You did a very good job of splinting his arms and legs before moving him. That should really help.” She said, looking mainly at Skad, “Thank you.”

Suddenly, a young boy came into the house carrying an armload of chopped wood and went to put it down in the rack next to the fireplace. “Jarl! What are you doing here?” Geirrod asked.

”Hi Dad,” he answered. “Mom sent me. She said Kerawyn would need help with the new patient.”

“Thank you, Jarl,” Kerawyn said, smiling at the boy. “That should be enough firewood for tonight. You’d better go home with your Dad.” Skad was helping Kerawyn unwrap the splints from the man’s legs. Geirrod walked up and looked down on them.

“You going to be alright alone in the house with him,” Geirrod asked.

“I don’t think he’s going to be much of a problem in his condition,” Kerawyn scoffed at Geirrod. “Please tell Amma ‘thanks’ for sending Jarl over. He’s always such a big help.” She noticed Skad was pulling a bit hard at one of the bandages and added, “Skad, I can take things from here. You’d best get home to Magni.”

“Do you think he’ll live?” Skad asked, looking down at the man. “He looks pretty bad.”

“I’ll do my best,” Kerawyn replied, “but, I can’t really get to work until you all get out of here, so scoot!” She smiled and flapped her hand in a ‘get going’ gesture at the men and boy, who smiled back and closed her door as they left into the night.

Kerawyn knelt beside the man and took a deep breath. “May the Force be with us.”

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