Warprize

stubborn?”
    “Eln, how long was I your apprentice?”
    He stared pointedly at my bruised cheek. “Long enough to learn.” He regarded me with a solemn look.
    “And I have been a master for how long?” I rinsed more of the instruments and set them on a cloth to dry.
    He pursed his lips, and pretended to study one of the jars. “Long enough to learn to talk back.”
    I snorted. “During that period, how many times have you said that to me?”
    “More than I can count, but that does not make it any less true.” He started to gather up the things we would need to check the wounded and tend them. “If you are so wise, Lara, then why do I see guilt in your eyes?”
    I glanced out the kitchen window. The afternoon shadows were growing. “I should not have tried to cut it out. Should have left it alone. If I had…”
    “If.” Eln came to stand next to me. “If you had left it in, was his death not as sure? You tried. That was all you could do. All any of us can do when we are overwhelmed like this.”
    I dried my hands, and blinked back tears I didn’t have time for. “We’d better get to work.”
    Out in the common room, men lay sleeping on cots and pallets, crammed close together. We moved quickly, checking bandages, dispensing medications and powders. Apprentices scurried back and forth, bringing water and cloths, supplies and instruments. Our medicines were greeted with the usual laments over the taste. We ignored the complaints, as we moved around the room, seeing to each man. There were even more upstairs, on the second floor.
    Our job was made difficult by the enemy’s use of a thrown lance. Four foot long, tipped with sharp metal barbs which were designed to break off in the wound. When thrown from horseback, they tore flesh and muscle in ways that could easily cripple a man, and made healing difficult. Our warriors had seen nothing like it before. Nor had they ever dealt with an army that fought only from horseback. Devil riders, they called them, men and women who could sit on a galloping horse and shoot arrow after arrow, with deadly accuracy. We’d heard rumors that they ate their dead, and tore the hearts out of their kills. That they were black, and yellow, and blue, and that their eyes glowed with madness. I ignored the talk, and concentrated on my work. The men were grateful, and it tore my heart, how a kind word and a cool cloth would lift their spirits. A few recognized me as a Daughter of the Blood, but most simply welcomed me as the healer that I was. Just as well. I was not particularly proud of my ‘royal
    ’ heritage at the moment.
    We worked our way through the men, cleaning and checking wounds. Tomorrow, we would welcome a small legion of servants who came every morning, for the general bathing, bedding, and slop pots. Volunteers from the city folk, some castle servants, since the need was so great. The healers and apprentices couldn’t do everything.
    It was late by the time I knelt next to the last patient. “It’s well?” He rasped, peering at the gash in his calf as I replaced the bandage.
    “Very well.”
    “It don’t look well.” He reached out a finger to touch it. I smacked his hand. He pulled it back, as shocked as a child.
    “It will not be well if you poke at it.” I frowned at him, and finished covering the wound. “Leave it be.”
    “Aye, Lady.” He bobbed his head, looking sheepish, giving me a toothless grin. I rose from the floor, and stifled a cry as the muscles in my back protested. I was feeling all of my twenty-five years. I picked up my supplies and moved off, trying to stretch out the tightness in my back as I went downstairs. Eln was in the kitchen, washing up. He grimaced at me as I grabbed up some soap and a cloth. “Finished?”
    I nodded.
    “I’ve no one to send to escort you.”
    I shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve walked to the castle alone.”
    “It’s not proper.” He paused for a moment. “I suppose you are going to those tents now?” I could hear the resignation in his tone.
    I avoided him for the moment and plunged my hands into one of the buckets. The familiar scents of the herbs and mixtures were welcome and I took a deep breath. The bitter smell of fever’s foe came in through the window.
    “The King has told you not to go there, Lara. I thought that maybe…” His voice trailed off, hinting at the doubt in his eyes.
    “The King? Let me worry about him, Eln.” I gathered my hair up and tried to tame it