Another chapter for you guys and this looks like it will be another long story, not sure if it will be as long as Merlin's trust (one of my other stories) but we'll see

Chapter 10

It only took a week for Merlin to find a job and when he did he was happy with it. He had been walking through the village when he heard a scream and then cries for help. Immediately he ran towards the sound. Once he located the source he found that the screaming was caused by a small boy. The cries for help were caused by the mother.

The first thing Merlin saw was a lot of blood. He soon found out that the boy had been hit by a rearing horse and its hoof had made a nasty gash on his head which was now bleeding heavily.

"We need a healer" cried a woman in the large crowd now forming. "There's no healer close enough to get here before it's too late." shouted back a man. "Please can't anyone help him" sobbed the boy's mother.

Merlin, realising there was no one else rushed forward and knelt next to the boy, "It's ok, I've learnt from a physician" he told the women, who saw him as his last hope so nodded. Merlin took off his shirt and folded it up and made the mother press it against the wound.

Once Merlin had made sure they were being pressed on firmly he then turned back to the crowd and shouted "move back, he needs air" then he turned to a young man and said "Please, can you get me some water?" the man looked shocked but dashed of straight away.

Merlin then turned to a woman and said "Will you please get me some bandages or clean sheets?" she also nodded and rushed off. Merlin turned back to the Mother and asked her name "Charlotte" she gulped through her tears "And his?" he asked. "Matthew" Charlotte told him

Merlin bit his lip as blood started to soak through his shirt but was relieved when the water and sheets turned up "We don't have any bandages sorry" said the women. "It's ok, these will do" Merlin replied hurriedly.

Merlin was also glad when his wife turned up "merlin" she cried "Is there anything I can do?" Merlin gave her the sheets and said "tear them into strips to be used as bandages" Freya nodded and did as Merlin said.

Merlin took one of the strips Freya had cut and made it into a pad which he placed on the wound before taking another strip and using it to secure the pad by tying it round Matthew's head. He then took a third strip which he folded up and dipped into the bucket of water he had been given which he used to clean around the wound.

He then poured some of the water on the bandaged wound so that the make shift bandage was now damp. He hoped this might help rinse the wound and keep the body temperature down. Then he proceeded in wrapping more bandages around the wound.

Once he was sure he had staunched the flow of blood he called for some men to help him as he carefully lifted Matthew up and took him to his bed. From there he could do nothing but wait until the wound had stopped bleeding completely.

About an hour later he took of the bandages to examine the wound. He was glad to see it had stopped bleeding, but to his alarm there was a lot of swelling. Freya came in and asked "how is it?" merlin looked at her worriedly and said "It's stopped bleeding but the swelling suggests that the skull may be crack, and that can be deadly.

"Well then, heal him" Freya said. Merlin raised his eyebrows "What?" Freya sighed "HEAL him" she repeated. "With magic?" he asked. Freya nodded. Merlin looked doubtful for a moment but then said "Ok, go and get my book"

Freya immediately disappeared and returned a minute later holding Merlin's magic book. Merlin took it and then flipped through the pages until he found a suitable spell. "Torgan borne ic satoh kake" he said, placing his hand over Matthew's head. When he raised his hand he was glad to see that the swelling had gone down greatly and the boy's breathing had steadied.

Merlin cleaned the wound again before replacing the bandages over Matthew's head. Then merlin slumped down in a chair and said "Take charlotte some water, she's had quite a shock and needs looking after" Freya nodded and left.

The next morning Matthew woke up slightly, "Mother?" he asked tiredly. Merlin took the boy's hand and said "it's ok, you've had a nasty bump to the head but you'll be all right." "Where's mother?" Matthew asked again. Merlin went and fetched charlotte so she could talk to her son.

Once he had woken up a bit more Matthew allowed Merlin to check his wound once more and merlin said that it would soon be healed and the bandages could be taken off the next day.

He was about to leave when Charlotte stopped him "We must repay you for you kindness." Merlin was about to shake his head but she said "He would have died without you, please let us repay you" "you don't need too" Merlin said.

But it was too late, charlotte had gone inside and soon returned with a loaf of bread "This is to say thank you" and then she handed over a shirt "And this is for your shirt that you covered in blood, it is my older sons but I don't think he will miss it" Merlin thanked her and took the gifts.

He was nearly home when he was stopped again, this time by a man named Joseph Hatton; Merlin knew that many of the villagers saw him as the authority of the village. "Excuse me but I saw what you did back there. It was very skilful" Joseph said. "Thank you" replied Merlin.

"You knew to the village, aren't you" said Joseph. Merlin nodded. "Some of the villagers and I were just thinking that, maybe you could become our village healer. I mean, we don't have any Healers near here and often deaths happen because of that. You could receive patients outside the village as well but it would help everyone out if they knew that we had a skilled healer here..." Joseph explained.

Merlin stared at him shocked, "Me?" he asked. Joseph nodded. Merlin blinked, but quickly recovered "I've been looking for a job, this would be great" he said. "You accept, wonderful" cried Joseph and he walked of spreading the news to everyone.

Merlin walked home in a daze and once he got in he sat down and told Freya the news. "This is great! They probably won't have that many injuries and your helping others, I'm so proud of you!" Freya said in happiness.

So I hope you liked that chapter, tomorrow will be the Christmas based chapter so I hope you like it!