by Guy Antibes
A woman wrote notes down on the table. Pollen-paper, of course.
“Have you eaten?” Harrison asked Sam.
“No, I was waiting for you.”
“Get something for both of us. I’ll eat it cold when I get the chance. When you’ve finished, join Milla and me at the table.”
Sam bolted down a surprisingly good breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried ham, and fried bread. The warm milk that accompanied it must have been recently drawn from one of the cows in the back. He walked to the table, well-satisfied with the food.
“This is Sam Smith, from Cherryton. He is my helper this year and owns the big dog you might have heard about,” Harrison said to a woman younger than his mother. She looked a little plump, but she had a friendly, open face and a wide smile.
“My children mentioned that. Can they come by and see the beast? They said he is as tall as a man,” the patient said.
“She is as tall as a very little man,” Harrison said.
“A she, eh? I’ll fetch them when we are done.”
“Feel free. Now, what is your complaint?”
Sam listened to the woman’s description of her ailment. It was something rather personal, but Harrison’s gentle smile seemed to settle any trepidation the woman might have felt.
“You didn’t tell me that, Patty.”
The woman blushed. “I, uh,” she stammered a bit more.
“It’s fine, Patty,” Harrison said. “It must be hard to describe something so personal to one of the villagers.”
The woman brightened. “It is.” She looked at Milla, the village healer. “I’m sorry.”
Milla giggled, “Don’t be sorry to me. Sit back against the wall while Harrison and I confer.”
Sam tried to follow what the two healers were saying, but their conversation quickly sped past any medical knowledge Sam had. Harrison wrote something in his notebook while they called the woman over.
Milla prescribed a mixture of herbs to mix with tea to be taken morning and evening, with a warning to see her if anything got worse. The woman managed a smile and bowed to both of them. It was then that Sam noticed the faint shadow of veils over both women’s faces. He made a note of the woman’s clothes in case she returned with her children.
Harrison left the two of them as he attacked his breakfast.
“Will the woman gather her own herbs?” Sam asked.
“She might, but probably not. She has four children, and none of them are in school yet. I imagine she will be by my office to buy the concoction. I have the herbs ready to mix.”
“Harrison said that there are a lot of good herbs around Horner’s Rest.”
“Good herbs and nasty herbs. Mushrooms, too. I’ve shown him plenty of good spots for harvesting. He always needs a good supply for the rest of his tour.” She patted Sam’s hand. “Time for another patient,” she said as Harrison got up from the table, leaving some breakfast uneaten.
Sam observed the next four patients. The woman that Harrison had treated when Sam arrived stuck her head inside the common room and called to him. “Boy, can you show my children your dog now?”
Sam gave her a little wave. “Can I leave for a bit?”
Milla nodded. “Sure. Make sure your dog doesn’t bite the children. If she does, bring them here quickly.”
Sam’s heart leaped to his throat. He didn’t know how Emmy would react to children, but he’d find out soon enough. He walked out the front. The woman had four children lined up behind her.
“Wait here, and I’ll bring Emmy around.” He grabbed Emmy, whose tail wagged hard enough to whip Sam’s midsection. “You are on good behavior, Emmy,” he said as he led Emmy out in front of the inn, holding on to the rope that served as her leash.
Sam patted Emmy on the head as the children reached up to pet the dog. The woman had to hold up her youngest who squealed with delight as she touched Emmy’s nose. The dog licked the little girl’s hand. Her squeal turned into a scream.
Sam looked at the girl. She wiped her wet, slobbery hand on her dress. “Yucky dog,” she said.
The mother ran into the inn. Sam followed her in., with Emmy following.
“Look at what the dog has done to my daughter!” The woman looked distraught. Her distress turned to anger as she did something to Emmy’s face that Sam couldn’t see. Emmy pulled back so hard it was difficult for him to control her. She tried to bark, but couldn’t. The woman had put a pollen covering on his dog’s face.
“She licked Lizzie’s hand,” the oldest boy said.
The woman put her face up to Sam’s. “You let that dog lick my child!” The good-natured woman had disappeared before his eyes, replaced by this angry thing.
Milla stood up along with Harrison.
“Emmy licked the girl’s hand after she put it to the dog’s nose,” Sam said.
Milla looked at the woman. “Did your daughter wash her hands after breakfast?”
“Not that I know of,” the woman said.
“Emmy smelled something good to lick that the girl ate, and that gave you the right to muzzle the dog?”
“Muzzle?” Sam said. He realized that he had asked a question that he shouldn’t have. “Right, a muzzle.”
He put his hand on the dog’s snout and felt something begin to soften. Sam kept his hand there until he could remove what he couldn’t see. “My dog doesn’t like muzzles,” he said. He dropped the invisible restraint on the ground and took Emmy back to the stable and tied her up.
Sam asked for some scraps for his dog and gave Emmy a few treats. “Good girl. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Emmy nuzzled him and barked out something and then nuzzled him again. At least she had forgiven him for putting her in the position of being treated badly. He walked back inside the inn and gave Harrison the story.
“The woman put a muzzle on Emmy. I couldn’t see her do it,” he said out of Milla’s hearing. “I was able to feel it and softened it up enough to pull the thing off.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Harrison said. “Emmy didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not a crime for a dog to lick a hand, at least not in my world.”
The rest of the morning went without an incident. Harrison was so friendly that more patients told him of maladies that they never mentioned to Milla. Perhaps that was one of the purposes of Harrison’s tour, Sam thought.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
T HEY SAT AT THE INN EATING DINNER. Sam wondered about the muzzle. “Can people put restraints on others using pollen?”
“It isn’t polite to do so,” Harrison said. “The constabulary thinks it is dangerous for others to use pollen for restraint, but we are far from any but the local constables. They live in the villages, so their justice is a bit more flexible than it is in a larger town or a city. It’s not unusual for a couple of drunks fighting in a place like this to be bound by other customers to keep them from hurting anyone or destroying property. Pollen is available everywhere, so it’s much faster than fetching a rope or manacles.”
“I never saw such a thing in Cherryton,” Sam said.
“You haven’t been around enough. You’ve seen pollen used as a defense today. Was it easy to remove the muzzle?”
“Very. I held it for a moment until I felt it go soft and slipped the thing off.”
Harrison nodded. “Hastily-made pollen restraints don’t last long and can be easily shorn with a metal knife.”
A skinny man, dressed better than everyone else, strutted into the common room, followed by two armed men, and walked right up to Harrison. He slapped a riding crop on a palm as he stood for a moment glaring at the healer.
“You’ll have to put your dog down,” he said.
Harrison looked at the man evenly. “You must be Mister Bagbox.”
“Lord Bagbox to one such as you.”
“Do you have a patent to be called the village’s lord?” Harrison said. “I’ve been to many places, but not one as small as Horner’s Rest merits a lord.”
“I merit it because I am me,” the man said.
Sam restrained a smile. The man sounded ludicrous.
“But I am me,” Harrison stood slowly in the now-silent common room and said. “It seems we have a ‘me’ problem. Regardless of your desire, Mister Bagbox, I will not put down my associate’s dog for licking a child’s hand when she put her hand to the dog’s nose. If my associate’s animal had bitten the little girl, then I might be able to see your point. Do you not like dogs? Big dogs?”
Gone was the amiability that Harrison displayed during the day. Sam was looking at Harrison, the soldier.
“You arrogant…” Bagbox raised his riding crop.
“I have the right to defend myself,” Harrison said grabbing Bagbox’s wrist. “I am warning you, I am good at doing so if provoked.”
“I have two men behind me that will be doing the provoking if you don’t agree to destroy the dog.”
“Why are you making such a demand?” Harrison asked.
“My supervisor is the child’s father.”
“Did your supervisor tell you that his wife specifically asked my associate if he would show his dog to her children?”
“She did?” Bagbox said with a tiny crack in his arrogance.
“I was there,” one of the men in the common room said. “The boy agreed to let the children pet his dog. You are the one who is in a place that isn’t particularly safe.” There were mumblings of agreement in the room.
It was as if the man had just noticed the other villagers in the common room for the first time.
“I will check on the matter further,” he said, looking into Harrison’s eyes, “if you would let go of my hand.”
Harrison did. Bagbox slammed the riding crop on the table before turning around and leaving with his guards. The healer bowed to the man who had defended Emmy.
“Thank you all for your assistance.” The men and women in the common room applauded Harrison.
“About time someone stood up to Bagbox,” one of them said.
The innkeeper walked to their table. “I am sorry for Bagbox’s behavior.”
“I would like to ask permission for the dog to sleep with us tonight. I don’t want any of Bagbox’s men injured tonight as they try to kill Emmy.”
The innkeeper’s eyes grew. “They would try such a thing?”
“You know Bagbox better than I, but I don’t think the facts matter much to a man like that,” Harrison said.
The innkeeper nodded. “I have two stable boys who sleep outside guarding my livestock. I don’t want them hurt protecting any of my animals. I agree. You can bring the dog in.”
“I’m done with dinner,” Sam said. He ran out and brought Emmy to their room via the back stairway.
The dog jumped on Sam’s bed and settled in. There wasn’t any room for him, so he grabbed his blanket and pillow and made do on the floor.
Harrison entered the room not too much later.
“You aren’t drinking tonight?”
The healer shook his head. “Not tonight. What is Emmy doing on your bed?”
“She jumped up. There isn’t any room for me.”
Harrison sighed. “That is no way to train a dog. Emmy will understand. Order her off your bed, and she should obey. If you don’t, you’ll spoil your dog, and she won’t follow your command if she doesn’t want to.”
“Oh. I’ve never had a dog before.” Sam got up, clutching his blanket and pillow. “Off my bed, Emmy,” he said, pointing to the floor.
Emmy rose from the bed and walked off, licking Sam’s pointing hand and circling before lying down. She raised her head, panting with a smile on her face. Sam patted her head.
“Good girl,” he said as he reclaimed his spot. Sam looked at Harrison. “It worked.”
“Your dog is bonded to you and sees you as her master. Don’t make it the reverse,” the healer said before turning in.
~
Another day brought another set of patients, except these were those who were identified during his first day of talking to so many people in the village. Harrison and Sam walked around the village pounding on the sick people’s doors without Milla in attendance. All of them were men.
“So this is how it works,” Harrison said to Sam as they walked through the village. “Some men refuse to see a female healer. The problem is that many of the healers in our villages are women.”
“So you visit the bashful ones?” Sam asked, but he knew the answer.
“Exactly. We will only be able to see a few, but you can observe my technique,” Harrison said.
His smile held a trace of arrogance. Perhaps arrogance mixed with over-confidence? thought Sam. They would find out together.
The first door opened. Sam took a half-step back at the stench emanating from the cottage. Did the man never use the privy?
Harrison acted as if he didn’t notice. “Esra Bounty?”
“That’s me,” The old man had a full white beard that seemed more yellow with the dirt and the grease. He also wore pollen clothing, but the clothes were so soiled that Sam could see the dirty, emaciated body, with sores all over his skin only faintly through a haze of filth. The man trembled as he held onto the door.
“Did your cat die recently?” Harrison asked.
The old man shook his head. “Not recently.”
Harrison barged his way in. There was more than one dead cat in the one-room cottage.
“You need to come outside with me,” Harrison said. “I am an officer of the Toraltian Health Ministry. We can’t allow dead animals decomposing in the open air.”
The man looked hurt. “But they are my friends,” Esra said.
“They always will be, in your heart,” the healer said.
“Really?”
“Havetta has declared it,” Harrison said.
“Then I’ll come outside with you.”
Esra stepped outside. His feet were nearly the same color as the dirt he stood on.
Harrison took the man a little further out from the house. “I want you to drink this and tell me how it tastes.” He gave Esra a little vial.
“It has alcohol in it,” the old man said smiling.
“And a little something to give it an extra kick.”
In a moment, the old man collapsed to the ground.
“He has sores all over his body,” Sam said, looking at the comatose man.
“I figured as much.” The healer made something out of pollen and took out his tinderbox. The torch, if that was what it was, blossomed into a ball of flame that Harrison tossed into the cottage. “I will submit the paperwork to Milla later today. There is just too much disease in the house. Don’t touch old Esra, here. His sores might be contagious, and I’m afraid what he has may soon be fatal.”
Milla showed up with a group of men.
“Don’t touch him. Wrap him up in pollen cloth and put him someplace where he can be cleaned and die peacefully. He probably has a few weeks at most. If you bathe him, do it away from the village and use pollen cloth for protection. Burn the protection.”
After a pollen tarp had been produced, the men rolled Esra onto it. Four of the men plus Milla took him away. The others stood and watched the cottage burn.
“We’ve done all we can do,” Harrison said. He picked up the vial from the ground by inserting a twig in the opening and then tossed it inside the burning cottage.
“That was exciting,” Sam said.
“More to come.” Harrison crooked his finger, and Sam obediently followed.
None of the other patients were as challenging as Esra Bounty. A few of the men had picked up various diseases and injuries that they didn’t want their wives to know about. Harrison dispensed herbs, re-opened festering wounds, and gave medical advice to six more men, including the shopkeeper who had given the healer a few of his patients, including Esra, a grand-uncle.
“Three days,” Harrison said that night at dinner. “Not bad, except for Esra. That is a tragic case, but he’s n
ot the first who lived with a corpse. Cats are worse disease carriers than humans.”
“Humans?” Sam said nearly spitting out his dinner.
Harrison nodded. “There aren’t too many people who live outside the village in Horner’s Rest, and Milla is good about caring for those, so it looks like we are free to harvest herbs tomorrow. I’m sure Emmy is eager for a run.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
S AM ADJUSTED THE SWORD AT HIS WAIST. His wand was on the other side of the belt in its sheath. Harrison decided to wear a weapon as well.
“You never know who will show up to help you pick the weeds,” the healer said as they rode two horses with rented saddles. “Make sure you protect Emmy.”
As they traveled through the hilly woods, Harrison often stopped to step off the trail and search for herbs. He made Sam draw the plants and write down identifying characteristics on separate pages, so he could go over what the herbs were for when they returned to the inn.
The sky began to darken. Sam looked up. It brought back faint memories of that fateful day when he had lost his magic. Thunder pealed in the distance as they heard shouts behind them. Four mounted men called on Harrison to stop.
“Not here,” the healer said. “Farther up the trail.”
Harrison picked up speed, and Sam, who hadn’t exactly made a habit out of riding horses, struggled to follow. Their pursuers gained on him. Emmy ran beside as they continued.
“The rock.” Harrison rode towards a rock formation.
It seemed like the rocks were tilting this way and that. Harrison vaulted off his horse and began the telltale signs of manipulating pollen. Sam drew his wand and pulled off the golden tip, revealing the filed point.
“We want the dog,” one of the mounted riders said. “Then we just want to beat you up a little, Lord Bagbox’s orders.”
“No to both. All three of us carry a sting of one sort or another,” Harrison said as he stood over Emmy, putting on some kind of armor. Sam couldn’t see any of it.
The four men dismounted. Emmy barked and then growled. Her sounds even scared Sam.
They spread out and approached. None of them could get behind Harrison and Sam since the healer had chosen a rock wall to reduce the fighting ground. Sam gripped his sword. The heat of the day made him sweat, and the impending storm made the air clammy. A flash of wind chilled him, but he took a deep breath.
