Chapter 5 Brynn #2
“You can heal illness, yes?” Tolvir shuffled, glancing at one of his companions.
Brynn chose to be honest. “Some things, yes.”
“I would ask a favor from you.” Tolvir adjusted his hand on the hilt of the dagger at his hip, leaning back with an air of forced nonchalance.
“A favor?”
“For a lady in the king’s household.”
Brynn inhaled a slow breath to hide her apprehension. “And who is this lady?”
“Gistrid, concubine to the king.”
Brynn’s instincts flinched at that. The king’s concubine needed healing? It was not terribly suspicious by itself, but Brynn was all too familiar with the intrigue and politics that could be tangled up with the consorts of kings. Her own mother had been concubine to Eormenulf.
“I see.” If Brynn refused, she might be denying a woman the only help she could get. Many ailments, injuries, and illnesses could only be addressed with the help of a sorceress. “Where is Lady Gistrid?”
“She is in her longhouse,” Tolvir explained. “I could take you there.”
Brynn hesitated. There didn’t seem to be a reason to refuse, but a nagging feeling told her she was missing something.
“Lady?” Esa saw her hesitation and looked askance. “What’s wrong?”
Brynn inhaled. Perhaps she should have accepted Vana’s invitation to the queen’s weaving house today, then she might have had Vana for advice.
But Vana had said no one else there would speak Hyldish, so Brynn had declined for fear of offending someone by accident.
“Lead the way.” Healing wasn’t something Brynn liked to withhold, even if she needed to be careful.
Tolvir smiled, his shoulders relaxing a little. “We are grateful. This way.”
Esa collected Guin, who squirmed and whined, so Brynn stooped to take her.
The puppy clambered up so that her front paws were resting on Brynn’s shoulder, her haunches cradled by Brynn’s arms. She sniffed at the air, head thrown back to enjoy the smells she hadn’t caught from the ground.
Brynn followed the trio of young men back up from the beach to the series of dwellings and outbuildings Ovrek had constructed for himself. Servants, messengers, and visitors trailed past them as they walked. Some people did bow to Tolvir, but most either didn’t notice him or didn’t care.
Lena trailed after Brynn as Tolvir and his friends took them to what appeared to be a respectably sized house. It was not as grand as Olfirth’s hall, but it was worthy of a great lady.
Tolvir shouted and a woman with greyed hair under her veil answered the door. He exchanged low words with the woman, several names passing back and forth.
The woman cast a look to Brynn, then back to Tolvir.
“What is she saying?” Brynn asked.
“She’s saying it was discussed last night, and my mother Sifma didn’t want you to help,” Tolvir grated.
Brynn turned to Lena. She wanted to make sure she understood. “Queen Sifma doesn’t want me trying to help Ovrek’s concubine?”
“Yes,” Lena confirmed.
“I don’t wish to offend the queen.” Whatever the queen’s reasons, Brynn didn’t want to go against Sifma’s wishes. She didn’t want to make unnecessary enemies.
“Wait.” Tolvir gestured for Brynn to stop. He spoke several hurried phrases to the elderly servant and the woman let off a sharp exhale before shutting the door.
“Are we being turned away?” Brynn asked.
“She’s asking Gistrid.” Tolvir stepped from one foot to the other, not quite meeting Brynn’s eye.
This situation was a little odd, but Brynn didn’t see how to remove herself from it without causing trouble.
A few moments later, the woman with the greyed hair returned, looking grim. She beckoned to Brynn, waving her inside.
Brynn moved forward as Tolvir stepped aside. She cast him a questioning look.
“No men inside but my father.” Tolvir offered a slight bow. “We will wait here.”
That made sense.
Brynn stepped into the house to find a single room lined with furs, the scent of sweet oils permeating the air.
Two other thrall girls worked around the fire, one preparing what appeared to be a midday meal and another stood guard at the brazier, watching the flames.
Several other handmaidens moved to and fro, and three more attended a lounging figure near the back.
The woman Brynn assumed to be Ovrek’s concubine leaned against a pile of furs and pillows. She was young, younger than Brynn, though older than Esa.
Straightaway, Brynn’s chest clenched.
Gistrid lay listless with a faint yellow tint to her skin. Away from the sight of men, her hair lay uncovered over her pillows. Her eyes were half shut, and the smell of sickness infused the room.
Her body was alight with ka, the signs of a body fighting hard to survive. Was this the woman Ovrek hoped would give him another son?
“Lady Gistrid?” Brynn asked the question gently.
The woman’s eyes flicked up at her name.
Brynn bowed, showing respect. Whether she carried the title of queen or not, this woman was consort to a king.
Gistrid said something in slurred Valdari.
Lena answered. Several of the other handmaidens spoke amongst each other.
Even from beside the door, Brynn suspected how this would go. “What ails her?”
“She has been bleeding,” Lena explained. “She’s been drowsy and weak.”
Brynn grimaced. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that Gistrid’s pregnancy was already over. A pregnant woman’s body glowed with ka and while Gistrid’s body was still full of it, there was too much focused in her abdomen. That was the sign of a body trying to save itself.
“Can you help her?” Lena asked.
From the way the other girls watched with large eyes, they hoped she could.
It seemed odd that Tolvir had requested help, not Ovrek.
That was one more thing about this situation that made her scalp prickle.
Brynn was already going behind Sifma’s back by doing this.
Was she defying Ovrek in some way as well?
The woman with the greyed hair kept speaking.
“If she is able to bear a son for the king, it would be a great service,” the translator added.
Brynn’s chest tightened a little more. “How long has she been like this?”
Lena repeated the question and one of the other handmaidens answered. “Three days, lady. Her women have been doing what they can.”
Brynn hesitated. Had they been hiding her illness, or perhaps its severity, from Ovrek?
“It came upon her quickly,” Lena interpreted. “Sudden pains and…tiredness?”
“Has anyone else fallen ill like her?” Brynn tried to hide her unease.
“No, lady,” Lena answered after translating the question for the others.
That did not sound like disease, but Brynn would still try to be careful. “How far along is she?” Ovrek had mentioned winter, but clearly there were things Ovrek did not know.
“Almost three months, lady,” Lena replied.
“Her first?”
“Yes,” Lena confirmed.
Brynn fought to keep her outward reaction neutral. Gistrid’s belly was unusually large for so early in pregnancy, especially for a first.
One of the handmaidens added something, gesturing for Lena to explain.
“Her belly began swelling two days ago,” Lena translated.
“I see.” This was bad. Brynn held out a hand to the concubine. “May I touch you?”
Lena translated and Gistrid nodded, closing her eyes once again. She appeared only partially aware of what was happening.
Brynn grasped Gistrid’s hand to find it cold. She crouched beside the other woman, focusing her power.
Kneeling, Brynn closed her eyes. She could feel the other woman’s ka more clearly with contact. It confirmed her suspicion that this wasn’t disease. The damage was focused low in Gistrid’s belly. At first, she thought it was Gistrid’s womb, but no.
Brynn bowed, focusing. She wasn’t sure, but she thought the swollen, enlarged thing in Gistrid’s abdomen was her liver. Fissures ran through it, countless tiny cracks. Combined with the suddenness of this ailment…
There was also damage to Gistrid’s heart and her labored breathing warned of difficulty with her lungs. The liver was vital to balancing the blood, so that made sense.
Brynn felt other smaller pools of ka scattered over Gistrid’s body, mostly on her skin. “I am going to check your arm.” Brynn waited a moment, giving Lena time to translate.
When Gistrid didn’t respond, Brynn pushed up Gistrid’s sleeve, exposing a bruise on the younger woman’s wrist. At least twenty others peppered her body from what Brynn could sense.
“What happened here?” Brynn asked, looking to the nearest handmaiden. Gistrid was Ovrek’s concubine. Had he…?
It took a long set of heartbeats while Lena translated Brynn’s question and the other woman’s response.
“They don’t know,” Lena said. “This just happened.”
Brynn carefully pulled Gistrid’s sleeve back down, thinking. A damaged liver, swollen abdomen, strained heart and lungs, and bruising that had happened suddenly.
Gistrid had been poisoned.
While the implications of that poured through Brynn’s head, she tried to focus. Where to start with healing?
For all her experience treating ailments and injuries, Brynn had little experience with poison. Most people didn’t have the chance to seek a sorceress’s help at all.
Should she start with the liver and work outwards toward the heart and lungs or start with the heart and lungs and work inward toward the liver? Brynn’s mother would have known.
Shoving that thought down, Brynn decided to start with the most damaged organ. Livers were generally resilient, and this one had put up a valiant fight, but it was losing.
Brynn channeled power into Gistrid’s abdomen, careful so as not to overwhelm her body with power.
Assuming Gistrid had been poisoned days ago, the poison should be mostly out of her body by now, even if its effects remained.
But what if it wasn’t? Would healing the organ trap the remaining poison inside?
Brynn didn’t know that, either, but if she did nothing, Gistrid was going to die.
“Esa.”
“Yes, lady?” Esa stepped forward, Guin in her arms.
Brynn gestured to Lena. “Can you watch my dog?”
Lena hesitated but took Guin from Esa.