Leaf and Branch (New Druids Series Vol 1 & 2)

by Donald D. Allan

  "The Truth will set us free," replied the man automatically and he and his wife made the sign towards us.

  We sat in more silence and then, to our surprise, Nadine started laughing out loud. We all stared at her in shock and then, one by one, we all started laughing with her. The father was the last to join the laughter, but he finally did. I jumped down from the cart and walked around to the porch and stopped at the three stairs, each the width of the front house, leading up to the front door.

  The father pulled himself away from the others and, smiling, came down the stairs with hand outstretched to shake my hand. "Will Arbor, I presume?" he said by way of introduction and grasped my hand in a strong grip. I was not expecting to hear my name, especially from such a rough and deep voice, and I looked from him to his daughter, thinking somehow she had figured out my name through the bond. The man laughed at my confusion. "Stephen Comlin sent me a note. It arrived about a month ago. Was wondering if you would ever show up and here you are."

  "Reeve Comlin warned you about me?"

  "Warned? No, informed, yes. Said you could be trusted. To treat you right. Reeve, huh? That will take a bit to get used to hearing. Comlin was never one for the law. Things change." The man turned to Nadine and looked up to her. "Who might you be young miss?"

  Nadine looked down at the man and then to the wife on the porch as if expecting something. The woman frowned in confusion at first and then scowled at her husband. "Ben Rigby. Mind your manners. You've gone wild here on the farm!"

  Ben had the good sense to look ashamed and removed his hat and cleared his throat. "Sorry, miss. I'm Ben Rigby. This is my wife Agnes and our daughter Katherine."

  "Well met, sir," sniffed Nadine. "I'm Nadine Opal. You've met Will." She held out a hand and I moved over to take it and help her down from the cart bench. Not that she needs it, I thought, she's more limber than I. I looked at her and mouthed 'Opal?". She nodded. With her feet on the ground, she stretched a moment before beaming a smile up at Agnes. "Your house is magnificent, miss. The farm is a place of wonder. Such vitality and growth. So many happy people in the fields."

  Agnes looked a little confused at the words, but beamed at the praise. "Thank you, young miss, um, Nadine? It's all right if I call you Nadine?"

  Nadine tutted and smiled. "Yes, yes, of course. You call me what you like, I'm too old for all this politeness." Agnes looked startled. "Will has been a dear getting us here but we've so much to discuss."

  Ben looked back at his wife for a moment before turning to Will. "Well, you have us at a disadvantage. The ways of the young folk today are a mystery to me. I suppose the city changes people. We're simple folk here. I was expecting only Will, not a young miss, a donkey and a cart..."

  Ben was interrupted by Dog running up to the house barking his fool head off. Katherine squealed in delight, tore herself away from her mother's arms, and jumped straight off the steps to the ground to wrap her arms around Dog's neck. Dog twisted his face around to get in as many licks as he could around Katherine's high-pitched squeals of delight.

  "This is Dog," I said smiling.

  "I see," replied the low growl of a voice from Ben. "Dog. Interesting name. And the donkey?"

  "Bill."

  "Of course. Why not just Donkey?"

  "Because he says his name is Bill," replied Nadine matter-of-factly.

  "Right," said Ben. He stood for a moment as if deciding something. "Well, let's get you settled. I had a guest room put aside for Will. Will you need two rooms?" Ben left the question hanging and shuffled his weight from one foot to the other.

  Nadine laughed and came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. "Nope." She kissed my neck with a loud smack.

  "Ah, okay. One room it is. Stephen never said two people. No matter. Katherine will see you to your room. I'll have the farm hands move your gear to your room later. There's fresh water in the basin. Chamber pot is emptied in the morning, but there are jacks out back. The bed is a double, I imagine you'll be comfortable. Supper is at six. Lunch around noon — you'll hear the bell. We eat lunch in the big barn over there..." Ben pointed to the barn behind us. "It's a farm affair, we're all family, and all join in who can make it in from the fields. Earth's bounty to those who tend it. That's our motto." Ben ran out of words all of a sudden and stood there uncertain.

  Nadine came around me and I stepped to the side. She took one of Ben's hands. "That sounds delightful. We can talk at supper. We have much to talk about." Nadine turned to Katherine and laid a hand on her shoulder. Katherine looked up from Dog and smiled at her. "And you, young lady. We have even more to talk about."

  Agnes made a sound and Nadine turned to her and frowned. I could see Agnes was struggling.

  "My wife, Agnes, she's not well. It's not contagious. She's just not well."

  "I can sense that," said Nadine in a soft voice.

  Katherine rose and looked at her mum. "Mum, you need to get back to bed. You look so tired."

  Nadine turned to me, "Will, can you...?"

  I nodded and walked up to her. "Ma'am, can I examine you?"

  "Ex-examine me? What?"

  "I'm a healer, ma'am. It might be I can help."

  Ben moved forward between Agnes and I and wrung his hat. "We've tried that, young man. We had healers from Jergen come and examine her. They bled her, gave her mercurial pills, everything. We sent them away. They caused more harm than good. Rest does her the best good. We're done with so-called healers."

  "Da," said Katherine, looking from me to her mum. "This is different. I've tried to tell you. These two, they're special. Like me. Except more. Let them try. Let him try, please. Mum? Please?"

  Agnes nodded and turned and started inside her home. "Come with me."

  Agnes led us into a large sitting room with a large window looking out over the front entrance. It was in the corner of the house and a second large window opened up on the side to look out over an orchard next to the home. Apples weighed down the branches and workers were erecting large wooden pens to store the bounty they were soon to be picking. Agnes went over to a large couch, covered in pillows and blankets. It was clear she rested here with a view to the outside and the feeling of the breeze blowing through the open windows. It was a beautiful room. Expensive furniture and rugs filled the space. Paintings hung from the walls and a large portrait of the family hung over an overly large fireplace. You could fit an entire cow in that fireplace for roasting. My eyes were drawn to a portrait hanging on the wall behind us in a place of honour. It was a portrait of Reeve Comlin, dressed in leathers and with swords strapped to his waist. A black cloth was wrapped around his head. The face was unmistakable, it was Reeve Comlin, but the clothing was not. The clothing was all wrong. He looked like a raider.

  Agnes settled back on the couch and pulled a blanket up over her legs and sighed. The tension on her face eased and she laid back fully and closed her eyes for a long moment. When she opened them, she focused on me.

  "Okay, what are you going to do?" she asked curtly. "I've been through so much. Unless you have a bag full of miracles I doubt you can do much for me. Excuse the blankets, even in the summer heat I can't seem to stay warm."

  Nadine came in behind me and pushed me gently toward the woman. "Go on. See what you can do."

  I knelt beside the couch and closed my eyes. I heard Katherine whisper something to Nadine but I couldn't make it out. Nadine shushed her and I opened my senses to the woman.

  The disease was all over her body. It wasn't motes or a poison or anything I expected to see. Her body was damaged by some source deep inside her blood and bones. It was like her body was forgetting what it was supposed to be. Her own body was fighting itself. As a result, her skin had thickened and darkened and was sensitive to touch and the cold. Her joints pained her, and not just one or two, it was all of them. Everywhere her muscles were thinning out and hardening and pulling. It was horrible. I looked to see what I could do but all I saw was damage with no source to target. I had no idea
how to heal a person whose own body was fighting itself. I felt grief consume me. I wanted to help her but could not. I felt useless. What use was there in having this power from Gaea if I could not use it to heal people who desperately needed it?

  I searched for solutions within the woman but found none. I felt Nadine's power merge with mine and felt her try and ease my grief. With the joining, I sensed a moment of her own life. She had been trapped in a body aged beyond repair. She had felt and feared the death she was sure to follow, but she had met it with a strength she had drawn from her own life and experiences. This poor woman, Agnes, this woman I now grieved for, she was stronger than all of us. Stronger than Nadine had to be. Agnes suffered by the minute, but gave no voice to the pain and I admired her all the more for it. She feared death — but not for herself — she feared what her death would do to those around her. I felt humbled and tears streamed down my face.

  Before I withdrew I looked to see how I could at least ease her pain. The pain was an unwelcome side effect of injury and one I could deal with. I could mask it. I remembered Daukyns and how I helped him but this time, armed with a better understanding of the human body, I blocked specific nerves, eased the acid in her stomach so she could eat better, and loosened the tightness in her muscles so she could move better. It was temporary and I would have to repeat it every couple of days or so, but it should help. Satisfied I opened my eyes and found Agnes staring at me with eyes swimming with tears. She reached out a trembling hand to mine and she took it with her new strength and squeezed. Her hand was cold and strangely smooth to the touch.

  "Thank you," she whispered through a throat tight with crying. "By the Word, thank you." She let my hand go and reached up to her husband who rushed to kneel by her side and they embraced each other and cried. I stood with Nadine's help and stepped back to give them room. Nadine embraced me and then I felt Katherine embrace the both of us.

  "I saw what you did," whispered Katherine. "I don't know how, but I saw. That was...that was amazing. So gentle. So. So..."

  "Shh," whispered Nadine. "We will talk. For now, let's leave your mum and dad to each other. Show us to our room, please."

  We felt Katherine's nod against us and she broke off and took one look at her mum and dad and led the way upstairs to our room.

  Thirty-Seven

  Rigby Farm north of Jergen, 900 A.C.

  NADINE AND I cleaned up and helped the farm hands place our belongings in the guest room. Nadine unpacked all our bags and then spent a few minutes examining my clothes. She announced they would all likely have to be burned and said she was going to get the farm hands to go to town to buy me something more appropriate.

  "More appropriate?" I asked.

  "Yes, you can't be leading the new draoi wearing clothes you patched together from who knows what."

  "From other clothes, thank you very much. I made all these clothes. Well, I mostly made them. They did well enough for me."

  "On the road, yes. The love of my life will not be seen walking around looking like a poor peasant."

  "Why not? I don't care. I know many 'poor peasants' as you call them and they are terrific people! I have met more 'rich assholes' in my life to prefer the peasants."

  "That's not the point. You need to look the part. Your mum would have told you. She understood. She was a princess in the castle. Beautifully dressed all the time."

  "Not as beautiful as you."

  "Huh, what? Not as beautiful? What are you blathering about?"

  I turned her around from the bed where she was laying out my clothes. She tried to keep her head turned to what she was doing and, finally, turned her face to look at me. She scowled. "Beautiful as you," I repeated.

  "Who, me?"

  "Yes, you. You are more beautiful than my mother." I leant in to kiss her but she twisted her face away.

  "Are you comparing me to your mother?"

  "Yes," And then sensed I answered wrong.

  Nadine scowled at me. "I keep forgetting you are fifty years younger than me. Never. And I mean never, compare your love to your mother to me. Not smart." Nadine pulled out of my arms and moved over to open another bag.

  I stood there feeling sorry for myself. I had just tried to compliment her and failed somehow. I was about to open my mouth to explain myself when a soft knock came to the door. I walked over and opened it and found a farm hand standing there. She wore the same blue thick cloth for pants everyone here at the farm seemed to favour and a thin blouse. Her hair was tied back with a red bandana and she looked a little flushed. She was unmistakably pregnant. At least seven months along.

  "Hi, the kitchen sent me up to remind you supper will be in fifteen minutes."

  "Oh, thanks..." I raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.

  "Anne. Call me Anne. I work the kitchen these days," she patted her belly to emphasize the reason. "Stairs can be a bit much in the heat."

  "Thanks, Anne. Call me Will. This is Nadine."

  Anne leant forward to look in the door a bit better and spied Nadine and said hello. Nadine answered back but kept to her unpacking. Anne smiled and turned to go before stopping and hesitating for a moment. She opened her mouth once, closed it and then set her lips in determination before speaking again. "The kitchen staff, they said you helped Mrs Rigby. Is that true?"

  "A little, yes."

  "So it's true, you're a healer?"

  "Yes. I am. So is Nadine."

  Anne moved closer and her chin trembled a little. "Could you? Can you check my baby?"

  "Your baby? Why?"

  "He hasn't moved in a long time. And I'm worried. The midwife — we have one on the farm — she looked at me and said nothing was wrong. But I'm worried. It's silly, I know, it's just..."

  I interrupted her. "Shh. Of course." I reached out and sensed the life within her. It was a girl, healthy and content. She was asleep and already head down. She had ten fingers and ten toes and I couldn't see anything wrong with either her or her mum. "She's fine."

  Anne's face lit up and she searched my face for lies. "Truly? You never even touched me."

  "Yes, right as rain. She's asleep right now. Head down already. You and her are as healthy as can be. I don't need to touch you."

  Anne looked searchingly in my eyes for falsehood and then darted forward and kissed my cheek. "Thank you!" And she turned to leave before stopping and whirling back. "She?"

  "Yup. A girl."

  Her face lit up and she danced away.

  I closed the door and turned to find Nadine standing there before me with both hands on her hips. She looked up me with an expression I couldn't fathom. She reached up with one hand toward my face and I flinched. With her thumb, she wiped away the wet spot where the woman had kissed me. "No more kisses from strange women, you hear?"

  I nodded.

  Nadine stepped back and with one motion pulled off her top. "I'm yours, right?"

  I nodded.

  "We have fifteen minutes."

  I smiled.

  Nadine and I were downstairs in thirty minutes and apologised for being late. Agnes and Ben exchanged a knowing look and I blushed clear down to my toes. They led us on a quick tour of the first floor of their house. I couldn't get over just how large and clean the home was. From a Jaipers scale, it was massive. From a Jergen scale, it was a mansion. The Rigby's were very well off. Farm hands whisked in and out of the rooms and greeted each other fondly and by name. I felt such a sense of peace here. I felt just as at home here as I did in Jergen with Nadine in her home. A glance at Nadine and a check through our bond confirmed she felt the same. I sensed Gaea had spent some time and effort here getting the farm ready for what was about to come. It was a bit of a load off my mind. Nadine and I had spoken over the past few days and we had both been concerned about what would happen once we got here. We couldn't imagine walking in and declaring Gaea wanted us to set up a school for the draoi.

  Ben and Agnes talked as we moved through the rooms. Each room was furnished with decadent
furniture, expertly carved and stained. They gleamed with the late afternoon sun. Each room had large glass windows allowing the natural light to brighten the deepest corners. Always there was a rug filling the centre of the rooms. There was seating for many people and you could hold Jaipers town meetings in most of them. I felt dwarfed and awed. Nadine held my hand and Katherine skipped ahead of us.

  Katherine seemed about ten years my junior despite knowing she was the same age as I. I watched her with some amusement. Dog trailed after her and it seemed he had all but forgotten Nadine and I. Agnes moved with a grace she must have missed. I could see the woman she must have been before her disease stole her strength. A steel had returned to her gaze and the ease in her pain had brought a smile to the corner of her eyes. I was pleased to have helped her. Nadine squeezed my hand and I sent love through our bond.

  I was so fortunate to have her love. She gave me strength when I didn't know I needed it. Already the days of solitude and loneliness were fading from my memory and I couldn't remember how I had tolerated it. She and I were one. More so than I could have thought imaginable. Our lives were forever linked. I was timid in so many ways and she loved it. She taught me every time we slept together and I marvelled at all her intricacies. When I spoke of having children she laughed at me and reminded me we were draoi and I stopped bringing it up. I was naive in so many ways. She was my teacher in life. Many times I wanted to just run away with her and hide from the world and just revel in her presence. I sensed the same desire from her and we fought the constant battle of just dropping everything and running for the woods.

  The only bad thing about the house was the wooden floors. We felt cut off from Gaea. I missed the dirt floor of Nadine's home. It was comforting. Lying in bed I could just lay a hand on the earth and feel nature. I dreaded sleeping in the huge bed upstairs. I would be like the Inn in Jaipers all over again. Over the last eight days since Jergen, Nadine and I had slept naked against the earth, covering ourselves with a thin blanket for modesty. I had the best sleep of my life with her in my arms on the dirt and moss. Waking next to her was Gaea's blessing to me. Now I felt tired and a bit disoriented.