Blood Red Rubies - Susan/Caspian
TITLE: Blood Red Rubies
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Caspian is injured in battle - Susan has to pick up the pieces.
FANDOM: Narnia (Susan/Caspian)
STATUS: Complete - One Shot
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything. This story is a work of fiction and came from the deepest darkest corner of my imagination.
AUTHORS NOTE: Written for Weekly Drabble Challenge #22 at susancaspian the prompt was compassion.
There was so much blood.
It soaked the scrap of material that was wrapped haphazardly around his chest and trailed down the skin of his torso until it lost momentum at the band of his pants.
Susan swallowed and struggled to keep both her wits and her lunch to undertake the work she knew she must do to save him. But there was just so much blood. It was bright red, even in the relative darkness of the room, and it covered his entire body each smear blending together until she couldn’t tell which was hers, which was his and which belonged to the Telmarine soldiers he had killed.
“Susan?” Lucy whispered from the other side of the pallet, her face was very pale as she observed Caspian’s prone body. Her eyes were hopelessly lost, like she wanted to do something and yet had no idea how to begin.
Susan desperately wished that she could shield her from all of this; the realities of battle were no place for someone so young. “Is the healer coming?” Susan asked anxiously.
Lucy shook her head, “there’s so many wounded, Susan. We weren’t prepared. By the time she gets here it might be too late.”
Susan rubbed her forehead, momentarily forgetting the blood that covered her hands before cursing under her breath and nodding. “Okay, um... Get me a tub of warm water and a cloth. And a long piece of fabric. Anything will do. This is only temporary.”
Lucy nodded and hurried from the room leaving Susan alone to anxiously watch as Caspian’s chest rose and fell with his short breaths.
“That’s right,” Susan murmured quietly, one hand keeping pressure on his wound, the other gripping the fingers of his right hand, “just hang in there. I’ll look after you.”
Caspian didn’t respond. Just continued to take irregular breaths that were far to shallow to give Susan any peace of mind.
Against her own accord, her mind drifted back to the battle.
She was surrounded by Telmarine soldiers; they came at her from all sides with no sign of relenting but that didn’t stop her from fighting with every ounce of strength she possessed. She had long ago used all her arrows, and now fought with whatever weapon she could get her hands on. But the soldiers still advanced, their faces masked in armour, revealing nothing except their dark eyes filled with a level bloodlust that chilled Susan to the bone.
The battle had been raging for an immeasurable amount of time. Every now and then Susan would catch a glimpse of Peter or Edmund from her peripheral vision, but other than that she had no idea who was still standing and fighting. The only thing she could really worry about was staying alive.
As her borrowed sword went flying from her hand, Susan reflected that her goal to stay alive would be harder to keep than she expected. It was moments like these she really wished she was more adept at other weapons. Those skills would have really come in handy right now. Susan whipped her bow from her back and used the firm wood to parry the swords that threatened to strike her as her eyes cast about to seek another weapon.
Luckily she didn’t need to cast around for too long, because at that second her own personal living weapon galloped up on horseback and struck down the soldiers that surrounded her.
Susan shielded her eyes from the sun, “Caspian?”
He handed a quiver of fresh arrows down to her, “to the rescue.”
She could not help the smile that crossed her face as he galloped away.
“Susan?”
Susan snapped out of her thoughts to see Lucy dragging a large tub of water up to the pallet. “Oh Lucy, good... Okay, just dampen the cloth and try to get rid of some of this blood okay? There’s so much I can’t even tell if this is his only wound.”
Lucy nodded and wordlessly began passing the cloth over his face and neck, washing away the excess blood in the tub.
Meanwhile Susan untied the feeble bandage around his chest and braced herself before examining his wound closely. It was bleeding freely, and as she looked at it Susan could still envision the moment the sword had pierced him. Working quickly Susan did the only thing she could do which was press a bundle of fabric against the wound to stem the blood flow. Applying pressure with both her arms Susan watched Caspian’s face nervously as his eyelids fluttered.
“Susan?” Lucy whispered as she wrung out the cloth and reapplied it to Caspian’s left arm, “what happened?”
“He saved my life,” Susan whispered as her eyes trailed over Caspian’s now blood free face.
There a couple of things that one expects to feels in battle.
Rage.
Exhaustion.
Disgust.
Ferocity... but Susan never expected to feel relief.
But as Caspian crashed through the heavy press of soldiers towards her, that was the sole emotion that rushed through her weary body.
It all happened so quickly. One second he was tossing her a small grin and taking out the solider that loomed over her, the next they were fighting back to back, and then... it happened; an incredible cry of pain that sent waves of agony through her body and the knowledge that a long silver sword protruded from his body. The sight almost send Susan to her knees, the pain on his face was too much for her to bare, it was almost as though the sword was sticking out of her own chest. But then, autopilot kicked in and Susan fought with a rage that nearly frightened her, keeping the Telmarine's away from Caspian as he yanked the sword from his chest and collapsed to her knees.
Susan wasn’t sure how long it took to kill the soldiers around her, all she really recalled was dropping to her knees, clasping his face and assuring him that he was going to be okay and that she would look after him.
It was the least she could do.
He was injured because of her.
“It’s not your fault Susan,” Lucy whispered desperately once the tale was told.
Susan blinked to clear the tears from her eyes, “he has to live.”
“I know.”
*~*
It took a long time for the healer to arrive. Or maybe it was just a few seconds. It felt like an eternity to Susan whose arms were aching from the pressure she applied against his chest.
She couldn’t bring herself to leave as the healer worked. She could only send Lucy away and pick up where she had left off sponging the dried blood from his skin.
She didn’t even realise how long she had been sitting there, long enough for the healer to have finished work and for Peter to come looking for her. Long enough for the blood on her dress to dry and for Edmund to come and convince her that she needed her sleep. Long enough for Caspian to wake up...
Susan startled and gripped his hand as his eyes fluttered. “Caspian?” she asked quietly, her voice piercing through the darkness of the room. She pulled her hand from his to drag the lamp closer to his bedside.
Without opening his eyes his hand moved to his chest, to the bandaging that covered his wound.
“No.” Susan grabbed his hand stopping his progress, “don’t touch that. You’re injured.”
“Susan?” Caspian questioned quietly, his voice low and rough.
“I’m right here.”
He nodded slightly and his eyes closed once more.
“I’m right here,” Susan repeated quietly.
*~*
THE END
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