Castles - Book 5 - The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter Seventeen

The coffin was being slowly pried open; Jobyna could hear the reluctant nails screeching discordantly against the wood.

She turned over in bed, struggling to pull herself from the strange dream and the fearsome pictures filling her mind. Awakening to the welcome sound of Sleven and Brenna conversing in their native tongue, Jobyna wished she could understand them, though she knew they used their language to speak privately. An unfamiliar voice came to her ears and the girl decided to rise and discover what the conversation was about.

Sounds of nails being drawn from the imaginary coffin came once more to her surprised ears. The noise was not from a dream. Taking a crutch, Jobyna entered the sitting room. Sleven was unpacking a large crate; the awesome looking contraption he was bolting together was for real.

At first sight, she imagined it to be some kind of instrument for torture and her heart-beat increased, pounding her ears.

A servant helped the doctor attach it to the wall. Several round lead weights lay on the floor. Jobyna's look of shocked surprise pleased Sleven. He wanted her to be interested in all that happened.

"Do you know what it is, Jobyna?" Sleven asked.

Jobyna tried to think logically, to prevent her vivid imagination from seeing what was not there. "Give me some time," she said as she stepped closer to examine this ominous-looking contraption.

"It looks something like a balance instrument used to weigh bags of grain at a market place," she said, still imagining to be something that would create pain.

"You're right. It is a balance but this one's not for bags of grain." Jobyna watched as Sleven fidgeted with the thing.

Brenna brought breakfast to the table and they sat together to eat. After the meal, Sleven told Jobyna to stand on one side of the balance. He put three of the weights on the other side, stacking them one upon the other. Checking the gauge, he added a smaller one.

"When I can put two more large weights and one small, on this side, Jobyna, you will be strong enough to go riding each day on your horse, but what was its name?"

Jobyna wrinkled her face and tried to smile but it turned to doubt to imagine she could become that heavy, "Brownlea, he's my horse; but how long will it take?"

"Oh, I'd say maybe a month or six weeks. It could be more, a month more, or less a week or two less. It all depends on you."

"I don't know the length of your seasons. When does the winter come?" She asked, concerned lest the snows came before she could go riding, then they would last forever...

Sleven continued tightening the screws and bolts on the balance. "In Chezkovia, we have six seasons. We are in the summer season now. Next will be the sunny, warm autumn and then a foggy, humid period that will signify the approach of winter. The heavy snows last one to three months and as you have guessed, there'll be no riding then. But the spring can have alternate days, cold and wintry; or warm and sunny. The snow melts fast. Being coastal here, we don't get as snowed in as Frencolia." He smiled at her, having finished with the balance. "There are at least four months yet before the snow will keep you indoors, plenty of time for you to get completely well and ride your horse."

Jobyna was happy with thoughts of riding Brownlea. Memories of horse riding on the manor farm were precious to her and she was impatient to begin. Brownlea was the second horse she had owned and he had been her most prized possession.

Sleven took the bandage off her knee. He was concerned. The swelling wasn't diminishing. "You must rest today —right off your feet, all day. The activity has been too much, too soon. I'll send a message to King Elliad that you're not to be disturbed. I plan to take the stitches out of his shoulder this morning. That will be an ordeal for the king. He'll want to rest." The doctor almost added 'and an ordeal for me'—King Elliad was not a good patient; each pain, each twinge was like torture to him; his pain tolerance was very low. There were thirty-nine stitches to deal with and it would take half the day.