Chapter 10 #2
The two robed figures entered at Skye’s summons, moving with the confident bearing of men accustomed to being consulted in matters of life and death. The elder, a thin man with sharp features and calculating eyes, approached the bed first.
“So,” he said, pulling back the blankets to examine Emily’s pale form. “This is the child with the mysterious illness.”
Noah bristled at his indifferent tone but held his tongue as the healers conducted their examination.
They felt for fever, examined Emily’s skin and the scattering of bruises on her legs, noted her weakness and checked the swollen nodes at the base of her neck Paige had pointed out.
Their touches were efficient but cold, and Noah found himself grateful when Skye moved to stand beside Paige at the head of Emily’s bed, offering comfort with her presence.
Together they watched the healers work, all three noting their methods with growing unease, exchanging worried glances at the healers’ seeming disengagement.
Skye had assured him these men represented the pinnacle of medical knowledge, yet something about their examination felt.
.. primitive. The careless way they poked and prodded, and the dismissive glances they exchanged when they thought no one was watching.
After several minutes, the healers withdrew to confer in low voices. Noah caught fragments: “wasting sickness” “corruption of the blood,” “evil humors,” “advanced deterioration.”
Finally, the elder turned back to face them, but addressed his response to Skye. “The diagnosis is clear,” he announced. “The child suffers from a corruption of the blood. The evil humors have multiplied throughout her body, poisoning her from within.”
“And the treatment?” Paige interjected. Noah could hear the skepticism already creeping into her voice.
The man gave Paige a cursory glance, then turned back to Skye. “We must purge her of the corrupted blood,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“A substantial bloodletting to rid her of the evil humors,” the second healer added. “Followed by purgatives to cleanse the remaining poison from her system.”
The color drained from Paige’s face. “Bloodletting?” she gasped. “You want to bleed a child who’s already in such a weakened state?”
At the raised voices, Emily’s eyes fluttered open. “Mama?” As weak as she was, they still heard the fear and confusion in her voice as she tried to focus on the strangers surrounding her bed. “Don’t let…”
The weak protest in her voice, the way she instinctively shrank back against her pillows, ignited something fierce in Noah, but Paige had already moved to shield Emily from the healers, her entire body radiating protective fury.
“It’s okay,” Paige said firmly, leaning down to smooth Emily’s hair with gentle fingers while her eyes blazed up at the healers with maternal rage. “They will do nothing to you.”
“The corruption must be purged,” the elder insisted, his voice taking on a condescending tone. “It is the only way to save her life.”
“No!” Paige’s voice cut through the chamber like a blade. “Absolutely not. You will not bleed her. You will not purge her. She needs more blood, not more blood loss.”
The healers exchanged glances, their expressions hardening as they turned from Skye to Paige.
“Woman, you do not understand the complexities of medical practice,” the elder said, his dismissive tone making even Skye’s jaw tighten with unexpected anger.
“This child will die without proper treatment.”
“She’ll die faster from your treatment,” Paige shot back. “I know what she needs. This isn’t it.”
Noah watched Skye’s face during the exchange, saw her growing confusion and distress.
She looked between Paige and the healers as if trying to understand.
She’d been taught all her life these were learned men.
The practice had even been used in his time.
But Paige came from a future time far removed from his or Skye’s, and if she said what the healers proposed would harm Emily, he would stand by her.
The certainty in Paige’s voice, the obvious love and knowledge she brought to Emily’s care, stood in stark contrast to the healers’ cold arrogance.
Skye looked stricken, obviously wondering how these supposedly skilled men—men her father had specifically chosen for their expertise—could be as wrong as Paige was accusing them of being.
“Perhaps,” she interjected carefully, her voice strained with the effort to remain diplomatic, “there might be other treatments to consider? Other... approaches?”
The elder healer turned his haughty gaze on her. “Mistress, we have examined the child thoroughly. The diagnosis is clear, the treatment proven. If we are not permitted to practice proper medicine, we cannot be held responsible for the outcome.”
Skye’s face hardened. “Then you’re dismissed,” she said flatly. “Thank you for your time.
The healers stiffened at the curt dismissal, clearly offended. “Very well,” the elder said icily, momentarily glancing at Paige. “When the child dies from outside ignorance, do not say we did not warn you.”
They swept from the chamber with wounded dignity, leaving behind a heavy silence.
Noah moved to Paige’s side, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder as she trembled with suppressed fury.
“I’m sorry,” Skye said quietly, her voice thick with emotion.
“I thought they could help. I truly believed—” She stopped, looking both embarrassed and confused.
“My father said... If I’d known they could be so utterly wrong about something as important as healing a child, what else could they be wrong about? ”
“You couldn’t have known,” Paige replied, some of the tension leaving her voice as she noted Skye’s obvious distress. “In their time, in their understanding, bleeding probably was the standard treatment for many conditions. They’re not evil, just... limited.”
“Their time? But that would mean...” Skye’s voice trailed off as the implications sank in.
“It means we’re right back where we started,” Taran said grimly from the open doorway. “Wi’ nae help for our daughter.”
Silence stretched between them, heavy with desperation and failing hope. Noah looked at Emily’s pale face, at the dark circles beneath her eyes, and felt a familiar surge of helpless rage.
“No,” he cried. “We’re not giving up. There has to be another way to stabilize her until…” He looked at Taran, sick with shame.
It had been Noah’s job to locate the portal while Taran and Finn brought Emily here. Everyone had done their job but him. All he’d managed to find was a tunnel so unstable and dangerous he’d never dare take Emily or anyone else in his family through it.
He watched their mother struggle with the loss of hope, fighting to keep grief from taking over. He couldn’t decide which was worse, that or Taran’s stoic endurance.
Something had to be done. Anything.
“Skye, you said your father has brought books from other places. Maybe even some from…other times? Would there be any medical books? Perhaps there’d be something—anything—in them that might help.”
Her brow furrowed. “A few, I believe. But I only glanced through a couple. With so many other books to explore, I didn’t give them much thought. What I did see, seemed rather advanced, but I’m sure only because of my brief perusal and lack of understanding of the terms and treatments.”
Noah moved closer. “May we search your library? If there are medical texts there, they might mention Emily’s condition, maybe suggest some therapies Paige could apply, or even something to slow the illness’ progression.”
“Leukemia,” Paige blurted, understanding dawning in her voice.
“If I’m right about what’s making Emily sick, that’s what they’ll call it.
Leukemia. And if any of the books are new enough, the common treatments they’ll likely mention are things like chemotherapy, platelet transfusions, targeted therapies.
But what we need is information on anything we can do in advance of that.
Something to stabilize her, or as Noah mentioned, to slow the progression. ”
Skye was staring at Paige as if she were speaking another language. “Loo-kee-mee-ah?” she repeated carefully.
“A disease of the blood,” Paige explained. “Your healers were right about that. Just not the treatment for it. If caught early enough, it can be treated properly—in a modern time, with the right knowledge.”
Noah watched Skye’s face, saw the moment when curiosity overcame loyalty.
“Will you take us to the library? Help us look?” He took her hand. “Please, Skye. I know you want to help Emily.”
Skye glanced at Emily’s still form, noting as they all did, her shallow breathing, then at Paige’s desperate face and finally back at Noah. “Of course.”
The library felt different in the late afternoon light when the shadows between the towering shelves lengthened, giving the room a somber feel. Skye moved with purpose as she led him, Taran and Finn deeper into the room, toward sections Noah hadn’t paid attention to when he was here before.
She pointed to several weighty volumes on an upper shelf. “I believe those are medical books. Father said they were from distant lands, places where medicine was more advanced. He said I wouldn’t understand them, and he was right.”
Both Taran and Finn pulled several volumes down, passing some to Noah and Skye.
The four of them searched book after book, finding information on anatomy, herbal remedies, and surgical procedures from a variety of times and beliefs. Each discovery made Skye’s frown deepen, her movements becoming more urgent as she flipped through the pages.
Setting his book aside, Noah reached for two more and passed one to Skye. “See what that one’s about.”
Skye took it from him, looking up with a shy smile as she brushed his fingers in the exchange. She opened the book to the title page and read aloud:
“Pediatric Oncology: A Comprehensive Guide. Published—” her face went completely white. Several seconds passed as she stared at the page. “Published…2021,” she whispered in a trembling voice.
Noah stilled, noting the slight quiver in her chin as she flipped through several pages, reading snippets of terminology that clearly didn’t belong to her world. Or his, he realized, as excitement built in his chest. The book was clearly from Paige’s time.
Taran and Finn both stopped their search to listen.
“It’s right he-here,” she breathed, her voice breaking as she paused over a section. “Acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A cancer of the blood and bone marrow, most commonly occurring in…children,” she finished on a whisper.
“Och! ’Tis it!” Taran gasped excitedly.
The book trembled in her hands as she continued reading.
“Treatment protocols include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, bone marrow transplantation.” Her voice cracked as she struggled over the unfamiliar words.
“Survival rates with proper treatment: eighty-five to ninety percent. Conventional stabilization methods should—”
Watching her face, Noah saw the exact moment her carefully constructed world began to crumble.
“These books,” she whispered. “They’re not from distant lands, are they?
” She looked up at Noah, devastation clearly visible in her eyes.
“They’re from distant times. Just like you’ve been trying to tell me all along. ”
Noah nodded solemnly, reaching out to steady her as she swayed.
“The only way this could be here is if someone brought it through…” she pressed her lips together to still the quiver and his heart wrenched as he watched her struggle to finish, “…through time. Through a portal.”
Noah took the book from her trembling fingers and passed it to Taran. “Take it to Mother. See if there’s anything that can help. If not, we’ll keep looking. We’ll join you in a moment. Keir will be close by to guide you back.”
Skye sank onto a nearby chair. “He’s been lying to me.” Her voice sounded hollow, flat, as if all the life-force had been sucked out of it. “My entire life, everything he’s told me about the artifacts, about the books, about why I can’t leave...”
She looked up at Noah, her green eyes glistening with unshed tears and something that might have been fury. “Time-portals are real. They’ve been real all along.”
“Yes,” Noah said quietly, kneeling beside her chair to take one of her trembling hands in his and place it over his heart. “They’re as real as I am. As what I feel for you. And that means there’s still hope for Emily.”
She didn’t pull back. She didn’t say anything. She just looked…lost.
As he watched her process the magnitude of her father’s deception, Noah realized finding a possible means to save his sister might have cost this remarkable woman everything she’d ever believed about herself and her world.
“I must speak with him,” she muttered, almost to herself. “I can’t believe he’d deceive me so completely. I need to hear him admit it’s all been a lie.”
His heart broke for her. The truth had finally been set free. But at what price? He wanted—needed—to help her. “Would you like me to go with you?”
Her eyes softened, and she managed a slight smile as she reached out to caress his cheek.
“Thank you, Noah. But no. He won’t be happy about me confronting him.
He would only resent my bringing an audience to watch me do it.
Go and see if there’s anything Paige has found in the book that I might be able to provide to help Emily.
She needs to be your focus right now. I’ll speak with my father and then join you. ”
Noah captured Skye’s hand and traced the delicate lines of her palm.
“You’re right about needing to focus on Emily.
But she’s not the only one my heart chooses to focus on.
I worry about you, Skye. I need you to be okay.
I…just…” He leaned in and kissed her lightly.
Then again, much deeper, desperate to show her when he couldn’t find words.