Chapter 12
Helsop
Electra pulled a bunch of dried herbs from a high shelf in the chart room of the clinic. She drew the herbs close to her chest and lowered her foot to step down from her chair. Strong hands circled round her waist and lifted her down to the floor.
"What were you doing up there?" Dagon asked.
"You startled me!" Electra said, catching her breath. "How long have you been here?"
"I just came in. I was trying not to startle you, but I thought you might fall. Why do you keep herbs on such a high shelf?"
Electra held up the long oval leaves topped with purple flowers tinged with green.
"This is belladonna. It can be a beneficial ingredient when one needs to sleep during surgery, but it can also kill. I try to make sure no one can find it. I want to show it to my students today so they will be aware of the harm it can do."
Dagon nodded. " I could make you a cabinet with a lock and key."
Electra's eyes sparkled. "Could you? That would be very helpful. I worry that these herbs and others like them could fall into the wrong hands."
Dagon flipped his hand up as though the project were nothing special. "I will start on it today. I've been helping with construction on the castle so my carpentry skills are improving."
Electra smiled. "How goes the castle construction? I hear pounding and sawing from dawn to dusk."
"We are making good progress. I believe we will be wed before your eighteenth birthday if all goes according to schedule." Dagon returned Electra's smile. "What plans have you today? Will you try again to take your students into the forest?"
Electra shook her head. "I've given that up for a time. Odval doesn't seem to want to go. It is difficult to communicate with her through Magsa, so I'm not sure why she is so reluctant. I've decided to let them make tinctures today."
"Tinctures?" Dagon asked.
"Herbs soaked in alcohol," Electra explained.
Dagon picked up the dried belladonna plants. "Will you use these?"
Electra's hand flew to her chest. "Certainly not! These will be for a much more advanced lesson. Today I only mean to warn them of belladonna's poisonous nature."
Dagon's eye narrowed in a cautious expression. "Are you sure you want Odval to know about belladonna? She did try to poison you once."
Electra shrugged. "She no longer fears that Bataar might take me as a second wife. The Great Khan himself has forbidden it. But I do believe she fears that Bataar will take a second wife from somewhere if she does not produce an heir soon. She is quite fixated on bearing a child. I am sure that is the only reason she is here at the school, which she likely perceives to be a school of witchcraft."
Dagon nodded. "I will make sure that when she leaves, the belladonna plant does not leave with her. I will begin work right away and should have your cabinet by tomorrow."
Electra picked up her plant and gave Dagon a kiss on the cheek. "Dinner together tonight?" she asked.
"I'll bring something from the mess tent. Do not bother cooking."
Electra smiled and left the chartroom with her dried herbs.
Electra found her students drinking tea at the school's dining table.
Isa's jaw dropped a little as Electra laid the belladonna plant on the table. She obviously recognized the plant.
"Belladonna," Electra stated, pointing to the plant. "We will be going into the forest in a few days and I want all of you to recognize this as a dangerous plant. It is extremely poisonous, but used correctly, it can be useful."
The students studied the plant but were reluctant to touch it.
"Is it poisonous to the touch?" Laleh asked.
"No, but I will put it away for now. I want each of you to find a colored glass container in the kitchen. Today we will make tinctures of Echinacea."
Electra took the belladonna plants to the school's storeroom and returned with a bundle of pressed purple daisy-like flowers on long green stems with black roots.
"Are any of you familiar with this flower?" Electra asked.
The students leaned in for a better look.
Juanita picked one up from the table. "It looks like a coneflower."
"Very good," Electra said. "And does anyone know its uses?"
Isa nodded. "For fevers?"
"Yes." Electra began to suspect that Isa already knew more about herbs than she had previously let on. "It is a very beneficial plant. We use it to heal wounds, to sooth swollen gums and boils and as Isa says, to reduce fevers. Today we will make a tincture from the roots of the Echinacea plant."
Electra cut off the black roots and showed her students how to grind them using a mortar and pestle. Then she stood back to let each one take a turn.
She next took a bit of the ground roots and placed it in a glass jar. She poured enough alcohol in to cover the coarse powder, shook the jar, topped it with a cork and held it up. "Tincture of Echinacea," she proclaimed.
Princess Electra Book 4 School of Medicine Page 12