The Master's Chair (The Chronicles of Terah) (25 page)

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll start packing up,” Joan answered.

Theresa walked down the road to Derek’s house. She knocked on the door, and opened it slowly. The house was warm and smelled of food and the mustard poultices that she had told the woman to put on her husband’s chest every couple of hours.

The woman walked into the front room wiping her hands on her apron. She was smiling and looked a bit younger that morning than she had the night before. “I was hoping to see you before you left. I wanted to thank you. Derek is resting so much better today. I think he’ll recover now. And thank you for the food. I know that Caryn sent it over from the tavern, but you must have said something to her. I didn’t realize just how tired I was until she came over later and took the kids home with her. I just collapsed. I wish I knew of some way to repay your kindness.”

“I’m just glad I could help out, and I wanted to remind you not to forget about the tea I fixed for you. Be sure you drink it just like I told you,” Theresa said as she handed her the bag. “Now, could I just check on my patient before we leave?”

“Of course. Derek, you have some company,” the woman called to her husband.

When Theresa entered the room, Derek was sitting up in bed. He was still quite sick, but his face was no longer deathly pale. “You do look quite a bit better, but you’re still very sick. I know you’re feeling better, but you absolutely must keep the poultices on for at least three more days, and stay in bed for at least a week.” Theresa turned to his wife and said, “If the fever starts up again, start the poultices again. He’s not to get out of that bed for more than a couple of hours a day until he’s been clear of fever for three full days. Understood?”

The woman nodded and looked over at her husband. “See, I told you that you weren’t ready to go back to work yet!”

“No, you aren’t,” Theresa said to Derek. “Unless you want your wife to become a widow, you don’t need to even think about going back to work for at least three weeks. Is that clear?”

“But how are we going to survive if I don’t get the shop opened back up?” Derek asked, looking at his wife.

“Don’t you worry about that. We’ll be fine. You’ll see,” the woman said as she patted her husband on the shoulder. Then she turned to Theresa, “Thank you for stopping by this morning. I know you’ve been busy with the clinic. Are you planning to leave town today or are you staying over?”

“No, we’re leaving in about an hour. In fact, I need to get back and load my wagon. Take care,” Theresa said. The woman walked her to the front door and waved as Theresa headed back towards town.

By the time she got back to the inn, Joan had the herbs packed and ready to load. Theresa climbed into the back of the wagon and stored the herbs as Joan handed them to her. Karl walked into the kitchen just as they were finishing, and asked them to pull Theresa’s wagon over to the dry goods store to load the provisions, but before Theresa could climb up on the wagon seat, the innkeeper’s wife called her back into the kitchen.

“I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done here. You didn’t have to take the time to see Derek or to hold the clinic, and I know it put you behind schedule. I thought it might save you a little time on the road today if I packed a lunch for you. Here,” she said as she handed Theresa a large sack.

Theresa thanked her and carefully set the sack of food inside the back of the wagon.

Joan had already climbed up on the wagon seat and had the reins in her hands. As soon as Theresa joined her, they drove over to the dry goods store.

The food that was stacked in front of the dry goods store was quite a bit more than Theresa had expected. She looked at Steve questioningly.

“I know,” he said quietly as he helped them both down. “We would never have taken this much. They already had it stacked up out here.”

“Where are we going to put it all? We don’t have that much room,” Joan said in a whisper.

“We’ll just have to try. I think it’s a point of honor with them. They seemed a bit insulted when I tried to get them to take some of it back. Apparently they feel that this is a fair exchange for Theresa’s services,” Karl answered softly.

“We may be able to exchange some of it for other things we need in the next town,” Steve said quietly, “but I think we need to find a way to take it with us.”

“We’re going to need Kevin’s wagon, too. I’ll go get him,” Joan said as she headed over to the inn.

The spare team was tethered behind Kevin’s wagon and his wagon was facing away from the dry goods store, ready to head out of town. When Joan told Kevin that his wagon was needed at the store, he had to drive it back into the stable yard to get it turned around. After they loaded the food into the two wagons, Karl shook the dry goods store owner’s hand and wished him well. Then they mounted up, got the two wagons turned back around, and finally headed out of town.

They had traveled about five miles when Theresa remembered the lunch that the innkeeper’s wife had packed for them. It had stopped raining for the moment, so she called to Karl to stop, jumped down, walked to the rear of the wagon, and took out the lunch bag. There was cheese, bread, meat sandwiches, and about a dozen small tarts.

While they were eating lunch, Karl asked them what they wanted to do that night, whether they wanted to go on to the next town or find a campsite. Joan said that she really wanted a night off, but she didn’t know if trying to set up camp in the rain would qualify as a night off.

“Maybe we should stay in town tonight and plan to find a spot for a couple of nights tomorrow,” Steve said. “You wanted to give the horses a day off about every week, right? Well, we left Kalen’s house a week ago today.”

“Can everyone take one more night in town before we have a night off?” Karl looked around at everyone, but especially at Joan, as he asked that question.

“Yes, one more performance,” Joan sighed. “But I want to have camp set up by lunch tomorrow, hopefully near a stream. We need to wash some clothes.”

“And I’ve got to gather some herbs. We used a lot today, especially woundwort,” Theresa said.

“Okay. Mount up then. From what the innkeeper said, we’ve got about fifteen miles to go before we get to the next town, and it’s already a little past noon,” Karl said as he headed for his horse.

~ ~ ~ ~

The town must have been a little farther than twenty miles because it was dinnertime by the time they got there. The innkeeper grunted that he guessed he could let them have two rooms and dinner for a performance, but said that they were on their own for breakfast and stable fees. Karl was too tired to argue, so he agreed.

After they settled the horses for the evening, they went back to the tavern for dinner, but the innkeeper already had the tavern set up for the show. When Karl asked him about their dinner, the innkeeper snorted that they took too long with the horses. Dinner was over. He added with a sneer that if their performance warranted it, he would have his wife prepare some sandwiches after the show.

Since they had eaten a late lunch, none of them were very hungry, but the man’s attitude was insufferable, so Karl said that they would not perform until they had had something to eat, and all of the Tellurians sat down. After a bit, the innkeeper went off in a huff and slammed his way into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, an older woman came out with a platter of bread and cheese and a jug of water. She whispered to the Tellurians, “Please perform. You don’t know what he’s like when he gets crossed. I promise I’ll have some food ready for you after the show.”

Joan looked at Karl and nodded. When Karl looked around at the rest of the Tellurians, they all either nodded or shrugged.

Finally Darrell said, “I figure we either have to perform, or we’ll end up having to kill him, and I’d rather not have to do that.”

“All right. Let’s eat a bite and then we’ll go get the instruments. I don’t think we’ll have much fun with this show though,” Karl conceded.

They didn’t do several of the usual numbers and ended the show after about an hour, but the crowd seemed pleased anyway. After the audience cleared out and they had packed up their instruments, the innkeeper’s wife brought them a large platter of food and a couple of pitchers of scog. When they thanked her, she shook her head and said that it was she who should be thanking them, that her husband had enjoyed the show so much that he was in a much better mood.

“Well, maybe we did a public service by putting the town jerk in a better mood,” Chris said quietly after the innkeeper’s wife had gone back into the kitchen.

“I’d hate to have to live in the same house as that man,” Theresa said, shaking her head. “That poor woman!”

“We don’t know what’s going on,” Steve said. “You can’t judge someone based on only one evening. He may have just had a really bad day.”

“And he took it out on us,” Kevin said. “At least we’re leaving here tomorrow, never to see him again.”

After they finished eating, everyone headed off to bed. About 3:00 in the morning there was a knock on Joan and Theresa’s door. Joan grabbed her cloak and quickly opened the door. The innkeeper’s wife was standing in the hall ringing her hands. She asked quietly if the other woman was really a Sister of Healing. When Joan said yes, the woman asked if she could please speak to her.

Theresa had awakened at the knock, but she didn’t get out of bed until she heard the woman ask for her.

“Yes?” Theresa asked as she shrugged into her cloak.

“I hate to bother your sleep, Sister, but could you please come? It’s my husband. He’s in terrible pain and I don’t know what to do for him.”

“Of course I’ll come,” Theresa said as she put on her boots.

“I’m coming with you,” Joan whispered to Theresa. “Wait until I get my boots on.”
And grab my dagger,
Joan added to herself.

The innkeeper’s wife led them to a small house out behind the inn. Her husband was white as a sheet, soaked with sweat, and his face was contorted with pain. When Theresa approached, he waved her away.

His wife said, “He didn’t want me to disturb you. He thinks it’ll just go away, but he’s been like this for the past week, especially at night.”

“Can you describe when it starts, where the pain is, how it feels? I need something to go on,” Theresa said to her.

As the woman explained about her husband’s illness, Theresa figured out what the problem probably was – kidney stones. She had some herbs that would alleviate the pain and help him to pass the stones, but they were in her wagon. She explained that she would have to leave for a few minutes to go get some medicine, but that she would be back shortly. In the meantime, she asked his wife to put on some water for tea.

“Tea?! I’m dying here and you want a cup of tea?!” the innkeeper yelled.

“Yes, tea. But not for me, for you. Now stop acting like a spoiled child or I won’t bother to give you anything at all. And you’re not dying, but I don’t doubt that you feel like you are. Leave your wife alone and let her get the water ready,” Theresa said in a stern tone. “Joan, why don’t you come with me?”

When they returned, Theresa made a cup of tea and handed it to the man. “Drink this, and yes, I know it tastes terrible. That’s life. If you want the pain to go away, you have to drink every drop of that tea.”

The man turned the mug up. He nearly gagged on the taste, but he drank it all. About ten minutes later his face started relaxing, and he slowly sank back into his chair. After a few more minutes, he was asleep.

“He’ll sleep like that until morning, but this isn’t over,” Theresa said. “He might be in pain for four or five more days, but it will pass. Just be sure that he drinks four mugs of tea everyday until the pain’s completely gone. And the fourth mug needs to be right before he goes to bed unless he wants to hurt all night.”

“Thanks, Sister. You don’t know how much I appreciate this. And he does, too. He just forgot to say so before he fell asleep.” His wife gently stroked the man’s forehead. “Please don’t tell anyone about this. He would hate for anyone to know.”

“You’re welcome, and we won’t say anything. Now why don’t you just throw a blanket over him right where he is? If you wake him up, the pain may start up again. You need to get some sleep yourself,” Theresa said, as she got ready to leave the house. “I’ll check with you tomorrow morning before we leave.”

After they reached their room, while they were getting ready for bed again, Joan asked Theresa if there wasn’t something she could have added to the tea to make it taste better.

“Sure. There are several things I could have added to give it a nice, soothing flavor,” Theresa answered with a smile, “and I would have, if he hadn’t been such a jackass.”

With a laugh, Joan wished her a good night’s sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning dawned clear and bright, and the Tellurians were all in really good moods as they started packing up to leave town. The weather had finally cleared and all of them were looking forward to two days off, two whole days by themselves.

But before they could hitch the horses to the wagon, the innkeeper’s wife walked into the stable and said, “Don’t forget to come over to the tavern for your breakfast before you leave. I’ve made some fresh biscuits to go with your eggs, and we have butter and a nice blackberry jam to go with them. The coffee should be ready by the time you get there.”

“Breakfast wasn’t part of our agreement with your husband,” Karl answered with a frown.

“That was then. This is now, and your breakfast is waiting. Please come before it gets cold,” she said as she turned and left the stable to head back over to the inn.

“Well, will wonders never cease? I wonder why he had a change of heart,” Karl said to no one in particular. Then he looked at the rest of the Tellurians, shrugged, and followed the innkeeper’s wife out of the stable.

Theresa and Joan shared a private smile as they followed the others over to the inn for breakfast.

Chapter 21

Taelor Joins the Group