I collapse on Ran’s back as soon as we are out of sight of the knights. Home. I need my momma. And my bed. My head hurts, my ribs ache, and I feel broiling emotion from the up and downs of both the night and day. Gracious, dealing with a creature of nightmare at the library and then foiling a kidnapping?

What. A. Day.

The sun is rising higher in the sky as we sneak past bustling markets. The racket of squawking chickens, braying donkeys, and hawkers shouting pounds against my head like a sledgehammer.

Ran races back to our house as quickly as possible without dumping me off as we sneak first under the city wall, then through the woods that are my second home.

I’m just a limp sack of potatoes on her back, drifting in and out of consciousnesses. This is both a blessing and extremely painful when I awake still upon Ran’s back.

At last, my home and my momma come into view. She sits, holding Jill tightly with tears swimming in her eyes on our little wooden ledge that could almost be called a porch built onto our little quant cottage.

Her head shoots up as she spots us. She slips as she stands, almost tripping over her grey wool dress in her haste to reach me. Tears stream down her face.

“Oh, my baby. Who did this?” Her voice is both aching with inner turmoil and murderous with rage. Thank goodness none of that is aimed at me... yet.

I'm loath to tell her exactly how I came to be in this situation.

She helps me off Ran. I collapse into her arms as tears stream down my face to match hers. I try to be strong, but sobs catch in my throat and make me hiccup.

Momma wraps her shawl around my shoulders. She gets me inside and helps me get off my cloak. Her breath catches as she sees my bloody face and clothes. “It’s not… mine, momma.” Well. Not all mine.

She goes white as a sheet. “Baby, what have you been doing?” She mutters, mostly to herself. But I know there will be many questions later. Many, many questions.

She helps me get off the bloody clothes and into a comfortable pair of her nightclothes. I try to hide my bruised ribs and middle, but tears stream down her face as she takes it all in, despite my best efforts.

I waver on my feet and she seizes my arm before I collapse, helping me into bed. She rubs my feet just like she used to when I got sick, humming gentle lullabies. Blackness enfolds me in its soothing embrace.

~~~

I awake to a loud male voice next to my bed. My mind is slow to catch up as I try to remember what happened. Everything is hazy.

“Daddy?” I whisper.

The voices grow quiet. I open my eyes to see Momma sitting next to my bed. Black circles lay under her red-rimmed, wet blue eyes.

“Oh, honey.” Her voice breaks in sorrow.

"What happened?" I croak out.

Momma brings water to my parched lips. "You've been sleeping two days straight. Do you remember what happened?"

I shake my head, and that brings back some memories of such a thing bringing pain.

"That's ok. This man is here to help." She says, something in her voice edged with a warning.

She gestures to the man beside her. There sits a man who looks vaguely familiar. He has a deep red beard and a crooked nose that is still red and tender from being broken. His big face has a pleasant smile, but his eyes are hard and flinty. I squint as I try to place him. Then my eyes shoot wide open.

Shoot, shoot, shoot! I reach for my knife hidden between my bed and the wall. It’s not there. I frantically dig deeper.

“Searching for this?” The leader with the broken nose and bald head asks as he holds up my knife.

I freeze. The man who tried to kidnap Lorenth is here, in my room, with my knife.

Adrenaline rushes through my veins, making me slightly light-headed. My eyes bounce around my room from the lamp on my deep brown bedside table to the fireplace poker, and at last lands on the swords hanging above my tiny washbasin. If I can get to them, I might have a chance.

I crouch on the bed.

“Ran!” I shout through the mind link.

She doesn't respond, but I feel... something. She seems sluggish, much more so than if she's just sleeping. There is something there as she tries to reach me, but I feel frantic panic as she finds she can’t.

My eyes snap to the leader. "What did you do to my wolf?" I growl in a fine imitation of said wolf.

The man has the gall to turn mock confused and concerned eyes on my mother. “She’s not in her right mind. The blows to her head have combined to make her believe something that is not true. I would be happy to take her with me and help her recover our reality.”

“... what?” I ask, incredulousness making my brain fart.

Mother grabs my hand. She sneaks me a small knife, patting the top of my fist with her other hand.

“Honey, this man is a doctor. He is here to help.” She pats my hand again, a meaningful glance making my brain misfire. I'm not awake enough for this.

“What can you do for my baby that her mother can’t?” Momma asks with seemingly genuine concern. Her eyes stay on me, even as she drags me to her in a hug. The action sets my feet firmly on the floor of my tiny bedroom.

My breath comes in gasps as I gather my legs beneath me. Then I relax into my mother. “Is he really here to help? Was it just a bad dream?”

Buff leader bozo, who tried to kidnap bespectacled Lorenth, removes his hand from his sword, but keeps his stance ready should I try anything. “Yes. I will be happy to help. You see, I run a school for those who have had accidents and disabilities. I help them recover from traumas in a place where they can be themselves and progress at their own rate. For head injuries such as your daughter's, they often have to relearn many things and learn to differentiate between fantasies and reality.”

If he didn’t have a broken nose, from my own boot, I would be tempted to believe him. He’s just that charismatic.

“Can I visit first and make sure it’s the place for my daughter?” My Momma chokes up at the end. I almost blow it by looking at her with a mixture of disbelief and awe as my jaw drops. Thank goodness the bozo wasn't looking at me!

I never realized my mother was so skilled an actress.

The man smiles in understanding, even if it doesn't reach his icy gaze. “It’s better if I take her right away. It’s also better for the family not to visit for the first few weeks. They are relearning much during that time and unnecessary visits complicate things. I’m truly sorry. But I promise you will have your daughter back. Just as you remember her.” With emphatic words and smoothly veiled lies, I believe he could deceive a snake. Except for one thing he didn’t count on.

Momma reaches out a hand to him. He takes it and she pulls him over into a hug. Giving me the perfect chance. “Thank you so, so much, kind sir. Please do as you have said. And bring my daughter back to me.” She chokes up at the end.

He awkwardly pats her back, then tries pulling back, but Momma holds him uncomfortably tight. I rise behind them and jerk the knife Momma had placed in my hands across his throat. A motion I practiced time and time again with Daddy until it was fluent and faster than a snake bite.

What I didn’t expect is the bile rising in my throat as blood sprays. I look into his surprised eyes as his mouth moves without sound and grasping hands claw at his throat.

“You didn’t count on the love of a family. My Momma knows everything I do. And she knows I’m not insane.” I say as the light dims in his eyes and he collapses to the floor.