The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 06

"Ed Morton, I wish you all the peace and happiness in the next life that you didn't have in this one. In the name of the Goddess, I give your remains back to the Earth so that your spirit may walk amongst the stars until it returns to a new life here." He pressed the end of his staff into the soil at the top of the grave, then moved it to press it in the middle of the left side in front of Cathy, where it left a line of rich brown between the two points. "Earth." He pressed the staff in front of him, leaving a light blue line. "Air." Next was the halfway point on his right, in front of Dana, which left a reddish-orange line on the soil. "Fire." He completed the circuit, leaving a deep blue line. "Water. From the Elements you were made, to the Elements you will return. May the Goddess preserve and protect you." Randy and Lita had been watching and listening from the rightmost window upstairs, and their heartbroken crying mixed with Cathy's as she finally broke down as the coloured lines sank into the soil. Dana could see that Harold was supporting himself with his staff and his face was pale and wet under his eyes as she quickly moved around the cross to hold the much smaller Cathy to her bosom while she let all the grief and rage explode out from wherever she had been keeping it all these months.

Memories of the dark days after the fall of Carcosa stormed back into her mind unbidden, memories of the smell of smoke from funeral pyres and burning buildings, of the uncleaned streets and the haunted, pinched expressions of the people as they had tried to put their lives together after nearly five years of fear. She hadn't ventured out of the City into the countryside to evaluate bridges and other infrastructure until much later after the worst had been swept away and buried, but it had been no better. In the middle of it all had been Harold and the other Healers, as well as the non-Mage doctors, nurses, and veterinarians both local and brought in, not just from the Kingdom, but from other states as well. She had somehow found herself among the coordinators of the massive relief shipments that had come in and had discovered a natural talent for administration that had eventually led to her current position as Head of Engineering in the Mage School. But it had been so hard.

Harold turned away, his head still bowed, closed his eyes and reached out into the sky with his senses in an attempt to regain some control of his emotions. All seemed calm and composed in the atmosphere with a gentle breeze from the southwest that was blowing moisture into the region, but when he turned his attention to the northwest, he could feel something just at the edge of his reach that hummed and crackled with electricity. He estimated its speed and direction and tapped into it to recharge his batteries a bit so he wouldn't collapse from exhaustion. But he would have to eat soon.

"There's a cold front coming," he informed the women as he opened his eyes. He saw that they were looking at him with some concern, and that Cathy had dried her eyes with her blouse sleeve. The children's crying had subsided as they had returned to their work. "It's bringing thunderstorms with it, and will be here by late afternoon, but I think that if you leave before about 1:00 you should be able to make it to Havisham well before they hit."

"We'll return the wagon to the movers and they will bring it back, plus another one for carrying all of you. If there's a time limit, then we should get moving. I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances."

"We'll be all right," she replied sadly. "Thank you very much for taking the place. I thought I'd never be able to sell it. And thank you, Healer Harold, for what you did to the house, to us, and for Ed's Last Rites. It will help us to move on."

"You're welcome. I'm glad that I was able to help. But if we don't get back to the town soon, I will eat everything that Dana brought, and maybe the cart as well." They laughed at his expression as he pretended to gnaw on his staff. They parted ways after more polite bows and Harold and Dana made their way around the side of the house to its front, where the horse was still patiently waiting for them. Harold fussed a bit over the horse, who was happy to receive a scratch behind the ears and a quick once-over, before Dana propelled him into the passenger's side and took the reins.

"For a few minutes there you looked like I'd have to carry you back to the wagon and transport you as cargo," said Dana soberly as the horse made its way down the long driveway.

"That spell to draw the spirit out of the cat was more draining than I was expecting," he replied, "and the Last Rites is draining emotionally as well as physically for me." He put an arm around her waist and leaned into her, and she did the same, holding the reins with one hand.

"I've done the Last Rites from time to time over the years, and it is always difficult," she replied. "There is no way to escape the memories, is there?"

"That hell made us what we are today, but I would have preferred a less painful and lasting method of learning life skills. Come to think of it, Marcie wanted me to show my medals to her friends this morning, so I did. If I recall correctly, one of my goals today was to put them into a safety deposit box at the bank."

"What did you think of the inside?"

"In my inexpert opinion, it didn't seem too bad from what I could see. The cleaning will be a big help, but you'll definitely want to have some architects give it a good look before drawing up the plans for what it will eventually look like." Dana nodded as she pulled into a spot in front of the bank.

"Here you go. I'll catch up with you later. I'll be checking the restaurants first." They both smiled, exchanged a kiss, and Harold hopped off clutching his beloved staff.

"Thank you very much for the ride, Dana. I'll hide from you for as long as I can."

"Some things don't change," she sighed melodramatically, looking over her shoulder, finding a break in the light traffic, and pulling away with a wave.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Leila had retrieved her shopping bags and purse and was standing on her front step after locking the door, enjoying the beautiful day and reviewing what she needed to get, which was pretty much everything. Three empty milk bottles were on the step, one of which had a doubloon and four pennies in it to indicate that she wanted two more bottles in the next delivery. An empty egg carton was next to them with another doubloon in it to say she wanted another. With Harold finally home to stay, she would have to buy more and make sure that there was plenty of ice in the icebox to keep it fresh. It would require an adjustment to her and Marcie's daily routine as well, she mused as she began to walk towards Frankie's, which was the main provider of fruits and vegetables for the town and area.

Potatoes, carrots, squash, apples, and the hated turnips were always plentiful because they naturally resisted decay, with the assistance of proper storage techniques. Long, skinny vegetables like cucumbers, a variety of eggplant, zucchini, and celery (but only as individual stalks) could be run through a set of enchanted rings that made them last a lot longer than normal, at a slight cost to flavour. Other out-of-season fruits and vegetables had to be imported or grown in greenhouses in the East that were warmed with geothermal energy. Research, both Magical and technological, into food preservation was ongoing and promising findings were being published in the Journal of Applied Magical Sciences.

As she walked, thoughts of long vegetables had gotten Leila thinking about the dream from which she had been so abruptly awoken. Harold had brought the Joy Buzzer home a year ago and, once Marcie had been safely asleep, had insisted on demonstrating it. He had warmed her up with a loving (and much-needed) massage, then pulled it from its box, wound it up, pressed the stud to start the buzzing, and had pressed it to her opening, allowing its rotating head to drill its way in. It had been a very strange feeling, but he had skillfully thrust it in and out, applying pressure to her clitoris, and suddenly an orgasm had overwhelmed her. With the self-satisfied smirk that she had come to know so well, he had pushed it all the way in and then gently licked and sucked her hard nub until her next orgasm had expelled the toy. Before she could recover, he had been on her and in her, thrusting slowly while lovingly kissing her. She had gotten her sweet revenge by squeezing him as he thrusted, then pouring some sparks of her Magic into that hot, hard cock, and watching his eyes roll up in his head as he had groaned helplessly and quenched her fire with several squirts of cum.

"I'd better get my mind out of the bedroom before I have to go back home and finish myself off," she muttered to herself as she approached the store. "Why that man still gets me hot and bothered, even after all this time, I'll never know." But she did know, as she looked at the mahogany ring, warm, smooth and slightly heavy on the ring finger of her left hand. The love, the feeling of safety and security when he was around, the flirty catching of her eye, those things and more had made him her man. And now that he was home for good... Once again, she had to yank her mind back to the world around her to focus on getting across Main Street without getting clobbered. An opportunity soon presented itself and she scurried across. A rogue breeze threatened to steal her hat as she approached the door to the Swap Shop store, which was conveniently located only one block south of her house, and she had to spend a few frantic seconds clutching the very end of the brim before she was finally able to grab it and push it more securely onto her head.

"Sometimes I wonder about why I never get a hat that I can tie under my chin," she grumbled to herself. A hat was necessary because the sun is never the friend of those with red hair and blue eyes. The door to Frankie's was near the corner where the store was located, but before she could make another step forward, the door to the Swap Shop opened and two women holding bags of what appeared to be small child clothing stepped out, almost bumping into her. One also was holding the hand of a boy of about three.

"Come on, Craig," the woman was saying. "We had to give them your favourite shirt because it was too small for you. You're growing like a weed! I'll bet that you'll have outgrown the things we got for you today before Winter."

"Not fair!" complained Craig, pouting. "I don't wanna get bigger! I want my shirt!"

"Healer Leila!" exclaimed the other woman. "That was a wonderful wedding last night! We had no idea that Healer Harold was a war hero. I hope that he treated you right when you got home," she added with a wink. Leila found herself blushing a bit and the other snickered. They had been Mary and Cathy Simonsen prior to their getting married and were in their mid-twenties, only a year apart in age. They were as tall as Leila, five-foot-ten, had the farmer's body build typical for the area, long brown hair, brown eyes and were attractive in a girl-next-door sort of way.

"Mama!" said Craig, now holding Mary's slacks and pointing to Leila. "Healer Leila made me better! Thank you, Healer Leila!"

"You are very welcome, Craig," she replied, kneeling down to be at his level. "Those ear infections will go away as you get bigger. Having no more ear infections is worth having to give up your shirt, isn't it?" They could practically see gears turning in his head.

"I think so," he finally said. "They hurt." Leila smiled and stood up.

"I'm just off to Frankie's, and then the butchers and General Store so that I can feed my two eating machines," she said with a smile. "I'm completely cleaned out."

"We shouldn't keep you," said Cathy. "We have to get this critter home so he can continue his rampage." With smiles and waves, they continued walking north while Leila arrived at Frankie's. She was startled when, upon crossing its threshold, she was greeted with a loud scream and a heavy thud, both of which originated from the centre of the store, just out of sight behind the central aisle.

"Somebody, get Healer Leila! I think Lisa's having a heart attack!" There were about a dozen men and women in the store, all of whom were looking at the source of the action.

"I'm right here!" Leila called out, running past large bins of potatoes, carrots, and turnips on her right and a tall shelf filled with small drawers labeled with the names of herbs and spices that was sandwiched between two windows on her left. A right turn revealed a woman of about her age sprawled on the floor, a shopping bag still clutched in her left hand. Her blue eyes were staring sightlessly upwards from a face that was a very unhealthy shade of white. Frankie Thomas, the owner himself, was on his knees on her left side, trying to rouse her, and looked like he was getting ready to do CPR on her. For a moment, Leila thought that she saw a faint, ghostly form standing next to the body looking down at it, but her attention was immediately pulled away from it.

"What happened?" she asked as the small crowd hurriedly made way for her and she knelt by the woman on her right side. Her skin was cold to the touch and she was not breathing or responding to Frankie's efforts.

"She had come in here looking a bit pale," said one of the bystanders, whom Leila identified as Bruce Melville, another old friend. "She'd gotten some carrots and was heading for the desk to pay, when she cried out, clutched her chest, and fell. She's not old enough for a heart attack, is she?"

"You'd think not, but there are all sorts of ways for a heart to fail." She summoned a Window with a complex sequence of hand motions and cryptic words and quickly zoomed in on Lisa's heart, which was still. "Let's see where the problem is." With some more motions from her fingers, she added an overlay of golden threads, which were much brighter on the front of the heart as she passed the focus of the Window through it. "Left anterior descending artery. Typical." With some more hand and finger motions and some words, she detached the point of view of the Window and moved it so that it presented a cross-section of the heart, then zoomed in on the offending blood vessel, guiding it along until the blockage appeared.

"Yuck!" someone's voice broke the absolute silence in the store. "Sorry," whispered the voice. Leila didn't hear it, as she was fully focused on directing slivers of Fire energy to burn out the blockage without damaging the artery. Was that puff the sound of the sludge vaporizing, or was it just Leila exhaling as a bead of sweat rolled off the tip of her nose and landed on Lisa's blouse? Taking advantage of the still heart, she checked the other arteries and cleaned some nasty deposits away. Electricity crackled between her fingers as she placed her hands on her chest and let loose with a precisely-timed double jolt. After an agonizing pause, Leila said,

"I have a pulse." Lisa's first breath was a gasp for air and her eyelids fluttered. There was a collective sigh as the breath that everyone had been holding was released and they began moving. "You're going to need some time to rest in the hospital," she addressed Lisa.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You had a heart attack, dear," said Max Forster, her husband, who had been found nearby and brought in by another bystander. "Healer Leila saved your life, and you need time to recover."

"Word has it that we have a new patient here?" inquired a cheerful female voice. A large woman with a round smiling face and intelligent blue eyes, accompanied by an equally large man with a calm demeanor and watchful brown eyes entered the store, holding a collapsed stretcher. The small crowd had already started to disperse to continue their interrupted shopping and the two, dressed in spotless white uniforms with red crosses on their breast pockets and white, narrow-brimmed hats easily made their way to where Lisa was lying on the floor.

"And here we have Healer Leila, in the thick of things, as usual," said the man in a mellow baritone and a friendly but professional smile. "What's up?"

"Not me, that's for sure," said Lisa dryly. "Charlotte and Nate, I suppose it will be Linda who will process your intake instead of me." They looked shocked for a few moments before recovering and quickly setting up the stretcher on the floor beside her. "The one time I take a day off and this happens," she continued as Charlotte held her shoulders and Nate took her feet and they lifted and gently placed her in the stretcher and placed a small pillow under her head and neck.

"Are you OK, Leila?" asked Charlotte, eyeing the visibly tired Healer who was leaning against a shelf that had boxes of breakfast cereal.

"I had to core out her LAD artery," she replied, wiping her forehead with a sleeve of her pale blue blouse. "Thank you, Frankie," she said as the proprietor handed her a small towel, which she used to finish the job. She quickly Cleaned it and handed it back. The rest of her she'd have to Clean once she got out of the store, as the back of her blouse was wet and sticking to her.

"Thank the Goddess you were here just when she needed you," said Max, clasping her hands firmly. "I had no idea she was in danger."

"Neither did I," said Lisa. "Maybe the Goddess was watching out for me today."

"She's been known to do that," said Leila, remembering a few other times when it had seemed like she had been subtly directed so that she happened to be in the right place at the right time. "I'll leave you to their tender mercies," she continued, clasping Lisa's hands. "Have a boring day, you two."

"We'll try," said Nate. Max hastily moved to the door to hold it open as the two orderlies lifted the stretcher and carried it out.

"Now, maybe I can get some shopping done," said the Healer, rousing herself to select the usual staples of potatoes, carrots, a turnip, celery and apples. A stew would be good tonight, she thought.

"Thank you for coming in today," said Frankie, accepting her doubloons at the till.

"We need to eat, and here you are, ready to feed us," she smiled back, accepting some pennies as change. "Though it's not every day I happen to be able to save someone from a nasty heart attack. I'll be more than ready for lunch when I get home. Which won't be for a while, since this is only my first stop." As she left the store, she added to herself, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a store where you could buy everything you need in one place instead of having to go all over town?" She wasn't the first person to wish this, of course, nor would she be the last, but something like that would require a lot of floor space, and nothing like that was available here. Oh well, at least you got to meet people this way and got fresh air and exercise, whether you wanted it or not.

Mulgrew's Butcher Shop was three doors north of the General Store, which was not far from the Torres Tailor Shop, but on her current side of the street. Leila made her way through the morning shoppers and stepped inside. "Anybody here having a heart attack?" she inquired of Janet Mulgrew, the round, cheerful co-proprietor, who was five-foot-nine, had long, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, lively green eyes, and forearms to rival those of Wanda Cartwright, the baker.

"Not for our lack of trying," she responded with a grin. "What can I get you?"

"One of those meat patties or pies or whatever they are," Leila replied, digging out three coppers and putting them on the counter, "which I need right now, two pounds of stewing beef for dinner, and some sliced ham, if you please."

"Of course," she replied, retrieving one of the eight pies, whose diameter was just the right size to hold in two hands, behind the glass and handing it to the Healer, who immediately took a big bite from it and moaned appreciatively. "You must have been busy to be so hungry," she continued conversationally, going to the back, retrieving a chunk of meat from a cold locker, and bringing it to a chopping block on the counter behind the glass. Retrieving her trusty butcher knife from its hook on the wall, she cast a practiced eye on the meat, cut off a chunk with a single whack and transported it to the scale, where it came in at exactly two pounds. Leila startled a bit at the whack, despite seeing it coming.