The Blossoming Willow

Chapter 50: The Illness

Luke stirred as someone knocked on the door to his room. Fate, it was the middle of the night! Being a physician was really inconvenient sometimes. It felt as if he had just fallen asleep. If it was Lady Waters again, he was going to give her the strongest sleeping draught he had and put her out until the next afternoon.

"Just a minute!" he called.

He stumbled out of bed and fumbled around trying to find the fire striker and flint to light a candle. "Ouch!" he muttered as a spark burnt his finger. With the candle lit, he hunted up his trousers. The knocking started up again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he muttered irritably. He threw open the door to the hall and glared at the person who dared disturb his sleep. "My lady!" he exclaimed in surprise. Mary's face looked pale in the candlelight and she looked worried. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked suddenly concerned as he took in her expression.

"Luke, it's Joe. Please come!" she pleaded. "I'm sorry to wake you, but he's burning up and I don't know what to do!"

"Let me grab a shirt and my bag, and I'll be right there," he replied.

As he turned back inside, Mary noticed a burn mark on his side. She realized she had never seen him bare-chested before. She shook off the observation.

She waited impatiently as he grabbed his supplies. A few minutes later they were hurrying down the hall towards Mary's chamber.

"Why did you come for me yourself, my lady?" Luke asked curiously as they walked. "You could have sent Tina."

"I sent Tina for more water," she explained. "Joe got in from Narqual this evening. He didn't seem well, but he insisted he was just tired. We had supper together and he fell asleep on my couch. He was so tired: I didn't have the heart to send him away.

A couple hours later he grew feverish. I've been trying all night to bring the fever down with cold compresses, but they haven't had any effect."

If Luke was bothered by her having supper alone in her bed chamber with Joe, he didn't show it.

They reached her room and Luke began his inspection of the young man. Joe was tossing and turning on the sofa and shaking and sweating from the fever. Luke looked concerned as he finished his inspection.

"How much water did you get, Tina?" he asked.

"Only a bucket, sir," she replied.

"I'm going to need you to get some more, but you'll need to warm the water a little," Luke commanded. "We're going to have to get him in a bath to bring his fever down, but if the water's too cold it'll make it worse. After that, I'll get him some herbs." He looked up at Mary. "I'm sorry to ask this, my lady, but will you help me undress him and get him in the tub?"

"Of course!" Mary agreed readily. "Anything I can do to help. Tina, get some of the other servants to help you with the water; we need it as quickly as possible!"

The two worked together to get Joe into the tub, while the servants rushed in and out with buckets of water. Joe stirred as the water hit him, but he was too delirious for it to make much impact on his consciousness.

Once Joe was situated, Luke got some salts out of his bag and added them to the tub. He then used a small pitcher to pour thin streams of water over Joe's head and back, and lifted Joe's arms to sponge down his underarms, trying to cool him down.

Despite her concern for her friend, Mary found it calming watching Luke work. He was always so confident and sure of himself when he was with a patient. And despite his dislike of the other man, he treated Joe no differently than any other patient. Considering that Luke had implied the last time he had seen Joe, that he could easily incapacitate him if he wanted to, Luke's gentleness with him was all the more surprising.