Chapter Five: Growing Pain and Tension
"Ursa…"
Ursa got up from the chair at the
shout of Buddi. She'd been reading in her room, so she could hear Buddi.
Placing the book on her bed, she walked out of her room and down to the
furthest door. Opening it, she found Buddi tossed on his bed, pillow and
comforter on the floor and the sheets tangled around his legs.
"Buddi?"
The fever clutched child looked up
at her, through glazed eyes. She picked him up and found him hotter than
before. She asked him gently, "Buddi? Can you stand?"
He nodded.
"Good boy. Now look, I'll change
these sheets. I need you to go and sponge yourself off alright?"
He nodded and stumbled into the
bathroom, after grabbing some fresh clothes. Ursa waited until he closed the
door before starting to strip the bed. The sheets were clammy, hot.
She remembered Buddi being sick
before. He always wanted his Mama Ursa near him. But now that he was older, she
did not have to be with him. Still, Buddi felt very hot and the worry was still
present in Ursa's heart. Ursa picked the sheets up and dropped them down the
chute to the cleaning room. Grubbi always took care of that. She picked some
clean ones and just as she got them back on, Buddi opened the door and stumbled
back in.
Ursa ran to him and picked him up to
carry him the rest of the way.
Buddi curled up and said,
"Ursa, I hurt. It hurts."
Ursa gave him a smile. "I know
Buddi. One more check on your temperature and then you can sleep all right?
Grubbi ahs some herbs I'll bring you."
Buddi nodded and laid face up. Ursa
placed the strip on his forehead again. The color changed, grew darker.
Finally, Ursa lifted it to study it. Her throat clogged and she swallowed hard.
"102." Ursa shook her head. "That's
high."
She looked to Buddi. He closed his
eyes, turned onto his side. She took the compress and drenched it again.
Wringing the excess water out, she laid the cloth over her boy's forehead.
She stayed with him a minute,
considering. One hundred and two was high but not awfully high. Still, the
temptation to stay with her baby was strong. But she decided to go and get
those herbs she promised and then see what happened. She sighed. She felt so
helpless. There was nothing else she could do.
* * *
"Sunni?"
The yellow furred girl looked up as
Grammi came in with a bowl of medication. She nodded at Sunni who forced
herself up. Before giving the girl the doze of medicine, Grammi slips the
temperature strip under her tongue. In a few minutes, she bit down a curse as
it had risen to one hundred and two.
"Here Sunni." Grammi held a spoonful
of some black liquid to her lips. Extremely reluctantly, Sunni let her lips
part and swallowed the liquid.
"Argg!" Sunni gagged. It was twice
as bad as she thought. But when the terrible taste began to fade so did her
headache. That stuff worked. Although, she wished that it could have tasted
better. But then again, if it tasted good she'd probably want it when she
didn't need it.
"Sleep now, Sunni." Grammi got up
and left but not before placing a cool compress on the girl's forehead.
Sunni tried. But she couldn't. The
pain was dulled a bit but it was still there and she was worried. She wanted to
know how Buddi was, if he-
"Hey Sunni!"
The yellow furred girl smiled as
Cubbi walked in. He put a vase on her nightstand, filled with daises.
"I picked them while I was fighting
a dragon today."
Sunni smiled and shook her head.
Cubbi had the imagination of five ten year olds.
"Thanks Cubbi"
The boy nodded, sincerely. "You're
welcome. How do you feel?"
Sunni shrugged, "Crummy I guess."
Cubbi nodded. "Grammi doesn't think
it's natural."
Sunni nodded. "I agree. I say it's
Celina."
"But…she wants to…well…stop you from
growing up."
Cubbi could not bring himself to say
kill or murder even though he knew that that was exactly that witch's plan. He
didn't want to remind Sunni although she probably thought about it every other
minute, if not every other second. He didn't want to help.
Sunni nodded again at the younger
cub. "She plays a dangerous game, Cubbi. She's cruel. And…"
Sunni stopped and closed her eyes.
"She's ruthless and cold…and…al..so…she ha..s…n..o….hea..r..t."
Cubbi left as the sickness once
again made her sleep. He was worried about her and hoped that he'd helped some,
if only a little bit. He felt helpless. For all their bickering, he truly did
love Sunni, as an older sister. And he wished with all his heart at that moment
that he could do more for her.
* * *
"Buddi!"
Ursa raced into Buddi's room. She'd
heard cries of pain and had raced to it. And now her heart felt like it would
shatter. He was crouched, coughing and
coughing with no signs of stopping. She grabbed his arms and then yanked his
top off, bearing his chest. She took a single herb from her pouch. One that she
always had. Crushing it into between her hands, with her strength alone, she
raced into the bathroom and made it liquidly and poured it in the bowl that she
put the compress in.
Panic barely under control, Ursa
raced back and drenched the washcloth in the herb. Placing it on her child's
chest, she let out a sigh of relief as his coughing fit stopped. He gasped for
air.
"Buddi…"
Ursa said nothing else but hugged
him tightly to her. He felt so hot. Ursa pulled him into her lap and stripped
him down to his underclothes before lying him back down. She kept the cloth on
his chest, although the coughs had stopped. She placed the fever strip on his
forehead again. This time…
It was black.
Danger Zone fever…. the same as
Sunni's had risen to at that exact moment:
One hundred and four. Everything
went black in Ursa's eyes. Her baby…her precious little one…
"Ursa?"
The Barbic leader turned. Gritty
entered, curious.
"How is he?"
"One hundred and four."
Gritty's jaw dropped. H knew Buddi
was sick, but that high. That was danger zone territory. Gritty met her eyes.
Ursa nodded. "Tell Grubbi to bring two trays tonight, Gritty."
"You're going-"
"I'm staying with Buddi."
Gritty knew when Ursa could be
talked out of something and he would never be able to talk her out of this. So
he nodded and left the two alone.
"'Sa?"
Ursa looked at the cub. "What is it,
Buddi?"
"Hurts, it hurts."
"I know."
"Make it stop." He snuggled close to
her. "Make it stop!"
"Shhh," Ursa rubbed his forehead.
"Sleep Baby. Sleep."
Buddi consented. His eyes closed but
Ursa was scared to death. That fever was so high…if it didn't go down, he
might…
She felt her heart throb with pain.
The mere thought made her ill to the heart. She grabbed her baby's hand and watched him sleep. He breathed
shallowly. But it was steady…for now.
"I won't leave you, baby. Mama
Ursa's staying right here."