IT TOOK HIM no more than a few minutes to reach the village, but he spent hours there looking for a doctor. When the fifth villager told him he'd need to go all the way to Duroya – the largest town in Delta – he finally acted on the advice. Riding further east than he’d ever been before, he did not reach it till long after sunset. His hands were red and numb, his clothes completely soaked and falling heavily towards his trembling body. It hadn’t stopped raining, but was pouring down less violently than it had, and the settling of the wind bore a promise of a calmer morning. The relief upon his arrival was only temporary, as the residents of the many small, wooden houses either seemed to be asleep or departed. Coming to the acceptance that finding a doctor wouldn’t be possible till the next morning, he understood finding shelter would be a big enough challenge in itself.
Riding through the dark, silent main street, he merely spotted one house with light behind its long, mighty windows. Compared to the rest of them, it was a rather large home. This could mean there were good chances they had space for him. It could also mean they were the kind of people that didn’t want strangers from out of town interrupting during the late, night hours (or any other hour for that matter). In different circumstances he might have found some roof to sleep under, waiting until spotting a friendly face in the morning – but he was afraid he’d fall ill if he stayed outside for longer. And so, he bound Indra and searched his pack for the gold coins. Though hardly ever used in Delta, the chances were higher with wealthier people, who might value them. Although he suspected one coin was much more than any regular inn would have charged him for a bed, he was very willing to pay – even if it had taken him a year of labor. It was only a small piece of metal after all.
Knocking on the door, he made no efforts to look more pitiful than he felt, and waited for less time than expected, before a young woman in a long, light green dress opened it.
“Hello.” She said, in a familiar tone one might use when greeting a neighbor or friend. Her hair was long and wavy, hanging loosely over her shoulder instead of being tied up in the typical noble fashion. In her left hand she had a small lantern, making her dark skin and yellowish eyes almost illuminate in the dark.
“Good evening, I am terribly sorry to be disturbing you at this hour. I have been riding all day and was hoping to find some shelter for the night. I saw your lights were on, and….”
“Stop wasting your breath, dear – please, come inside.” Her full lips were curved into a soft smile, but underneath her warmth there was a sharpness – an almost assertive expectation behind her eyes.
“Thank you.” He said, panting, as he entered through the doorway and into the warmth. His boots fell heavy towards the unusually dark, wooden floor.
“I’m so sorry…” he said, feeling bad for not having removed them. The woman looked him up and down, seemingly content and unconcerned about the wet dirt circling him.
“I’ll find you something dry to change to. Stay here for a minute, would you?”
“Thank you.” He said again, just then realizing how cold he really was – how sick he might have gotten if he’d stayed outside for much longer.
“You must be terribly hungry, no?” The woman came back quicker than he managed to collect his thoughts. She handed him some clothing, then turned around, in what seemed to be an attempt to give him privacy.
“I’m alright really, please just let me sleep on the floor and I promise I’ll leave first thing in the morning.” He felt puzzled, as he’d never been naked in front of a woman before (or behind one for that matter), but too cold and too tired to mind this, as he stripped off into his new ensemble. The cotton felt soft towards his skin – in great contrast from the rough materials used by the sewists in the fortress.
“Nonsense, what would you like?” She asked, turning around in an effortlessly elegant movement, before taking his wet rags from the floor
“Perhaps some tea – if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, my lady.” He dared suggest. He would’ve wanted a warm bath as well but knew it would take too long to boil up that amount of water.
“Wonderful, I’ll make you some herbal tea and reheat the dinner. I just happened to make a bit too much today and it would be sinful to throw it out, wouldn’t you agree?” From his understanding, making more than what was just needed was uncommon in the villages, and so it needed to be a rather wealthy household. Could the woman perhaps be a servant there? “No”, he thought, it was not a very common custom in Delta. She didn’t strike him as one in the slightest – despite her outstanding hospitality.
As he followed her down the hallway, he noticed that despite its size, the house was a simple one. Clean, tidy and with walls decorated with only a few paintings and lanterns, it was beyond a doubt beautiful. Compared to the many pompous rooms he’d seen in the fortress, it seemed somewhat empty and even unfinished. Perhaps they’d had to sell their belongings now that times were harder, or maybe they’d just moved there, running away from the plague as many others. He decided it wasn’t his place to ask.
After being seated in one of various common rooms, he realized she might actually be the lady of the house. The wife of some rich merchant, or a high-ranking member of the Kadoshi, perhaps. Whoever he was, Isaiah hoped he wasn’t home. Regardless of his profession, he felt he wouldn’t be thrilled about his wife inviting a stranger in, this time a night – nor requesting one to strip naked in their hallway. Having seen quite a few men and their tempers when it came to their women, it was likely for this anger to be directed towards him, along with a fist or a kick that’d lead him back on the cold streets.
“I live alone. So, no need to worry about jealous men startling you.” The lady assured him – startling him with her accuracy. Thoughts of sorcerers and mind control came up and he brushed them away the best he could.
“Oh I… I wasn’t.” He lied, not wanting to seem like someone assuming she was married. Of course, not all women were, but it was still strange at her age (twenty-something if he were to guess). Even stranger was the fact that she’d own such a large house.
“Please, stay here, I will be back in a minute.” He stayed on the sofa as instructed and for a moment he was tempted to lay down. The dark room smelled like lavender and something unfamiliar. It had two stoned walls, as opposed to most Deltan homes that were solely made of timber. In the corner stood a small oven, heating the room, and slowly returning the senses back to his feet and hands. It took only a few minutes before the woman returned with the tea and dinner, and he swallowed the meal rather shamelessly without paying much attention to what it was or how it tasted – it was mostly vegetables and some spices he couldn’t recall having tired before. Looking up from his bowl, he noticed her looking at him, and then he saw it again – this odd expectation. He thanked her for the food, not knowing any other way to show his gratitude. At this point, he sensed it would seem a little strange to offer her his gold.
“Don’t worry about it.” She said, and he nodded and took a sip of the earthy smelling beverage she’d poured him. Surprised by how flaming hot it was, he coughed as it burnt his tongue.
“It’s newly brewed, be careful!” She chuckled, and he nodded once again and kept the mug in between his hands to reheat them.
“So, what is your business in Duroya?” She asked. Sat down on the chair facing him and took a good, long sip of her own newly brewed tea – not the slightest sign of discomfort upon her face as she drank it. He didn’t know if his mouth was just colder, or if her tea was, but felt his cheeks flushing by the incident. Then cleansed his throat in an attempt to summon a more composed version of himself.
“I am looking for a doctor. My grandfather is… ill.” She nodded to this.
“I see. What is wrong – if you don’t mind me asking?” He’d thought that he would mind. He’d thought he didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened, but as he started explaining their situation, it occurred to him that sharing the burden with her was just as much of a relief as when he’d stepped into the warmth of her home. It felt like taking wet boots off of his feet after a long day of riding, or finally sensing sunlight on his face in the morning after a long, dark winter. Suddenly able to ignore his physical exhaustion, he talked with increasing eagerness. He left out the bits he didn’t think he should ever share with anyone, but told her about his grandfather, what sort of man he was, and what sort of grandson he himself wanted to be. At last stopping himself, he realized she’d barely said a word. Taking in a very long breath and then a sip of a more moderately hot tea, he hoped she wasn’t bothered or bored by his breathless rambling.
“Everything can be healed, dear. As you’ve probably already noticed, there are not many doctors left in Delta. Most went to Nagár and other villages in Nahbí when the plague started spreading.” His heart sank. Remembering the lonely man they’d encountered in Bharoos, he couldn’t see how it would be necessary to send doctors there – there was hardly anyone left to save. Maybe it meant they had died too. What in Araktéa would they do when there were no doctors left?
“Do you know where it spread from?” He asked, remembering the disturbing glare Dove had given him. “I can’t have caught it.” he assured himself, he would have felt it – seen it.
“Well,” She smirked, raising one eyebrow “the realm claims it spread from the south… that the Jalas brought it with them from some strange, foreign place or that it sprung out from another ‘sinister’, southern tribe.”
“I thought the Jalas were gone now. Some say the last thing the tyrants did when they were chased out of Araktéa, was to take them as their slaves so that they could use their powers.”
“They are now.” She sighed. “Though I don’t believe in any of that…”
“Neither do I.” Isaiah was quick to say, flushing a little for even mentioning it. Tara smiled patiently.
“Let’s leave that subject for another time.” Isaiah nodded.
“Where would I find a doctor?”
“You would either need to go to Dabár or back to Nahbí.” She said plainly, and it made him want to burn his tongue again, just to distract himself from the thought of having to leave Delta.
“Luckily for you, you don’t need one. What you need is a healer.”
“What’s the difference?” He felt silly for asking, as it seemed like something everyone but him knew.
“Come with me.” She said, putting her mug firmly down on the tray.
As he followed her through yet another hallway he felt his eyes drawn to her waistline. It stood narrow and perfect under her dark hair and the delicate fabric of her dress, making her round hips look as full and round as ripe peaches. It was something he had never seen in the fortress before, as the women were all dressed in bland, shapeless dresses. As she led him through yet another long hallway, she opened a door at the end of it. Except from her front door it seemed to be the only one in the house, and it led into a small, windowless room. As she moved her lantern around, it illuminated the shelves circling it, beautifully decorated with colorful stones in different shapes and sizes.
“Are those… jewels?” he asked, so fascinated by their shimmers at first, he completely overlooked the long body of a man, laying on top of an even larger, maroon carpet some six feet in front of them.
“Not quite, but some jewels are made of crystals like these, so you’re not completely off.” She said casually, but Isaiah had lost all interest in them. Looking at the man, he felt his heart hammering. He had a blue clothing in front of his eyes and a red one covering his crotch. Other than that, he was naked, with a variety of these pretty stones lying around him and on top of his stomach. Though it didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen, it, more than anything, reminded him of the sorcery rituals he’d heard about. It had all sounded like childlike superstition to him. But once again, he was having second thoughts on a lot of his previous skepticism and tried remembering exactly what had been said. He recalled one of Byron’s statements, that although there were some good sorcerers, most were bad, and so it was always better to keep them at a distance. If you weren’t careful, they could lure you into giving them all your gold and marrying them or bind your soul and feed it with their devilish and perverse agendas.
“Don’t look so concerned, dear. This is my healing chamber – and that is my client, Geo...”
“What’s wrong with him?” Isaiah heard his voice shake and tried to calm himself – the frightened and the weak were the easiest prey for a sorcerer. He reminded himself, it was just a few stones, and not knives cutting through the man’s flesh. Stones were not dangerous when laying still, and he couldn’t see how they could possibly be hurting him.
“He is struggling with… a sort of temporal madness, one might say. Not the same kind as your grandfather’s, but in a sense – it’s all the same.” The lady said thoughtfully.
“You… you are a healer, then?“ She nodded, and not only did he feel relieved he was not about to have his soul infused with evil, but somewhat lucky, seeing she might be able to help them.
“Would you consider…” He spoke with a low voice, not to disturb the temporally mad man on the floor.
“You can speak normally. He’s in trance and can’t hear us.” Isaiah found the fact that she could remove a man’s hearing concerning. Perhaps it was too incredible to be true, that the exact thing he needed conveniently showed up out of seemingly nowhere. Maybe the man was actually her husband, or perhaps some poor fellow she’d tricked into her home. Or maybe it was in fact his home, that she had taken over.
“How long has he been laying there for?”
“Only an hour or so.” Her honey dark face still carried that soft expression. In fact, it even had a purity about it that made it seem impossible for her to be bad in any way. Then again, it could just as well mean he was in a sort of trance himself. It could mean that the sorcerers had the prettiest and most innocent looking disguises, and that this was why they said that once you’d gained their attention, there was very little you could do to protect yourself.
“Is he under a spell?”
“We usually refer to them as incantations. Spells are too associated with the darker magicks. But no, this is just a minor trance…” The lady noticed his face turning paler.
“Let’s go sit down.” She said, and not knowing what else to do, he followed along. As they walked, Tzelem’s voice clung in his head – the one advice he’d thought wise to remember; “trust nobody”. It had seemed so very reasonable when he was riding back home, but now, when he couldn’t even trust his own grandfather, it only made him feel helpless and alone. This strange woman seemed to be his only chance, and other than his coins, soul and perhaps Indra, he couldn’t think of anything she’d might want from him. Noticing himself becoming more tired with each step, trusting her seemed to become an inevitable risk as he realized he was too weak to resist any sort of sorcery.
“Do you think you could heal my grandfather? Could you come with me tomorrow? It’s rather urgent.”
“I believe I can help.” She said calmly.
“But you would need to bring him here. I can’t leave tomorrow – I have commitments.”
“I am afraid he is…immovable.”
“Immovable? Like a mountain?” she asked playfully.
“Of course not...” he frowned.
“I’m no fortune teller, but I sense he might be more movable than you think.” He ignored her comment. “Don’t you have any medication that might help? Something I could bring?”
“It’s not that simple, Isaiah…” A sigh escaped him, and it was as if all the energy he’d had left in him dissipated into the air with it. His knees felt as if they were ready to collapse onto the floor, and he just barely managed to straighten up as the lady turned around.
“I think it’d be better if you went to sleep now. You look very tired.” He nodded, thinking it didn’t take a fortune teller or a sorceress to see where he was heading to. As they walked he felt his steps growing even heavier. Finally, when they reached the stairway, she took his arm, and he felt a strange tingling flowing through her hand. If it was sorcery, it was not painful like some had described it. No, it felt warm and comforting, like a cup of tea that’d had enough time to brew and slightly cool down.
“I will show you to the chambers.” Chambers – the word would have normally filled his head with all sorts of torturous pictures, but he allowed her to take him there without resistance. Just barely present as he laid down on the bed, he drifted off to sleep before having time to realize he probably shouldn’t have. It had been a long time since he’d had a dream, but this night it grabbed a hold of him almost before he closed his eyes. Like a strong calling from a past he couldn’t recall or a future that was yet to be written.