Chapter Ten #4
The old physic barely flicked an eye in Emllyn’s direction; his focus was entirely on the wound. He set his satchel on the floor next to him and began pulling out pouches and phials.
“I need vinegar and the strongest ale you can find,” he snapped at Elyse.
“You will also bring me silk thread. I must re-sew this. And put the powder in that brown pouch into a half-cup of wine and bring it to me. Do this now before I grow old from sheer boredom and the lady dies from a raging infection.”
He was dramatic and snappy in a hilarious sort of manner.
Had Devlin not been so taken aback at the man’s horrendous bedside manner, he would have laughed at his brusque impatience.
Elyse, however, was on the move, handing off the pouches to her servants as more of them rushed through the servant door with boiled linens in their arms. Everyone was running around doing Merradoc’s bidding and soon enough, there was a half-cup of wine being handed to Elyse.
She brought it over to Emllyn’s bedside.
“You must drink this,” she said softly. “It will make you sleep while he tends your leg.”
Emllyn wasn’t so sure about being put into a drugged sleep; she was still holding Devlin’s hand tightly, eyeing him anxiously as she spoke to Elyse.
“What will the physic do?” she asked.
Elyse glanced over her shoulder at the old physic, who was pulling out a razor-sharp knife from his satchel.
“Clean your wound and fix it,” she replied gently. “You do not want to be awake for that, my lady. Please drink this.”
Emllyn knew the woman was trying to help her but she was still frightened.
Devlin squeezed her hand reassuringly and she looked up at him, perhaps more fearful for him at the moment than she was for herself.
She could see the English knights clustered back by the door.
She had a feeling they were not there for her.
“He stays,” she said to Elyse. “I do not want him going anywhere. Even if I fall asleep, I do not want him removed. Please make it so.”
Elyse nodded firmly. “I will not allow him to go anywhere, I promise,” she said. “Will you drink this now?”
Reluctantly, Emllyn complied, and within fifteen minutes she was snoring upon the linens.
She seemed to be very sensitive to sleeping potions, as she had been sensitive to the draught Eefha had given her as well.
Once she was fully asleep, evidenced when the physic pinched her toe, the old man finally went to work.
As promised, Devlin remained at Emllyn’s bedside.
He sat on the floor by Emllyn’s head as the physic removed the cat gut sutures he had put in her leg and replaced them with boiled silk thread.
He put in fine, neat stitches. The physic also cleaned the poison out of the wound and doused it repeatedly in vinegar and ale.
When he was finished with that, he bound her leg up tightly and left her to sleep.
The entire procedure took less than fifteen minutes, a swift and confident undertaking by the snappy physic.
When he was satisfied with his work, he began packing his items away.
“I am going to bring her some rotten tea,” he told Elyse. “I will return later tonight with it. It will help her fever.”
Elyse listened to him intently. “What should I do for her in the meanwhile?”
The physic glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping patient. “Keep her warm and watch her closely,” he said as he collected his satchel and moved for the door. “If she begins to sweat or becomes delirious, send for me. Otherwise, I will return tonight.”
Elyse thanked the man and ushered him to the door.
The physic beat back the three remaining knights who were still standing in the entry, as the rest of the crowd had returned to their duties.
De Ferrer remained, as did Elyse’s escort and another man, an older one who had made an appearance only a few minutes earlier.
He had seen the old physic as the man finished stitching up the leg of the strange woman lying on his daughter’s bed, but nothing more than that.
He stopped the physic before the man left the room completely.
“How is the lady?” he asked.
Merradoc glanced back into the room again, at the big bed where an enormous man sat on the floor next to it and an injured lady slept peacefully. He shrugged his shoulders.
“We shall see,” he said. “The cut is deep. It looks like a sword wound to me. I shall see what I can do for her but no promises.”
The older man nodded and let the physic continue out of the room. Then, he stepped into the chamber and headed for Elyse.
“I hear we have had a visitor,” he said, eyeing Devlin seated on the floor. “De Ferrer told me about the lady and her savior. I have come to see for myself.”