The Painted Man by Brett Peter V

Author:Brett, Peter V.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007287758
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published: 2009-01-07T16:00:00+00:00

It was well past high sun by the time Leesha finished her rounds and made it back to Bruna’s hut.

‘How are the children?’ Bruna asked, as Leesha set her basket down. Leesha smiled. Everyone in Cutter’s Hollow was a child in Bruna’s eyes.

‘Well enough,’ she said, coming to sit on the low stool by Bruna’s chair so the ancient Herb Gatherer could see her clearly. ‘Yon Grey’s joints still ache, but his mind is as young as ever. I gave him fresh sweetsalve. Smitt remains abed, but his cough is lessening. I think the worst is past.’ She went on, describing her rounds while the crone nodded silently. Bruna would stop her if she had comment; she seldom did anymore.

‘Is that all?’ Bruna asked. ‘What of the excitement young Keet tells me went on in the market this morning?’

‘Idiocy is more like it,’ Leesha said.

Bruna dismissed her with a wave. ‘Boys will be boys,’ she said. ‘Even when they’re men. It sounds like you dealt with it well enough.’

‘Bruna, they could have killed each other!’ Leesha said.

‘Oh, pfaw!’ Bruna said. ‘You’re not the first pretty girl to have men fight over her. You may not believe it, but when I was your age, a few bones were broken on my account, as well.’

‘You were never my age,’ Leesha teased. ‘Yon Gray says they called you “hag” when he was first learning to walk.’

Bruna cackled. ‘So they did, so they did,’ she said. ‘But there was a time before then when my paps were as full and smooth as yours, and men fought like corelings to suckle them.’

Leesha looked hard at Bruna, trying to peel back the years and see the woman she had been, but it was a hopeless task. Even with all the exaggerations and tampweed tales taken into account, Bruna was a century old, at least. She would never say for sure, answering simply, ‘I quit counting at a hundred,’ whenever pressed.

‘In any event,’ Leesha said, ‘Marick may be a bit swollen in the face, but he’ll have no reason not to be on the road tomorrow.’

‘That’s well,’ Bruna said.

‘So you have a cure for Mistress Jizell’s young charge?’ Leesha asked.

‘What would you tell her to do with the boy?’ Bruna replied.

‘I’m sure I don’t know,’ Leesha said.

‘Are you?’ Bruna asked. ‘I’m not. Come now, what would you tell Jizell if you were me? Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it.’

Leesha took a deep breath. ‘The grimroot likely interacted poorly with the boy’s system,’ she said. ‘He needs to be taken off it, and the boils will need to be lanced and drained. Of course, that still leaves his original illness. The fever and nausea could just be a chill, but the dilated eyes and vomit hint at more. I would try monkleaf with lady’s brooch and ground adderbark, titrated carefully over a week at least.’

Bruna looked at her a long time, then nodded.

‘Pack your things and say your goodbyes,’ she said. ‘You’ll bring that advice to Jizell personally.

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