Healers (7 page)

Kazy looked ahead at the handsome young man, but his presence didn’t make her feel safe.

***

Kazy was riding the Hyllises’ older black horse beside Daussie on the bay. The caravan was approaching a forested area. She’d had little experience being on a horse prior to joining the caravan. She enjoyed being up on the big animals though. She turned to look at Daussie and saw Daussie staring ahead with narrowed eyes. Kazy looked and saw the road cutting through a narrow spot in the trees. There seemed to be a commotion up by the guard wagon that led the caravan. Daussie said, “Come on,” as she kneed her horse up to a trot.

Kazy urged her mount to a trot as well, following Daussie along the side of the caravan as they moved toward the front. She saw Eva move up to lead the Hyllises’ mule team as Daum, who had been leading their wagon, trotted up to mount the guard wagon. A minute later, Tarc trotted back from the front of the caravan and climbed up to join his father on the little platform atop the guard wagon.

A pudgy merchant Kazy recognized as Henry Roper trotted up to begin leading the guard wagon’s mule team. The guard who had been leading the team turned and mounted a horse. He trotted out in front of the caravan.

Daussie had slowed her horse to a walk beside Mr. Roper at the front.

Kazy rode up beside Daussie, “What’s going on?”

Daussie shrugged. “Drill. We practice this every so often, especially when we’re going through a tight spot like that,” she said, eyeing the narrow cut in the trees.

“You and I are at the front of the entire caravan just when we think it might run into trouble?” Kazy asked wide-eyed.

Daussie nodded, “Messengers. We have pretty good horses and we can’t fight, so if there’s a problem we ride up and down the caravan telling people what’s going on and what to do.”

Staring apprehensively ahead at the narrow spot in the trees, Kazy said, “Why not horns? Or whistles, or drums?”

Daussie looked bemusedly at her for a moment, “Well, we might need to carry a more complex message than you could send with a horn. But that’s not a bad idea for a way to alert the entire caravan.”

Lieutenant Arco arrived then. Walking his horse next to Roper he asked, “Anything suspicious?”

Roper shook his head, “Jason said you wanted to drill at narrow spots, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Arco grunted, “Good,” he turned to Daussie, “Ride back along the caravan. Tell them it’s a drill. They should close up their intervals and remain alert while we’re going through this narrow cut in the trees.”

Daussie said, “I know you said Kazy and I would serve as two separate messengers, but since this is just a drill, can she ride back along the caravan with me? That way she can see what we’re supposed to do?”

“Sure,” Arco said, still studying the land ahead.

To Arco, Daussie said, “She also suggested horns to alert the caravan.”

Arco grunted and looked at Kazy with some interest.

“Come on,” Daussie said to Kazy and turned her horse toward the rear.

“Two
separate
messengers?” Kazy asked nervously.

“Yeah, then if I’ve already gone to the back and Arco wants to send another message, you can bring it.”

“Oh,” Kazy said, a jolt of fear shooting through her at the thought of being separated from Daussie, especially if they were under attack.

Daussie stopped to tell the people in the next wagon what was happening.

Trying to distract herself, when Daussie moved on Kazy asked, “What’re Daum and Tarc doing up on top of the guard wagon?”

“Archers. The platform up there has quivers and bows for them.”

“They’re guards too?” Kazy asked, thinking they had a lot of different responsibilities in the caravan.

“No, but they’re pretty good with a bow. The guards are our main protection, especially in towns, but in an emergency all the caravaners have to pitch in.” She shrugged, “Like us serving as messengers.”

After notifying the caravan about the drill, Daussie and Kazy rode back up to the front. There they practiced keeping a sharp eye out for any attackers that might be hidden in the trees. When they came out of the trees on the other side, Arco announced they would break for lunch in a wide area there.

Kazy and the other Hyllises scrambled to lay out a lunch on top of the little wagon that trailed the big one. Most of the caravan ate something of their own for lunch, but a few always came by to see what the Hyllises had made up. This time they had tomatoes and lettuce Tarc had found in Denton’s crossing the night before they left. Eva made sandwiches with sliced roast pork, lettuce, and tomatoes. They were quite a hit. Happy customers spread the word and they quickly ran out.

Right after they finished laying out the sandwiches a man rode up on a horse. Kazy looked up, recognizing the older man who’d sought treatment back at Denton’s crossing. Her stomach cramped with concern that the man had come to complain about the treatment he’d received.

Instead he smiled at Eva, “Whatever you did, my left leg doesn’t bother me anymore. My right leg’s still killin’ me though. So I borrowed this horse and rode after you, hoping you’ll treat my right leg too, like you said.” He narrowed his eyes, “How much are you gonna charge me?”

Eva glanced at him, but she continued assembling sandwiches, “How much do
you
think it’s worth?”

A startled look crossed the man’s face. “Well…” He shrugged, “I’ve been afraid you’d want to charge me ten gold pieces, and…” he looked down as if in some distress, “I
would
pay that much to have my leg back, so I suppose it’s worth it. But… that’s about all I’ve got.” He looked a little embarrassed. “If you want more than that, I’ll just have to keep living like I am and thank you for fixing one leg for me.”

Eva grinned at him, “One gold, plus a second gold to clean out the arteries in your heart. They’re pretty bad too, but right now you can’t walk fast enough to stress your heart.”

The man’s eyes widened and he raised a hand to his chest, “My heart?”

Eva nodded, “Yeah, better you have
it
done than your leg. If one of the arteries that feeds your heart closes off, you’ll
die
.
…

“Okay,” the man said, looking a little frightened. “You’ve got a deal, and… thanks… for charging less than you could.”

Kazy had watched this conversation with some disbelief. She looked around at her new family.
Can it be that they really can help people?! Or really think they can?
Kazy had been to a healer once when she’d been sick as a child, but didn’t think it had helped her. Certainly most people seemed to have low opinions of healers. She’d been a little bit embarrassed to find out her new family considered themselves healers.

Eva sent Mr. Albert off to one side and said Daussie and Tarc would tend to him again. Kazy kept glancing over, seeing Tarc and Daussie, kneeling on each side and bending over the man like they had before. They were still leaning over him when the caravan began getting ready to leave. Eva sent Kazy over to take Daussie a couple of apples and a canteen of water.

When she got there, Kazy thought Daussie looked drawn. Seeing
Daussie
looking sick made her stomach hurt.

Tarc said, “Dauss, the caravan’s going to be pulling out. You rest for a bit. I’ll go get the horses so we can catch up to the caravan afterwards like before.”

Daussie nodded tiredly and Kazy said, “I’ll stay with her. In fact, I’ll stay with you guys after the caravan leaves, then I can guide her horse again.”

Tarc nodded and trotted towards the caravan where Kazy could see the first wagon pulling out.

When Tarc returned with the two horses, he pulled a couple more big leaves off a nearby bush. He rolled one up and held it over the man’s neck. The man frowned up at him, “Why’re you holding it on my neck?”

“‘Cause the arteries in your neck are full of crud too. It’d be a shame to fix up your legs and heart, then have you die of a stroke.”

Eyes wide, the man said, “I ain’t payin’ more to have you do my neck!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re throwin’ it in for free.”

Tarc and Daussie spent a while moving the rolled leaves up and down the front of the man’s neck on the right side, then on the left side. Kazy watched when Tarc threw the leaves away, wondering if she would see the bloody-fatty material rolled up in them again. She certainly hadn’t seen Tarc put anything in them before he rolled them up. However, when he tossed them aside, he ground them under his boot. Kazy thought she saw a little blood, but it was hard to tell.

The caravan disappeared behind some trees and Kazy began to worry about how far away it was.

To her dismay, Tarc told Daussie to take another break while he collected some more leaves. After that they bent over the man’s chest for a while. Becoming more and more worried, Kazy took to watching the woods at either end of the cleared area they were in.

At long last, Tarc and Daussie sat back on their heels for a moment, then Tarc said, “Okay, we’re done. Even though we’ve removed some of the crud out of your arteries, you’ll probably make more. So, even if you’re feeling okay, the next time the caravan comes through your town, you should let us check you.”

The man sat up, gently touching his neck and chest. “I can’t tell you done nothin’, so it still feels to me like you must have cheated me out of my gold pieces. But I couldn’t tell it when you fixed my left leg either, so I’m trustin’ you made a difference. I hope that’s true…”

“It is,” Tarc said with quiet confidence. Kazy wondered how in the world holding leaves against the man even qualified as a treatment.

The man walked to his horse, looking at the road back towards his home. “Now if I can just get back home without getting’ robbed…” He turned and glanced the other direction toward the caravan. “Hey, your caravan’s gone completely out of sight. If I were you I’d catch up to them quick like; these roads ain’t safe.”

The man mounted and trotted away as his words shot fear through Kazy. She went to the black horse and led it to the big rock the man had been lying on during his treatment. She mounted and then fretted as Daussie wearily climbed up onto the rock as well. She wanted to tell Daussie to hurry, but held her tongue in view of Daussie’s apparent exhaustion.

Once all three of them were mounted, Tarc set off to follow the caravan. He didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry, trotting for a while, then slowing to a walk as they neared the trees ahead. Kazy urged the black up beside him, saying, “Shouldn’t we be going faster? Trying to catch up to the caravan as quickly as we can?”

Tarc shrugged, “We don’t want to wear out old
Blackie there. If we were to encounter some thieves, we certainly don’t want to do it on exhausted mounts.”

Kazy was just wondering whether they would be better off with the two girls on the younger, stronger bay horse when two swordsmen stepped out from behind trees and onto the road ahead of them!

Kazy glanced back over her shoulder at the road behind them. There were a couple of men back there as well!

When she looked back ahead, she saw a man on horseback picking his way out of the trees just beyond the two men up there. Kazy’s stomach cramped with fear. She tensed and let out a low moan.

Daussie patted Kazy on the shoulder and to Kazy’s astonishment she whispered, “It’ll be okay. Try to relax.”

The man on the horse walked it into the middle of the road and gave them an oily smile. As he walked the horse up between the two men blocking their way, he said, “Hi kids. I’m a thinkin’ you shouldn’t have strayed so far from your caravan. Didn’t nobody warn you the roads around here can be dangerous?”

To Kazy’s surprise, Tarc kept walking his horse towards the men. She’d reined the old black in when she’d first seen the men. Now, glancing over her shoulder and seeing the men back there closing on her, she kneed the horse back up beside Tarc. Tarc said, “What do you want? We don’t have any money.”

The man smiled again, “Ah, we’ll need to check you for that.” He raised an eyebrow, “Even if you don’t got no money, you do got a couple of horses.”

Kazy felt lightheaded as one of the men beside the horseman said, “And the girls, bossman. Them girls are purdy!”

Tarc reined in his horse as it got almost nose to nose with the other man’s animal. He felt an itching between his shoulder blades where his throwing knives rested. He desperately wanted to reach back for the first of the five throws it would take to rid humanity of these men.

Instead, remembering his promise, his ghost reached out to the haunch of the man’s horse. Glad Daussie had been doing all the work on their patient so his talent wasn’t already tired; he began to excite the molecules there.

As the skin began to heat, the horse shied a little to the side. The man cursed at it, tugging its reins and trying to steady it. A moment later, the horse, driven to a frenzy by the burning, began bucking wildly. It spun away from the burning spot, kicking out.

The horse knocked over one of the man’s accomplices. The other sprawled out to the side to avoid the kicking hooves. A second later, the rider flew off his mount, still cursing.