The Otori Prophecy

XXXII - A River

 I was still caught up about Taron's tokens of gratitude days later as we walked through yet another section of forest. I had lost count of the number of trees and twisting paths, the breaks of trees into fields, it all seemed to blur into the same day.

I thumbed the coin, pondering on when I would ever need to use such a thing. Did dad use to get these? Did mum and Ludens and Abel? Did dad ever have one to give?

A groan from behind me stopped my thoughts in their tracks and I spun round just in time to see Mathias drop to a knee, clutching the side of his head, unsteady. I rushed over to him, crouching by his side, flinging off my bag. I needed to assess before digging out mum's herbal kit she made me take.

"Are you okay?" I asked, not knowing how I could help. He gritted his teeth, taking sharp breaths, his jaw was clenched so hard I thought it would shatter. "Just a headache," he bit out, pain lacing his words. This was no normal headache.

I could work with that thought. I knew exactly what I needed. I flipped open the flap of my bag, undoing the strings that tightened the satchel's opening, to start pulling things out. For the second time on our journey, I pulled out mum's herbal kit, it contained medicines for all sorts of things. Surely it would hold some sort of small potion in a pinch.

Rifling through the contents, I tried to remember which one I needed, which herb cured what ailment. I needed to find the root that was bound in cloth, a hard task considering the amount of things mum had stuffed into this small bag. A powder for irritation brought out by pollen.

A vial of liquid for a cough, another vial of pinkish liquid for use of numbing. I opened one of the small cloth parcels I had found, finding arrowroot, another numbing agent. I tied it back up in the cloth and put it next to the other medicines. I opened the next one I found, seeing leaves instead. That, I couldn't even remember what that one did.

I reached for a third, hoping that this time I had it. I pulled back the layers of cloth to reveal tangled roots of a blackish purple kind of colour. Sparrowroot. Mum explained that its purpose was for headaches and other pains. Was it chewed or stewed for headaches?

Pulling one from the pile of roots, I turned to Mathias, offering it to him. He looked at it suspiciously. "Chew on it, it'll help with the headache."

Five minutes of chewing later, Mathias finally looked at ease. I had finished putting the medicines back, tucking the pouch into my bag. I told him to take off his bag for a moment, relaxing helps the medicine work better.

He gestured towards his mouth, the chewed-up root still within, it must've been mush by now. "Either swallow it for a longer lasting effect or spit it out," I remarked. Mathias spat it out into the dirt. "I feel better already," he mumbled, his words were slightly slurred together. I lurched towards him as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the floor.

This wasn't good. For a brief moment, I panicked, wondering what went wrong. Did I tell him the wrong instructions, was it supposed to be infused into a tea? Was the root supposed to be chopped finely and mixed into food. Hurriedly, I pushed at Mathias onto his back. I leaned my head onto his chest, listening. I heard his heart beating. I checked his airway, making sure he hadn't swallowed his tongue.

I rolled him onto his side just in case he ended up being sick, I wouldn't want him to choke on it. I sat there, trying to recall the herbal and anatomy lessons with mum. Surely there had to be something nearby to quell sickness. My mind became fogged the more I thought, frustrations quickly finding me. Did he have a reaction to the sparrowroot? Was it not the right root? Did I identify it wrong? Don't tell me I actually fed him a sleeping agent. I bit at my lower lip, silently praying to anything that would listen, that he'd wake up.