In the Garden

15 November 2518

Lianna dug her hands deep into the black earth, pulling up a sample to smell. Earthworms wiggled away from her hands, and she inhaled deeply, testing the soil for its ph balance. Some might use a chemical test for this, but her papa had taught her that sometimes the old ways are best. She set a sample of the earth on her tongue, cocked her head, and added to the soil from her more alkaline compost pile.

After working the compost thoroughly through the soil, she took a precious seedling from the tray in front of her and began the tedious process of planting the small plants at the correct depth and distance from each other.

The hot sun shone on her back, making her glad she wore a hat. Her waist length auburn hair got hot in the sun, causing her to feel that much more warm. She stood and stretched her back, her tall, slim body bowing backward slightly to ease some of the kinks of working on the ground. Even at rest, her sharp eyes were never at rest. An odd yellow around the pupil, they were green and blue as if they couldn’t fully decide what color they wanted to be. Lianna called them gray, for lack of a better description. Right now, they scanned the area as she bent back to her labor of love. The terraced beds she worked in made use of every inch of space. As she worked, she sang a song that her father had sung to her, about the herbs and flowers that make a healer’s garden.

She heard the sound of running feet and covered the rest of the seedlings, picking them up a beginning the walk back to the greenhouse while stripping off her gloves. She’d have to finish the planting later.

“Lee, Miss Lee, you got to come quick!” the young boy had an edge of panic to his voice, but they usually did, when they came to find her.

“Slow down a bit, Josiah, and tell me what the problem is, while I wash up.”

He was frightened and worried, and only about ten years old, so Lianna wasn’t surprised when he began to cry. She sat down, gave the boy a comforting hug, and caught his eyes.

“Now, I want you to look at me, Josiah. And I want you to concentrate on your breathing. You’re plumb wore out, running all the way over here. Now I need you to take slow, deep breaths, like this.” She demonstrated, and the boy matched his breathing to hers, gradually relaxing into a trance, as she worked with him further to extract the information she needed.

Apparently, he’d been working with his father when their skiff had over balanced and landed on his father’s leg. Lianna would need to hurry, or the man would risk losing the leg.

She gathered her bag and hurried to her mule, making sure Josiah was secure before she sped off to help the injured man.

She reached her neighbor to find two other neighbors getting ready to lift the skiff. “Stop!”  she commanded. All three men looked at her, shocked.

“Are you mad? This skiff has got to come off him!” Just her luck,one of the men was Kyle Spofford. Not only did he loudly believe that she was a witch, but he was occasionally persuasive enough that people listened to him.

Lianna ignored Kyle, going instead to James. “I came as soon as I heard, James. Josiah ran all the way to my place, and I broke a few speed records gettin’ here, because we need to save your leg. But now I’ve seen it, please believe me, we need to save your life.”  

James looked frightened, but Kyle loudly blustered, asking how a broken leg was going to kill James.

“Looks to be a clean break. All we gotta do is move the gorram skiff and he’ll be fine.”

“And how many broken legs have you treated in the last six months, Kyle Spofford? How about in your life? I tell you, that skiff is putting pressure on an artery, and if it’s torn, James will be dead in a matter of seconds if you move the skiff. Give me twenty minutes and I think I can save the leg and his life. Less, if I’m wrong about the tear.”

Kyle sputtered and looked angry, but both of the other men agreed that Lianna had a good point, and agreed to let her look at the leg before doing anything else.

James was pale and obviously going into deep shock by this time. Lianna hesitated to use hypnosis in front of Kyle, but there was no other way. She calmed James and applied a pain block, even encouraged his body to divert blood flow away from the injured leg.

Then she got down to the real work. After calling Mariah, James’ wife, to come take care of Josiah and just be there in general, she sterilized the area as much as possible and began the task of temporarily clamping the damaged (and it was damaged) femoral artery.. After she assisted the men with the removal of the vehicle, she began the more tricky work of repairing the femoral artery.

When Kyle asked why they didn’t just move him to her place, she answered sharply that she was trying to save the leg, and that it was extremely time sensitive, so could everyone please just shut up?

Kyle’s face grew mottled with anger. He didn’t like being shown up by Lianna at all. He sure didn’t like being told to shut up by her.

At last, the damage was repaired, the wound packed with herbs, and the leg splinted. Lianna got help putting James on the mule, thanked the neighbors for their help (even Kyle) and started for home, driving much more decorously, so she didn’t jostle James. He quickly fell asleep, lulled by the gentle movement of the mule and his own exhaustion after the ordeal. Once she reached home, Lianna let him sleep on for a spell before she’d find someone to help her shift him to a bed.

She heard the whine of an engine as she was once again cleaning up outside. She looked up as it landed, and was shocked to see Kyle exit his skiff and come toward her quickly.

“Kyle! This is a-” Kyle cut her off by giving a swift punch to her throat, making it impossible to talk and difficult to breathe.

“Don’t you try your hoodoo on me, Devil Woman. I’m gonna teach you just what happens to the whore of the devil. Especially when you mess with a man like me.” He grabbed Lianna by the braid and began dragging her toward the house. She couldn’t scream. She could barely keep her feet, and then he jerked viciously, and she couldn’t even do that.

If she let him get her inside… If he did what she suspected he had in mind, she was a dead woman. He’d never let the community know that he’d been involved with rape. She had to free herself, and it had to be now.

Calming her breathing, Lianna let go of her braid and reached for the gun at the small of her back. She made herself go very still, not struggling at all any more, and when Kyle stopped to see what had happened, she raised her arm along his, and shot him through the under arm.

The bullet broke ribs on entry, then tumbled through the thoracic cavity, causing instant and massive damage to heart and lungs. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Lianna stood, feeling sorrow for the useless loss of life. Kyle wasn’t the first man she’d killed. Unfortunately, he probably wouldn’t be the last, either. She’d have to get rid of the skiff and the body. The body would be easy, as she had acres of land, but she also had contacts who could strip the skiff. Meanwhile, she needed to get James situated.

She sighed, and went back to work. 

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