Rebirth of the Bedridden Warrioress

Chapter Thirteen - Oasis

Aramis Bronx Davina

If there's one thing that I should be thankful for, it's the sun that's setting near the mountain of sand.

The night will fall soon and it's better for me to stay here rather than walk around, I'm too exhausted to face another beast or something.

I have decided to stay with the dead body of that viper to take shelter, no one would bother walking towards this--

"Aramis! Aramis! I can't believe that we saw you--what the hell?! D-Did you defeat this alone?" That familiar voice was to be heard from afar.

My eyes curiously glanced on the other side and I saw Loane, Dahlia, and their team walking towards the dead body of the viper.

I swiftly ran towards to hug them both, "I'm glad you're both safe, you didn't manage to face a beast or something?" I curiously asked, but all of them were just looking at me intently while glancing at that beast behind my back.

"T-That's dead right?" Dahlia pointed at the beast, so I nodded at her before sighing.

"Yes and it's a long story, so are you going to take shelter for the night? And you guys didn't answer my question," I mumbled before crossing my arms against my chest.

"N-No we haven't encountered any beasts, we just walked for several hours and ended up here. We were dropped off at the north side, Dahlia was separated from her team by a scorpion beast and you're here at east," Loane explained, so I just nodded at her.

"I see, I didn't even know that this was the east part," I admitted, so Loane just laughed while I glanced at Dahlia.

"Are you alright Dahlia? Your team was scattered, do you think they'll be alright?" I curiously asked so she pouted before nodding at me.

"I-I think they'll manage, and I hope they can escape that beast…it was really huge and had a large pointy tail…and wait for a second!" she exclaimed before pointing at the beast behind us, "Did you really defeat this alone? Where's your team?!" I just nodded before sighing.

"I let my wagon mates run away while I defeat this alone, we're running away from it for several minutes and it's not letting us go, so I decided to fight it off myself because we're almost on the verge of losing our breaths," I recalled while looking at that beast.

I still remember how it towered over me like it wanted to crush me with its body, it was an experience I don't ever want to experience again.

"I just can't really believe that you defeated this alone, this is one of the deadliest beasts on the desert islands," Loane sounded worried, so I just scratched the back of my head.

"T-That's really brave of you Lady Aramis," one of Loane's team commented, so I just blushed while shaking my head.

"N-No, I just really don't want to die again," I admitted, so they laughed at me like it was the most ridiculous joke that they have heard.

"Don't be silly Aramis, you haven't died yet, you were just bedridden!" Dahlia emphasized the word bedridden which made me sigh, if only they knew.

"So, is it alright for you guys to rest here? We can walk at five so that the sun won't heat us fast," Loane asked her wagon mates, so they immediately accepted her request.

We continued talking until we all had settled in the middle of that beast's body. Luckily, the saw-scaled viper died leaving a circle in the middle enough to fit us all and to keep us safe from the danger of the desert at night.

"Do you think you can find an oasis here?" one of Loane's wagon mates asked, so we all peered at them intently.

"I think so, and I heard that it's located in the middle of this desert, we won't last for a week if we stay put and starve," the other one said, so they all just sighed depressingly.

"Are you guys also looking for an oasis?" I caught their attention after saying those words, "My wagon mates suggested that at first too, and I'm planning to follow their route," I pointed at where my wagon mates had run.

"We came there and we didn't cross with them...I wonder if they're alright?" Loane worriedly asked, which made me flinch.

My hands were starting to form into a grip thinking that defeating this beast was for nothing if they didn't survive this challenge.

"No, I hope they're alright, an oasis will help them a lot too," I bit my lip while glancing at the almost lavender skies.

"Why are you guys so worried about others? Shouldn't this be a challenge between us all?" one of Loane's wagon mates raised her voice, so we all just glanced at her.

"What do you mean about that, Elaine?" Loane asked this time, so Elaine shook her head at us.

"You can't worry about others because this is a challenge between us all, if possible we can fight each other one here if we want to," she grunted while glaring at us.

"It wasn't stated that we should fight each other right? Plus isn't it okay that some of us might survive? Remember ladies, some of you might be chosen by some nobles whom they take interest in," I reminded them, so Loane agreed with me.

Elaine just glared at me before standing up as she grabbed some of her stuff.

"I'm going to leave and survive on my own, you can take your rest here if you want," she immediately left after she said those words, so I stood up and ran towards to grab her wrist.

"W-Wait, please it's dangerous to roam at night Elaine, stay here with us," I pleaded, but she harshly shoved my hands away from her.

"I may just look like this, but I can take care of myself bedridden warrioress, so just leave me be," she stubbornly mumbled and left, so we were all enveloped with this deafening silence.

"I'm sorry about Elaine," another warrioress sympathized. "She had a bad past and was forced to be here just to make her family's situation better," she lowered her head, so I just shook my head at her.

"I-It's alright, I totally understand what she meant," I mumbled, so Loane just agreed with me.

"But unless it was stated as a battle between us warrioress, we won't attack each other, this is called survival for now," Loane explained, so we all just nodded.

"She should've stayed put, if it's too hot at daylight then it's too cold at nightfall," Dahlia covered herself with extra clothes. 

I glanced at the night sky and noticed that it's probably eight or seven at night. The cold breeze suddenly seeped into my body which caused me to shiver.

"It's starting to get colder," Linny mumbled while hiding herself on the corner of the viper's dead body.

So all of them did the same as Dahlia when we felt the cold breeze blowing in the middle of the desert. Dahlia suggested that we should make fire, but Loane argued that they won't find any rocks or even twigs here.

"We just have to endure it for now, and if ever we don't find any of those things then, good luck to us all," I whispered while hugging myself, which made them all sigh.

There's this deafening silence after we all decided to snuggle with each other. It surprised me that it's freezing at night when the freaking sun almost burned my skin a while ago.

"This isn't survival, this is another way of killing us not in a brutal way," Dahlia suddenly said, I could hear her teeth chattering because of the cold.

"You'll be fine Dahlia, rub your hands against each other and you'll be heated up," Loane suggested, so we all did what she said.

We doubled up some clothes to wrap our bodies and legs, but it isn't enough to warm us because of this freezing temperature.

The rest of them fell asleep to avoid feeling the cold while I only rested for an hour, the image of me killing that scaled viper a while ago can't slip off my mind.

I still can't believe that I have the ability to kill it on my own, I'm proud of myself yet terrified of what I might face sooner or later.

"Can't sleep?" I almost jumped when I heard Loane's voice, I could almost hear the chattering of her teeth.

"Yes, and are you okay? You never wake up this late at night," I claimed while walking towards her side and my eyes widened after touching her skin, "Y-You're freezing," I worriedly exclaimed.

"Yes, and it's odd that you feel warm," Loane chuckled, so I scooted closer to her to make her feel warm even with just the use of body heat.

"There, is it making it a little bit better?" I softly asked, so she just nodded at me.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better, how about you? You must be freezing yourself," she whispered, but I just shook my head at her.

"I'm doing fine, the battle between me and that viper a while ago keeps my veins active and awake," I admitted, so she just laughed as we both snuggled against each other and let the rest of the night pass by.

***

Several days have passed by, and all we did was travel during daylight and camp at night. Fortunately, we haven't encountered any beasts yet, so we're taking this as an advantage until we can find an oasis.

"Does an oasis even exist here?" Linny grunted while shielding herself from the heat and brightness of the sun.

"I heard from the nobles that it was real, I heard them talking about it before," Chloe said.

Loane just sighed, "Our body won't take this strange climate change here in the desert, look at  Dahlia, she looks like she's going to have a fever," Loane hissed, so I glanced at Dahlia and she's walking very slowly behind our backs.

I turned around and decided to match Dahlia's pace, "Are you alright Dahlia?" I curiously asked so she flinched before weakly nodding at me.

"Don't worry about me Aramis, I'm fine...our last day here is tomorrow, so I can manage until then," she mumbled while closing her eyes.

I gripped my hands because we're almost near center west, but we still haven't got any sign of an oasis on the way.

Luckily, I brought enough food and water for use to share while surviving those days of traveling and camping.

I knew that the buffet was just a welcome towards famine, we can't even eat a whole apple because we're saving it for the next few days. I'm starving, but I'll keep it in until we finish this tomorrow.

"Guys! Look! There's a palm tree!" Linny exclaimed while pointing from afar, I'm surprised she saw that tiny leaf of the palm tree in the middle of nowhere.

"Let's run for it!" I beamed, so we ran towards it as swiftly as we could. After we halted, our eyes almost swell up in tears after seeing the bright cerulean blue oasis with some crops and palm trees surrounding it.

There's some warrioress over there that are taking their bath, they looked proud upon seeing us finding this either.

"W-We found it!" Loane cheered, so we all hugged each other as we decided to take a bath. It's been a few days since we washed our pits.

We remained in our underwear and dived into the freshwater, it wasn't big but the middle part of it was a little bit deep.

"This is so refreshing!" Chloe almost cried while splashing the water from her face, so I just laughed.

Loane and Linny approached those warrioress who're busy washing their faces. They told us that they had just arrived there an hour ago just before we could.

"We just have to wait until some warrioress arrive here, I think this is where our Conestoga wagons will fetch us," Noleen mumbled, so I just raised my right eyebrow.

"What do you mean? Aren't they fetching us at the place where they dropped us off?" I curiously asked, so they just shook their heads.

"Weren't you guys informed? Those were just a lie they told for you guys to wait over there but that's where they observed beasts appear, it's near their habitats," Noleen explained, which made my eyes widened.

The place where we dropped off is the place where they observed that beast was coming out?! Was that on purpose?!

We walked a little bit further from the place where the coachman was supposed to fetch us, and that beast probably smelled our presence there. We're lucky at that point for thinking that.

I just shook my head and glanced at the dry part of the oasis, my eyes widened after seeing Dahlia fainted over there.

To be continued...