Teleporter (a Hyllis family story #2) (14 page)

Daum stared at him for a moment, considering, “That might be. But supposing you sneak up on this guy. What are you going to do when you get there?”

“Take him out.”

“By that, I assume you mean stick one of your throwing knives in his eye socket. What if it turns out that he’s one of Prichard’s men, out there watching for our side?”

Tarc looked a little green, but after a moment he said, “Maybe I could just follow him. If he goes back to Prichard’s house, no problem. If he heads out the other direction, I can follow him to their base camp and we’d know where it is.”

Daum looked at his son for a moment, considering. He stepped forward and clasped Tarc to him, “I appreciate what you’re willing to do, Son,” he said hoarsely, “but it scares the hell out of me. For right now I’d rather leave this problem to Norton, who has experience with it, and the guards, who seem to be professionals. We’ll help where we can, but let’s let them take the lead.”

Tarc considered a moment, then shrugged again, “Okay.”

Daussie thought her brother sounded relieved. She felt tremendous respect when she considered that, despite Tarc’s apprehension, he’d not just been
willing
to follow the man in the woods, but had suggested it himself.

Tarc climbed into the tent, saying he was going to try to get ahead on some sleep for his watch tonight. Daussie wandered off around the wagon circle to find Eva.

Part way around the circle Daussie encountered, not Eva, but Mrs. Gates! “Hi Mrs. Gates, what are you doing here?!”

Gates looked at Daussie like she thought Daussie was an imbecile. “What does it look like? I’m traveling with the caravan!”

“Um, I can see that, but may I ask why?”

“So I can stay near your mother and that retarded brother of yours,” she said irritably. “I’ve actually been getting better. I can’t be sure it
isn’t because
of those ridiculous treatments they’ve been giving me, so, since you guys are running away, I’m having to follow along!”

Daussie marveled at the way the irascible old woman made it sound like the Hyllises’ silly little problem had created major problems for her. Uncertain as to what she should say, Daussie settled for, “Okay, I’ll let my Mom know.”

Daussie continued on her way around the caravan, finding Eva two more wagons down talking to one of the women. The two women appeared to be very concerned about whatever they were discussing; Daussie presumed it had to do with the raiders. They broke off their conversation as Daussie approached. As they weren’t speaking Daussie said, “Mom, did you know that Mrs. Gates is in the caravan?”

Eva stared at Daussie for a moment, then barked a laugh. “Getting away from her was one of the few positives about leaving Walterston and it looks like that one didn’t work out! What’s she doing here?”

Daussie said, “She said she’s following us! She wants more treatments for her cancer and wouldn’t be able to get them if she stayed back home.”

Eva rolled her eyes, but then said, “Well, I guess if I were her I’d come along too. I’m sure she’ll need a
lot
more treatments.”

The other lady looked back and forth from Daussie to Eva, then said, “You’re a healer?”

Eva nodded, “And my children are learning the profession.” She waved a hand at Daussie, “This is my daughter Daussie.” Turning to Daussie, she said, “This is Mrs. Rose, Daussie.” As Daussie gave the woman a nod of the head, Eva turned back to Mrs. Rose and said, “We’re not very good traders so we’re hoping to make a living cooking for the caravan and selling medical advice in the markets.”

“And you can treat cancer?!” Mrs. Rose frowned, “I mean
and
actually make people better? I know
every
charlatan
says
he can treat it, but I don’t think any of them really can.”

“Well,” Eva shrugged, “I didn’t think it could be treated either. But we’ve been trying a new treatment on Mrs. Gates and it
has
helped her a lot. I think it will help most people but I’m afraid I don’t really think it’s going to
cure
anyone.”

Mrs. Rose drew her head back in obvious disbelief, then smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a ‘healer’ admit they might not be able to cure anything! I’m not sure what you
can
do, but I’ve got to give you credit for being honest.”

A while later, Eva and Daussie were back at their own wagon ordering things in the light of the lamp to have them ready for the preparation of breakfast in the morning. Mrs. Rose appeared out of the dim lighting, guiding another, relatively stout woman who gripped her own abdomen and hunched forward over it. The woman’s pinched face spoke volumes about how she felt. Mrs. Rose said, “Eva, this is Amelia Prichard. Her husband owns the farm here. She heard that there was a healer in our caravan and came to see if there was anything you can do for her.”

Even as they were getting the woman laid down on top of the Hyllises’ low trailer, Daussie had already excitedly sent her ghost into the woman’s abdomen to try to learn what she could. Even in the dim lamplight Daussie’s eyes saw that the woman was a mildly jaundiced yellow so Daussie suspected something was wrong with her liver.

Eva skillfully extracted a history from Mrs. Prichard. Forty-five years old, she’d intermittently had these attacks of abdominal pain for a few years, some worse than others, but all eventually getting better, usually in just a few hours. This one, however, had been going on for almost a day.

“Usually, I come out and greet you caravaners when you arrive,” Mrs. Prichard said. “I like to welcome you and try to see to your needs… but I’ve been feeling so awful.” She grunted as if a spasm had gone through her, “I didn’t realize my daughters hadn’t come out to check on you until recently. Then, when they did, someone said there was a healer. So, selfishly,
then
I decided I would come out no matter how I felt…”

Eva patted the woman on the shoulder and tugged at a lower eyelid to examine the white of her eye, “Don’t you worry about it. We’ve been getting along just fine. You’re jaundiced, so probably something’s bothering your liver or gallbladder. Just hold still while Daussie and I examine you.” She laid a hand on the woman’s abdomen and beckoned Daussie over, taking Daussie by the wrist and laying her hand on the woman as well.

Daussie had already scanned through the entire woman from head to toes and found only the stones in her gallbladder. She wanted to just tell Eva what she had found wrong, but realized that putting “hands on” was an important part of reassuring the patient and not leaving them to wonder how a diagnosis had been made. She refocused her attention on the woman’s gallbladder noticing that the bile duct leading out of it as well as the part coming out of the liver were both distended. As she followed the common bile duct down towards the intestine she found a stone lodged there just before it went into the intestine. The stone was what was making the woman sick. The duct from the pancreas was also backed up and Daussie knew that pancreatitis could be a very serious illness.

However, as far as Daussie knew, nothing could be done about it. Heart in her throat, Daussie suddenly realized that this woman in front of her might die. She glanced at Eva and saw her brow was wrinkled with concern. She had hoped that Eva would know what to do but began to suspect that nothing could be done.

Eva stepped back, saying, “Excuse us Mrs. Prichard while we talk over what we’ve found. We’ll come back to explain what we found in just a minute.” Eva walked away, the grim look on her face visible even in the lamplight. Daussie followed her feeling more and more dismayed. Eva said, “What did you find?”

Daussie said, “She’s got gallstones. One of them is blocking the biliary duct system at the ampulla of Vater and backing everything up. It’s making her really sick. That’s a much bigger problem than the pain she’s having.”

Eva sighed, “And what can we do about it?”

Daussie wasn’t sure whether the question was only rhetorical so she stopped to ponder. “In the old days they would’ve operated to remove it and taken out the gallbladder,” she mused. “Wait! We could have Tarc push that stone through the ampulla and into the intestine! It wouldn’t cure the gallstones, but it would fix what’s making her so sick right now.”

Eva turned to look up at Daussie, understanding dawning on her face. “My God! You might be right. I had just about been going to say that there wasn’t anything we could do!” She threw her arms around her daughter, squeezing her tight. “That was pure genius! I’m stuck in my old ways of thinking of things and just didn’t even
try
to think of what Tarc might be able to do.” She turned and looked at the woman, “If you’ll wake Tarc up I’ll brew a little poppy seed tea.”

Daussie said, “Poppy seed tea? That won’t help the gallstone.”

Eva put a hand on Daussie’s shoulder, “No, but it’s going to hurt like hell when Tarc moves that stone. If we get a little poppy seed in her first, it should help.”

“It’s going to take a while to brew the tea, and a while longer for it to work. Can’t we let Tarc sleep until then?”

Eva winced, “You’re right. I was thinking that he should learn about gallbladder disease, but he needs his rest if he’s going to be on guard tonight.”

As they started the tea brewing, Daussie asked, “How are we going to explain bringing Tarc out when we do the… ‘treatment.’”

“Hmmm, he’s sleeping in the tent right there next to where Mrs. Prichard is lying.” Eva wrinkled her nose and grinned, “Maybe he can move that stone without even getting out of bed!”

Mr. Prichard arrived an hour or so later, when Mrs. Prichard was quite bleary from the poppy seed tea. He had apparently been stomping around the caravan looking for her and Mrs. Rose had pointed him in the right direction. “What the hell is going on here?! I hear my sick wife is out here waiting for some charlatan to wave a magic rattle and make her better?”

Looking tense, Eva nonetheless calmly waved toward the trailer, “Yes Mr. Prichard, she’s right over here. She came out hoping we could do something for the pain she’s having in her abdomen.”

“She’s had those stomach cramps lots of times. She always gets better and she will this time too.”

“It’s never lasted for an entire day before though, has it? She’s got a gallstone blocking her bile duct and it’s making her very ill. The other episodes were probably also from gallstones, but they were smaller and passed on their own.”

“That’s bullshit! You can’t possibly know what kind of stones she has inside of her!”

Eva shrugged and spoke quietly, “This is my business. I
can
and I
do
know what kind of stones she has and what kind of trouble they are causing. I think that I can make her better and that if she
doesn’t
get treatment she’s going to become sicker and sicker. She might even die…” Eva stared him in the eye, “If she doesn’t get better from our treatment, you don’t need to pay us. We don’t charge if we can’t help someone.” Eva looked at Daussie and then flicked her eyes at the tent, hoping Daussie would understand that she wanted her to wake Tarc up.

Fortunately, Daussie only blinked once then got it. She turned, bent and climbed into the tent.

Prichard stepped to his wife’s side, staring at her slack face, “What have you done to her?!”

“Given her some poppy seed tea to ease the pain. Both the pain she was having and the pain she’ll have when we move the stone.”

“Well, you’d
better
not have given her too much. You’re right that I won’t pay you if she doesn’t get better, but if she dies of an overdose of poppy seed, I’ll be back with my sword!” He bent over his wife and slid a meaty arm behind her shoulders, starting to sit her up.

“Wait!” Eva said, “We haven’t moved the stone yet!”

“Well, if you’re going to do it, you’d better hurry. I’m taking the poor woman home!”

“Lay her back down for another moment, ‘til we get it done.”

“No! Shake your rattles and kill your chickens while I’m getting her to her feet here. Have done with it
without
slowing me down or don’t do it at all.”

Eva reached out and kicked the side of the tent, hoping that Daussie had Tarc awake and he could hear what was going on. A moment later, Mrs. Prichard shrieked and doubled over grasping at her abdomen.

Panicked, Prichard laid his wife back down and knelt beside her, “What happened?”

Eva thought to herself that the man, irritating as he was, obviously loved his wife. She bit back the temptation to tell him he’d hurt his wife himself. Instead she leaned over and touched Mrs. Prichard’s abdomen, sending her ghost in to see what the status of the stone was. With relief, she felt that it was gone out of the duct and lay a few centimeters down the intestine. The distended biliary and pancreatic ducts were already deflating. She looked up at Prichard and said, “It’s okay. The stone’s out of the duct and she should start feeling better in a little bit.”

In fact, Mrs. Prichard chose that moment to sigh blissfully, reach down and rub her own stomach, then say, “You’re right. The pain’s going!” She mumbled drunkenly, “Thank you so much. I think I’ll go to sleep now.”