Chapter 11

"Ma, can I come with you? Please?" Brian begged, looking up at Michaela who was putting her medical bag onto the seat of the wagon.

She sighed and bent down to her son, stroking his hair. "Sully might not even be there, Brian. He could be at one of his lean-tos."

Her tone was gentle as she tried to discourage him from accompanying her. It had been two days since Sully had arrived in Colorado Springs and disappeared again right away. He clearly hadn't even spared a thought for the children's feelings or he would have shown up, at least for their sake. She didn't want her son to be hurt more than he already was and she feared what would happen if he went with her and Sully wasn't at the reservation. Besides, even if Sully was staying at the Cheyenne village, there was no guarantee that he would be willing to talk to Brian. The consequences might be devastating for the child.

As if he had followed her train of thought, Brian reminded her, "But you said it yourself, that he is still my friend." He sounded almost desperate now. Straightening her back, Michaela searched for another argument to prevent him from coming with her but gave up when she spotted Colleen standing in the doorway to the clinic, watching them nervously. It seemed as if the siblings had agreed that their little brother would be their spokesman. They knew he had a knack for talking to people and getting his way. It was not her intention keep the children away from Sully thus she eventually moved her medical back to the bed of the wagon to make room for Brian. He glanced at his sister who gave him a thumbs up before he climbed up onto the seat next to his ma.

xxx

Sully was sitting in front of Cloud Dancing's tepee when he heard the sound of an approaching wagon. He rose quickly to his feet, swaying slightly and he reached out to grip his blood brother's forearm for support. Barely registering the surprised and concerned expression on the Cheyenne healer's face, he mumbled, "I don't wanna talk to her." With that, he vanished through the gap between the flaps and into the tent.

Exchanging a worried look with his wife, Cloud Dancing turned to welcome his guest. Spotting the small frame next to Dr. Mike, he said loudly enough for his white friend to hear, "The boy is with her."

"Tell him I'm asleep," was Sully's reply, and the medicine man shook his head in disapproval. He didn't admonish Sully though. It was not his place to interfere.

Once the wagon had pulled to a stop before him, he gave Michaela a short nod before he spoke to Brian. "We have a new foal. Would you like to see it?"

Brian was a bright child and he knew what this offer meant: Sully didn't want to talk to him. He glanced at his ma who tried to hide her hurt and only said, "I'll come and get you when I'm done."

"All right," Brian admitted defeat. "See you."

Michaela watched her son leave with the medicine man and then turned towards Snow Bird. "How is he?" she inquired quietly.

"Tired and moody," her friend replied, and Michaela left it at that. She hadn't come for Sully anyway; she was merely here to vaccinate the last group of children who had been too sick for her to administer the vaccine the last time she had visited.

xxx

It was already dark, and the family had just finished their dinner when they heard a bird call. It was Cloud Dancing's sign, and instinctively knowing that this was about Sully, Michaela grabbed her medical bag from the foot of her bed and her coat from the peg next to the door. She only had to speak Matthew's name as she looked at him for him to agree, "I'll stay here with the kids until you get back."

"Thank you," she said. Further words weren't necessary between them, but seeing the anxious faces of Colleen and Brian, she added, "Don't worry. This might not even be about Sully. Someone could have been shot or fallen ill and Cloud Dancing simply needs my help."

The two younger children nodded reluctantly, and noting Dr. Mike's pleading look at him, Matthew suggested to his brother, "What about a game of checkers?"

Pulling herself together, Colleen announced, "And I'm gonna take care of the dishes, Dr. Mike. We'll be fine."

xxx

It was too dim in Cloud Dancing's tepee for Michaela to be able to give an opinion on Sully's state simply by looking at him. She knew though that his condition must have been very bad or the medicine man wouldn't have fetched her. They hadn't talked on their ride to the Cheyenne village, each focusing on navigating their horses swiftly through the darkness.

"He's barely eaten since he arrived two days ago," offered the Cheyenne, as Michaela glanced at him. "He has had stomach cramps and is very tired all the time yet sleeps only a few hours every night. It reminded me of how he was when I first found him two years ago, grieving and lost. This I could have helped to heal. Yet when he lost consciousness, I thought it was time to ask for your assistance."

Cloud Dancing looked at her pointedly. Michaela knew he was referring to her role in his friend's condition, but she refused to feel guilty.

"I can hear you," Sully mumbled from his place on a pile of furs. "And I don't want her pity," he added sulkily.

"I'm a doctor," Michaela retorted icily. "I'm not here out of pity."

Stepping closer, she announced, "I need to ask you a few questions and I will need to examine you."

"I said I don't…" Sully objected, his voice rising a notch, yet Michaela didn't hear him out.

"Don't be stubborn, Sully," she reprimanded him. Her tone, however, was gentle because she recognised that her patient wasn't his usual self. "Or do you want me to tell Brian that his friend is sick but is refusing to see a doctor?"

Scowling, Sully huffed quietly, but slowly sat up. "Now," Michaela said, "tell me, what's going on, when did the symptoms start?"

"Cloud Dancing already told you," he responded gruffly, unwilling to say even one word more than necessary. "And I think it began during the last days on the train to St. Louis."

Frowning, Michaela contemplated the possibilities. She could scratch out food poisoning; the cramps had lasted too long for that. She stepped closer, preparing to examine him. Sully, however, slid away from her.

Crossing her arms across her chest, Michaela looked at Cloud Dancing. When he didn't offer any support in her attempt to reason with Sully, she lost her temper. Sully was behaving like a difficult child and his friend clearly didn't want to take sides. Acknowledging that Sully was sick and thus unable to think clearly, she turned to the medicine man.

"You asked me to come, so I did. I left the children behind, and you know how difficult that is for me after everything that has happened lately. Either your patient cooperates or I will leave immediately."

The Cheyenne looked at his blood brother. When he'd asked him before if he would agree to see Dr. Mike, he had nodded, clutching his stomach as he was plagued by another cramp. As a medicine man, Cloud Dancing always respected the will of those he treated, but he knew the doctor was right. "The pain will return and probably become worse," he told Sully, raising his eyebrows, suggesting he reconsider his refusal.

"Fine," Sully gave in. He wasn't sure he would be able to handle Michaela's touch, but he also recognised that the situation was getting embarrassing. Her anger didn't bother him for he was angry himself, but he wanted to know what she'd meant with her remark about the things that had taken place lately. "What happened?" he asked, his voice raspy.

Placing the stethoscope to the left of his chest and listening intently to his heartbeat, she shook her head. "Sh," she said.

She didn't hear anything out of the ordinary; Sully's pulse was just a little too fast for her liking. Five minutes later she finished her examination, yet she still had no clue as to what was wrong. There had to be something that poisoned him from the inside and wasn't detectable externally.

Watching Dr. Mike keenly, Cloud Dancing frowned. He knew that she hadn't found anything. If he had thought she would give up now, he was wrong. Michaela's mind was racing. "Is there anything that you've been eating or drinking daily since you were on the train?" she asked, but Sully shook his head.

"Could you please sit again?" she requested. She had found the lymph nodes under his jaw to be slightly enlarged and wanted to re-examine them. As she brushed the nape of his neck with her fingers, Sully took in a sharp breath.

Instantly, Michaela brushed his hair aside to take a better look. Doing so she wondered, "Have you been anywhere lately where a tick could have bitten you?"

"No," he retorted, thinking her question odd and hissed through clenched teeth when her fingers ran over a very sore spot again.

"I need more light," Michaela told Cloud Dancing, but the only thing he could offer was a torch that he lit in the campfire outside. When he came back with it, Michaela gestured for him to hold it whilst she examined Sully's neck more closely. Detecting two angry welts, she probed them carefully. Feeling Sully wince under her touch, she knew that she had found the reason for his feeling so ill. But before she told him her suspicion, she needed one more answer. "Do your hands or feet or both tingle sometimes? Do you feel an inexplicable weakness now and then?" she asked.

"Yeah," he allowed, and Michaela straightened again. She knew what was wrong.

"When were you shot?" she asked quietly, trying to keep the horror from her tone as she considered the possibility that Sully might well have died if the shooter had been a fraction closer.

"You have a buckshot under your skin," she informed him. To Cloud Dancing she said, "Lead poisoning."