The Dragon's Flame (The Chronicles of Terah # 2)

by Morgan, Mackenzie

  After a moment, Marcus said, “While you ladies discuss chapel business, I think I’ll check out the barn.”

  Theresa nodded as she took four mugs out of the cabinet. Then she turned towards Dora and asked, “Did you come here with Sister Gerry?”

  “No, ma’am. I’ve lived in this valley all my life.”

  “Then you know most of the people in the area, don’t you?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I probably do.”

  “You’re going to be a valuable aide, Dora,” Theresa said as she set three of the mugs on the table. “Can you tell me how we’re doing on herbs? Are there any that we need right away?”

  “When we need herbs, I just get them out of the courtyard,” Dora answered, still cowering by the doorway.

  “What about the herbs in the workroom?” Theresa asked.

  “I have no idea what’s out there. Sister Gerry doesn’t allow anyone to go in her workroom. Ever.”

  “Well, as soon as we have a cup of tea, I’m going in there.”

  Dora’s eyes got big and she began to bite her lip.

  “Come on, Dora. Have a seat and relax. Everything’s going to be okay,” Theresa said calmly. “No one’s going to blame you. If Sister Gerry shows up and says anything about it, I’ll handle her.”

  Dora didn’t look convinced, but she let the subject drop as she tentatively sat down on the edge of her chair.

  While the girls were fixing tea in the kitchen, Kevin and Rigel materialized in the barn to drop off the bags.

  “I guess you’re on your own now, Marcus,” Kevin said. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you here without a way to get in touch with me, but if an emergency comes up, contact Jason and let him come for me. He knows you’re here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Marcus said. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on the girls.”

  Kevin nodded. “Well, I guess we’ll be on our way then. Good luck.”

  Once Kevin and Rigel were gone, Marcus carried the bags to the back porch and went back inside where the girls were seated around the small kitchen table drinking tea. An extra mug was sitting on the counter, next to the teapot.

  “The tea’s ready if you’d like a cup, Marcus,” Theresa said.

  “No, thank you,” he answered. “I have our bags. Where would you like for me to put them?”

  “Are all of you staying here?” Dora asked.

  “Yes, if that’s all right,” Theresa answered.

  “I guess you can stay in Sister Gerry’s room,” Dora said to Theresa. Then she turned to Hayley and asked, “Do you mind sharing a room with me? There are two beds, but there’s only one wardrobe.”

  “That’s no problem,” Hayley answered with a smile. “I only have a few things with me.”

  “We have an extra room, but right now it’s a storage room,” Dora said, looking at Marcus. “We could clear it out and put one of the ward beds in there.”

  “That would be fine,” Theresa said. “Hayley, you can help Marcus get his room set up while I check out the workroom.” Then she turned to Marcus and said, “Put both of my bags in my bedroom, please. And leave the grocery bag in here on the counter. We’ll sort that one out later.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  After they finished their tea, Dora led Theresa to a small shed out behind the barn. “This is Sister Gerry’s workroom. She has this rope tied special so she’ll know if anyone opens it.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Here, let me take care of it,” Theresa said as she cut the rope with her knife. Dora cringed as the rope fell apart. “You really don’t want to go in there, do you, Dora?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “That’s all right. You don’t have to. Why don’t you go on back to the chapel? I’ll be fine here.”

  “Thank you, Sister.”

  Once Theresa was by herself, she held her breath and opened the door. She had no idea what to expect, but what she found was a mess. Pestles and mortars were scattered all over the workbench. Dried herbs caked the inside of most of the mortars and bits of leaves and stems clung to the pestles. Trash littered the bench, and the floor crunched with every step. Some of the pestles had fallen to the floor and had either rolled under the workbench or been kicked under there. Most of the cabinets were hanging open, and only a couple had anything stored in them. The few containers that were sealed weren’t labeled, so Theresa had no idea what was in them. Most of the potted herbs were either dead or dying, but some mushrooms that had been planted in a trough near the back were thriving.

  Theresa sighed. Before she could use the workroom, it would have to be cleaned, top to bottom. The only things that she might be able to salvage were the mushrooms, but when she stooped down to examine them, she had no idea what kind they were or what they were used for. She shrugged and decided to worry about that some other day. Right now she needed to clear out the mess. She went back to the chapel to find something to scrub with.

  When Hayley walked into the kitchen and saw Theresa putting a brush, a big bar of soap, and a bucket of water on the floor next to a broom, dustpan, and a mop, she put her hands on her hips and asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to clean that workroom,” Theresa said. “It’s a mess.”

  Hayley picked up the soap and dropped it in the bucket of water. “That’s what I’m here for. Where is it?”

  “Behind the barn. I’ll grab another bucket and join you in a minute.”

  Hayley nodded, and walked out the back door, loaded down with cleaning supplies.

  Theresa was almost afraid to see what the patient areas looked like, but when she walked through the chapel, she was pleasantly surprised. Everything was clean and orderly.

  Dora was in her bedroom packing up a few of her clothes to make room in the wardrobe for Hayley’s things when Theresa found her.

  “Dora, who does the housework in the chapel?” Theresa asked.

  “I do, ma’am. Is something wrong?”

  “No. Everything’s fine in here. You do a good job.”

  “Thank you,” Dora said as a light blush crept up her cheeks.

  “And Gerry takes care of her workroom, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Well, it’s a disaster. That’s probably why she said you couldn’t go in there. She didn’t want you to see the mess. Before we can do any kind of work in there, everything will have to be taken out and scrubbed.”

  “What about the herbs?” Dora asked.

  “Let’s just say we won’t be getting any from the workroom. Did she store them some place in here?”

  Dora shook her head no.

  Theresa sighed. “I brought some with me, but not enough to stock a clinic. Do you know which herbs are growing in the courtyard?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We planted those a long time ago, back before Gerry came. I tend to them on my day off.”

  “I don’t want you working on your day off any more, Dora. That’s your time, to do things you want to do. Hayley and I are here now. We’ll help out with the work. The herb beds take a lot of time, and until we get this chapel fully stocked, I would like for you to consider taking care of them as your primary job. Could you make a list of what we have out there?”

  Dora nodded. “I’ll go do that right now.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be out in the workroom with Hayley. As soon as we get it cleaned out, we can start collecting herbs and getting them ready to use.”

  “You don’t need to spend your time cleaning, ma’am. I’ll help Hayley and then I’ll make out the list of what we have in the courtyard after I fix dinner,” Dora said as she picked up the bag of clothes she had taken out of the wardrobe. “Just let me stick these in the barn.”

  Theresa shook her head. “Don’t worry about the workroom, Dora. Hayley and I’ll get it. I may find something out there that will tell me where Gerry went. You make the list while we clean out the workroom, and then later this evening all three of us will sit down, figure out where we are, and what we’re going to do next. All
right?”

  Dora blushed. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to try to tell you what to do. I’ll do whatever you say.”

  “There’s nothing to apologize for, Dora. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Theresa said quietly. “Here, I’ll take those out to the barn on my way to the workroom. It’ll save you a trip.”

  Dora handed the bag of clothes over and meekly stood out of the way to let Theresa pass.

  When Theresa got out to the workroom, she started cleaning with a vengeance. After a couple of minutes, Hayley chuckled and said, “I don’t know what’s got you so fired up, but at this rate, we’ll be done by dinner.”

  “I’m so angry,” Theresa sputtered.

  “Really? I couldn’t tell,” Hayley mumbled sarcastically.

  “What has Gerry done to that woman? She takes everything I say as a criticism, even when I’m trying to make things easier for her. It’s like she’s walking on eggshells all the time, almost scared to breathe.”

  “I know. I think she’s afraid of you,” Hayley said. When Theresa looked up at her and frowned, she said, “Seriously.”

  “So what do I do about it?”

  “There’s nothing you can do. She’ll get over it, especially when she sees the way the two of us work together.”

  Theresa paused and then nodded. “You’re probably right. I want to ask her a ton of questions about Gerry, but there’s no way she’ll tell me anything now. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”

  “Maybe, but not any time soon. She’s not exactly scared of me, but she sure doesn’t trust me. And she’s terrified of Marcus.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No. She saw his red opal and her face went white. I was afraid she was going to bolt.”

  “Do you think it’s Marcus? Or is it because he’s a sorcerer?”

  Hayley shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “No, I guess not. I wonder if she’s always been this way, or if this is part of Gerry’s work,” Theresa mumbled as she picked up some mortars and dumped them into the bucket of hot soapy water. “If we ever find this woman, I’m going to have plenty to say!”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  By dinner, all the trash was cleared out of the workroom, but Theresa figured it would take at least one more day of hard scrubbing before she’d be willing to mix herbs in there. She wanted the workbench and floor good and clean before she began preparing medicines.

  Several of the mortars were cracked and had to be thrown out, but there were enough that were usable that she wouldn’t need to worry about getting more any time soon. She had only been able to salvage four pestles, but fortunately one was quite small and one was fairly large, so she should be able to manage. The biggest problem was storage containers. She’d only found about a dozen, and all of them had dried herbs in them. Even though she was pretty sure what the herbs were from their appearance and smell, she’d thrown them out, just to be on the safe side.

  She tossed out most of the potted herbs too, but there were a few that she thought she might be able to nurse back to health. She was undecided about the mushrooms. They were definitely healthy. She just didn’t know what they were for.

  After dinner, she asked Dora to walk out to the workroom with her to look at the mushrooms.

  “I’ll be glad to look, ma’am, but I don’t know much about herbs except the ones that all the farm wives use,” Dora said.

  When they reached the workroom, Dora looked at the mushrooms for several moments. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any quite like these before. I know they don’t grow wild in the valley, and I don’t remember Sister Gerry ever using any mushrooms in any of her mixtures.”

  “Well, she probably either dried them or boiled them down to get a broth. I doubt she would have used the meat,” Theresa said. “I wondered if maybe she grew them for food. Did the two of you eat many mushrooms?”

  “No. In fact, that was one of the things that Sister Gerry wouldn’t let me use when I cooked. She told me not to ever use any mushrooms at all. Not any kind.”

  Theresa nodded.

  “Do you want me to taste one and see if I can tell what type it is?” Dora offered.

  “No. I don’t want anyone to even touch these until I find out more about them.” Theresa walked out the door and waited for Dora to join her. Then she tied the door back in place with the rope. “I’m going to get Marcus to find us a piece a wood and fix a latch for this door. It won’t stay closed without the rope.”

  “We have some scraps of wood in the barn, ma’am. I’ll show him tomorrow morning. There might be something in there that he can use.”

  “You know, Sister Gerry might have had those mushrooms for a special patient. Do you know where her patient records are?”

  “She didn’t keep any records on the patients.”

  “No records? Are you serious?”

  “She didn’t keep any,” Dora repeated.

  Theresa had a feeling that she was asking the wrong question. “Do you have any records?”

  Dora blushed. “I did make a few notes, but they aren’t really patient records. I just wrote down who came by, what was wrong, and what Gerry told me to do for them. And I kept notes on what herbs I delivered to the farms every week.”

  “Great. May I see them?”

  “If you wish, but I doubt they’ll be much good to you. They’re just my notes.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be just fine,” Theresa said as she opened the back door to the chapel and waited for Dora to step inside.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  Three hours later, Theresa rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her desk chair. She had skimmed through half of Dora’s notes. Although she was getting a good feel for the people in the valley and their health problems, she wasn’t getting any closer to identifying the mushrooms.

  She pushed her chair away from the desk, stood up, stretched, and realized that she was thirsty. When she walked into the kitchen, she found Marcus and Hayley whispering over a pitcher of scog.

  “Why are you whispering?” Theresa whispered.

  “Dora’s gone to bed. We didn’t want to disturb her,” Hayley answered.

  “Oh,” Theresa said as she took a mug out of the cabinet. She poured herself some scog and sat down at the table. “Marcus, I’d like for you to put a protection ward over some mushrooms I found in the workroom today.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just put the ward over the door?” Hayley asked.

  “Probably, but I don’t understand why Gerry didn’t allow Dora in there, and I don’t want her to start thinking that we’re locking her out too,” Theresa explained.

  “Why don’t I just destroy the mushrooms then?” Marcus asked.

  “Because I don’t know what they’re for. Dora didn’t recognize them, so they don’t grow here naturally. Gerry might have had another sister send her a cutting and cultivated them specifically for some rare disorder or disease that I’ve never dealt with. Until I find out more, I don’t want to destroy anything.”

  “How are you going to find out what they are?” Hayley asked.

  “I’m going to send Brena a note describing them and see if she knows what they are and what they’re used for,” Theresa answered. “But until I hear from her, I want to make sure no one gets into them. They could be poisonous.”

  “Why would a sister keep something around that’s poisonous?” Marcus asked.

  “A lot of the herbs are poisonous if you aren’t sick, or if you take too much, or if you mix them wrong. That’s why sisters mix the teas and deliver them rather than just tell people which herbs to grow in their backyards.”

  “Oh,” Marcus said. “Another case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.”

  Theresa nodded. “So, can we go put a ward around those mushrooms now?”

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The next morning, Theresa asked Dora to introduce her to the town director, so Dora took her over to his shop.

  Niklas spotted Theresa’s pendant as soon as they walked in
the door and rushed over to introduce himself. “I’m so very pleased to meet you. Are you going to be able to take over the chapel now?”

  “Not exactly. I’m temporary,” Theresa said as she shook his hand. “I’m just here to help out until either Sister Gerry shows up or Sister Brena finds a replacement for her.”

  “Well, we’re glad to have you, for however long that might be,” Niklas said. “I understand that you have a sorcerer traveling with you.”

  “Yes, Marcus. He and my aide are close friends, and he travels with us sometimes.”

  “That’s what Jason said when he came by Sunday afternoon. Would Marcus be interested in helping out some of the farmers around the valley while he’s here?”

  “I’m sure he’d love to. I’ll bring him over this afternoon to meet you.”

  Niklas nodded.

  “If you have a few moments, I’d like to ask you some questions.”

  “Of course. Dora, would you watch the shop for a bit? Call me if anyone needs me,” Niklas said as he led Theresa towards the backroom. There was an old desk and a couple of chairs against the back wall. Niklas sat down at the desk and motioned Theresa towards one of the chairs. “I don’t know that there’s much I can tell you.”

  “Do you have any idea where Sister Gerry might have gone?” Theresa asked. “Did she have any close friends in the area?”

  Niklas shook his head. “No. She wasn’t all that friendly with the people around here. She was a bit short with most folks, so they didn’t spend any more time with her than they had to. Even Dora tried to steer clear of her.”

  “I’ve sort of gathered that. Why did Dora decide to work at the chapel?”

  “Right after Gerry came, we had a bad outbreak of something. Gerry said it was pneumonia, but I’ve never seen pneumonia act like that before. Anyway, Dora’s husband was one of the ones who took sick, so Dora stayed at the chapel to help look after him and the others who came down with it. After her husband died, Dora didn’t really have any reason to go back home, so she just stayed at the chapel, helping out.”

  “I didn’t realize that,” Theresa said slowly. “Did a lot of people die during that outbreak?”