The sound of a crying child echoed out through the barracks all the survivors had been placed in. Standing up from where she had bent over to tend to the fire, Erna felt a sharp pain in her side as she straightened. She placed a hand on the bandages that wrapped around her waist and went over to the screaming child.
“Get some rest, my lady, I will see to the child,” Erna said to the exhausted, pale faced mother.
She took up the baby, cradled it in her arms and starting rocking, humming something soft and soothing. The Child soon stopped crying. Erna placed the sleeping child next to the sleeping mother.
“You should be getting some rest,” a middle ages volunteer said. “You look like you’ve gone through some trouble.”
“I’m not hurt that badly, I’ll be fine,” Erna said.
“Hmm, hopefully, by the end of the day, they should all be moved to the hospital.”
Erna looked about the barracks, filled with the noise of the injured groaning in their cots and the wind blowing through the cracks in the canvas. It was the noise of the aftermath of a terrible accident.
Erna and Lisa clung to each other as they tumbled through the train. At some point, Erna had lost consciousness. When she came to, roused by a crushing pain, she could see the whole train had been turned over, the broken windows now served as a skylight.
When she realised what had happened, her and Lisa scrambled out of the train. Erna couldn’t recall how she was able to lift and support Lisa, but together, they had made it out of the crumpled carriage.
Just as she set Lisa down and was about to collapse into the snow herself, the sound of the world braking apart alerted everyone to yet another landslide. Panicked screams were drowned out as the mud engulfed more of the train. Those that had made it out, wept openly.
Erna and some of the other survivors rushed back to the train, doing anything they could to free all those that could be freed, but mostly, Erna stumbled about in a daze. When the relief effort arrived, strong men started digging out the train, while women guided the survivors to the makeshift camp.
“Your Highness?” Lisa said, drawing Erna out of her flashback. “You couldn’t sleep either?”
“No, I slept a little, I just woke up.” It could have been true, she did close her eyes for what felt like a second or two.
Lisa sniffed as she rummaged through a bag of relief goods, pulling out a water canteen and a bar of chocolate. She offered them to Erna.
“I’m sorry, your Highness, it should have been protecting you.”
“It’s fine Lisa, in a way, you did protect me, by getting hurt in my place.”
“But I survived thanks to you.”
“Then I guess we protected each other,” Erna laughed. “Its okay Lisa.” Erna stretched out her arms and pulled Lisa into a hug.
Despite the arrival of the rescue team, the situation did not improve very much. The survivors were numerous and just as many dead. There was not enough transportation for those needing urgent medical attention.
Erna and Lisa was sent to a makeshift barracks with all the other minor injured. They were given first aid, food and a fire with which to keep them warm. They helped each other and endured.
Erna gripped Lisa tightly, not wanting to let go, but there were things that needed to get done, chores and busy work to keep them occupied until they could get out of here and reach out family. They needed to gather firewood, change bandages and care for the elderly.
As Erna prioritised her to-do list, she looked about the barracks, studying the faces of all those in the barracks. Just then, the thought of family crossed her mind and at that moment, another child woke up and started crying.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
Bjorn let himself be led by Leonid and as he turned a corner, he came across a cluster of large tents, where volunteers waited for the transport, surrounded by rescue equipment and crates of food.
He paused and looked a the faint light flickering through the haze of the snow. His breath was hot and plumes of moisture billowed out into the sky. Erna was safe. It took some time, but his aching mind finally grasped onto that fact.
Erna is safe and sound.
Before he realised it, his body was already moving toward the survivors camp. He had been pushed to his limits and was surprised to see that he was still standing, still moving. How could he stop before he found Erna safe?
“Please let her be safe, please God, let Erna be safe,” he whispered the prayer almost none stop.
Bjorn dove into the barracks, the light was bright enough to blind him after spending so much time in the dark, looking for Erna. He looked around the desperate scene of injured survivors laying out on cots, wrapped in bandages. As he searched, he froze as he looked upon the final bed in a row.
“Bjorn?”
The woman who was taking care of a complaining baby at the final cot in the row looked up and saw him. Her bloody hair, her tired lines and her eyes full of him.
For some reason, the name he had been frantically calling all night, escaped his memory. All Bjorn could do was stare at her and laugh.
He was filled with deep anger and joy. The woman in front of him was as resentful as the distant fear he had felt. It looked like her humbled heart had sunk deep into the mud, but her eyes were perfectly rendered pools of dark determination. He was both servant and king of her small domain.
“Oh my god, Bjorn.”
Erna’s startled shouts echoed though the barracks. The bandage dropped from her hand and rolled across the floor to his feet. Erna found it hard to properly connect her words and simply blinked at Bjorn with big, bright eyes.
A smile spread across Bjorn’s face. After all this time, Erna was fine and playing nurse. He was astounded, but on the other had, he was over come with relief.
“What…what happened? Why are you here?” Erna said, struggling to keep her voice level.
She couldn’t believe that the man standing in front of her, this mess of a Prince, was Bjorn Dniester, but those eyes could not have belonged to any other. They were as cool as ever and soft, but she could see something new in them, was that fear she saw?
Erna had never confused the twin princes because of their eyes, but now that Bjorn showed some fear, she almost thought it was Leonid stood before her.
“Bjorn…why…you?”
The words barely left her mouth when Bjorn strode across the barracks and took Erna into his arms. He hugged her so tight, she felt like he was going to pop her in two. The heat of his closeness and the fact that she could feel his erratic heartbeat, stopped her from pushing him away.
“Bjorn…”
When she said his name, he looked down at her, looking straight into her eyes, while his trembled anxiously, like a lost child finally finding his mother.
“I’m fine…” Erna said, and suddenly, she could feel the tears coming to her eyes. She missed Bjorn. There was no way to hide it any more, so she faced it resignedly.
When she thought she might die, she regretted not being able to say good bye to all her friends when she left Buford and as for Bjorn? She wanted to shake his hand and tell him all was forgiven. It hurt to think of all the scars she had suffered leading up to this moment, but worse, if she died without telling him. Its stupid, but that’s just what she was like.
She wants to love him, even if it hurts.
If only she could see Bjorn again, she would not run away any more. No matter how badly she wanted to turn away. Here was a man she could not just throw away and was as much a part of her life as she was his.
“Look, I’m fine Bjorn, really,” Erna smiled, with puffy red cheeks and watery eyes. “Heh, er…that was a pretty big accident, but fortunately…”
“I love you.”
Bjorn’s low whisper stopped Erna’s muttering and she looked up at him with dazed eyes as if lost in a dream. She wasn’t sure what she had heard, there must have been something more wrong with her.
“I love you, Erna.”
He was just glad that he was finally able to put a name to the emotions he was finally able to understand. He had a hunch that he would remember this moment for the rest of his life.
There was no mistaking it, Erna burst into tears. Bjorn held her close and didn’t say anything more.
It was a love that began as a stroke of luck on the card table, where he had no choice but to win.
I love you
My royal straight flush
It was a heartfelt homage to the beautiful conqueror who had tamed his heart.
