14 - Naked

Ezlām opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he saw was the evening sky adorned with golden orange hues.

Shit! I overslept.

He blinked his eyes several times as he rose from his lying position. After his gaze began to clear, he shocked.

Around it, thousands of rattlesnake carcasses lay lifeless, black blood flooding the sand, surrounded the rakham's corpse which was slightly torn on several sides.

What the hell was happened when I slept?!

And there was where he found Ejrām leaning on the corpse of the dead rakham. The snake woman's body looked so tired. All the scales covering her body were torn off, leaving behind skin with torn scars. Various types of wounds covered her "naked" body; burns, stab wounds, bite wounds, even bruises from beatings.

Ezlām ran to approach the woman in panic. "Ejrām, what happened to you? Are you okay? Let's go, we need to treat your wounds." Unconsciously, he poured out all the worries in his head.

She smiled a little, her voice sounded weaker than usual. "That was the first time you call my name. This ordinary snake hinn was flattered, by the way."

"There was no time to be flattered like that. Come on," he swallowed his saliva, then turned his gaze in various directions to find something that could be used to treat the wound. There was nothing. "We got nothing here to treat you."

She spat a black blood from her mouth. "I couldn't."

"Why?!"

"Take a look at my body, Ezlām. If Gassār hadn't helped and saved me, I might be dead by now." Ejrām moved her head in one direction very weakly. "Take a look for him instead. I can feel that his life presence is getting thinner."

"But how about you?!" His voice began to crumble.

She laughed tragically. "Who do you think I am, Ezlām? I am Ejrām El-Samūm, the former matriarch of El-Jaljala tribe that annihilated by my own hands! Of course I could live longer then him."

"What?! What was happened really?"

With the remaining strength she has, Ejrām pushed Ezlām's body towards where Gassār was. "He doesn't have that much time. Questions later."

After some hesitation, Ezlām run towards that direction. And there he found Gassār's body that buried by a bunch of rattlesnakes carcasses, lying motionless.

"Gassār! My boy!" He hugged him firmly as tears began to flow. "Please hold on a little longer. I will save you."

Shit! How to save a dying king cobra?! Think Ḥamād! Think!

Right after that, the scenery of Ejrām transferring her astral energies began to fly around his mind.

He activated his imaginary eyes.

He found that black astral energies that emitted from Gassār's body was fading slowly but surely.

He made an imaginary knife and stabbed Gassār's body very slowly. That king cobra hissed desperately.

"Please hold on, Gassār."

He closed his physical eyes, circulate astral energy inside his body, flowing it through an imaginary wound in the palm of his hand, towards the imaginary wound he had made on Gassār's body.

"Please working, please working." He murmured panicky.

He smiled as the astral energies emitted from Gassār's body became thicker and thicker.

"Thank God it's working!"

Gassār's scales began to glow in deep purple-ish light. His body grow a little bigger then before. But the most awaited respons by Ezlām was, he began to move his serpentine body.

He hissed happily towards Ezlām, then stroked his head on Ezlām's body gently. Like a cat expressing its affection for its owner.

Ezlām completed the energy transfer process, lifted Gassār's body, and placed it around his neck. "Let's save Ejrām now."

As he walked, he thought the way to treat Ejrām's wound. That was very severe, and should be covered by something to prevent infection.

Surely, he could made some bandages using manifestation technique. But, it would be vanish in no time. No use.

But there was nothing here to cover her wounds. What could i-, oh wait. I think i got an idea.

With some difficulty, he pulled out one of the feathers the size of a blanket from the corpse of a rakham that was lying there. Then he made a scissor, a bottle of medical alcohol, and a pack of cotton using manifestation technique.

When he arrived, Ejrām closed her eyes and snore softly. She was sleeping.

He touched her wounded body firmly. "Wake up, Ejrām. I'm gonna treat your wounds."

She opened her eyes slightly. "No need for something like that, Ezlām. Balsameth's blessings would recover my wound in no time."

"It's okay if you want to believe in the god you worship so much. But, if we don't treat your wounds right this instance, it will get infected by germs, and your condition will get worse." He hold her bleeding arm firmly as he anchored his gaze towards her eyes.

Ezlām's doings made Ejrām's face heated up. In her thousands of years of life as a hinn, no one had ever cared about her like this. Her heartbeat was going crazy.

She turned her gaze away to avoid Ezlām's gaze. And to hide her blushing face of course. "If... if you say so, then do it. But be gentle please. This is my first time."

Trying to seduce me even in this situation? You really need to stop worshiping those horny ass being so called god, Ejrām. For your greater good.

And yes, he failed to understand the real intensions behind Ejrām's words.

He smiled. "Sure I will," he prepared everything needed. "But, the treatment will sting a little. So, please bear with it as much as you can."

She closed her eyes, and nodded slightly as she bite her own lips.

Gassār got down from Ezlām's neck and stood upright beside Ejrām, without opening his hood.

"Oh, you want to heal me too, little guy? Really appreciate that," she said. "I'm surely gonna pay my debt to you in the future." Her body began to emit a very thin green light.

Then Ezlām began the process of treating the wounds. First, he cut the scanty cloth that Ejrām used to cover the sensitive parts of her body. Her clothes were soaked with black blood that was starting to dry, making the removal process a little painful for Ejrām.

Yes. There was wounds in her private areas too.

She chuckled. "I thought that I was the one who gonna strip you naked first. Turned out that I was wrong. Anyway, it's your first time seeing me naked," Ejrām teased, but her voice lacked its usual venom. "Try not to enjoy it too much."

In fact, Ezlām wanted to ignore those words. However, he remembered that some doctors in his original world would talk to their patients during the treatment process, to distract them from the pain that arose.

"You were basically naked from the beginning, you know?"

She chuckled even more. "You were right. This slutty former matriarch was naked from the beginning." Her voice trembled a little.

Ezlām opened the bottle of alcohol he had made earlier and sniffed it. It was a medical alcohol. He poured it to the cotton and began to tap some wounds on Ejrām's body firmly, made her wince a little.

"Come to think of it. What was really happened while I slept? Yesterday, you proudly said that you were a matriarch of El-Jaljala tribe. But now, you said you were a former matriarch."

"Ouch... After you fell asleep, they came here and wanted to take this rakham's corpse for, ouch... themselves," she moaned a little.

"As a self-aware person, of course I knew that this corpse is yours. They were very stubborn and still wanted to take the body home, no matter how much I warned them. That was why you got this scenery around you."

Even though he didn't know the significance of the rakham's corpse, Ezlām was flattered that this snake woman would defend him, even slaughtering her own people for it.

"Although I don't know how to utilize this over grown bird's corpse, I really appreciate your efforts, Ejrām. Thank you very much."

She opened her eyes and turned her gaze to Ezlām. She looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "Really?"

"I was a new born shayṫān, remember?"

"You're a fool…" her voice softened. "...but maybe this desert needs more fools like you."

Ezlām then began to clean Ejrām's chest with alcohol, made her look away again. She herself felt confused by this kind of response.

Throughout her entire life, hundreds, perhaps thousands of shei' had seen her naked body without a single thread covering it. But why did this particular shayṫān felt different? Was it because he had never looked at her with a lustful gaze?

"Then, what kind of thing we could do to this gigantic corpse?" He asked her as he tap the tip of her breast.

She moaned a little lewd. "Its feather was magic proof as I said earlier. Its blood was one of the most needed ingredients in several important rituals. And don't forget about its monsterous amount of astral energy. You have the right to use all of that to help your growth."

"But you help me defeating this bird. Without you, I'm as good as dead, you know. You had a right, too."

Her heartbeat became increasingly erratic. Ezlām's gentle touch on her breasts did play a big role. However, what he just said played an even bigger role.

"Y... Your kindness is… unfamiliar, but not unwelcome." She murmured. "A matriarch of El-Jaljala tribe shares nothing…" she Looks away. "...but for you, maybe I'll pretend to forget that."

"Great idea."

After some time and another groan of pain, all the wounds on Ejrām's body were successfully cleaned. Now it was time to cut the rakham's feather to make a makeshift bandages.

However, Ezlām couldn't find the scissors he had made anywhere.

Ah, it must be vanished already, like the cannon I manifested yesterday. I need to track down this time limitations in the future.

He manifest another one using his astral energies, cut those big feather into pieces, and began to bandage all parts of Ejrām's body without exception.

The rakham's feathers, coarse as desert winds, chafed against Ejrām's raw skin as Ezlām bandaged her. Every hiss of pain echoed in the silent dunes.

"It's done. You can open your eyes now." He smiled brightly as the new-made scissor vanished to the thin air.

Ejrām stared at the rakham-feather bandages, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "No one's ever…" She trailed off, the desert wind carrying what she couldn't say. "...touched me without wanting something. Why did you?"

He doesn't know why, but he stroked Ejrām's long black hair firmly. Maybe a sympathy? But surely, her words left some impression on his heart.

The trace of untold bitter stories that made her who she is nowadays.

"I just want you to be a better person. Maybe, what I did for you can't give a perfect example. But I hope, you can take a little understanding."

Ejrām didn't know how much more this man in front of her would make her blush. What was clear was that, slowly, she began to feel a comfortable sensation that she had never felt before.

"A 'better person'?" A Bitter laugh came out from her mouth. "Balsameth's followers don't know that phrase… but for you, I might learn."

***