Chapter 21 - Healer's hands

Reya had never seen a beautiful creature than this. Its antlers huge twisted, but they shone brightly in the darkest night. Its eyes shone with contempt, but....but somehow also held a kindness in them.

She had never seen a beauty unlike this. At first the bloody sight of its forelimbs frightened her, but watching it poorly hobbled over. She felt pity for this poor creature.

The creature collapsed right in front of her. It shocked her for a second. 'What should I do? Do I help it or should I leave?' A fight-or-flight thought rose in her head.

But watching it wheezing as it lay on the ground, something called from within her soul.

'I need medicine,' she thought and ran back to their temporary camp.

Her mum and Mr. Kopper were sleeping soundly. Even Mina was cuddling to her blanket and snored loudly. Reya didn't want to disrupt their peaceful sleep. So she tiptoed over to her bag. She shouldered it and darted over to the wounded animal.

It still laid there but she could see it was losing its energy fast.

Reya hesitantly touched its large snout. The creature wheezed and sniffed her palm. "Fascinating," she said. She slowly touched its huge shining antlers.

"Are you a mutant species? I guess you are just like her and Mina," she mumbled as she softly caressed its coarse fur.

She analysed the little wound. "Gun shot?" she was shocked that someone would actually try to hurt such a fascinating creature. Reya carefully lifted the limp to find an exit wound on the other side. "At least there is no bullet inside," she mumbled.

Turning back, she shuffled through her bag and found only a small role of bandage and some blood clot medicine. She had use most of her bandages on the burned guy today so only a little was left.

Sighing, Reya unwounded the roll and opened the new pack of medicine powder.

The creature slowly opened its doe eyes and peered at her. With a small smile she started to tend to its wounds. It was still bleeding, so she sprinkled some blood clot powder on it.

The Deer jerked at this and whined. "shh, shh it's okay," she whispered as she started to tie the bandage that she found in her bag.

Carefully, she lifted it s right forelimb and wound the bandages through.

After tending to the wounds, she wiped her seat and let out a deep breath. Finally, it was over. The creature looked much more energetic than before. Its eyes following all her actions with curiosity in them.

"There. It's all wound up. Don't get close to any other humans they might try to hurt you again," she said with a small smile.

Reya saw the creature's eyes widen at this and it slowly stood up. It gazed down at her and snorted.

Small droplets of snort flew onto her face. Laughing out loud, I wiped them with her sleeves. "Looks like you have regained your energy," she said, petting it golden fur.

It huffed and shook its huge head, flinging away some flies on it.

"Wait, I have something for that as well," she said and went to her bag. After some searching for awhile, she found her handy bug repellent spray.

"I don't know if this is healthy for you, but for the time being it will chase away those pesky things," she said and sprayed it on its antlers.

"And it will also prevent infection on your wound," smirking she sprayed even more.

The creature sneezed and huffed, nuzzling its head into her open palm.

"Oh, you sweet little thing. Who had the heart to hurt you like this?" she mumbled as she hugged its huge head.

Its antlers shone brighter and brighter until it became blinding for her. she scrunched her eyes and hid them with her hand.

But as she opened them she was in for a surprise. The beautiful deer had disappeared, but in its place stood a beautiful woman. Her auburn hair had golden streaks in them and her golden strappy dress shone brightly, illuminating her ethereal beauty in the dark enclosure.

"Who... who are you?" Reya whispered and she stepped back.

She glanced back at her and smirked. A huge halo formed in the back of her head and it started to shine brighter.

"I'm Artemis," she said in a soft voice.

"Oh, but.... but what happened to the deer? Where is it?" Reya stuttered. She was confused. How is it possible for a deer to become a human? Did she mutate like Mina? Is shifting her mutation? Is this even a mutation?

Wild thought swirled in her brain as she gaped at her.

"Human... you have so many thoughts. It's giving me a huge headache," she whispered, holding her head.

"You.....you... you can hear my thoughts?" Reya stuttered as she stepped back further.