The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

against her, she channeled a little energy through her hand and into the open sore.
    “You finished yet?” Karry squirmed restlessly on the pallet. “I’ve got to get back to my customers before they sneak out without paying up. Reckon you’ve earned a good meal and place to rest. Stay here. No one will bother you.”
    “I’m finished, Karry.” Myri applied a quick poultice of warmed herbs and pressed it firmly against the wound to keep it open and draining into the absorbent moss. “You’ll need to keep this compress on for a few hours. Do you have a bandage?”
    “My shift is tight enough to keep it in place.” Karry stood, righting her clothes and checking the poultice. “Stargods help me, I get stouter faster than I can make new clothes.”
    “But you work hard. Your body is healthy.” Otherwise the boil wouldn’t have cleaned up so easily. A frailer person would have been riddled with the poison.
    “Well, the men don’t mind a little extra of me when the need is on them and I’ve got the time. And I’m strong enough to heave barrels around when I need to. Don’t have to depend on a man like most women. The Katareenas have always been independent. ‘Bitches’ some of the men call us when we don’t act meek and helpless. They learn to respect us, though.”
    “Um, Karry, ah . . . I don’t think you should sleep with the men for a while. Not until the wound closes.”
    “You volunteering to take my place, girl? Men get angry when there isn’t a woman around to take care of them. A lot of their wives are carrying too heavy to safely lie with their men this time of year. We had a bountiful Equinox festival last Spring.”
    Televarn’s beautiful body flashed through Myri’s memory. She’d found great pleasure and satisfaction in their lovemaking. None of the men she’d seen in the pub could compare with the handsome Rover. They would be more honest in their faithlessness.
    She couldn’t enjoy quick, temporary joinings. She wanted a husband or nothing.
    “I’m thinking maybe one of them gave you the infection that started the boil. I’ve known men to pass all sorts of ailments on to their women.”
    “Not my men.” Karry threw back her head and laughed. “They’re clean, and I don’t take on strangers. Not that we get many. Moncriith’s the only visitor we get. He wouldn’t let himself pick up some nasty disease.”
    “Moncriith?” Myri stilled, all senses alert. Her balance shifted to her toes automatically, ready to flee.
    “So you know him?” Karry’s eyes narrowed in speculation. “You the witchwoman he’s hunting?”
    Myri grabbed for Amaranth rather than answer. The pesky flywacket eluded her hands. He stared at her, annoyed and indignant, as only a cat can be.
    “Don’t worry about Moncriith. He’s got a honeyed tongue, but folks around here don’t care for him much. He wants them to uproot and follow him to the ends of the Kardia in search of demons. No one in this village has the time or money to leave hearth and home to follow him on some wild lumbird chase. Who cares if magicians are causing all kinds of trouble with the armies up north? Doesn’t mean they have demons living inside them. None of them ever comes here to trouble us. Only magic we ever see is an occasional witchwoman seeking a new home. And maybe a Rover or two. But we ain’t big enough or important enough to warrant much else.”
    “You get Rovers here, too?” Myri gulped, trying hard not to dash out the door and keep running until she . . . until she . . . What? This is the closest place to a home I’ve found. I have to stay a while to know for sure.
    “Oh, don’t worry none about Moncriith. He won’t come again until high summer. By then we’ll figure out a way to hide you or disguise you. If you’re as good a midwife and healer as I think you are, this village needs you. We won’t let some crazy Bloodmage take you. Who’s to say but him if he’s really a priest like he pretends. Yoshi!” She raised her voice on the last word.
    A moon-faced young man with light, almost colorless eyes and dark hair peeked from behind the curtain. “Yes’m?”
    “Yoshi, get Myri something hot to eat and find her an extra blanket and pallet. Give the cat some milk and a little of last night’s fish. They’re staying with me a while.”

Chapter 20
     
    N imbulan shivered slightly as rain once more penetrated his cloak and hood. Tonight he’d beg hospitality in a village. If he found one.