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This story continues from Part V: Death.
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Rienne had had the injured scout Reese brought straight to her house in Ost Forod, and set to work immediately. Normally, Till would have helped her with something like this; but due to Till’s own injury, Rienne had banned her from the surgery, and called on Fingeleth to assist her instead. Fingeleth, although well-read, had no first-hand knowledge whatsoever of resetting broken bones; but Rienne insisted, and Fingeleth obeyed instantly once she was sure the healer understood.
The crowd having mostly dispersed, this left Till, Kane and Tanner in the front room. Kane could see that Till was in a strange mood: she had fallen from her horse and only been saved from death by Reese returning to the fray, despite his broken arm. Kane knew without any doubt that Till would have done exactly the same thing in Reese’s position, but he imagined she was partly blaming herself for aggravating Reese’s injury nonetheless.
Tanner, meanwhile, had been Reese’s companion on the scouting expedition. Kane was conscious they still had not heard his report, and he had a nagging feeling it was likely quite important: the two of them had returned three days late, pursued almost to the gates of the town by Gauredain - a tribe of towering wolf-men who mostly kept to themselves on the far side of the lake, and had certainly never been seen in these parts.
Right now however, Tanner looked utterly ragged and gaunt. Till seemed quite out of sorts so, although he was feeling pretty drained himself, Kane felt he had little choice but to take charge.
“Tanner, you must be absolutely run down. When did you last eat? Come on, let’s rustle something up. Nothing better to do while we wait anyway.”
Tanner looked so relieved to be offered food Kane almost laughed, despite the situation; he accepted at once. Kane extended the invitation to Till, and after a moment’s hesitation, she accepted too. Quite a lot of the left side of her body was starting to hurt from her fall, but she didn’t feel ready to inspect the damage just yet. The three of them left the old building to find some well-earned breakfast.
It was still only mid-morning. The sun was shining brightly and the paved courtyards and terraces of the old fortress glowed with a golden light. The town was half-empty - many of the folk were away, camping by the lakeside for the fishing - but it didn’t feel it: the atmosphere was bustling. Everyone was talking about the Wolf-men, and Tanner and Reese’s lucky escape, while they went about their day-to-day.
It didn’t take them too long to find something to eat. Tanner was viewed as something of a hero, and the three of them were swiftly laden with provisions: bread, cakes, sausages, eggs, cheeses, mushrooms, and assorted wild root vegetables suitable for a fry-up. It was enough for a small feast, and with their arms full, they carted it all back to Rienne’s house.
As they got in, Fingeleth came out from the back to meet them. She looked paler than usual, drying her hands on a piece of flannel; but she was steady on her feet.
Tanner blurted out - he had barely spoken since arriving:
“How is he?”
Kane laid a hand on Tanner’s shoulder. Tanner was older and bigger than him… but in the moment it just seemed like the right thing to do.
Fingeleth took a steadying breath.
“One of Reese’s forearm bones was broken. The other is probably only cracked. We have realigned his arm, and splinted it. We did not have to open the skin.”
Kane and Tanner didn’t really know what most of this meant, but Till breathed a small sigh of relief. They both looked at her.
“I think… well, we should wait for my mother, but. I think he ought to be alright,” she said, glancing at Fingeleth for confirmation.
Fingeleth forced a smile - and nodded.
♦
Kane set about cooking, with Fingeleth helping, and Tanner supposedly resting but mostly helping too. Reese was resting for the moment, and Rienne was in and out - she had a couple of other patients to see that morning. But first she hauled Till off to one side to take a proper look at her.
Rienne was used to all manner of injuries of all grades of severity. There was always hard, physical work to do in the Evendim hills: there were accidents with tools, accidents with wild beasts, bad falls, not to mention fierce fights with goblins, evil men and worse. Sprains and strains, cuts and gashes, concussions, dislocations and broken bones were all fairly common occurrences in the community - to say nothing of illnesses.
All the same, it was hard for her to keep any kind of professional cool when anything happened to Till. Till hated the fuss - but the more she put herself in harm’s way, the less Rienne could help herself. She had once said that she almost wished Till had been born a man, given the martial tasks she liked to take on. That had been the only time Till could remember ever shouting at her. Neither of them had apologised - but the point hadn’t come up again.
At this point Till was in a fair amount of pain, not to mention very tired, so she resignedly let her mother strip her off and give her a proper check-up. Aside from her sprained shoulder - which was the first thing she had noticed, but could easily have been far worse - there was bruising down almost her whole left side, especially the lower ribs and hip. Till winced repeatedly as Rienne probed the sensitive bruised areas worriedly with her fingers.
It felt like an eternity, but finally Rienne withdrew, more or less satisfied.
“Nothing broken, as far as I can tell - just very nasty bruising. I’d say your side and hip must have taken most of the impact of being thrown, which is probably all that saved you a dislocated shoulder or a broken collarbone. You’ve really been extremely lucky. Hip fractures can be very risky.”
Till didn’t feel particularly lucky, but she had to admit it. “Luckier than Reese at least.”
Rienne’s lips were pursed and she looked a little pale. There were many things she wanted to tell Till - but she wasn’t going to do it right now. Till looked exhausted, and she was still half covered in blood. Rienne gently scrubbed her face - just like she would have done for her as a small girl, twenty-five or more years ago - and rinsed and combed her hair. For once, Till let her. Then she bandaged her up, not too tight, to control the swelling; and finally helped her into some clean clothes.
“Come on. Let’s see what Kane has cooked up. I’m almost afraid to find out…”
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The story will continue in Part VII: The Invaders.
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