Sar turned a liquid brown eye on him and flicked his ear. The donkey, too, could heal the woman easily if he wanted. Josiah’s hand on his back was all the help he would need. But both Sar and Elkan insisted that Josiah learn to understand what the Mother’s power showed and did, and not just act as a passive partner to his familiar.
Their patient, a plump, middle-aged woman named Master Tava Tailorkin Candler, propped herself up on an elbow and gazed at the shimmering golden light surrounding her chest. “There’s not a problem, is there, Master Elkan?”
“Not at all. Josiah just needs a few more minutes. Although if you’d rather I—”
“Oh, no. Apprentices have to learn; I understand.” Master Tava lay back on the cot. “Take all the time you need.”
Elkan nodded. Josiah settled his hand more firmly into the warm fur at the base of Sar’s mane.
He shut his eyes and concentrated on the images swirling on the back of his eyelids. The Mother’s healing power let wizards perceive their patients’ bodies, but it was very different from ordinary sight. After much practice, he could usually match the swirls of color and washes of light to the organs they represented. The heart, for instance, was a pulsing mass of violet and gold, swishing with the blue and crimson of blood. Master Tava’s thumped steadily, her lungs sending regular washes of crystalline air into the blood coursing through them. Everything seemed healthy and thriving there.
Josiah cycled through each of his other senses, confirming his first impression. The thuds and swishes and gurgles of tissues and fluids sounded regular and strong. The flavors and odors were warm and pleasant, with none of the bitterness or sickly sweetness that could indicate infection. Finally, he focused on the tactile sensations. They were the most important, but the hardest to interpret. But now that he had dealt with the others, he could understand the sensation of liquid flowing across his skin and wind blowing in his hair. His fingers detected none of the heaviness or tightening that would reveal a damaged heart nor any of the overly intense pushing of the blood which would indicate restrictions in the vessels.
Whatever had caused Master Tava’s pain, it wasn’t a defect of the heart. That had been Josiah’s first thought when she’d described waking to spasms of pain at the base of her ribs. She hadn’t been able to breathe, and once had vomited. The episodes went away within an hour or two, so she had ignored the first few, but after a particularly bad one this morning her eldest daughter had insisted she come to the Mother’s Hall.
Elkan had sat beside Josiah and listened as Master Tava reported her symptoms. But when Josiah asked him if he thought it might be her heart he’d looked inscrutable and told Josiah to investigate every possibility.
He probably knew exactly what the problem was and just wasn’t telling. Josiah pinched his lips together and moved his hand to Master Tava’s abdomen. Down here, Sar?
Whatever you need. The donkey shifted the flow of golden light until it enveloped her belly.
The wrongness fairly leaped out at Josiah. Every sense registered it—a sickly greenish glow, a strangled gurgle, a taste like rotten meat and a stench like decaying flesh. Heat pulsed against his hands. He traced the source to a small pouch-like organ near the liver. It swelled with malevolent force, straining the fragile tissues to their limit. Josiah recoiled and the light of the Mother’s power jerked away from the spot. He moved his hand back into position, Sar’s displeasure sharp in his mind.
“I found it, Master Elkan.” Josiah tried to remember the details of his lessons in anatomy. “Here, by the liver. A bad infection. It’s in the… something to do with bile, I think…”
Elkan nodded. “The bile reservoir often becomes infected. Do you remember why?”
Josiah was sure Elkan had taught him that tidbit of information at some point, but it was lost among the vast number of similar details his master had poured into him over the last few months. “Um, doesn’t it get blocked somehow?”
“That’s right.” Elkan rose and came to stand across from Josiah. Tobi padded to his side. “Would you like me to show you?”
“Yes, please.” Josiah was beginning to feel competent dealing with common ailments, but the hot green mass frightened him.
“Sar, focus in tight.” Elkan set one hand on Tobi’s head and extended the other. Gold light poured from his hand to join Josiah’s. “Feel there, in the little duct that joins the one from the liver?”
Josiah concentrated on the spot. There, a hard lump right in the duct’s opening. “I see it.”
“It’s a stone. They tend to form in the bile reservoir. Sometimes they get stuck and block it off, and then infection can set in.” Elkan frowned. “Feel the others?”
Sar shifted to focus on the swollen pouch and let the Mother’s power penetrate within. Josiah felt the stones, like a handful of gravel in his palm. “Yeah.”
Elkan was silent for a few minutes, concentrating on the play of power below his hand. At length he sighed, and the light died. Sar followed suit, and Josiah pulled his hand away. He rubbed his tingling palm against his breeches.
Elkan helped their patient sit up. “Master Tava, were you listening? Do you understand the problem?”
“I think so.” She gazed at him with perfect trust. “The Mother’s power can fix it?”
He nodded. “Normally I’d prefer to crush the stone causing the problem. The infected bile would drain, and we could reverse the inflammation. But the problem would be likely to recur, and you’d be back here with more pain in a month or a year.” He looked troubled for a moment. “In your case the infection has damaged the reservoir so much I recommend you allow us to take it out.”
“You can do that?” Master Tava’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Your body can function quite well without this particular organ. It might affect your digestion slightly—you may need to avoid eating certain things, fatty foods, things with seeds or skins, berries, for instance. The procedure is fairly simple. However, it will require that we cut an incision to remove the diseased tissue.”
Josiah sat up straighter, his heart leaping, though he tried to conceal his reaction from Master Tava. Surgery? He’d never gotten to see Elkan do surgery before. Conditions that called for it were rare. The Mother’s power could heal most problems without the need to cut into the body.
Master Tava looked startled, but nodded. “You’ll heal it afterwards?”
“Of course. There will be some pain, but we can dull it a great deal.” Elkan glanced at the gap in the screens. “If you’d like me to send for anyone, so you can discuss it before you come to a decision—”
“There’s no need.” Master Tava shook her head with a rueful grin. “If this reservoir is what’s been making me feel like I’m about to die twice a month, I’ll be well rid of it. I can deal with a little pain for that.”
“Very well. We’ll get ready and be back in a few minutes to begin. It won’t bother you to have Josiah present? I can ask another master to assist me if you’d prefer.”
“No, let the boy do it.” She grinned at Josiah. He realized she was nervous despite her offhand manner. There was something a bit forced in the way she patted his arm. “There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster. “Elkan is a great wizard. Everything will be fine.”
“I’m sure it will.” Master Tava lay back on the cot and closed her eyes.
Josiah followed Elkan from the cubical, past the rows of screens where other wizards worked with patients, and to the side wall of the Hall where a series of basins waited. Sar and Tobi followed them. Elkan scrubbed his hands and gestured for Josiah to do the same. From its sheath at his belt Elkan pulled out the thin, razor sharp knife he kept for just this purpose. He examined the blade critically. “I sharpened it this morning. It should do.” He soaped the blade, rinsed it, and dried the metal on a clean towel.
Elkan turned to Josiah. “Sar has worked with me on plenty of surger
ies. He knows what to do. I’ll be busy coaching Tobi, so I won’t be able to spare much attention for you. Listen to what he tells you and you’ll do fine. You and Sar will be responsible for keeping blood loss to a minimum. You’ll need to slow her body until her circulation nearly stops. That will stop the pain as well. In addition, I want you to push blood away from the incision site and heal any major vessels I cut. There’s going to be some blood anyway, and I need you to clear it away periodically so I can see what I’m doing. It will take a fair bit of energy, but you should have plenty to spare. Tobi and I will take care of removing the organ and healing the incision. Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir!” Josiah couldn’t wait.
Elkan grinned at his enthusiasm. “Let’s get started, then.”
He detoured by the stash of supplies to acquire a large basin, a small metal bowl, and a stack of towels, and again by the busy front section of the healing area to notify Master Yathora of their plans. She looked around at the crowd of people waiting to be served and sighed. “This is going to put you two out of commission for the rest of the morning, isn’t it? Report back to me as soon as you’re rested. We’ll be working past sundown at this rate.”
Elkan assured her they would.
He sent Josiah to fill the basin with water. When he arrived back within the screens, Elkan was chatting with Master Tava. After he’d explained everything they intended to do, he positioned Josiah and Sar where he wanted them, on the far side of the cot. He nodded to Josiah.
Josiah cleared his throat. “We’re going to slow down your body for a while, Master Tava. You won’t be aware of what we’re doing, or feel anything. It will seem like no time at all, and then you’ll be awake and we’ll be finished.”
“Go ahead, young man.” Master Tava pulled her tunic up, exposing her belly. She lay back and closed her eyes. For a moment Josiah was taken aback by the completeness of her trust in him. She was vulnerable to anything he might choose to do. The idea overwhelmed him.
It’s not you she trusts, but the Mother. Sar pressed close to Josiah’s side.
He was right, of course. Master Tava was perfectly safe. Josiah could do nothing with the Mother’s power unless Sar cooperated. And animals, since they had no free will, were incapable of disobeying the Mother’s Law. Even if Josiah wanted to abuse his power, he couldn’t. The idea was oddly comforting. That was the whole reason wizards had familiars, after all.
He gripped the base of Sar’s mane firmly and extended his other hand over Master Tava’s chest. I’m ready, Sar.
Hold on.
Power surged through him, far more than was necessary for most purposes. Light spilled from his hand and flowed into a cloud that wrapped Master Tava in sparkling gold. Josiah felt Sar’s effort as he took control of every process in Master Tava’s body and slowed them nearly to a standstill. His heart raced, and he panted. Would they be able to keep up this level of exertion long enough?
“We’re ready,” he choked out.
“We’ll be quick.” Elkan placed his left hand on Tobi’s head. With his right, he gripped his knife. Gold light flowed around the knife and pulled the skin of Master Tava’s belly taut. With a smooth motion, he drew the blade across.
A line of blood welled out. Belatedly, Josiah remembered that they were supposed to be taking care of that, but Sar was already pushing as much blood out of the area as he could. Josiah’s breath stuttered as the donkey drew more strength from him. It had been a while since they’d worked together on something so strenuous. Josiah remembered how much he disliked the sensation of his energy being sucked away without his control.
Elkan cut deeper. Josiah couldn’t look away. He was both fascinated and disgusted by the red layers of muscle and yellow layers of fat opening beneath Elkan’s knife.
He tried to reconcile the physical sight of the organs in Master Tava’s abdomen with the sense of them flowing into his mind through the Mother’s power. He thought the purplish mass must be the liver, and those ropy things the intestines, but he wasn’t sure.
He recognized the bile reservoir when Elkan uncovered it, though. It was just as distended and diseased-looking through his own eyes as through the Mother’s power. Its presence within the healthy body felt horrifying, like a desecration of something holy. He was glad when Elkan made a few tiny slices with his knife, severing it from its connections. Gold light filled the space, healing the cuts even as he made them.
Elkan withdrew his hand and set the knife aside. He extended his fingers, and the Mother’s power flooded out. The infected organ floated up on a golden cloud and settled into the small metal bowl.
Josiah’s legs shook. Sweat soaked his tunic. He struggled to breathe deeply enough. He knew Sar wouldn’t draw too far on his reserves of energy, but it felt as if he might. An edge of panic urged Josiah to pull his hand away from Sar’s neck, but he ignored it and gripped the donkey’s mane harder.
Elkan and Tobi stared into the incision, pouring light from Elkan’s hand into the cavity. Layer by layer, it sealed shut. Last of all, the skin drew closed. The line of the incision passed through the stages of healing, from livid red to soft pink, all the way to a faded white scar.
That’s enough, Josiah thought, careful to keep the resentful words within his own mind so Sar wouldn’t hear. Wizards usually didn’t heal cuts past the point where they were thoroughly sealed, leaving their patient’s body to do the rest. Anything more was a waste of precious energy. At least, that was what Elkan was constantly telling him.
Finally Elkan nodded at him, and Sar released his hold on Master Tava. Josiah leaned against the donkey, breathing hard. Master Tava blinked while Elkan wiped smeared blood from his hands with a towel. “That’s all? You’re done?”
“Yes. Lay still for a moment.” Elkan passed a damp towel to Josiah. Together they cleaned the blood from Master Tava’s belly. “How do you feel?” Elkan helped her sit.
She drew a cautious breath, then deeper. “Odd. A little sore.”
Elkan nodded. “That will go away over the next few hours. You should take it easy for the rest of the day, but tomorrow you can go back to your regular work.”
“Good. I’m so far behind, half of Elathir will be dark this winter if I don’t catch up.” She glanced at the bowl and turned away with a shudder. “That’s it?”
“Would you like to see?” Elkan reached for the bowl.
Master Tava held up a hand. “Please, no. I’ll let you wizards deal with it.”
“As you wish.” Elkan moved the bowl out of Master Tava’s sight. “Josiah, clean up. I’ll be back in a moment.”
He escorted Master Tava out of the cubical. Josiah collected the dirty towels and wiped up the last scattered droplets of blood. There wasn’t much; Sar had done a good job keeping the blood inside Master Tava’s body. He hauled the basin across the Hall to the drain where the washbasins were emptied and poured out the pink-tinged water. He bundled the bloody towels and added them to the pile of soiled linens for the Cleaners’ Guild to pick up.
Elkan still wasn’t back. Josiah took a last look around the cubicle. It was spotless, ready for the next patient. He hoped they could break for the midday meal first. His energy was coming back, but he still needed to rest. Sar had the right idea. The donkey stood, eyes closed, one back hoof cocked up, to all appearances asleep.
Josiah eyed the cot wistfully, but it was reserved for patients. He was about to flop in one of the chairs when he spotted something he’d missed in his cleaning. On the table by the front screen, where Elkan had put it, was the bowl containing the removed organ.
Josiah went to stand by it and looked down with mixed disgust and curiosity. It looked smaller than he remembered, just a lump of dead flesh not much bigger than his thumb. He glanced at Sar, but he didn’t want to disturb his familiar’s nap. The Mother’s power wouldn’t show them anything, anyway. Once living tissue died, it became opaque to the Mother’s healing power. He bent closer. Elkan had said there were stones inside. He’d
felt them. Were they really rocks? How could stones get inside a person’s body? Unless you swallowed them, but he couldn’t believe Master Tava would do that.
He jumped at Elkan’s voice. “Hard to believe such a small thing can cause so much trouble, isn’t it?”
Josiah backed guiltily away from the bowl. He’d been trying hard to curb his impulses to poke into things he shouldn’t. It had been at least a week since Elkan had scolded him for eavesdropping on the wizard and patient in the next cubicle. He’d lost track of how many times Elkan had lectured him on the importance of their patients’ privacy and of keeping the confidences imparted to them. This probably fell into the same category.
But Elkan came to stand beside him and gazed into the bowl. “But it’s often small things at the heart of the problem.” He drew his knife from its sheath and used it to turn the lump on its side. He probed the base of the tiny duct with the tip. “Fetch some fresh towels, and I’ll show you more while we let Tobi and Sar rest.”
Josiah ran to fulfill Elkan’s request. Elkan spread a thick layer of towels on the table and slid the bile reservoir onto them. With delicate motions, he sliced through the wall of the organ, releasing a gush of greenish fluid. He spread the walls open, revealing dark, lumpy sludge within the pocket.
“Here’s the culprit.” The tip of the knife pried a pale lump from the wall of the reservoir. Elkan picked it up, wiped it on a towel, and handed it to Josiah.
Josiah wrinkled his nose, but took it and turned it in his fingers. It was about the size of a pea, a dirty yellow color, and clumpy, as if several smaller stones had fused together. He tried to remember where he’d seen a similar shape. “It looks like a hailstone.”
“Hmm. I guess it does.” Elkan stroked his knife through the rubble of other stones. Some were even larger, but most were no bigger than grains of sand. “Yes, I can see why Master Tava was having so much trouble.”
“Where did they come from?” Josiah was sure there was no opening into the reservoir big enough to admit the larger stones.
“As far as we can tell, they form from the bile itself. Have you ever seen a candymaker make rock candy from sugar syrup? The water dries up and leaves sugar crystals behind. We think something similar happens here.”
The Law of Isolation Page 4