The Eternal Shadow

Chapter 15

XV

Betty Hutchinson had been a servant at the court of Prince John for years and so had seen courtiers in all sorts of states, not a few of them young men who'd had too much to drink. So when she was called upon to tend to Sir Guy of Gisborne she wasn't expecting anything she hadn't had to deal with before.

She routinely assisted the healer, taking over where another servant had started getting him cleaned up and at first, could detect nothing out of the ordinary. He had a large gash to the forehead, cuts and bruises to the face, an extremely swollen (but luckily not broken) nose - the usual injuries one receives when one breaks one's own fall with one's own face.

It didn't take long though to realise that there was nothing at all routine about this.

For one, the man was completely unresponsive. Drunkards were notoriously difficult to rouse but Sir Guy would not rouse at all, no matter what she did.

Then there was the fact that he didn't smell right. Normally when a man is so drunk he falls flat on his face he positively reeks of alcohol (and more often than not, vomit) but Sir Guy didn't smell like that at all. And so it went on... his pupils were dilated... his breathing shallow... his pulse weak and irregular... his skin felt like parchment paper... It just didn't add up...

This man was unconscious, not in a drunken stupor.

"You say he suddenly collapsed?" The healer; a man named Jenkins asked the nobleman who'd alerted them to Sir Guy's condition.

"Yes, it came completely out of the blue. Everybody assumed he'd had too much to drink but my wife's cousin doesn't think that he did." Sir Thomas replied, watching Jenkins uneasily as he examined Sir Guy.

Jenkins didn't look at Sir Thomas instead remained focussed on the patient, opening his mouth and checking his windpipe for blockages. "Your wife's cousin is right. This man is not drunk."

Sir Thomas was astonished. "He's not?"

"No." Jenkins was frowning and shaking his head.

Betty wore a similar frown, "It's like he's dead" she murmured unhappily.

Sir Thomas was very worried; this was far worse than he'd expected. He gestured vaguely to Sir Guy as if to indicate his condition. "Is it because he hit his head?"

"No... though that certainly won't have done him any favours." Jenkins checked Guy's pulse again.

Sir Thomas blinked at him confusedly. "So... if he is not drunk and he is not like this because of the fall then...?"

An ominous silence filled the air and Jenkins raised his eyes to meet those of the nobleman.

"It is because he has been poisoned."

**********

"I don't understand."

Sir Thomas sighed. Francesca had just summed up exactly how he felt as well.

"You mean poisoned as in eaten something bad?" Lydia asked, looking for a plausible explanation.

"The healer said this is different."

"Different how?" Lydia didn't know what to make of her husband's reply.

"Well, when somebody becomes ill from eating rotting meat they vomit or have to... err..." Sir Thomas didn't have to say any more, it was obvious from the disgusted look on both women's faces that they understood what he was referring to.

"...and that hasn't happened with Sir Guy, he is still unconscious." Francesca replied, worry deeply etched into her features.

Sir Thomas nodded. He felt helpless for all he had been able to tell them was the bare facts; Guy was still unconscious and could not be roused, the reason for that was not the injuries to his head, nor having had too much to drink but the poison in his system.