Bonesetter

by Laurence Dahners

  Tando was looking on with a puzzled expression. “Pell, why would you try to help Denit anyway?”

  “I… I’m not sure… but we shouldn’t just let him die, should we?” Pell said looking around at the others.

  Tando shrugged. “I would.”

  Boro, however, said in a venomous tone, “Yes! Why not? He would watch you die with delight. He has never helped anyone, he only brings misery!”

  Pell knelt himself to listen to Denit’s chest. Pushing aside some dirty furs and leaning his ear against Denit’s ribs, he found himself looking past a few curly hairs at the other’s feet. Yes, he could hear a heartbeat, no breathing, but an irregular, faint heartbeat. He looked up at Denit’s face. It was even duskier than before.

  Gia returned to say that Agan knew of nothing that could be done to help someone who wasn’t breathing, “They all die,” she said simply, then turned to examine Roley and Belk again.

  Not knowing what else to do, Pell followed her to look at them as well. No longer thrashing, Roley now quivered rigidly. Gia knelt to feel his bloody scalp, “His skull is broken here,” she said. “Does your trick work for broken skulls?” She looked up at Pell, her clear gray eyes curious.

  “Uh… I don’t think so. Just for bones that are shaped like sticks.” He also knelt and examined Roley’s bloody head. He felt a soft area in the hair. Just as Pell probed the soft area, Roley threw up, or at least he heaved up and his mouth filled with something that smelled like vomit usually did.

  “Oh no!” Gia exclaimed. She reached into his mouth to try to scoop the vomitus out but, like the rest of his muscles, his jaw was clenched rigidly shut. Then he heaved again, vomit spewing out his nose. Shortly his breathing became severely labored. Saying, “This one will die soon too,” Gia turned to walk over to Belk.

  Pell was aghast, thinking to himself that Roley had thrown up just after he had touched the soft spot in his skull. Perhaps it was his fault if Roley died? Well of course it was his fault! He’d set the trap! But somehow that was different than killing him while trying to help him. He wondered if anyone else had noticed that it happened at the same time as he was probing Roley’s skull. Was it because he had pressed in? He tugged uncertainly on the hair over the area that had been crushed inward by the rock, trying to pull the depressed area back out. Nothing good happened; in fact Roley’s breathing became more and more labored. Pell thought frantically that there must be some way to help him breath—but for the life of him, he didn’t know what it would be.

  He looked around for Gia. She knelt by Belk, probing at his back. Pell thought to ask her if anything could be done for Roley, but remembered that she had already checked with Agan and that they had concluded that nothing could be done for someone who wasn’t breathing. Pell looked back over at Denit who was now a dark dusky blue. Denit laid unmoving, open eyes staring up at the sky, head tilted at that odd angle. He certainly looked much the same as other dead people that Pell had seen in the past. Durr had looked that way when Pell had found his body, ages ago. Though Durr hadn’t had the blue coloration. Roley continued to make little heaving motions, as if to get a breath, but no air seemed to be passing in or out of his nose or mouth. Foul smelling vomit surged in and out when he heaved, but that was all. Pell distantly noted that Roley was turning blue as well. He thought to himself, Tando’s not going to think so much of “Pell the healer” now! As he considered his impending loss of recognition he thought that he should be grateful—not to have everyone expecting so much of him.

  Deep inside though, he realized that he truly enjoyed having people respecting him for something. Years of ridicule for his poor hunting skills had left him with a deep hunger for peoples’ admiration. He dreaded losing it. After a moment he mentally cursed himself for worrying about his impending loss of respect—Roley and Denit were dying for spirits’ sake! He should be worrying about them.

  Gia called Pell over to inspect the huge bruise on Belk’s right mid and lower back. “I think it’s below his ribs. Do you think that he could have broken ribs anyway? If they are broken can you put them back in place? Ribs are shaped like sticks aren’t they?”

  Gia had been palpating the bruised area gently. She clearly expected Pell to feel it also, but Pell, fearing an event like the one that had occurred when he had probed Roley’s skull, could not bring himself to touch Belk. He looked carefully at the swollen, bruised area. Not yet black and blue, it appeared pink and had abrasions in the center of the area. Pell felt his own back. “Yes, I too think it’s below his ribs. Anyway my trick wouldn’t work for ribs; I couldn’t get a grip on them to try to straighten them out.” He glanced back over at the stricken Roley, noting with despair that Roley appeared to have stopped his heaving attempts to breath.

  Gontra squatted down next to Belk. “Remember Belk, I said that we shouldn’t try to attack Pell? I said he controlled powerful spirits.”

  Belk grunted. “You only said it to me though.”

  “Yeah,” he snorted, “like Denit ever listened to anyone else anyway.” He looked up, “Pell can you call again to the ‘Trap’ Spirit that loosed the rocks down on us? Ask it to help Belk here. Belk isn’t your enemy. I swear it. He and I were only here because Denit told us we had to come.”

  Pell was startled once again by this misinterpretation. “It wasn’t a spirit! It was only a trap. A trap is… is a tool… like a spear… or a basket. It does what you make it to do. But I didn’t mean for it to do this.”

  “Yes, well… could you ask your tool to help Belk?”

  In astonishment a bewildered Pell looked over at Tando who, to his further consternation said, “I think you should Pell. Belk is a good man. I’m sure he wouldn’t have come raiding if Denit hadn’t bullied him into it.”

  Pell’s perplexity rose even higher. Did Tando believe in a “trap spirit” too? Or did he just think that Pell should go through the motions of calling on it to raise their standing in the Aldans’ eyes? Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be too bad an idea for them to fear his control of the “spirits.” Finally he shrugged and said, “All right.” Then in a deeper voice he called out, “Hayuuh, hayuuh, hayuuh, oh great Trap Spirit. Hayuuh, hayuuh, hayuuh, Belk is a good man. Belk is a friend of mine. Hayuuh, hayuuh, hayuuh, I didn’t intend for you to strike Belk down. Just Denit and Roley. Hayuuh, hayuuh, hayuuh, please help Belk to get better. Hayuuh, hayuuh, hayuuh.” Pell sat back feeling pleased with himself. Then he thought that, if Belk died anyway, calling on the “Trap Spirit” to raise their prestige was going to backfire. Oh well, Belk had already been looking better before Pell called on the “Spirit.” Maybe it would work out. Then he realized he had just used one of Pont’s despicable strategies. He felt sick at having violated his own principles.

  Sure enough, Belk rolled over onto his hands and knees, then slowly stood up, holding his own back. “Thanks Pell, it’s feeling better already.”

  Astonished, Pell looked around at the big noose trap where it hung against the Cliffside, wondering if a Trap Spirit might actually exist?

  Gia turned to Pell. “What should Belk do now?”

  Pell was surprised again. Why was she asking him? Surely Gia knew more about these problems than he did. He looked around. Everyone was looking at him like he knew what to do! Uh, I’m not sure, what would you suggest?”

  “Hmm, well, Agan and I usually have someone who has been hurt lie down to rest. We could make him a willowbark tea for the pain.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s a very good idea. Why don’t we take him back up to the cave and let him lie down.” Soon the group was headed back up to the cave. At the door, Tando stopped everyone, asking what to do about Denit and Roley, who at that point were obviously dead. After conferring briefly, Agan detailed Gontra, Tando, Manute and Deltin to move the bodies across to the other side of the clearing. Pell had expected that he would be assigned to this duty as well. He felt tremendous relief at not being delegated to moving them, as he didn’t want to go near the bodies again.

 
Then Pell found out that he hadn’t been assigned to move the bodies because everyone seemed to believe he was needed to care for Belk! Though he didn’t have anything to offer, he was so relieved at not having to touch the dead that he refrained from saying anything.

  But then guilt surged through him again—after all, it was his fault they were dead! He turned. “I should help with the bodies. I’ll be back to check on Belk.”

  He went back out after the others, oblivious to the awed stares and whispers of those remaining in the cave. They were unsure whether he was going to oversee the proper handling of the bodies, or perhaps intended to consign Denit and Roley’s spirits to some dark place. However, in awe, they all felt his intention to supervise the unpleasant task of handling the bodies to be another portent of his power.

  After talking to the members of the Cold Springs tribe Agan decided to call off their move for now. The major danger they had feared was gone. Tando had made a brief detour to check part of the trap lines during his trip away from camp and brought in a groundhog and a rabbit. The others shook their heads over his “usual good luck with small game” and settled in to cook it. The mood threatened to become celebratory, but could not with Gontra and Belk, members of the decimated Aldans, in their midst. Then Belk limped out to pass his urine and returned trembling in fear because it was a dark bloody red. Pell feared that he would be expected to know what to do for this ailment as well, but Agan had apparently treated several people with blood in their urine in the past. She immediately began brewing large quantities of tea and urging him to drink it all. This apparently helped. After drinking large volume of liquid he soon began needing to go out frequently to pee. As he did so his urine thinned and became less bloody.

  While they talked over their evening meal, the Cold Springs group’s spirits were high with their fears of being raided gone. Gontra however, became morose. Part way through the meal Pell looked up to see tears running down Gontra’s face. He asked, “Are you sad that Denit and Roley are dead, Gontra?”

  Tears continued to roll down Gontra’s face and he simply stared into the fire. For a while Pell thought that he might not respond. Eventually he did speak though and when he did speak, the words poured out, more than Pell had ever before heard at one time from the taciturn Gontra. “No, Denit, and even Roley have been causing nothing but trouble since before you left. It’s been getting worse and worse. But our tribe! We were down to just six hunters and were having trouble getting enough meat. Now we have only four. Belk is hurt, Pont has never been any good as a hunter and my son Exen is young. I hope that Exen will be a better hunter in a year or two, but Denit had been leading him astray for so long. You know that a young hunter should constantly practice his throwing to become good and Exen hasn’t practiced much at all. Certainly, I haven’t been able to teach him much lately because of Denit’s influence. We have six women and four children to feed this winter and no one has built up much fat this summer because of the poor hunting we have had following Denit. If we don’t have a couple of lucky hunts soon, especially right before the frost, many of the Aldans will die this winter. I know that your little tribe here is also too small and so facing the same thing, but I’ve never been this close to winter and in such bad shape before. The women have done well storing grain and roots, Denit didn’t affect them much, but you know we need meat or people will get sick. I’ve lost children before in the winter, even when we had more food than we do this year. I can’t bear to think about losing my little Tila. I had thought that she was old enough to survive and so I’ve come to let myself love her too much.

  But, Tila’s already thin at the beginning of the great cold! I’m afraid everyone’s going to expect me to lead now that Denit and Roley are gone and I don’t think I can solve these problems. But, even if I fear leading myself, I don’t want Pont to lead; he’s too addled from chewing hemp. Maybe if Belk recovers well, he can lead us, but I don’t think that Belk can find us meat that just the four of us can hunt successfully either. I don’t know what to do… I just don’t know what to do… I don’t know.... For a while there I had thought that Denit had a good idea, asking Tando to rejoin us, especially when we heard that you had other hunters here—maybe a couple of big hunts would set us up. But of course, Denit had to screw it all up and try to attack you. He was sure that you were hiding a bunch of that meat that doesn’t rot. You know, like you were trading at the marketplace? I asked him how he thought you would have gotten all of the meat and he didn’t know, ‘I just know they have it’ he said. I told him we should wait until Tando got back, but he wanted to have the meat already in our possession, ‘Then Tando will have to join us,’ he said…. Denit! He always wanted to do everything by fighting! Spirits!”

  Gontra’s monologue had been delivered flatly, almost, it seemed without emotion. But for the tears that continued streaming sluggishly down his face and the mild exclamations as he ran down at the end, he might have been recounting a sad story from years ago.

  Several times, while Gontra was speaking, Pell glanced around to see how the others were taking it. Boro, like Pell himself, had seemed angry during the parts where Gontra had thought it reasonable that they try to get Tando to join the Aldans, presumably leaving Pell and Boro to fend for themselves. The others seemed upset that they, like Pell, had not considered that their good fortune in the death of Roley and Denit bode ill for the other members of the Aldans, especially the hapless women and children of the tribe. Pell thought back on the mind numbing grief that came every winter when it seemed that at least one babe or child would die. The same winter as his father had died; Pell’s baby sister had also passed into the spirit world, though to Pell, the significance of the baby’s death paled in comparison to the agony he had felt over his father.

  No one had said a word when Gontra suddenly shook himself and stood up. “I have to get back to the tribe. Pont is probably nearly there, and he’ll cause all kinds of trouble.” He looked over at the sleeping Belk, “I’ll come back to get Belk in a day or two.”

  Tando grabbed his hand, “You can’t go now, it’s dark. Sit back down—we’ll make plans tonight. You can go in the morning.” Tando and some of the others laughed nervously. Pell wondered if they thought Gontra might actually go.

  Gontra pulled his hand away, “No. I need to go now. Pont will be there soon. He’ll tell Tonday and Lenta that Belk and I are dead along with Roley and Denit. Belk’s kids too, they’re old enough to understand. Thank the spirit that little Tila is too young. For that matter, he’s probably been bending my boy Exen’s mind the entire trip back. As if it wasn’t bent enough from hanging around with Denit all the time. Just telling the truth to Roley’s wives will be bad enough. Having Pont tell them will really foul it up… I should go now.” He was practically muttering by the end, his eyes darting about.

  Pell was dumbfounded; he really was going to go! “Gontra! You can’t go! It’s dark and there’s no moon tonight! Stay tonight. I’ll go with you tomorrow.”

  Gontra stared at Pell a moment, then his eyes dropped. He sat back down and muttered, “OK.”

  When he had told Gontra to stay, Pell had fully expected him to reject the idea, just as Gontra had when Tando told him to stay. In fact, as he thought on it, he realized he only told him to stay because he felt like he should, not because he expected to be obeyed.

  With dismay, Pell realized that he didn’t want to go with Gontra to the old cave. Especially, as their killer, to tell everyone of the deaths of Roley and Denit. Particularly Roley’s wives, Fellax and Ontru. He didn’t want to face the healer either. Nor Exen. Why had Gontra obeyed Pell’s demands after rejecting Tando’s pleas? How had Pell gotten himself into this?

  He was still pondering these questions when he fell asleep much later that night. Was there a way to honorably get out of the promised trip? Maybe Gontra had acceded to his request to stay without really expecting Pell to go with him in the morning?

  Pell startled awake in the dark to a hand on his should
er. “Pell. It’ll be light soon. Let’s go. I want to get there before Pont has everyone too upset.”

  Spirit! Thought Pell, He really does want me to go! “OK Gontra,” he groaned, “give me a little time.”

  Pell built the fire up a little, balancing the waking of the others against their joy at having a warm cave when morning came. He began digging around for his traveling supplies. Gontra followed him about the cave, unable to help with Pell’s preparations and pestering him with whispered questions about why they couldn’t just go. Pell was alternately annoyed, then puzzled by what seemed to him to be childishness. Surely, Gontra recognized the value of planning and preparation? As he thought on it, he recognized that his old memories of Gontra were full of impetuosness. In fact the same could be said for most of the men of the tribe. Even their hunts had little preparation, just a simple “let’s go out and kill something” decision that initiated the hunt. When they found game, there would be a brief planning session around the best way to surround and kill it. Pell hadn’t found that too surprising when he lived with them, but since he had begun living on his own, he realized that he had taken to planning everything. He had had to, to have even a chance of surviving. Now, to his inner amusement, he recognized that he found the behavior of the Aldans’ adult members immature. Even more, he was beginning to realize that he had always thought of the adults in the Aldans as being intelligent—they had certainly known more than Pell the child did. But now he was being confronted with the fact that he just didn’t think Gontra was very bright. Had the stress of the previous day’s events reduced Pell to a less accepting state? Or was Pell just now assessing Gontra’s intelligence from the vantage point that a period of separation had given him? It made him think of the others, even those in his new tribe. Many of them had difficulty grasping Pell’s ideas, even after he explained them repeatedly. Then when they saw those ideas in action they often thought them the result of magic, or spirits. Maybe they never did or ever would understand how Pell’s devices worked?