Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond Issue #4 by 1632 and Beyond

Author:1632 and Beyond [1632 and Beyond, Iver P. Cooper, Jack Carroll, Edith Wild, Bjorn Hasseler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flint's Shards Inc.
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Down the road from Leahy Medical Center, Grantville

February 2, 1637, after 4:30 p.m.

Either the light was dim but hid nothing or her eyes had adjusted—she saw everything.

Maggie knew she’d have nightmares about this for the rest of her life. Just like the ones she had from when Ludwig got sick when he was little. Ludwig had been four or five years old, and Maggie had been about seven. She remembered that she got sick then too, just not as bad or for as long. But Ludwig didn’t get better for a long time.

Every day with Ludwig was a blessing, even when he was being an annoying little shithead who got into all sorts of mischief. Maggie had had to stitch up Ludwig before. Bandage cuts. Brace sprains. Set broken toes. A finger once. Basic first aid, as up-timers called it, Maggie could do.

But this wasn’t in her skill set. This was too big.

Amalia looked ghastly. Cuts and bruises on her hands, her fingers, and, through the rips in her sleeves, on her forearms too. They were simple to treat. She looked pale enough that if she closed her eyes and didn’t move, she’d look like a corpse. The skin around the wound was starting to swell and darken. A bruise forming, Maggie guessed, and in brighter light it would be purply blue-black. Her light-gray dress was blood-soaked down her right side from her shoulder almost to her waist, looking like it was shading from darker to lighter. Maggie braced herself and examined the head wound.

The graze of the bullet left a trail through Amalia’s flesh from the outermost corner of her right eyebrow and followed the curve of her skull, leaving bone almost exposed. The flesh was slightly pulled back, like it was drying up, opening it further. The exit was awfully deep for a flesh wound over her right ear, about an inch past Amalia’s hairline. All of it was still oozing blood, dripping off her jaw and trailing down her neck.

Maggie had no idea whether Amalia noticed any of this. Shock must be keeping the worst of the pain away. Maggie bit her lip, scratched some of Amalia’s dried blood splatter off her face. She had nothing to clean this with. She’d have to make do. Maggie did as best she could, with the piece of petticoat, bearing down on the make-shift bandage until Amalia groaned, and then tightening it shut.

“That hurts.” But Amalia didn’t push her away.

“It's fine, really,” Maggie said. “The pain won’t last.”

Her wrists and knees felt like they were on fire. Her fingers felt like she was holding broken glass. And the rest of her body didn’t feel much better. Maggie wished that she was lying in her comfortable, warm bed with some books and heat compresses. Pain medication would be nice, too. Maggie breathed through the pain. It wasn’t important right now. Amalia needed her.

Maggie tried really hard to not think about what would have happened to Amalia if she’d moved just an inch in the wrong direction before that bullet came through the window.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.