"For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills"
Deuteronomy 8:7

*********

Skye looked up from her latest patient and softly let loose a string of barracks oaths that caused Llwyd to turn crimson. She paused as she saw him blush and sighed. "I'm sorry, Brother. It's just so damn frustrating! Your Margred here could be sick with nearly any number of ills. Huw says she's felt poorly for some days now: dizzy, fevered, unable to sleep. I can run off a long list of what could cause such complaints to weaken her."

The monk turned to stare at Huw. "And yet Huw had time enough on his hands to loll about the Bleddyn Tavern and stir up a mob against Elis." Huw hadn't the sense to take Llwyd's meaning, however. Instead he drew himself up and gestured at the door.

"It's his doing, I tell you! He's poisoning us all to avenge Heryn, and if we don't do something about it now, he'll kill us all!" He started for the door, only to be brought up short by a strong grip on his shoulder.

"Don't you think it might be wise to stay here by your wife's side, friend Huw?" Ian turned him towards the bed. "You owe her that much, don't you think?"

"You! It's your fault! You were the one who got Heryn hung over some women who should have been doing what women were created to do instead of being mercenaries." He would have said more but Ian's hand squeezed harder and the Welshman's face turned pale.

Skye shook her head. "Easy, love, I don't have time for yet another patient." She removed a compress from Margred's forehead and dipped it into a bowl, wrung it out and replaced it. "Huw, what else can you tell me? Was her appetite the same the last few days?"

"Nay, she said her stomach pained her, and what little water she drank she said did not taste pleasing."

"And did she eat or drink anything from the Tavern of late?"

Huw took his wife's hand and sat beside her, giving Skye an indignant stare. "My Margred would never go into a tavern! She is a proper wife!"

Biting back a salty comment on Huw's hypocrisy, she instead asked , "So, you say Elis is behind this, do you?"

"Aye, the bloody bastard!"

"And you never brought home a jug of ale or wine to share?"

He frowned. "No. She bought such at market."

"Then, Huw, " Skye asked sweetly, "how could Elis have poisoned her?" For the briefest moment Huw was at a loss for words, but only a moment. His face paled. "Sorcery!"

"Oh for sweet Jesu's sake, Ian, the man is a dolt. Hit him if you must; I'll deal with the damage after!" She slammed the bowl on the table.

"Why not sorcery? Isn't the half-elf a sorcerer? If your own man is one, why couldn't Elis be one, too?"

Skye's jaw clenched. "Because Elis doesn't have pointy ears, does he?" She began putting packets of herbs into her bag, setting a few aside. "But you are right, Huw, my husband is a sorcerer. So you just give Margred these herbs in tea every four hours. Make sure you rouse her a bit or you'll most likely drown her. And, Huw, if you take a step, just one step towards the Bleddyn Tavern this day, a demon my sorcerous husband will summon will carry you off to Hell. Isn't that right, Ian?"

Being a prudent man, Ian just nodded. "Whatever you say, my firedragon."

Huw's eyes fairly bulged. "Brother Lwlyd, help me! Sure you cannot sanction this."

The small monk had joined Ian and Skye at the door. "Ah, but I fear they've done naught yet to earn my censure. Use the time to reflect upon the Lord's mercy, Huw." He caught a glimpse of Huw glaring at them open-mouthed as Ian shut the door behind them. He looked at Ian. "Would you really set a demon?"

"Brother, I'm shocked! That would be the dark arts, totally against all I am." Ian grinned. "But a raven, now, that might do. And if Huw mistakes it for a demon, why, then, he'll stay inside won't he?"

Skye looked about the street while the two men spoke. Two houses nearby were quiet, black wreaths on their doors; the two deceased's homes, she guessed. Her eyes grew thoughtful and she spoke to Llwyd. "Brother, who else is ill?" She listened as the monk pointed at several other homes nearby, then nodded. "All on this side of the village? None from the side beyond the Bleddyn and your chapel?"

He shook his head. "No, milady. None except Branwen."

"What ails Branwen is not the same as what has happened here." Once more she swore softly, looking across at the well that sat within a short walk of all the houses of those who had fallen ill. "I think I know what caused this."

"And I'm afraid, Ian, that Elis may be the one behind it."

Somewhere overhead, a raven called.

11/2000


Fiat Lux II - Part XII

"For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb."
Psalm 37:2

*********

When they returned to the mercenary garrison, Ian muttered something and headed off to check on some old archives. After checking on Branwen and noting with some relief the older woman seemed to have improved, Skye took the parchments Ibrahim had sent and went off to sit in the garden. Autumn had had its way with the small compound but it was a bright afternoon and Skye found a bench bathed in sunlight. After all the tension of the past few days, it was pleasant to sit quietly in a warm spot while the leaves blew slowly about familiar plants. She gave herself over to the words and lost track of the time.

"It must be very interesting reading, milady."

She looked up and squinted slightly at the figure standing with the sun at his back. "Gethin?"

The dark mercenary chuckled and moved so she could see him more easily. "Aye, Lady Blackthorn. They told me inside you had stepped out here well over an hour ago. I couldn't imagine what would keep you out here so long, but now I see. What is it you are reading there? Some poetry?"

"No. As it happens, it is a treatise on herbs and healing. De Materia Medica by the Greek Dioscorides, a gift sent by a friend of my husband. Did you know a decoction of carrots is good for flatulence, and carrot leaves applied with honey is a specific for the treatment of running sores?" She smiled brightly at Gethin as he shook his head and sat beside her.

"No, I had not known that, milady. If I had, I would have added them to the garden. I must say, you are not what I would have expected."

She rolled up the scroll and placed it with the others. "What, not the typical noble lady?" She laughed. "Then I suppose that makes us even. I would not have thought a mercenary tended garden. And call me Skye"

"I was a novice at a monastery in my youth, apprenticed to the herbalist. Then one day an army rode by, and that night I ran off to join it. I was all of eighteen years when I signed the rolls for Branwen's company. That was ten years ago."

"And now you are her second in command and likely to step in to take over when she steps down."

"Aye, but Branwen is a stubborn one. She's not ready to retire yet. I had thought we would be back on the Continent by now, earning our due as a company. But..", he shrugged. "It sounded like a good plan; a year off to rebuild and to recruit as many Welsh archers as we could to fill our ranks. I went to France to sound out some possible contracts for us, and when I returned, I found we were not ready." His tone sounded impatient. " Two years we've been here. Is it any wonder I had time to rebuild this garden?"

Skye shook her head. "There's always work for sell-swords. Be patient, your time will come, Gethin."

"Patience, Lady Skye, has naught to do with it. Aye, there's always work. And more than enough men seeking it! A mercenary company must have a record, a reputation! Ask your husband, he knows. The Twisted Otters need not look for work, the work finds them. Lords seek them out, bid against each other for their services. That should be what the Eagles are. Instead, we are stuck in this backwater.." He stopped, perhaps realizing that bitterness had crept into his voice. "Your pardon. It is a matter of great import to me."

"Yes, I can see that. Gethin, it will happen. You must believe that."

He stood. "I thank you for the encouragement. You are right, of course. And there are other ways to improve our fortunes while we wait. Will you be going inside now?"

"Not yet. Ian is busy looking at maps of the area and such. I think I'll just sit here a few minutes more and enjoy the peace of your garden."

"Until later, then, milady" He bowed and moved off in a brisk walk as Skye watched. An ambitious man, she thought.

She turned back to face the garden, her eyes roaming from plant bed to plant bed as she played a game with herself and tried to identify the herbs and flowers now that there were no blooms to ease in the naming of them. She frowned, then stood and walked over to look closer. The uneasiness she had felt the other eve returned twice fold as she looked at leaves and stalks withered from the first hard frosts of Autumn.

Then with an exclamation she turned, made her way back to the bench to pick up her bag, and then went off to find Ian.

11/2000


Fiat Lux II - Part XIII

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil"
Deuteronomy 30:15

*********

"Are you sure about this, love?"
Ian slipped his arm around Skye's waist and bowed his head closer; to any who might be watching them it would appear that the Blackthorns were having an innocent stroll in the garden, but in truth the conversation was anything but romantic. Skye had spoken to him last eve in bed of her suspicions, and as soon as they were able to arrange it they had slipped out to the gardens after the morning meal.

"I am sure, my angel." She lifted a hand to touch his cheek lightly, then smiled as he kissed the back of her wrist. "There are poisonous plants in this garden. Monks' Hood, lilies, others I can show you."

He walked her a bit further away from the walls towards the center of the garden, still in plain sight but well away from curious ears. "Lilies", he murmured. "Who'd believe such beauty could be so deadly?"

"Most would not, Ian. And besides the pleasure of their blooms, the plant can be used to ease headaches or gout. But eaten, " she looked her husband directly in the eyes , "it can cause the heart to fail. And that is what I think is being done to Branwen , gradually , else she'd have passed long ago."

"So! We have villagers at one of the village dying mysteriously, and Branwen being poisoned on this end. How, and why?"

She shook her head. "I am not sure the two are related, not yet."

"Elis has cause to hate Branwen, if Huw's theory about vengeance is right But how would he get the poison into her food?"

"There is no way, Ian."

He grinned, then ran a hand through her hair. "And, yes, the illnesses are not the same as what ails Branwen. I have my own theory as to that. Remember those mines I told you about as we rode here, the ones the Romans left behind?"

"Aye, mostly lead or tin mines, you said. What of them?"

"Branwen set about gathering all the maps she could of the area around Penally when she first brought her troop here, a prudent action any commander would have done, familiarizing oneself with the lay of the land. Among them was an old Roman map of the mines. And that well by the Bleddyn Inn is fed from a stream that begins not far from the biggest of them." Skye tilted her head "You think the water has been fouled by the mines? Runoff from rain?"

"Perhaps. I'm going to take a trip up there tomorrow."

"Good, I have never seen a mine before."

"Now, Skye.."

"Don't you 'Now, Skye' me, Ian Blackthorn. I'm going, and that's an end to it! Did you know the plantain plant is supposed to have been created by a woman who waited so long at the side of the road for her warrior love to return she turned into a plant?"

He kissed her lightly. "Then I best take you, heh? But if you are right about Branwen and poison, who will watch over her?"

"Perhaps I might help?"

They turned and smiled as Ashevathallion crossed the garden towards them with long strides. "Greetings, Nephew. And you as well, Shurrukai."

"Uncle Ashe!" Skye laughed and threw her arms around the elf, which brought a laugh from him that echoed loudly in the enclosed garden. Ian caught glimpses of faces looking out of windows and doors and chuckled.

"I trust there was no problem bringing the Healers, Uncle?"

"None. Your Sir Christopher was most efficient in getting the supplies together as was Corwin. The most excitement we had on the way was the reaction we got out on the street as we entered Penally. You'd never think they'd seen an elf before! And someone shouted something about a dragon. Asgorath, I assume."

"Indeed it was, Uncle. And your arrival helps us greatly!"

Skye looked at her husband. She'd seen that look before. "Ian, why are you smiling like a loon, my love?"

"Am I really? I suppose it's because of the arrival of my uncle, the world's greatest healer."

"I am?" Ashe looked at Ian, then shot a bewildered look at Skye. "What is he talking about?"

"I've not a clue, Uncle." She liked gravely at the elf, then just laughed. "But I'm sure we are about to find out."

12/2000