Chapter Forty-One: Into Nu'Ada

 Lucy and Cassie had draped clean linen over the worktable and had assembled all the equipment on several other tables and makeshift shelves. Sean seemed satisfied with the arrangements. Lucy had provided a small tabletop spinning wheel that the vials of blood could be fastened to the spokes of the wheel and then spun to help separate the red blood cells from the plasma. 

 When Sunny walked in Lucy and Sean were trying to figure out how to keep the serum cool until it was needed. It was Cassie who would provide the answer to that, and Sean was agreeable. Lucy nodded to Sunny and motioned to Nicodemus to step outside and away from the tent for a moment.

 Fury looked down at Shanley where he waited. The wolfhound was watching the flurry of activity but was sticking very close to the tent where Sunny had entered. "Wait here, Shanley." 

 Lucy and Fury walked a few away from the tent where they would not be overheard. She nodded toward the tent, "The doctor has been completely compelled."

 Nicodemus nodded, "Yes, Siobhan's powers of compulsion seem to come naturally."

 "That is Da'ark magic!" Lucy breathed.

 "No," Fury said in low tones, "I have seen the Da'ark at work," Nicodemus looked back to the tent, "This is -- different."

 Lucy was not sure she agreed, but then she did not need to agree or even understand what was going on – only that she would be working with an individual who was fully compelled to do what he was instructed to do. "It will make my job easier when it comes time for him to forget." 

 "Siobhan may not want him to forget," Fury replied. "She will let her wishes be known."

 Lucy inclined her head toward Fury and returned to the medial tent. Nicodemus stood in the growing shadows, he could feel Sunny. Her power and strength sang in his blood! Whatever the Ne'Median artifact had awakened in the young woman called up the strange and arcane in him! He let it thrum for a moment then went off to help set up an additional quarantine tent. 

 Sean indicated Sunny should sit at the end of the table and he would use the blood draw kit he had and begin to collect her blood in a collection of large vials with goldenrod-colored rubber caps. He had a few boxes of other vials at the end of the table that were also gold or red-capped.

 He had a violet-colored rubber tourniquet, sealed alcohol prep pads, a box of gauze pads, and a roll of cloth tape to one side with a venipuncture kit. Sean looked at Sunny warily then nodded to Lucy, "I am going to show Lucy how to draw blood as well – judging by the number of patients in the quarantine tents, we're going to need more serum after you're gone."

 Sunny glanced up at Lucy and then back to Sean, "Let's get started."

 He washed his hands and dried them on a clean cloth then extended Sunny's arm out on the table. He placed the tourniquet around Sunny's upper arm at the elbow. "The tourniquet is to help find a good vein." He pulled open the alcohol pad and explained to Lucy the next procedure. "Locate a good vein, use your index finger," When he located a vein, he had Lucy feel it. She nodded and looked at Sunny then back to Sean as he took the alcohol pad he had opened and began to swab the area on Sunny's arm. "Disinfect the area where the needle is going, then finish by rubbing straight down a bit. If there isn't rubbing alcohol, then use the strongest proof of drinking alcohol you have." Sean demonstrated and glanced at Lucy and then at Sunny before moving on. He took up the package with the venipuncture kit and opened it. "Everything is here in the kit; you won't have to do anything except grasp the wings at the base of the needle and then pierce the skin and enter the vein. Blood will flow into the tubing. When you put the collection tube in the vacuum tube holder, it will automatically begin to fill."

 Lucy nodded silently; she was fascinated with the process. Sunny watched as Sean removed the cap from the needle and squeezed the tiny blue wings at the base of the needle, he gently probed with his finger to make sure he knew where the vein was. "Once you've located the vein, put your thumb against the vein so it won't roll when you place the needle." 

 Lucy watched. "What angle?"

 Sean nodded as he grasped the wings in his fingers and laid his thumb against the area where the deep blue vein was now visible just under Sunny's pale skin. "Somewhere between fifteen or twenty degrees," he replied, "Veins are pretty tough, so going at an angle helps. If you miss --- well, try not to miss." He looked at Sunny, "You'll feel a pinch," He slid the needle into the skin and angled it down slightly, when he entered the vein the blood flowed down the tiny tubing and stopped at the other end where the tube holder was attached. 

 Sean took a dark yellow capped vial and pushed it into the tube holder, immediately blood started to fill the vial. Sean looked relieved and smiled in triumph. He pulled the tourniquet free and set it aside. "It's been a while since I've done a blood draw. I'm glad I remembered how to do it."

 Both Sunny and Lucy watched as blood filled the vial. Then when it was nearly full, he pulled it from the tube holder, set it on the cloth to his left, took another vial with a red cap, and pressed it into the tube holder. The red-capped vial was a bit larger, and it took longer to fill. When he had filled as many red-capped vials as he could, he pulled a piece of gauze from the box on the table and folded it in half. He placed the gauze over the site of the needle, removed the needle, and pressed the gauze firmly over the puncture site. Lucy placed cloth tape over the gauze and smiled encouragingly at Sunny. 

 "How much serum will this make?" Sunny wanted to know as she bent her elbow up to hold the gauze against the spot the needle had been.

 "Enough to get started," Sean said. "You said your Aunt Fiona was recovering, when she fully recovers, we can collect from her."

 He took the vials over to where Cassie waited to attach them to the spokes of the spinning wheel. Lucy watched him closely then sat on the stool he had vacated and leveled serious brown eyes on Sunny, "You have compelled him to do just as you have instructed, that will eventually wear off, when it does --,"

 Sunny looked over at Sean and said in a firm tone what she wanted. "Sean, you will continue to show Lucy and Cassie exactly what to do and how to draw blood and create the blood serum."

 He paused in his chore and looked over his shoulder at Sunny, "Yes; but I think Lucy will be a better nurse than Cassie. Cassie's a good lab tech, I'd rather do it that way."

 "Show them both the techniques," Sunny insisted, "Then allow them to decide."

 He sighed heavily, "Fair enough," he looked over at Cassie, "We'll start rigging up the spinning wheel to spin what we have from Sunny. Then I'll show you and Lucy both how to begin giving the serum shots." 

 "I'll need to know how to do this, only I don't have enough time before I have to leave," Sunny said worriedly.

 Nicodemus 'heard' her and felt her anxiousness as keenly as if it was his own! ["We will find solutions, Siobhan! Do not fret, Acushla!"]

 Sunny embraced Fury's reassuring message. She trusted him. Even though he did not trust himself and kept his distance as much as possible. His feelings and connection to her made it practically impossible to stay too far away, but he did not want to cause any more distress than what she was dealing with at the moment!

 Cassie stepped out of the small tent to check on the setup of the quarantine tents. She returned and reported there were six more individuals with symptoms. "Do you have enough help?" Sunny wanted to know.

 Cassie nodded. "There is plenty of help, mostly families that have stayed on. Will they need to have the serum too?"

 "Yes, and so will you, Piper, and everyone that's come in contact with anyone in quarantine. I guess eventually everyone in Ballencoo." Sunny replied. "It's a lot of work, but it must be done. I only hope that if people do get sick, it won't be fatal like the people Sean told me about that came to the clinic."

 "Do you expect to do this in Nu'Ada as well?" Lucy asked. "That will be a huge undertaking and you will meet with suspicion and fear."

 "How will you make these things over there?" Sean asked. 

 "I don't know," Sunny said frankly, "But I feel confident we'll find all the things I need to create the collection vials and needles to draw the blood from my veins. There will be more serum donors from those that have recovered."

 Sunny got to her feet, she felt hungry and a bit thirsty, she would need something soon to restore her energy levels. 

 Nicodemus stuck his head in the tent, "We need to be on our way."

 Sunny walked out of the tent. Shanley immediately was next to her. When Lucy, Cassie, and Sean emerged from the tent, Shanley bounded off to catch up with Fury who was with his captain. Sunny noticed that Fury laid a hand briefly on Shanley's head as he continued to speak to his guardsman. Shanley looked up eagerly, ready for his next errand.

 Men and women were handing out bowls of stew and baskets of bread. When Lucy and Cassie took their food, a woman stepped toward Sean, he waved it off and walked back into the medical tent. Sunny took a wrapped package from one of the young women and smiled her thanks.

 Lucy nodded toward the tent, "I'll make sure he eats. When it is time, do you want him to forget?"

 Sunny frowned in thought. "He's still a doctor and can help people. When the compulsion wears off – let him decide what he wants to do. Hopefully, he'll do the right thing."

 Lucy agreed. She made her farewells and Sunny left to join Nicodemus on the trail where he waited with a mounted patrol. Orion was there waiting for her too; he was saddled, and tolerating being held by one of Fury's guardsmen. "I sent one of my guards to collect the letters from Fiona," Nicodemus said as he gave her a leg up to Orion's back. Shanley was circling the patrol and then he came to Fury. 

 Nicodemus laid a hand on Shanley's head and Sunny noted a form of communication between them she could not 'hear'. Fury looked up at Sunny and smiled reassuringly. He swung up into the saddle of his mount, "We will be heading on to Nu'Ada. Fiona already knows we are the last to cross into Nu'Ada." He lifted a hand, and they joined the patrol waiting at the forest edge to take them through the Ballencoo Arch.

 Sunny reached out to Fiona and made sure she was resting and that she was going to be fine. Fiona was concerned about everything but in the end, sent happy thoughts of her own time in Fra'mora. 

 Sunny was quite excited to be going on another adventure if only the looming illness that she knew was waiting on the other side was not going to occupy all her thoughts! She grew quiet thinking about Sean and his grandmother. Nicodemus could sense her disquiet, "I will check to see whether or not Alyssum's story is true."

 "Would that have been permissible to have a family member from Nu'Ada remain here?"

 "There are some of the tribes that allow these kinds of marriages, but it is not common," Fury replied. "Alyssum married a tribal chieftain, so it was probably arranged with the help of the Morrigan or possibly someone in the palace. The Morrigan would know what those conditions were." 

 "One thing at a time," Sunny murmured to herself and threw a smile over at Nicodemus. "We're going to be busy with other things. Alyssum Mack may have to wait until there's a lull in all the mess she's created." 

 "Yes," He returned. His thoughts went to the men, women, and children of Nu'Ada – and he added to himself, that the illness was going to reach the Ne'Medians as well, many of them were going to be struck down and he wondered how they would be able to reach them?

 Sunny glanced over at Nicodemus 'hearing' some of his concerns. "We have friends in high places, remember?"

 He chuckled lightly then looked ahead on the trail. The Ballencoo Arch loomed up ahead and Sunny was alerted to the subtle changes around the Arch. The air in the space of the arch was vibrating like a desert mirage. There was a full moon casting strong milky light in the forest, but the light in the arch was a golden glow. A strange contrast to the deep shadows the light of the full moon created.

 The first of the patrol rode under the stones of the arch and they disappeared like passing through a curtain. Shanley galloped ahead and leaped through the arch. Sunny heard distant barking as the next group of men and horses passed through and were swallowed up. Then Nicodemus and Sunny were next. "Close your eyes and let Orion take you through."

 Sunny lowered her head and closed her eyes as instructed. As they passed under the arch, she felt the thin whispery veil of the portal between Ballencoo and Nu'Ada slide over her. She opened her eyes and looked up. The vast reaches of deep space were held in the narrow band of the Arch. She gasped as it flashed past and then she was in Nu'Ada!

 Orion continued the road along with the other guards in the patrol and Sunny looked over her shoulder as she saw Nicodemus and his mount slipping through the arch. The last four guards slipped through the arch and then it dimpled to fade away and become part of an archway of a massive fortress gate. Shanley was excitedly exploring his new surroundings. Whatever his thoughts were, it appeared that Nicodemus was the only one who could hear them.

 It was as Bracken had said, it was part of a great wall that looked like it encircled the entire land of Nu'Ada. She knew that could not be true. The light was also different. The golden glow was replaced by a similar light of early evening. The patrol traveled along a wide hard packed dirt road. The forest to either side of the road looked as if it were managed and kept clear of underbrush. 

 The road began to take them higher. Sunny looked ahead and caught sight of a lighted city as they topped a hillside. The light was a cool glow like fireflies or the blue-white flash of lightning. 

 She looked to the horizon, perched high on a set of foothills was a fantastical structure. It was a massive grey stone palace with a teardrop crystal tower atop each spire. "Is that Tara'Nechtan?" she asked Nicodemus.

 "It is," He answered, "We will be heading to Fra'mora, which is a fair piece to the east and lies outside the protective walls of Tara'Nechtan."

 "Then the walls do surround the entire area?"

 "Yes, but they are not spelled to keep out invaders," Fury replied. "The magickers that had that ability have long since faded into the past."

 Sunny was fascinated and realized with great regret that she had left all her drawing materials at Laurel Cottage. Fury smiled as he heard her thoughts. "You'll have drawing materials at Fra'mora."

 "I hope I have time to draw!" Sunny remarked her artist's eye taking in everything and committing it to memory.

 Nicodemus felt a tug in his head, and he looked over at Sunny and could almost hear her mind taking meticulous notes of every detail she studied. "You can memorize whatever you see?"

 Sunny frowned then nodded, "I've always been able to recall just about anything in detail. I retain clear details of what I want to remember later."

 He realized that she could bring up any memory with minute recall, that was a talent that could come in handy! Sunny looked reproachfully at him. "Really? You'd want me to be a spy?"

 He lifted his shoulders in a vague shrug. "Not spy, but if you can be someplace and recall with accuracy where individuals were – think of it – what you could do for security measures."

 "Uh-huh," Sunny looked ahead then glanced back over at Nicodemus, "Where are the candidates? Are they anywhere near here?"

 "They will be close to the main roads," he told her. "Everyone must pass, so I sent word ahead to stop everyone and find out if anyone is ill. They will be sent to the quarantine areas near Fra'mora so that when we have solved the problem of how to deliver the serum, they will be near you to receive the cure."

 "You're way ahead of me," She replied. "I hope we'll be able to contain it before it has a chance to spread. We have to help everyone, not just in Nu'Ada. I made a promise."

 "Indeed," Nicodemus responded. He looked ahead then and glanced skyward, "That could be a problem with many in Nu'Ada."

 "What they don't know won't concern them," Sunny remarked.

 Nicodemus smiled grimly. He could feel her resistance, "There will be a more diplomatic way around any resistance we encounter." 

 She smiled sourly but did not voice her thoughts aloud. Nicodemus decided to tell her of his ideas for creating the syringes and needles. "I have an idea for a hollow tube thin enough to draw blood into a glass bottle. It will not be as neat as the doctor made it look, but it might work for our needs."

 "What were you thinking?"

 "The quills from a Jah'me," Nicodemus said, "An animal that carries many such quills on its body. The Par'Shuk tribe uses them to make poison darts. 

 "The quills I know about, stick in the flesh with tiny barbs, how do we avoid that?" She wanted to know.

 "The tribesmen clip both ends from the quills to create a thin hollow tube then make a slant cut on one end to make it sharp. They dip the sharp end in wax, then fill the tubes and plug them with more wax. The hunters use a blowpipe to deliver the dart. The bit of wax melts and the poison enters the body."

 "A killing dart?" Sunny wanted to know.

 "It only paralyzes the victim," Nicodemus replied. "Too much and, yes, it would kill."

 "We'd only have to come up with an idea to make a syringe, and then figure out a way to seal up the vial," Sunny murmured more to herself than to Nicodemus. She nodded approvingly, "I think it will work. Thank you."

 "You will find I am quite helpful at times," Nicodemus remarked. "Not quite the scoundrel you think I am."

 Sunny scoffed and even Orion snorted at the comment. Nicodemus chuckled and lifted the reins to pull ahead. "Stay with the escort, I am riding ahead to make sure the way is clear."

 "Something I should know about?" Sunny asked.

 Nicodemus paused. "My sources tell me that there is some kind of activity in the western regions – I do not have any reliable reports as of yet, but I am not going to dismiss it."

 "Hence the extra escorts?" Sunny guessed.

 He nodded. "I will keep you safe, Siobhan," he edged his mount in closer so only she could hear him, and Orion could listen as well. "Nu'Ada is not idyllic and peaceful as Fiona remembers it. The last time she was here, she was a very young girl. We became blood-bound for a reason, and until you are at Fra'mora, none of us, and you in particular, are safe."

 She nodded and Orion rumbled that he knew what his duty was! "I will take Shanley with me," Nicodemus told Sunny. "He can track the scents of who have passed ahead of us." 

 "I like the way you two have partnered up," Sunny told him, "Be careful and watch out for one another."

 She watched as Fury urged his mount ahead of the escort and spoke briefly with the captain. Once instructions had been given, Fury disappeared with Shanley trotting ahead, nose taking in all the new scents! 

 Once Fury was out of sight, Sunny felt a little unsettled. She could still 'hear' Fury, but his thoughts were on making sure the way ahead was clear and free of surprises. [I am always with you, Siobhan!] It was an intense and profound mental embrace that made her heart race!