Healing the Town

The road is rough and jostles my wings enough to make sitting uncomfortable. No one speaks during the trip. Rosam Lucis keeps her attention on the child to make sure he remains quiet. During the several hours it takes to travel back to Uilrad, she hands me several pieces of jerky with an herb or two to help take the edge off the pain. Occasionally, Captain Toddmon glances back at Rosam Lucis. There is always something in his gaze, but the words to describe it escape me. When we reach the edge of town, Rosam Lucis swings her legs over the edge of the wagon before hopping off. I follow. As my feet hit the dirt, the satchel swings forward and I nearly collapse. Rosam Lucis offers me a steadying hand as Captain Toddmon turns. He stops the driver.

"Is everything alright, Veneficia?" he asks.

"Well enough, Captain Toddmon. We'll meet you at the cemetery. There are a few more things I need to pick up before I start helping your town."

"Very well."

The farmer drives off and Rosam Lucis wraps her arm around my waist as we enter Uilrad. She guides me down several rows of houses until she stops in front of a rundown cottage and knocks. The door opens just a crack.

"Yes, who is it?" a man asks.

"Veneficia, Pradla. I have brought your son."

The door opens wide and he pulls us inside. He shuts the door tight and I tense, but Rosam Lucis shows no reaction.

Pradla lights a single candle and a woman shifts in the bed. "Veneficia, how did you know?"

"I was guided to you." She slowly unties the bundle from her chest, revealing the boy wrapped warmly in her arms. "This boy is yours, protected and preserved from death. Train him well."

Pradla takes the child from her and hands him to his wife who could do no more than push herself into a reclined position. She bares her breasts and lets the child latch on to one to suckle.

"Thank you," she whispers.

Rosam Lucis bows her head slightly in respect then turns to leave.

Pradla is sure to lock the door after we leave. Rosam Lucis gives no sign that the sudden cool that came with the throwing of the lock bothered her. Instead she continues to walk with me down a few more streets to an apothecary's shop.

"What are you needing, healer?" the apothecary asks.

"Your best kit."

"Ah. Here for all the 'demons' I reckon. Good, good. Be just a moment."

The man disappears into the back and I glance around the shop. Bones, feathers, jars of bugs, stones of varying colors, and rows upon rows of liquids in dark glass line the walls and cover several tables within the shop. I turn to a mask on the wall and wince.

"Are you doing alright, Genium?" Rosam Lucis asks.

"As well as I can, Rosam Lucis."

"We'll be able to rest soon, bear with it a little longer."

I nod then approach the mask. As I approach it, my heart twists. What was it? Why did it unsettle me so much?

"Here you are," the apothecary says, returning from the back room, and breaking my gaze.

"Many thanks," Rosam Lucis says, exchanging coins for the box. "Come," she tells me.

I turn back to the mask before her hand on my arm leads me away. "What is that mask made of?" I ask Rosam Lucis as we head for the cemetery.

"It isn't a mask. It is an idol."

"An idol? What's it made of?"

"From the bones of a Pheucomo Ludovipiens priest," she replies, glancing at me.

"For what purpose?"

"Old beliefs and rituals."

I close my eyes for just a moment and shake my head. When I open my eyes again, we are at the cemetery. Rosam Lucis enters the church yard. The odd energy I felt from her as we gathered things she needed came again, growing stronger the closer she got to Captain Toddmon. I follow, keeping close to her.

"Were you able to find what you needed, Veneficia?" Captain Toddmon asks.

"I was. Where did the occurrences begin?"

"Near the center of town, but the work can wait until the morrow. I would like to dine with you and your… companion this evening."

Rosam Lucis shakes her head. "You were urgent in needing my services here, so I'd rather get right to work so you have less dead come morning."

"As you wish. Please come to the manor house when you are finished to rest."

"Thank you for the offer," she replies.

We leave.

"Rosam Lucis, are we really going to stay with him tonight?" I ask.

"No."

We walk/limp to the center of the city where Rosam Lucis stands by the fountain and turns slowly. From the kit, she drops several small pellets into the fountain water before sitting on the edge and waiting. Her energy turns sharp and focused, nothing like the energy that came off her when she scanned Captain Toddmon before we came with him to Uilrad. I set the satchel by her feet and sit beside her. Her hand reaches down and feels along the wound in my leg. Her hand stops right in the center and cools considerably.

Much of the pain I had felt from all the movement finally calmed enough that I hardly felt it. A cough breaks the silence of the town and several people leave their houses and approach us. Many have colds, or are shaking with fevers. Each one that approaches Rosam Lucis is given something, whether some of the pellets—like those she had put in the fountain—dried herbs, or even a few drops of a liquid. Fevers break within minutes of taking the pellets; coughs harden then leave after a few doses of a bottle labeled Inula Helenium.

For the infected wounds, Rosam Lucis pulls a container of pine tar and bandages from the satchel, being sure to clean the wounds before she wraps them again. All afternoon and into the evening Rosam Lucis continues to work, only stopping briefly to eat the food offered to us by some of the shopkeepers as thanks. The people in the town continue to come to her and she works steadily into the late hours of night. Lamps are provided to allow her to keep working, but I am exhausted. My eyelids droop and I soon lay down on the edge of the fountain. She hadn't needed me to hand her jars for a little while so, in the lull of helping, I doze.

I wake again when the sun begins to rise. There are no more people in the square and Rosam Lucis tucks her kit from the apothecary into the nearly empty satchel.

"Did you sleep well, Genium?" she asks.

"Uh-huh. Did you get to rest at all?"

She shakes her head. "Too many to help."

"Would you like to find a place to rest before we help the others?"

"We have helped all we can. It's time to head home."

"Do you want to rest before we leave?"

"No. I'd rather not be here when Captain Toddmon gets up."

"Okay."

I lift the strap of the satchel over my head and we leave Uilrad. Despite not getting any rest, Rosam Lucis sets a quick pace. My broken wings throb, but my calf feels better. I wonder what Rosam Lucis did when she ran her hand over it because she hadn't used her supplies as she had with those in town. We eat nothing until we stop mid-morning. We eat a little jerky and drink a little water. As I hand the small container of water back to Rosam Lucis, I notice bits of cloth wrapped around the center of both of her hands.

"Rosam Lucis, what's happened to your hands?"

"Nothing," she replies.

"Were you wounded?"

"No. How is your leg doing?"

"A lot better since last night. My wings still don't feel like their mending though."

She nods. "I have something for that back at the house."

"Alright."

She stands and we continue to walk. We don't speak much while we are on the road, but I dare myself to speak again once we enter the trees closer to her home.