Dragon Tamer - Book 1

Chapter 71

At the same time that Dara was re-learning how to fly, Breen had his boots firmly on the ground.

The hard baked earth had been churned up by the traders and villagers haggling for wares and a plumb of dust had settled itself upon the houses and village folk.

The traders lay all their wares upon thick embroidered blankets which they spread out on the ground. It was considered especially rude to stand over the product, and so the prospective buyers all sat cross legged around the blanket and appraised the merchandise with practised eyes.

He spotted Miss Maiden gently coercing a roll of brilliant green fabric away from an enchanted younger trader and grinned at her behind the boys head, her eyes flicked to his and the edges crinkled slyly. He saw Noals father, The blacksmith angrily demanding a lower price from a sweating trader who appeared to be motioning to his ignorant son that he might need some help. Breen's stomach clenched and he turned away from the rapidly escalating argument, carrying a small pack of specialised herbs Justyna had instructed him to purchase. 

They had an agreement; she would allow him the freedom to pursue any one he wished and all he had to do was do 'husbandy' things such as this.

He carried the herbs carefully, his knowledge of herbs and plants merely included which berries, fungi or roots were good to eat and little further, he had more than once paid for his ignorance with minor burns and sore eyes from mishandling various plants for his wife. 

His youngest sibling had contracted a nasty cough and Justyna was worried her chest might fill with fluid. His wife stubbornly refused to ask The Witch for help, held onto her last iota of pride and despite her studying under the old woman she loathed to admit that anyone, even a miracle worker like Dafne, was more versed in herb craft than herself.

So he delivered the packet to her workshop, a trap door under the stairs that housed a smokily warm sub structure, half the size of the house but more cluttered, the walls were packed earth filled with little alcoves containing glass jars and phials of liquids and solutions, every other surface housed shelves lined with books, dried herbs packed the ceiling until it resembled the forest canopy and the only empty floor space surrounded the large wooden desk, on which a strange assortment of instruments allowed for the mixing and diluting of ingredients to make medicines and remedies, of which he had little knowledge.

Justyna poured over a large book by the light of the single large wick candle she allowed in her haven. Breen touched her elbow and placed the packet next to her on the desk, she grunted in thanks, her eyes skimming the text as quick as she could, her forehead was beaded with sweat and she had nibbled so hard at her lower lip that it was swollen. He kneaded her shoulders a little to release the tension and she sighed before waving him away,

"Take this to you mother will you" she said, holding out a small phial filled with cloudy green liquid,

"Tell her to dab a little on a cloth then lightly hold it over Myriam's nose, letting her breath it in, if she does with for an hour twice a day for the next week it might help, I'll check by with her in a little while to see if there is any improvement"

Breen nodded, "Was there anything else?" he asked,

"No..."Justyna replied, but then her attention became focused back on her book and he took that as his cue to leave.

As he climbed out of the workshop he heard someone come down the stairs and saw Sebastian. The other man hesitated then continued his decent. Breen made sure the trap door he had just exited was closed tight.

"How are you?" he asked, quite redundantly, he may have kept his distance but Justyna kept him appraised of Sebastian's recovery.

"I am well, thanks to you...wife" he said cautiously. He did appear better, a little thinner and with a streak of white marking his dark hair but one would not be able to tell he had been close to death not long ago.