Page 2 of Scaled Hearts

I smile at her and latch the door back, the smells of freshly cooked eggs making my mouth water.

Our hut isn’t very big, giving us just enough room to fit both of our small cots, a small stove-top that is attached to a sink basin, and a loveseat that Kara and I share on our day off while we read and relax.

On the floor near our cots is a small mat where Kara sometimes likes to lounge on the floor when her back is hurting her from working all day.

“You’re just in time,” she says to me, waving a wooden spoon in the air.

I walk over, spotting that the single pan that we have is filled with some kind of omelet concoction that she’s made out of all of the ingredients we’ve been storing in our ice box that I know are expiring soon.

“Smells good. How are you feeling?”

“Great!” She cuts into the omelet and spoons it onto the plate resting on the lip of the sink basin. “My fever finally broke.”

I grab it before it falls off.

“Really? That’s good. How’s your arm?”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

With her free hand, she shuts off the stove and pulls the pan off of the burner. I notice almost immediately that it’s wrapped in some kind of bandage with only the tips of her fingers being visible.

I frown. “Kara…”

“I’m fine.”

I set down my plate on the other side of the sink where the drying rack is. “Let me see.”

She turns to me, her eyes slightly wide. It’s the look she usually gives me when I’ve caught her in a white lie or when she’s trying to surprise me about something expensive she’s bought down at the markets for me.

I hold out my hand to her, flexing my fingers.

My sister lets out a soft sigh before setting the wooden spoon down in the pan. She quickly pulls at the bandage around her arm and hand, freeing it.

I can’t help but gasp when she holds it up in the light for me to see.

Her hand is no longer recognizable. Instead, it’s been replaced with some kind of monster hand.

Her fingers look longer now, with an extra joint and long black claws that extend out from where her nails once were. Spreading up her skin, all the way up to where her upper forearm is, are black scales that shine to an iridescent blue when she moves her arm.

It could be considered beautiful if not for it being on my own sister’s skin and making her look deformed.

“Oh, Kara…” I breathe out. I don’t know what else to say.

How are we going to fix this?

“I know,” she wraps her hand up again with the bandage. “It doesn’t hurt, though.”

I relax a little at that. It does make me feel better to know that she isn’t in any kind of pain, unlike last night and this morning. And she does have much more color to her since her fever broke.

The only problem now is trying to hide it. If any of the orcs found out she’s been infected, they’ll likely kill her.

“Broswin wants you down in the mines. He sent me back here to come get you.”

Kara shakes her head. “I’m not surprised. Let me pack our food so we can eat while we walk back.”

I nod to her and grab some of the paper palms we have hanging on the drying rack and hand them over to her so that she can wrap our food up.

Since we don’t know how Kara’s infection will react to anything, I’ve been trying to remain as cautious as possible. Getting any kind of medical attention for it is out of the question anyway, so we are on our own with figuring out how best to treat it with what little resources we have.

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