CHAPTER 3
WORSENING CONDITION
But this was not the end of what Cera was experiencing. Over the coming week, she had many more such episodes involving nightmares and hallucinations of sick and dying sharptooth. Pretty soon, it was starting to affect the way she could concentrate, focus, and interact with others. It also affected her sleep! There were nights where she hardly slept at all, or refused to go to sleep out of fear that the recurring nightmares would come back. And on the night where she DID sleep, the nightmares would come back and jolt her from her slumber. This greatly worried Wendyk! He saw how it was affecting his life mate. How it affected her mood, and how she could concentrate. He was seeing her slowly deteriorate, and there was nothing he could do to help her! He had a tremendous feeling of helplessness because of this!
Finally, he, his parents and his younger sister went to see Little Foot to tell him what's been happening, and find out if he knew anything about the sickness Cera had. They had gathered outside the cave dwelling she and Wendyk shared; and after Wendyk checked on her, he described to Little Foot what Cera's been going through; and looked at him hopefully. He, as well as her family-by-mating, hoped that he knew what was bothering her.
They were all greatly dissapointed when Little Foot said "Sorry, I have NO idea what she's got."
"Is there anybody else in The Great Valley who'd might have any idea?" Wendyk desperately asked.
"No! Cera's the only official medicine threehorn in the valley right now."
"I know a little bit about medicine, but not enough to know what's affecting her." Wendyk's father, a threehorn named Korkum, said.
"How's she doing?" Korkum then asked his son.
"She's sleeping right now, but she could wake up at any moment. Those nightmares are becoming more and more frequent."
Everybody was very sad and pensive.
"Come ON! There's gotta be SOMETHING we can do!" Wendyk cried out in desperation.
"Take it easy, son!" his father said. "I'm certain there's an answer. We simply haven't put our forepaw on it yet."
"Hey, everybody! What's goin' on?" Chomper said as he arrived.
"Oh, hey, Chomper!" Little Foot said in greeting to his sharptooth friend. "We seem to have a problem. Cera's sick."
"Oh? What's she sick of?"
"That's just it! Nobody knows!" Little Foot said with a sad shake of his head.
Then they described to him the symptoms she's been having. "Hmm... interesting..." he mused.
"Any idea what she may be suffering from, Chomper?" Wendyk's mother, Trixia, asked.
After thinking about it a moment, he shook his head. "Nope. Can't say I do!"
"I'm really worried about my sister-by-mating..." Wendyk's sister, Trinity, said.
"Don't worry, dear! I'm sure we'll find out what's making her sick VERY soon. Then we'll make her ALL better." her mother said as she comforted her.
Chomper hmmd as he tapped his finger on his chin in a thinking gesture. "The messenger from the Sharptooth Countries should be arriving here in tomorrow. I could send word to the Master Healer, the same sharptooth whom Cera taught all about the "Bloody Tummy" medicine plant. Maybe HE knows something about this..."
Little Foot nodded. "It's worth a try, Chomper."
The sound of screaming coming from the cave dwelling made them all turn. "Oh, shells!" Wendyk cursed. "Excuse me!" he said as he ran towards the cave. By the time the rest of them started trotting over to see if they could help, Cera was already crying very loudly.
Over the next few days, Cera was steadily getting worse. She simply refused to sleep out of fear the nightmares would return. And in the rare times where she finally succumbed to slumber, she was woken up a short time later as a result of the nightmares.
She was also experiencing hallucinations, and episodes where she just seemed to fade out. Everyone around her was growing increasingly worried, especially Wendyk. He just hated seeing his life mate in such a state!
By the time the sharptooth messenger arrived at Chomper's cave, Cera was bedridden, incapable of functioning, and being generally unresponsive. Korkum, her father-by-mating, took over her healer duties, as he said he knew a little bit about flattooth medicine; but not enough to look after anything more than a sprained ankle, or a case of the "sneezies and achies". Cera needed to get well, and get well fast!
Word was given to Chomper to not only send word of a session with the sharptooth Master Healer, but have him actually come to The Great Valley himself! Chomper sent the messenger off with the mention that "Cera helped in curing the dreaded 'Bloody Tummy' disease; and it's only fair that Master Healer Rizon Drax help HER now!"