Tangled By Fate

A couple was walking in the desert. They were wearing desert tribal clothes. The sun must have thought of them as his enemy. He was glaring at them.

Seeing hundreds of tents in front of them, the man finally found some hope. He carried the woman as fast as possible and nearly fell in front of the entrance.

A soldier who was guarding the entrance stepped closer to the couple. He demanded, "State your business!"

The man bowed and responded with a sob, "My wife… she is dying… please… have some mercy."

The soldier's eyes brushed over the woman's body. The woman seemed injured. Dry blood was coagulated on her stomach area. She was heavily panting. Her face was pale as though she was going to die due to blood loss.

"Wait," saying a curt word, the soldier went inside a tent.

After a while, he came back with a giant man. From his clothes, it looked like he was some sort of high-ranking soldier. The man had a solemn expression. He glanced at the couple for a few moments and asked the man, "Are you from the desert tribe?"

The man hurriedly nodded. "Yes, sir."

The high-ranking soldier interrogated him as though he was a criminal, "What are you doing out of your tribe?"

The man began to shiver in fear under his crude gaze, "Our families are enemies. They would never approve of our relationship. So, we secretly got married and ran away. However, she got injured after a cougar attacked us last night. Please save her. We will be indebted to you forever!" he desperately pleaded in the most pitiful way.

The cougar is a large cat of the subfamily Felinae. It is also known as mountain lions. A successful generalist predator, the cougar will eat any animal it can catch, from insects to large ungulates. Like other cats, it is an obligate carnivore, meaning it must feed on meat to survive.

The high-ranking soldier squinted his eyes. He carefully observed the desert tribe man. He was wearing usual tribal clothes. He had tan skin and dark hair. One of his eyes was covered with a dirty cloth. Also, it had dry blood on it. It seemed that the man was injured as well. His dark pupil was filled with tears, begging him. There was a distinct smell of desert in his clothes. There was no doubt that the man was from the desert tribe.

The high-ranking soldier mumbled, "Attacked by mountain lions, hmm." He looked at his soldiers and instructed them, "Take some men with you and find if there is any cougar around the area. These people are injured. I don't think the cougar will be far from here. And, tell some men to take them to the healers' quarter. They should be healed as soon as possible. This woman is dying."

"Thank you, sir! Thank you! Thank you!" The man repeatedly bowed and thanked the soldier for his generosity.

Just as the high-ranking soldier ordered, the couple was taken to the healers' quarter. The healers were busy as many soldiers were attacked. They (healers) became exhausted by using their power to treat those injured soldiers.

One of the healers was taking a rest. Seeing an injured couple, he quickly went to them. "Who is severely injured?"

The husband of the woman desperately answered, "My wife. She was attacked by a cougar. She lost so much blood. Please save her."

"All right, lie her down on the bed. That's it." The healer used his knife to tear off her clothes and then examined her injury. "She is dying. I will heal her now," saying that the healer used his power to seal off the injury.

"Haah… haah…" the woman seemed to breathe properly. Tears rolled from her eyes. She looked at her husband and softly smiled.

The husband grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "Romana, my beloved wife, are you feeling all right? Did your pain go away?"

The woman nodded slightly. She was feeling better than before. Her face was still covered with sweat. She felt her eyelids became heavier. She slowly closed her eyes.

The husband who was wiping her sweats panicked. "What's wrong with her? Why did she close her eyes?"

The healer answered, "She had fainted due to blood loss. Although I healed her injury, she still lost a lot of blood. I can't grow her blood. She needs to rest and eat nutritious food to gain energy."

"Thank you! Thank you!" The husband thanked the healer again and again.

"Don't worry about that. It's my job to heal people. Let me see your injury." The healer inspected the man's eye that was covered with clothes. He frowned and commented, "This is a terrible injury you have, sir. Don't worry. You will be better in no time."

After assuring him, the healer healed him as well. "Can you see properly now?" he inquired.

The husband blinked several times and then his eyes welled up with tears. He cried out in joy, "Yes! I can see! I can see! I never thought I could see again with my two eyes."

The healer smiled. "This is good news, isn't it?" Then he mumbled to himself, "But I'm sure I didn't have to use that much power. Hmm. Who knows, maybe I'm getting better."

"What's your name?" the healer asked him.

The husband answered, "My name is Alzedro. She is Romana, my wife. We are from the desert tribe."

"I'm Remus, a healer from Utahill. Please take plenty of rest. You have both lost so much blood. I'll come back later and check your condition." The healers left the couple after telling them to take a rest.

Only then, Alzedro glanced at his wife, Romana. He whispered in her ears, "Wife, you can open your eyes now."

Romana opened her eyes and secretly looked around to see if someone was there. Seeing the coast was clear, she whispered back, "I had no idea you were so talented, Arthur."