The healer peers at the dressings. "Where did you obtain these
bandages?"
"Those particular ones? At a C.V.S., near Saginaw." Hank clears his
throat. Last time he said it, it was Big Deal, so he's almost shy
about it. "...Michigan. In the United States of America, on Earth..."
She looks puzzled. "Merica? I haven't heard of that nation, but I
know little of the those lands further away. Is it another name for
the free nations of the north, or somewhere else?".
Hank tries to get back on-topic. "...So, do you like them? I can show
you some other supplies I brought...".
"They looks like those of the Karazthan in the city", she says holding
an unopened dressing up to the light, "But somehow not like them. Does
this wrapper keep them clean?"
Hank nods. "I have some things to ask, later, about that sort of
thing- If that would be alright with you?".
"You can ask me as I change the dressing", she says, as she removes
the dressing and examines Kylar's wounds. She removes the stopper
from a large earthenware jar, and pours some foul-smelling ointment
onto the wounds. Kylar grimaces with pain.
"Yes, I know it stings, but it's for your own good", she tells him.
"What is it", Hank asks.
"This salve prevents it from going bad, and speeds healing. The
temples of the healing Guardian of the Kandar make the stuff; I've
still got contacts there who can get it for me. The salves I can make
up myself from herbs aren't nearly as good, sadly. We free humans
lack the resources of knowledge they have in the cities".
She takes one of Hank's bandages, and rebinds the wound. "He'll
live", she says.
"That's an encouragement", says Kylar.
"Does it still hurt", she asks, laying her hands over the now bandaged
wound.
"Not as much"
"Good. You'll have to rest up for a few days".
Hank talks to the healer as she continues to examine the wounded
soldier's general condition. Her references to the healing temples of
the city suggest that she's not at the cutting edge of this society's
medical knowledge; she works mainly from intuition rather than formal
training, with bits and pieces of knowledge picked up from various
sources. The idea that wounds must be kept clean suggest that there
is at least some awareness of the germ theory of disease, even if it's
not fully understood. As for that healing salve, Hank suspects that
it may contain an antibiotic of some sort.
* * *
Now that the villagers are letting the group into their settlement,
Ryzar carefully puts Jal's body down, out of the way of all the
comings-and-goings, and walks over to Dharak.
"Friend Dharak, I must ask a boon of you." Ryzar asks quietly,
"Jaldaric was my oldest friend, here in these lands..." Ryzar gestures
towards the death-still body, "...and I would do the correct death
services for him, but I do not know the ways of the folk, hereabouts.
Could you...tell me...?"
Ryzar mumbles to a stop, with an expectant look on his youthful face.
Dharak has never encountered two human societies with exactly the same
death rites. He's even seen humans in the cities dispatched with
kandar rites, in which a priest of one of the Guardians, usually
Ulseth, uses some technological device to scan the brain of the
deceased and pass it on the Guardians.
Free human communities such as this one tend to practice less formal
rites, in which they celebrate the life of the deceased, and send his
spirit to the next life. Those known as 'Relivers' believe that
'good' humans will be reincarnated either as kandar or as vordral
depending on their behaviour in this life. Other cults believe in
various Heavens and Hells. Unfortunately in the short time Dharak had
known Jaldaric, Jal had never spoken of religion.
Dharak and Ryzar realise a third person has joined them, a shortish
man of indeterminate middle age, brown hair and beard now showing
flecks of grey. He looks down at Jal's body.
"A fallen warrior?", he says, "Forgive me, I have not introduced
myself. My name is Hulfe, I am the spiritual leader of this small
community".
--
Tim Hall
Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/
