Last night there was a knock at my door. When I answered a man was there with a babe in arms swaddled tightly. His hair was very blond and was disheveled and wet from sweat, he appeared out of breath and quite pink of the cheeks. I immediately sensed he had run to me from his home with the child.
I ushered him in and he began apologizing for intruding so late in the day whilst laying the child on my settle. I unwrapped the swaddling and examined the babe, she was about 6 months old, was limp and I could tell she had been vomiting. I placed a hand gently on her belly, it was rumbling loudly, her cheeks were as red as roses, hot and dry. I stayed calm and fetched a tonic from my cupboard made with chamomile and peppermint and other soothing herbs. I placed a few drops on her tongue, she sucked my finger for the taste which was reassuring. He explained she was all he had, his wife had died in childbirth.
After about 20 minutes and a good many more drops of the tincture the little one began to move her head and arms around. She managed a smile at her daddy too.
The relief on the man's face was worth all the stars in the sky to me. It was then I noticed he had a gash on his arm. I asked how it happened and he said the little one was on a blanket in the sunshine, he'd only turned away for a mere moment and heard a growl, he rushed back and saw a beast near the child. He reacted quickly, snatching the babe into his arms and fled. He wasn't even sure what the beast was in his panic, he mentioned an awful smell, like rotting flesh. Apparently about an hour later the child fell ill and slowly got sicker.
I treated his wound, laid oiled hands on them both until I was satisfied all was well, I felt a terrible sense of death, destruction, or some other terrible fate emanating from them both. Very strange. Still, all appeared well eventually. The man, who I now knew to be named Errak wanted to give me the last of the coin in his pouch. I refused, happy to help this little, devoted family to recover and return to their home.
