The Shadow of Black Rock

by John W Fort

CHAPTER 22

  Raef woke up the next sunrise not feeling well. The other greenlings did not look well either, eyes barely open and groaning frequently, but they got up right away and began to dress. Raef sat up and felt nearly ill. He belched and tasted sausages and ale. Too much sausages and ale, he imagined. Raef could hear someone on the other side of the curtain. It sounded like someone was placing a pot on the table.

  “Get up, hurry!” said Mijo, the youngest besides Raef. “Neena gets her stick out if we don’t wake right away.”

  Raef pulled his feet out of bed and was surprised when his feet fell below him before hitting the floor. That’s right, he remembered, this bed was raised off the floor. He stood and removed his night robe and reached for his clothes. He smiled as he picked up his new shirt. He liked wearing well fitting clothes each time he reached a new season. As soon as he laced up his second shoe the curtain was pulled open and all the greenlings moved to the table. A man, who Raef assumed was the Dormer, was stoking the fire as Neena poured something into bowls.

  Raef joined the others all around the long table and Neena pushed a bowl of porridge in his direction. He grabbed for a spoon, but there was none. The other greenlings had spoons and were eating.

  “Where is my spoon?” asked Raef.

  “You did not bring your own?” asked Neena.

  “I…I thought there would be one here.”

  “Certainly you were given a spoon at birth, young master Raef,” said Neena.

  “No, Raef’s family eat with their hands,” said Xoh, one of the greenlings.

  “I did not think to bring it with me,” said Raef.

  A couple of the greenlings giggled. Neena gave them a stern look.

  “Well, you will just have to make do this sunrise. Be sure to fetch your spoon by mid sun meal, you will need it.”

  Raef stared at his bowl. He didn’t know what to do. It would be rude to pick it up and drink from it. The other greenlings ate and watched him. He shrugged and waited for Neena to turn around, then picked up his bowl and drank some porridge. His face scrunched up at the taste. It was not as good as his mother’s. Kommel let out a muffled laugh. Neena spun around and swatted him on the back with her switch.

  “Ow!” said Kommel, “Sorry, sorry.”

  “You greenlings will grow to be courteous young men,” said Neena, swatting Kommel on the head with the palm of her hand, “or you won’t make it out of this dormery alive.”

  Raef could tell she was joking. Sort of. But she had obviously lied about not beating them. Raef finished, put his robe on and left for the Keep. Once in the Keep he went to the cleansing room that contained the pedestal and ceremonial washing bowl. Raef walked to the silver washbasin in the center of the little room and performed the New Leaf washing ritual. He had not done so back in the dormery because such rituals were not for the lower Intercessors to see. Then he went to the entry hall, removed the key from its hook on the wall and left the Keep. When he arrived at the Ceremonial Lodge to unlock it the other apprentices were there waiting, each wearing a sand-colored robe, the garment worn by all Intercessor apprentices. All apprentices not destined to be Keepers.

  “She will give you a few sun’s journeys, maybe a whole cycle, before she starts beating you as well,” said Denol.

  “Do not ever cross her, I mean really cross her,” said Mijo.

  “I crossed her once,” said Breem, “I could not sit for three sunsets after that beating!”

  The greenlings laughed. Raef smiled weakly and unlocked the door. Raef led the greenlings into the lodge to fetch the fir branches. Armed with branches they exited the lodge and formed two lines of three, with room to pass between for the men and greenlings who would soon arrive. Denol and Breem stood across from each other, closest to the door as they were the eldest. Next were Xoh and Kommel and finally Raef who stood across from Mijo. All smiles and fidgeting stopped when the Keepers arrived.

  After sunrise homage Raef locked the Ceremonial Lodge door and went to the Keep to return the key. Dimmel was waiting for him in the entry hall.

  “What am I to do this sun’s journey?” asked Raef as he handed Dimmel the key.

  “You are to report to Keeper Folor who is serving in the Healing Lodge.”

  “And after mid sun meal?”

  Dimmel furrowed his brow quizzically at Raef.

  “Am I to continue serving at the stable after mid sun meals?”

  “No, apprentice Raef. You have served in all the areas of Intercessor life and, since you have entered the seasons of greenlings, you will only apprentice under a Keeper from now on.”

  Raef smiled, “Yes, Keeper Dimmel.”

  Raef turned and left the Keep, trying to control his excitement and not skip like a youngling. Raef walked to the other side of the Ceremonial Lodge where the Healing Lodge was located. He entered the door to the long structure. He looked down the long rows of beds, mostly empty he noticed, but did not see his father. Raef walked to the Healer, a short, balding man who wore an earthy woolen robe.

  “Have you seen my…uh…Keeper Folor?”

  “Keeper Folor has not yet arrived,” said the Healer, his bushy gray eyebrows lifting.

  Raef turned and left the lodge. He paused outside. It was not like his father to be late anywhere, especially if it was related to his service as Keeper. Raef began walking east down the street leading to his father’s home. When he was nearly there he stopped. Folor would not be home. He had already come to sunrise homage, there would be no reason for him to return home again until mid sun meal. Raef turned again and headed back to the Ceremonial Lodge. Perhaps Folor was in the Keep. Raef walked to the Keep and entered. He heard no one, but searched each room to be sure. A couple of scribes were working in the back room, but Folor was nowhere to be found. The only other Intercessor structure was the stables, but Raef could not imagine why Folor would go there. Then he remembered; the apothecary, of course! Folor might have gone to the apothecary, where herbal remedies are prepared for the ill. Raef walked faster around the Ceremonial Lodge once more to reach the kitchen and apothecary on the south side. Raef entered the main door, walked through the kitchen and found his father mashing herbs in a clay mortar while two younger herbalists, who looked very nervous, brought herbs and stood by fidgeting.

  “Raef, where in all the Province have you been!” said Folor.

  Raef blushed. His father was to refer to him as “apprentice Raef” in front of others.

  “Keeper Folor, I went to the Healing Lodge as instructed.”

  “Apprentice Raef,” said Folor, “why would I go to the Healing Lodge before first preparing the remedy?”

  “I, I did not know you were going to the Healing Lodge to apply a remedy.”

  “For the love of the spirits, why else would I go to the Healing Lodge?”

  Raef stood silently as Folor mashed the herbs forcefully with a stone pestle. The two herbalists stepped back and looked at the floor.

  “Now that you have finally graced us with your presence, fetch me some lungwort.”

  Raef looked at the herbalists who lifted their palms upward and shook their heads.

  “I do not think there is any lungwort in the apothecary,” said Raef.

  Folor stopped mashing and glared at Raef.

  “Why would I ask you to fetch lungwort if there were already some in the apothecary! You are an apprentice, and seasoned at that. Go to the herb garden!”

  Raef turned and ran out the door. He could feel his face burning. He walked the short distance to the herb garden and looked down the neat rows of plants. He could not remember. He had served in the herb garden, yet another task he was not good at, but he had never learned the names of the herbs. He knew lemon balm, with roundish, well-veined leaves, and he was fairly certain marjoram was the lacey-leaved plant, but he could not remember which of the other plants was lungwort. Raef stood and stared at the garden, feeling panicked. There were four other kinds besides the two he knew. He grabbed two sprigs of
a plant with small oval leaves and ran back to the apothecary. Folor was still grinding herbs, now nearly a paste. Raef held out the plant. Folor stopped and looked. His face turned red.

  “Apprentice Raef,” Folor said slowly, “that is fever few. Have you learned nothing in the three seasons you have served as apprentice?”

  “I…I don’t know what…”

  “Lungwort is the plant with leaves shaped like LUNGS! It is the easiest of all herbs to identify!”

  Raef turned and ran out of the building and back to the herb garden. His father had never yelled at him in front of others before.

  “Lungs, lungs, why can’t I remember something so simple!” Raef said to himself.

  He easily spotted the lungwort and picked several sprigs, then returned to his father’s side in the apothecary. Folor took the leaves without speaking, dropped them into the mortar, and began grinding them to paste with the pestle.

  “More oil,” said Folor.

  One of the herbalists rapidly snatched a clay pitcher from a nearby table and handed it to Raef. The herbalist gave Raef an empathetic smile.

  “Pour a little in for me,” said Folor.

  Raef paused. He did not want to do the pouring. He would make a mistake for sure. He held the pitcher over the mortar and gently poured a thin trickle.

  “More, more than that, Raef.”

  Raef tipped the pitcher to increase the stream of oil.

  “That is enough,” said Folor.

  Raef pulled the pitcher to his chest and watched his father grind the oil and herbs into a greenish brown paste. Folor put the stone pestle down and picked up the mortar.

  “Come, apprentice Raef,” said Folor.

  Raef followed his father out of the apothecary and kitchen, around the Ceremonial Lodge and to the Healing Lodge. They entered and Folor paused. One of the healing assistants noticed them and came to them.

  “Healer Nonim is this way, Keeper Folor,” said the assistant.

  They were led down a row of beds to the Healer who Raef had met earlier. The short, balding man bowed.

  “I will show you to the man I spoke of two sunsets past,” said the Healer.

  Nonim lead Folor and Raef through the rows of beds until they came to a very ill looking man. He was sweating profusely and was wheezing loudly. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

  “We have given him lungwort each sunrise, yet he does not improve.”

  Folor bent over the ill man and opened his mouth to look inside.

  “Additional herbs are needed for this kind of illness,” said Folor.

  “As you say, Keeper Folor,” said Nonim.

  Folor took a large pinch of the herbal mash and put it in the ill man’s mouth. The ill man made a sour face.

  “You must eat it,” said Folor.

  The man swallowed, with difficulty, and Healer Nonim gave him a cup of water to drink. Then Folor handed the mortar to Raef and turned the man onto his chest, moving him so his head leaned off the bed.

  “Keeper Folor,” said Nonim, “laying on his chest makes it difficult for him to breathe.”

  “It is necessary,” said Folor.

  Then Folor pulled the man’s shirt up, exposing his back, and began clapping his flat palm against the ill man’s back. One of the assistant healers came to see what the noise was. Folor moved his hand a little before each strike, slowly covering the ill man’s entire back with dull slaps. The ill man began to cough.

  “Bring a pot,” said Folor.

  Nonim motioned to the assistant, who stepped quickly away, then returned with a shallow clay pot.

  “Put it under him on the floor,” said Folor.

  The assistant healer placed the pot on the floor under the ill man’s face. The ill man coughed violently and spit out a yellowish liquid. Raef found it vile and had to look away. Folor continued slapping the man’s back until he stopped coughing.

  “You may turn him over now,” said Folor. “Give him more of the herbal mixture each sunrise and perform the back remedy sunrise, mid sun, and sunset.”

  The Healer and assistant got the man on his back again and covered him with a blanket. The man closed his eyes and appeared to be going to sleep.

  “As you wish, Keeper Folor,” said Ninom.

  Folor turned and walked towards the door. Raef followed, confused by what he had seen inside the Healing Lodge.

  “How do you know what herbs to give him?” Raef asked, “You are not a Healer.”

  “When I was in Krellit, the city of learning, I studied with the Master Healers for three seasons.”

  “But, father, I thought you studied with the Cloudsmen in Krellit.”

  “I did, for two seasons before I studied with the Master Healers.”

  “Why did Healer Ninom not know what to do for the ill man?”

  “Ninom learned his skills from the Healer before him. He did not study in Krellit. In fact, I do not believe anyone in Fir Hollow has even been to Krellit, much less studied in the great City of Learning.”

  Raef had more questions for his father. How had he become a Keeper? How long had Folor lived in Krellit? How did he end up in a small village like Fir Hollow? But Raef decided not to ask any other questions. He was not certain of his father’s patience for such things at the moment.

  Raef followed his father on his rounds until mid sun meal. Raef took a brief trip to his old home to retrieve his spoon. After mid sun meal Raef went back to assisting Keeper Dimmel. Dimmel released Raef when the sun reached three quarters sky, but the other Intercessor apprentices had service yet to do. Raef realized there might be time to visit the dragon and began to head towards the forest. He stopped short, remembering his oath to himself that he would cease visiting the dragon upon becoming a greenling.

  Raef began pacing back and forth. He could not imagine not seeing Rail again. He had not even said goodbye to it. Raef put his hands on top of his head as he continued pacing. He was a greenling now, and living in the dormery, an Intercessor dormery at that. He began to feel a bit panicked. He did not think he could stop visiting Rail, not yet.

  He didn’t really feel much different than he had as a youngling. He had imagined something would change when he reached thirteen seasons. Alas, he felt no different at all. He did not feel nearly a man as greenling were supposed to be. He still wanted to play ball and tag, though those were youngling games. He was not a man, after all. No, he reasoned, he was not a man at all. He was, perhaps, not the youngling he had been, but he was still quite young. He had just thirteen seasons, and barely that.

  Perhaps he had been wrong, vowing no to visit the dragon after he reached thirteen seasons. Perhaps a greenling did not have too many seasons to visit the dragon. DeAlsím and Rocecé had visited the dragon often as greenling. Yes, Raef reasoned, he could wait until he was a man to stop seeing the dragon. A small, barely perceptible tinge of unease flittered in the back of Raef’s mind, but he brushed it aside.

  Raef started for the forest, then paused. He turned in the direction of his old home and walked toward it. When he neared the house, he went behind it, along the forest edge, and walked past his old home. Behind the next house a youngling was playing, apparently fighting some imaginary foe. The youngling noticed Raef and paused.

  “Ho, Raef!”

  “Ho, Nilo. Would you like to come into the forest with me?”

  Nilo looked into the forest, appearing to be deep in thought. After several moments of silence, he looked up at Raef again, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. The youngling’s face slowly relaxed and became expressionless. Nilo nodded and followed Raef into the trees.