by Maria Amor
It didn’t matter, Susan had woke him early in the morning and shown him what to do and where to do it. Why had he left her? He’d been a long haul truck driver who said the right words to her at the restaurant when her mother was still alive. Momma didn’t like him, but he had been sweet to her.
Some strength had returned to her body. She felt something wooden on her leg and realized it was a splint, someone had attempted to fix the leg she had broken in the balloon crash. But she couldn’t be in a hospital. Where was she? Hospital beds weren’t made out of fur, even in the northern territories. And where was the gown you were supposed to have so the doctors and nurses could examine you? Susan moved her right hand ever so slowly and brought it up to her face. There had been a polar bear out on the ice; it should have killed her. But she was alive, or at least felt she was alive.
She moved upward, putting the strength she had on one arm, trying to cover herself with the furs. She had always been self-conscious about the way she looked. Her breasts got a lot of attention and men would tell her at the restaurant she’d have been popular with her booty down in the lower forty-eight, whatever that meant. Susan was twenty years old before she let a man who didn’t have doctor in front of his name see her naked, and only when the lights were out. He’d made her feel special, the truck driver who came in to the restaurant on a cold night in October.
What was his name? Charlie? Steve? She couldn’t remember any longer.
“Gary,” she managed to say, very weakly. His name was Gary; the man who took her cherry.
Now wasn’t that funny? Someone could take your cherry and you couldn’t get it back. How was this supposed to happen? If you had it at one time, you should be able to find it again. Made no sense. All she could remember was hurting for a bit and then everything was real fine. Where did Gary go? Why didn’t he ever get back in touch with her? Where was she?
“What did you say?” a voice asked out of the mist.
“Gary,” she repeated. “His name was Gary. That asshole popped my cherry and never came back.”
“I think she’s coming around,” another voice said in the haze. “The fever has diminished. She may be able to pull through it.”
“Gary,” she said again. “Why don’t you turn on the light? I want to see you better. It felt good, why does it hurt?”
“She’s delirious,” the first voice said again. “Get some more water. We need to get her fever down.”
A hand poured cool water down her throat, another hand wiped the sweat from her brow. Susan could only recall seeing two ice blue eyes looking into her face out of the fog. She knew someone was trying to help her, just not who.
“We are going to suffer for this,” the second voice said. “She saw you and will know. You remember what happened the last time?”
“I will not abandon a dying woman, no matter where she came from! Ursula, you shame us all with such talk. And, I have claimed her.”
“I was only being realistic.”
The fog increased in magnitude and the faces faded into the stone on the walls with the paintings. Gary was long gone, Susan realized, just as her own father had abandoned her. Why did men do these things? What kind of world did she live in where it happened? But the fog thickened and she drifted again into the field of dreams, only seeing the face of her mother, who told her to relax and allow her injuries to heal.
Susan drifted in and out of consciousness for a lot longer. She lost track of time. Finally, the mists cleared and her eyes opened fully. She felt truly awake this time and aware of her surroundings. She remembered the cave paintings; they were still there. And she was very much naked under the furs. The heating stones were in the bed with her too. Now she felt human once again. This time she raised herself up on one arm and stayed up. Where was she?
She felt clean. Whoever had been taking care of her had washed her and brushed her hair. The splint on her leg was gone, but it was still swollen. She was going to need help moving around. Susan took a deep breath and looked around her settings.
She was in a cave. Or at least a room made out of stone. Her bed consisted of furs piled on a series of rocks and faced the paintings which had filled her dreams. On a mantle next to her, a lamp flickered slowly, providing the room with some, but not much, light. Next to her bed was a ceramic pitcher with a glass. She assumed this was the water she had been drinking during the fever. Still feeling a little dizzy, she attempted to sit on the side of the bed.
An intense pain seared through her swollen leg as all the blood rushed into it. Susan winced in agony as she attempted to cover her nude form with the fur blanket. She hurt and felt ashamed at the same time. As she managed to get her bad leg up, Susan noticed her parka and clothes piled on the floor near her bed. Someone wanted her to see these things when she recovered.
But where was she? This wasn’t a hospital. Hospitals didn’t normally have rock walls. Had she stumbled onto some top-secret military installation and been rescued by a guard? Her mom’s restaurant had no shortage of truck drivers coming and babbling about the crazy conspiracy theories on the planet. Maybe one of them was right.
Still fighting nauseous, she wrapped the furs around her and sat upright. Okay, the leg wasn’t going to heal up overnight, but at least she could do something to get it feeling better. Maybe propping it up wasn’t such a bad option. Then she felt something strange and pulled the furs back.
Her legs were shaved clean. Recently. As was the hair between her legs. Someone had given her a Brazilian while she was out. She’d had both done before leaving on the ship, thinking the legs and lower landing strip would be best gone at the start of the voyage, since there was no telling when she could get it done again. And her nails had been cut. Someone was very attentive to her while she was in that coma. Susan didn’t want to complain, but she did feel a little violated. Could they have at least put a consent form together?
She heard movement beyond the room, which was covered by a leather door flap. Scared, she pulled the furs over her and waited to see who her savior or abductor might be. The door flap snapped open.
…and revealed a beautiful man to her. He was ruddy with reddish hair and a beard. The man wore a tunic made from leather and fur with a hood cast behind it. He had leather boots on his feet and a belt around his waist with pouches dangling from it. He walked slowly to the bed and looked at her. He looked into her face and she saw the ice blue eyes from her dreams.
“I see you are awake,” he said softly.
Susan continued to remain silent and stare at him. Was this some kind of hunter up north who had found her? Why had he not gotten in touch with the ship? And who was the other person he had spoken to while she was delirious?
The man took the pitcher next to her bed, poured her a cup of water and handed it to Susan.
“Drink this, you’ll feel better,” he told her. “You’ve been out a long time. I wasn’t sure we would be able to save you. You nearly died when the balloon crashed. It’s a good thing I found you.”
“I don’t remember much,” Susan told him, pulling the furs tightly around her body. “I remember hitting the ice hard and falling out of the balloon. Then I think there was a bear? Last I remember was someone dragging me away.”
“You may have thought you saw a bear,” the man said to her. “But you wouldn’t be alive if you had. It was the shock from the crash. I was out hunting when I saw the balloon come down and I followed it. I walked up and found you struggling. I was able to get you to safety before you froze to death.”
“Thank you,” she said to him, drinking out of the cup, “My name is Susan. I was working on a ship when I got trapped on that balloon.”
“I’m called Marduke,” he told her. “Again, it was lucky for you I was out there.”
“How long have I been in the coma?” Susan asked the man. She noticed he was hairy from the split at the front of his tunic.
“Two weeks. You were drifting in and out. We were afraid the fever would kill you.”
“The ship,” she asked. “There was a ship I was on where the balloon was launched. Has the ship tried to find me?”
“No, I’m afraid they haven’t.”
“Have you been able to get word to anyone about me? They must have been trying to find me.”
“The weather has been horrible for the past two weeks. There’s no way anyone could’ve been out looking for you without risking their own life.”
“Surely you must have a radio or some way to get in touch with the proper authorities.”
“We don’t have a radio.”
The last statement really stunned her. Were these some kind of off-the-grid types who didn’t believe in modern conveniences? They had to get her back to the boat, or at least home!
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” Susan said to him, huddling under the furs. “But I can’t stay here forever. When can you get me back home?”
Marduke patted her arm. “There are many things you need to understand about the place you have found yourself,” he began. “I can’t go into everything right now, but you’ll have many questions to ask us in the days to come. I will try my best to get them all answered.” He took the pitcher from her, put it on the mantle and laid her back down gently. “You are still very sick. You’ll feel better in a few days and I’ll see what I can do for you.”
Marduke turned and left her alone in the room.
Now, she was very scared. Susan realized she’d been rescued by people who didn’t care for the world outside them and there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about her situation. But she did know one thing: the ice blue eyes of Marduke were the same ones the polar bear had possessed. She had been face to face with a full-grown polar bear when the balloon crashed; it was no dream. She would have to figure out the relationship between him and the bear later. For now, all she could do was rest and get her strength back. Whoever had rescued her at least seemed kind. Someone was worried about her being there. And Susan needed to know where she was.
She rolled her naked body up in the furs and went to sleep. She would deal with the situation later. Once again, Susan saw the bear in her dreams. It was huge, white and very hungry. She could feel the hot breath of the polar bear as it turned and looked at her. This time she could see what the bear had in its paws: a dead seal. The bear had managed to trap a seal on the ice and kill it. There was blood all over the bear’s paws as it sniffed in her direction.
Then the bear began melting or changing. She had no words to describe what was happening to the bear as it morphed into something other than a bear. It grew smaller, its body changing slowly. The process increased and the bear was something other than a bear, it was starting to rear up on its hind legs and stand. Bears can’t do that for long, Susan thought.
But this bear remained standing and its hind legs lengthened and took on another form. Its head shrank and the paws grew while separating. It was melting into something that wasn’t a bear. As an ice sculpture melts in the hot sun, the bear was shrinking into another form. Whatever was happening to the bear was strong; the ice around it was starting to melt. She could feel the heat brought about by the transformation as it changed shape.
Now it was much smaller and solidifying. The ice statue had passed from bear shape to something she could recognize. It was a nude man standing on the frozen ice of upper Hudson Bay. He couldn’t survive naked in the freezing temperatures, she remembered. Frostbite would happen within seconds if the man did not do something. Her pain was too great to see anything else about the naked man as he stood there.
And the heat created from the transmission of matter to energy ceased. The man spun around shivering in the arctic cold. He began fumbling through a leather pack on the ground. He managed to get it open just in time to pull out a fur coat with matching leggings. As the snow and ice roared about them, the man pulled on his clothes and boots. A pair of gloves completed the ensemble and he stood in the wind shivering as the clothing retained the last bit of warmth he had left. Finally, he turned to Susan and began feeling her cheeks and arms, checking for broken bones.
As the fog of her dream state pulled Susan around, she saw the man with a fur hood covering his head looking down at her.
“Can you hear me?” he said. “What happened with that balloon? Is anyone around?”
Susan couldn’t respond. The damage and shock from the balloon crash was too great. And her internal body temperature was dropping drastically. In a few minutes, she would be beyond the point of recovery. She felt the man pull a fur blanket over her. He was trying to keep her from freezing to death.
“You’re going to be okay,” she heard him whisper into her ear over the howling wind. “I will get you to safety. Hang on to my hand and I will get you out of this storm.”
Then the dream fog closed again. She could remember the face of the man. It was Marduke, the man who had checked in on her. But why did he look like a polar bear when she first saw him?
“Marduke?” Susan said while sitting up in the fur bed. “Are you there?”
She found herself surrounded by five people. It was Marduke and he had four women with him. All had the same ice blue eyes she’d noted on the bear. They wore the same fur tunics he did; although his had leggings and theirs were in the form of dresses. These were big women too. Not a one looked under five foot eight. They were solid as well. Any one of these women could have been on an Olympic shot put team. Marduke was taller than them, but not by much. None of the women were smiling.
“Are you strong enough to walk?” one of them addressed her.
“I can try,” Susan said tossing her good leg over the bed while attempting cover herself with the fur blanket. It didn’t work and one of her breasts flopped out from under the cover.
Another one of the women, with short blond hair, turned to Marduke. “I think you should leave,” she told him. “We’ll get her ready and take care of her.”
Marduke turned and went to the other side of the door flap.
A woman carrying a bundle of clothes approached the bed. She appeared to be the youngest of the group and almost smiled when Susan looked at her. Her hair was also blond, but was tied into one braid down her back. All of them had long hair, but three of the women kept their hair tied back.
“I’m Mari,” she said. “We have something for you to wear. Your clothes were damaged when Marduke brought you to us. You’ll need to wear these.” She laid out a set of fur and leather clothing on the rocks before Susan.
“Sorry about your clothes,” the one who had spoken first said. “But you are lucky to be alive. We had to make something special for you. Can’t have you running around here naked.”
“Not that Marduke would mind,” the one named Mari commented. She almost said something else, but the other women shot her looks, which silenced what she had intended to say.
“Thank you,” said Susan, tossing the blanket off and trying to put the other leg on the floor. It still hurt, just not as much as the last time.
“My name is Susan,” she told them. “We haven’t been introduced.”
“Ursula,” said the woman who had spoken first.
“Hilde,” replied the second woman, this one with reddish hair.
“Thora,” said one of the others who hadn’t spoken. She had blond hair, too.
“And I’ve already told you my name,” said Mari.
Susan tried to put some weight on her bad leg, which wasn’t a good idea. The pain of the healing bone flowed up through her nerves into her head and she cried out. The other women held her. The one called Hilde grabbed her right shoulder and Thora the left. They picked her up and took the weight off the leg. Susan noticed they had done it without the least bit of exertion. Their hands gripped her on either side as easily as if she’d been a child. Each woman held onto her back as well and moved Susan upright. The pain had eased, but any attempt at putting her weight on the bad leg would bring it back.
“Your leg has yet to heal,” Ursula stated. “Do
n’t put any force on it until it does.”
“We’ll take care of you for now,” the one called Mari told her and held up the leather jacket for her to put on. The jacket extended to the floor and was the right length for her. They helped her pin it in place, having done it many times themselves. Once fixed, they sat her down on the edge of the bed and gave her the fur-lined boots made of sealskin to wear. The room was warm, but every time someone came in through the flap, Susan felt a cold breeze. Mari pulled the hood pack on Susan’s jacket and combed her hair with a comb made of bone. Satisfied with their work, the other women braided Susan’s hair into one strand, much like theirs.
“You look nice,” Ursula told her. “Much better than when Marduke brought you to us.”
“There was a bear,” Susan said, remembering. “A polar bear. It was looking at me before he found me. Did he say anything about a bear?”
The four women shot each other knowing looks. They were silent for a few minutes. Finally, Ursula spoke again. “He said nothing about a bear,” she told Susan. “Did you see a bear?”
“Yes, it was big and very white. It seemed to melt while I was watching. Then there was a man. It must have been Marduke finding me.”
“You were very sick. You were saying many things in your sleep, which didn’t make any sense. Perhaps you dreamed of a bear.”
“I might have,” Susan agreed, “but the bear seemed so real. And it melted down into a man.” She looked at the paintings on the rock walls. “Almost like these paintings.”
“Again, delirium,” said Ursula. “You had hit the ground hard when the balloon crashed, according to Marduke. You were saying many strange things. Who is Gary?”
“Just a man,” Susan answered. “An old friend. We were close once upon a time.”
