by Jeff Wheeler
“Can I help with anything?” Galen asked.
She gave him a placating smile. “I don’t think so, Galen. I’m sure that your father has taught you well, but I need a fully trained healer.”
“Of course, Ms. Rubbles. I’ll tell my father that you stopped in.” She tilted her head forward. “But if I might offer a suggestion?” he asked as she started to turn. She paused and waited. Galen moved past her and grabbed a few items from the shelves before returning to her. “Steep these as you would tea. It should help until my father returns.”
Ms. Rubbles glanced down at what Galen had placed in her hands. She frowned for a moment before nodding. Then she turned and limped out of the shop, leaving with a soft jingle of the bell.
Before saying anything else, Galen grabbed the topmost sheet on the stack and pulled it toward him. In his neat script, he made a quick note. Arthritic knees. Faint sweat. Eyes slightly pronounced. Visible mass on neck. Likely glandular problem. Given methimanine seeds, buglebalm leaves, and motherwort.
He slipped the page back atop the pile and gave Kira a wry smile. “Maybe she’s right.”
“About needing a better healer?” Kira asked, surprised. “From what I have seen, you’re as skilled as any healer I’ve met outside of Annendel.”
“Thanks, but that’s not what I meant. I think she’s right about the colorant. We’ve been using different inks, but none has worked. Maybe we need a darker colorant. Treat the ink like I would any other medicine I compound.”
Kira bit her lip as she turned back to the page. They had tried the different inks that Galen had available but had not really tried mixing their own. “What do you suggest?” she asked.
“Taris berry?”
Without waiting for Kira to say anything more, he slipped out and around the table and hurried to one of the shelves and back holding a small cluster of cherry-red berries. Setting them in his mortar, he ground them quickly with the pestle and then spooned it into the ink, stirring it with a practiced motion. Kira could tell that the ink lightened as he did, taking on some of the color of the berry.
“I thought you said we should go darker?” she asked. “That seems to be lightening it.”
“Maybe lighter here, but I think the color will be bolder on the page.” He pulled the sheet of parchment close to him and dipped the pen into the ink. Then, slowly, he ran the pen across the page.
Both watched the line as Galen pulled the quill off the page. For a moment, it seemed as if the bright red line would remain on the page, but then it began to fade, slowly absorbed back into the page no differently than any of the other inks they tried.
“Anything else that you can think of?” she asked. “Maybe darker, not just bolder?”
Galen furrowed his brow while thinking. “Maybe parsap?”
Again he hurried over to the shelves and again returned, this time carrying what looked to be a small twig. He broke the twig over one of his other mortars. A small droplet of a thick, oily sap dripped out into the bowl. Galen took a few drops of fresh ink and added them to the mortar, mixing it together.
“It’s usually used as a sealant. Helps bind wounds,” he explained, then shrugged. “With as thick as it is, maybe it will work.”
With a tight expression, he cleaned the tip of the pen and dipped it into the ink before making a long mark on the page. This ink seemed a little different, almost congealing atop the page and giving Kira hope that it might work, but then it slowly started to fade, sinking below the surface of the parchment.
Galen lifted the sheet and looked underneath the page, frowning. “Interesting how that works.” He ran his hand across the top of the parchment carefully, expecting the faded ink to stain his hand. His frown deepened and he held his hand up to his face.
Kira sat back, feeling defeated. Nothing they had tried seemed to work. And if nothing worked, then any hope she had at getting enough coin to pay the healers for the study was gone. She hated the lump that formed in the back of her throat and tried to swallow it back.
“Kira, there are many other things we can try. Caldric ash? Torch thorn?” Galen’s eyes narrowed as he thought. “Pollyton seeds? They stain everything.”
She shook her head and smiled at him sadly as she blinked back the tears threatening to well up in her eyes. “We can stop, Galen. It never would have worked anyway,” she said softly. “I know that I’m too far along. There isn’t the time for a study to help, even if I hadn’t lost the money.”
Saying it aloud felt freeing in a way. Finally admitting what she had grown to know over the past few months took away tension that she hadn’t known was there. She might not be ready to die, but there was nothing she could do to change it. Nothing anyone could do.
Galen slipped an arm around her shoulder and held her against him again. She didn’t tense that time. “You didn’t lose anything.”
She turned to see him looking at her with more affection than she deserved. “I should go, Galen,” she said. “My father will be worried about me. Keep the parchment as a gift for trying to help me.” She patted her pocket where she had the small canister of medicine he’d given her and started to turn away from him before he could see her cry.
As she turned, her hand caught painfully on something sharp resting on the parchment. The tip of the pen, probably, she thought, bringing her hand to her mouth with a soft cry. She tasted the parsap ink before realizing what she was doing and pulled her hand away from her mouth.
“Let me see that,” Galen said.
Kira tried to stand but found that her legs were weak. “I’m fine,” she said.
She didn’t want him to learn that the bleeding would not easily stop. That had been happening for the past few weeks. Like everything else, it was getting worse. And Galen had already been more than helpful to her. The cough medicine really seemed to work; she hadn’t felt a fit come on since she first took it. And he had willingly worked with her as she tried to find a solution to the parchment, probably knowing that even if they found an answer, there was nothing the Guild of Annendel would be able to do to help save her anyway. Best to simply return to Duras. Be together as a family before the sickness took her completely. Considering what had happened with her sister years earlier, even her father could agree to that.
The bell over the shop door jingled. Kira stood then, willing her legs to hold her up so that she could make her way out of the shop. She did not trust herself to look back at Galen, though she knew she owed it to him for all that he had done.
“Aelus?” a deep voice demanded.
Kira turned, recognizing it as her father’s voice.
“He’s not here,” Galen said, coming around the table.
Kira wished for a moment that he would put his arm around her one more time, longing for one last touch. When Galen had comforted her, there had been none of the concern others seemed to have of catching her illness, none of the fear that even her father had, the way he always kept her just far enough away. Only those times when she nearly fell did her father touch her.
Her father appeared between the shelves. Galen stopped and glanced back at Kira. He saw something on her face—the anxiety of admitting what had happened with the money, or her acceptance of her fate.
“Master Benril,” he said, turning back to face her father. “Thank you for allowing Kira to visit with me while you stopped in Amon. It has been wonderful catching up with her after all these years.”
Her father looked over at Kira. “You did not tell me you were coming here.”
Kira took a deep breath, smiling as she turned, hoping that it didn’t look as pained as it felt. “I said that I wanted to visit friends.”
His broad face seemed to darken. “What did you tell him?”
For whatever reason, there had always been friction between her father and Galen’s. She’d never understood.
Galen answered for her. “Only that you were stopping briefly through Amon.” His smile appeared much more convincing than hers. “We talked a
bout your recent travels, and I asked if she happened to see my father while to the west.”
Her father turned to Galen. His frown deepened. “We have most certainly not seen Aelus. And she will not.” He looked at Kira. “Come, it’s time that we be going.”
Galen tilted his head. “Of course, Master Benril.” He turned to Kira. “It really was wonderful to see you again.” He took her hand. His fingers felt soft and warm. One worked briefly over where she had cut herself, smoothing the skin and briefly probing the wound. Satisfied, he squeezed again and released. “May we see each other again soon,” Galen said to her.
Kira swallowed and nodded sadly. Both of them knew that wouldn’t happen.
* * *
Outside the Aelus’s shop, she glanced back. Dusty windows blocked her view so she couldn’t tell if Galen watched as they made their way back to the wagon. The streets were muddy and she took care to stay on the uneven cobbles as she followed her father, but she slipped and had to turn away before she could see if Galen watched. Her father walked a step in front of her and did not look back.
Kira dreaded telling him about the lost money. She wondered if he already knew. Could that be the reason he’d come for her? She doubted that he did or he would be angrier.
“Did you think that Aelus could help?” her father asked, pulling her attention back to him. He finally looked at her briefly, and she read annoyance on his face and heard the derision in his voice as he said Aelus’s name. “We’re going to Annendel. Home of the greatest healers in the known world. There is little a village apothecary can do compared to some of the healers you have seen.”
Kira didn’t want to argue, but knew that many of the healers they had visited during the journey west paled in comparison to the skill she had seen from Galen. She glanced at her hand and shook her head. He had even recognized that she was bleeding and used the parsap to seal the wound. It still throbbed, but no longer bled as it had, and certainly not as long as it usually would.
They weaved through the streets and reached the wagon. The back was latched and the tarp pulled tight over the top. Everything was ready for their departure. Kira would have to tell him that the box had been stolen. They couldn’t go to Annendel. She was not sure she really would want to even if they still had the necessary coins.
“Father . . .” She started to explain, but felt an irritant in the back of her throat as another coughing fit threatened her. It would be the first one since she had taken Galen’s concoction.
He watched her with a concerned look on his face as he always did when the fits came on. She knew he felt helpless and hated waiting for the fit to pass, but there really was nothing else that could be done.
“Water?” she asked between coughs.
He frowned but nodded, reaching into the front of the wagon and pulling out a flask. He handed it to her.
Kira wanted to turn so that he wouldn’t see what she did next, but her father stood watching her closely. As carefully as she could, she slipped her hand into her pocket, pulled out the small canister that Galen had given her, and quickly took a pinch of the concoction to put into the water.
Her father grabbed her wrist before she could mix the medicine into the water. “What is that?” he demanded.
The coughing fit hadn’t completely eased. She took shallow breaths as she tried to work through it. When he didn’t let go of her arm, she pulled back and mixed the medicine into the water, drinking it quickly before he could say anything more. It tasted no better the second time she tried it.
“He gave that to you?” he asked.
The spell finally eased and she nodded. “Just a suppressant,” she answered. “But it works. I haven’t coughed for hours.”
Her father frowned suspiciously. “Are you certain that all he gave you was a cough suppressant? I’ve seen how his father works. Thinks he knows more than the Guild, he does!” He lowered his hand, suddenly aware that he had still been holding it up. Something in his face changed, softening. “Kira—I just want you to get well. That is all I’ve ever wanted.” He let out a long sour breath. “Once we reach Annendel, we can finally start getting you the help you need. The study will find—”
“Nothing, Father. The study will find nothing.” She took another drink from the flask and shook her head. “Why should the healers in Annendel succeed when the others have not? Can’t you see that nothing has made a difference? The only thing that has helped has been this!” She held the flask containing the cough suppressant out in front of her and shook it at him. “And you can’t get past your anger at Aelus to let me have this one reprieve!”
“It is because of Aelus that we lost your sister.” His voice dropped to nearly a whisper.
Kira blinked and swallowed back what she nearly said next. “You can’t believe that. There was nothing anyone could have done for Lisa, not after that injury. Even the Guild couldn’t have saved her.”
His eyes grew wide and he shook his head angrily. “But because of him, we’ll never know. He told your mother that she would be all right. Offered her kind words, letting her think that Lisa would pull through. Had we only known . . .”
“What? You would have subjected her to the same journey that I’ve had to take? Trudge her across the countryside until you found someone else to take a crack at making her better?” Kira coughed once and wiped her hand across her mouth. “She wouldn’t have survived the journey. No more than I will,” she said, turning away from her father.
“I just want you to get well,” her father said.
Kira tried to suppress the tears that came to her eyes when she answered. “I know that you do.”
Then he touched her shoulder and squeezed, at least trying to show affection. Kira couldn’t help but contrast it to the gentle way that Galen held her. They stood in place for a few moments. Kira let the tears fall while her father made every attempt to look away.
“I can’t lose you too, Kira,” he said. “Losing Lisa has been the hardest thing your mother has ever gone through. Don’t give up on the Guild. There’s still the chance that you might be healed.”
Kira looked down at the wagon, wishing that she didn’t have to tell her father about the missing trunk. Losing the hope of her healing would break his heart almost as much as losing her.
But she had to tell him. Better that they have some time left together as a family.
“Father . . . I am not sure that we can.”
“What do you mean?”
She took a deep breath to answer.
As she did, Galen came running through town toward them, splashing through the muddy street. He called out her name as he ran.
Kira turned, wondering if he came to tell her good-bye once more, but his face looked too serious for that. He held out one of the sheets of parchment as he ran.
“Kira. Master Benril,” he said as he approached, nodding politely to them both.
Her father looked at the sheet of parchment, his eyes growing from surprised to angry in the span of a few heartbeats. “You gave him that parchment?”
“A trade for the medicine,” Kira said weakly.
“Don’t you know what that is worth?” he asked.
“It is not worth anything, Father!” She tried to shout, but her voice did not cooperate. “Not without the secret of how to write on it. I thought Galen could help me discover it. That we could then sell it to have enough money to pay the Guild.”
“But we almost have enough for the Guild, Kira.”
She closed her eyes. “No. We don’t, Father.” She sobbed. “A thief . . . I was sick, coughing on the wagon . . . You were at Rubbles’s . . .” Kira knew she was babbling but couldn’t stop herself.
“The money is gone?” he asked.
Kira opened her eyes, forcing herself to look at her father. His face had gone white. All the anger that she had sensed from him had disappeared, replaced by an expression that he tried so hard to hide from her—grief.
“I’m sorry, Father. I should have loc
ked the wagon. Should have protected the trunk. Now the Guild won’t help.”
Standing there, she knew the moment that his heart broke. It was overwhelming to her when it happened. The flat expression disappeared, turned into a look of devastation. “But we were so close. The Guild had agreed to take you into the study. We just had to make it to Annendel. Now . . .”
She saw on his face that he had already lost her. Like Lisa. “Maybe this is better,” Kira said. It was her turn to try to comfort him. “We can return to Duras. To mother and Nathan. Be a family for the time that remains.”
“That means that you will . . .” He couldn’t even finish the words.
“I don’t think that anything was ever going to change that.”
“That was the whole purpose of this journey. That we would reach Annendel with the silvers needed for the study. That you could get the healing you need.”
“Maybe this is best. Now we can just be a family. I don’t know how much time I have left, but I would rather be with you and mother, not sitting in a cold room in Annendel while the Guild picks me over.”
Her father stared at her and then nodded bitterly. He looked at Galen and waved a thick hand at him. “Keep it. Just like what Aelus did for her, the parchment is useless. Tell your father it’s payment for what happened with Lisa.”
“But that’s what I came to tell you,” Galen said. “We found the solution. Or really, Kira found the solution.”
“What? How?” she asked.
Galen held up the page. Copied on it in his tight scrawl were the symptoms he had recorded for Hyp and Ms. Rubbles in richly colored ink. A large smear of ink ran across the middle of the page, darker than the rest. Kira saw another line and realized that Galen had recorded her symptoms there along with the others.
“When you cut yourself. The blood stained the page.” Galen laughed a soft rich laugh. “Unlike the other inks, it stayed.” He pointed to the long smear across the page. “I diluted some of my blood in plain ink and it still worked. The colorant we needed is just blood!”