Healing Hands

A figure with light blonde hair descended rapidly while pulling a fragile girl with darker blonde tresses down a winding staircase. The person leading looked up at the girl and revealed a boyish face donning a pair of safety goggles.
"Come on. Just a little further Delilah," spoke the boy in front with a decidedly girlish voice. A little to high pitched to be a the voice of a boy. "You are safe now. Don't worry those men can't harm you while I am here." The frail girl looked faint and made no move to respond. The boyish girl turned to face forward. "I'm so sorry. Its my fault isn't it?" She spoke in a calm voice even though right now they were fleeing for their lives. "We needed the money and they wouldn't let a girl work." She looked up remembering how they had gotten into this mess in the first place.

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"Sister! Sister!" Delilah cried as she starred at the empty cupboard.
"What is it?" the girl asked as she walked into the small room they called home. Her younger sister was near the point of crying and she grew worried. "What's wrong?"
"I'm hungry! So very very hungry."
"There isn't much food left. Can't you wait til lunch?"
Delilah looked down and her hair fell on her face. "Sorry Galena. I...I'm just so hungry."
Galena made a face. There was no easy way to get extra food other than the minimal rations orphans were given. If you wanted something extra you had to be a boy and willing to work hard.
"Sorry..."
"I'll see what I can do, Delilah."
Galena hurried out of the room, gave her hair a last brushing and locked the door after she left. She knew what she had to do and marched out purposefully. It was a long walk and her mind wandered. She had noticed that they were running out of medicine as well. There was nothing to do about that unless you had money or healing hands.
Galena did not quite believe in the last. Healing hands was a form of ancient magic that very few had experienced first hand. Those that did spent their life convincing others of its actuality. They said it could heal anything and everything but such ability was rare since magic had disappeared years ago after the start of the war. Not many people believed these tales but those that did clung to it as their only hope to ride out the war. It was also said that magical creatures were attracted to certain places were this forgotten magic was to be called into effect.
Lately there had been talk of mystical creatures appearing near the clock tower in the outer city. The believers of the healing hands called it "the miracle they had been waiting for." Galena personally did not care for the legendary beasts as long as they stayed away from her and her rather delicate sister. She just wanted enough to live on with no drama involved.
As she was walking from the suburbs into the outer city she noticed a young boy selling smuggled newspapers from the inner city. No one even touched the newspapers their but guarded them possessively. She fished into her pocket and came up with a small bread crust.
The government claimed to provide ample rations to the unemployed as well as small children. But in truth they provided only a half eaten bread crust to the exceptionally needy. Galena spent her time scavenging for food during the morning to last for the rest of the day. Needless to say she could barely manage to divide the scraps into three meals per day.
She gave the boy the crust and he gladly handed her a newspaper. She scanned the newspaper for job offers and found one man who was prepared to pay a fair wage for some help. As she looked for some more options she read a small passage about the war. Galena had been born before the war started and had learned to read and write. Her sister had not been so lucky, she had been born during a time of famine. All the governments declared war on each other and squabbled over the few resources.
Galena was disgusted by the article and flung the paper away from her. She knew that the only reason the war had started in the first place was because of the foolish rich people living in the inner city. These rich people often had more than five feasts every day just to kill time. They had to travel by powerful winged creatures to compensate for their weight. Their greed was what had brought this war.
"If only they would take a look at the world outside their door," she grumbled.
After a long trek she marched tiredly into the hair stylists shop. She knew one of the men there and she knew he wouldn't take money from her for the job she was about to ask of him. The place was pretty busy around this time so no one paid special attention to her.
Half an hour later a boy walked out of the shop. Underneath the styled hair was the face of a boy, Galena's face to be exact. She had always had a manly face though she was truly a girl. She knew that there was a reason for her often mistaken looks. As a boy she would be allowed to work wherever she needed to. So she walked out of the store in borrowed clothes, and made her way to the nearest place to work, a factory. A dirty, shadowy shape stopped her. It was the manager of the factory.
"You! What's your business here?"
"I want..." she coughed, trying to deepen her voice. "I want to work here."
"You expect me to let a someone like you work here? Ha! You cannot fool me!"
Galena could feel her throat go dry as she breathed in and out. If this man found out her true gender this would be the end for her. Since business wasn't going too well some settled for selling children, particularly young girls. There was some story that an underground goblin-made market had boomed into business. There was no telling what goblins did with the girls after purchase.
"This is a man's work. You..." the man spat at the ground in apparent disgust. "Your voice hasn't even changed yet!"
Galena let out a small sigh of relief. She had fooled the manager. He would let her work since he was short on workers. Many factories hired boys since men were scarce during the war. Galen tried her best not to dwell on the fact her father had been enlisted. Her mother had died while giving birth to her sister, Delilah, as many women did during wartime. The only inhabitants in the town were the unmarried elderly, the businessmen who evaded enlistment and the numerous orphans. As Galena saw it, there was nothing she could do to undo it so there was no need to worry about it.
"I am willing to do a man's work," she said and it wasn't a lie.
"What's your name boy?"
"Galen," she said bowing her head to cover her smirk. "Just Galen."
"Well Galen. Get to work!"
"Yes, sir!"
The task wasn't difficult, just follow what the others were doing and flex some muscles, of which she was not without. She was paid enough to sustain her and her sister rather comfortably. She was happy and cheerful at the start and helped her sister tidy the small room everyday. She bought some clothes and furniture from a grateful merchant. After a while though she began to become tired, irritable, and sloppy. She carelessly forgot to comb her hair, and clean the room. One day, she even forgot to lock the door.
That day, while she was at work, some kidnappers made there way into town. Poor Delilah must have been sewing by the window judging by the discarded cloth on the floor. They saw a pretty young girl, no one else home and a door that was unlocked. That was invitation enough for them to sneak in and snatch her.
When Galena returned home she was greeted by a note: "Time is ticking and death is imminent. Come quickly." Galena raised her safety goggles and stared at the note for a minute.
"Come quickly!" the note urged her.
She didn't waste another minute or stop to change out of her dusty working clothes. She just bolted to the place the note had hinted at, the only place where time did tick in the outer city, the clock tower. Her sister's life was in grave danger and that was all she knew.

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She glanced backward to see if they were following her. She had referred to them as men earlier but they weren't human. They were goblins. Goblins that feasted on human flesh and relished the idea of causing pain and misery. They were smarter than most other magical creatures that humans had come to deal with and twice as terrifying because of it. Why they were here, Galena did not care. She just wanted to get as far away from them as possible.
"Just a while longer Delilah. Just a few more floors to go," Galena whispered, conscious of the sound their rushed descent was making.
She had found her sister unhurt but unconscious at the top of the tower with the goblins nowhere in sight. But their stench could not be mistaken. The stink of the scattered bones of humans and animals alike rotting on the floors was overpowering. Delilah suddenly slipped from her hands and fell on the floor of the landing on a pile of loose bones and carnage.
Galena immediately stooped down and held her in her arms. Her little sister's body felt cold and lifeless. No...this couldn't be happening. Galena panicked underneath her cold composure. How could she be dying? She didn't have any visible wounds. What had the goblins done to Delilah?
Galena heard their skeleton like feet click on the staircase. The clock's cogs sounded behind her and carnage lay before her. Indeed time was ticking and death seemed eminent.
"No..." she said firmly. "It won't end like this." She closed her eyes and held her sister close. She pulled tighter and tighter. "Time can be stopped and death can be reversed." As soon as she spoke these words a warm blue light enveloped her sister. "Heal" Galena whispered. "Heal."
The blue light clung to her sister's form and she felt her heartbeat in time with the clock. Her sister's cheeks grew warm and lost their pale look. The goblins' descent stopped as time stopped and death was reversed. The rich people opened their doors. The people on the battlefields dropped their weapons. The children smiled and the elderly laughed. Trees, and plants blossomed again and food grew aplenty. All the madness, greed, death, and war was all wiped away. The healing hands of one had saved the world.