Celebwen Telcontar: Well, this one is bound to be interesting.
Balrog: Howso?
Celebwen Telcontar: Just watch. And listen. Oh, dear! (Gold black and tan cat comes careening in, Balrog jumps back, yelping, and Celebwen nervously eyes it.) Tarichar? (Cat purrs and begins to use Balrog's galena and pegmatite sundae as a scratching post.)
Balrog: You have officially weaned me of galena and pegmatite sundaes, Tarichar.
Celebwen Telcontar: (Laughs.) Please review, people. It gives me strength.
Sulin stamped, apparently annoyed. Silence was working with her back to Ian, and Sulin gripped her sleeve, hurling her into the blonde man's arms.
Suddenly, the horses spooked, Ben's Fleck pulling free and fleeing.
'Stop!' Derek cried to Fleck, who kept running. He sprang onto Elen's back and rode off after the errant mare. After Elen exited, a brown and gold cat with black stripes came sauntering into the clearing. Silence shoved herself out of Ian's warm embrace, and stopped cold as Tarichar's hiss was directed to her. She turned to see her beloved cat, who only liked her, being petted by Ian, and she was purring as she leapt up to lie like a stole across his shoulders, washing his ear, as if he was her own kitten.
"Tarichar?" she asked. "Why? How? You like him?" Tarichar hissed at her again, and Silence began to feel a bone-chilling terror that she had never felt before. She was afraid of her own cat, the cat whose life she had saved. She jealously watched as he winced from her cat's cold nose, and felt hurt. She lifted a curry-comb to groom Sulin, but Sulin wasn't there anymore. Silence looked around, and saw the silvery mare lying behind Ian, letting him lean against her. Silence felt cold, as if she had been abandoned. A tear ran down her cheek. Her best friends, her only friends, were gone.
Elen came back in, Derek holding Fleck's bridle.
"Hello, Tarichar. How did you find us?" He dismounted and retied Fleck's reins to a tree. "Oh, are you being too aloof to answer me?" Tarichar sniffed, looking down her nose at him.
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Derek saw that his boss was chewing his food on only one side of his mouth, and whenever Tarichar, sitting on his shoulders, licked the unused side, Ian would attempt to unobtrusively twist away.
"Is that tooth still giving you trouble?" Derek asked. Ian nodded resignedly. "Come here; rinse out your mouth with water." Ian did so, wincing in pain, and Tarichar jumped off, meowing at Derek, then trotted off into the woods, most likely to hunt some defenseless beast. "Open up." Derek saw that the tooth was rooted loosely, and the base and gum were coated in puss, the gum red and swollen. "Abscess. Here take some more willow bark potion." He handed Ian the bottle of medicine and Ian pulled a disgusted face. But he took a couple of mouthfuls of the medicine
Derek stood and began to scan the foliage, finding a small white flower that looked like a morning glory. He collected some leaves, went back, and put them in water, then put the pot over the fire. When it was boiling, he ladled some out into a cup.
"Here," Mariah said, handing a pair of pliers to Derek.
"Do you have a needle, Mariah? I need to lance the gum." Ian's eyes went wide. Backwoods dentistry, in the middle of nowhere. The thought, apparently, did not sound appealing to him.
Silence looked at Shaw, and Derek felt sad that his niece no longer recognized him. Mariah dug into her pack until she found her sewing kit, and handed the sharpest needle to Derek. He walked over to Ian, who was white with fear and anticipation. He had drained the cup of datura that Derek had made him, and the narcotics were working on him, for he looked rather stoned. "Open up, Ian. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner the pain will be gone." Ian opened his mouth, and Shaw took the needle in one hand. "Eru dring le Kemmen-mor-nar!" Derek snarled at him, as he saw the extent of the damage. "Gondol!" God hammer you to Hell! Stonehead! "You goddamned idiot! You have three abscessed teeth. They need to be pulled, or else they will fester even more! Blockheaded moron." Shaw thrust the needle into the gum, causing Ian to yelp and jump, and the puss to come flowing out. Then, when all three abscesses were as drained of puss as they would be, Shaw took the pliers in his hands. "Phil, Gregor, Ben, Victor! I need all of you to hold Ian down. This is not going to be pleasant," The four men came over and Phil looked at Shaw before grasping one of Ian's arms, Gregor took the other arm, Victor a leg and Ben the last leg. Ian simply sat there, looking stoned, blood mixed with puss still trickling from his mouth. Shaw clamped the pliers about one of the teeth, and pulled. A gurgling scream of pain began to be voiced by the backwoods dental patient, and Ben yelped as one of Ian's feet must have found a tender spot. There was a pop, and Shaw staggered back, the pliers clamped about a cartoon-simple tooth, smeared with a graphic amount of puss and blood. Then Shaw moved on to the other two, getting the procedure over with as quickly as possible.
Finally, after the dentistry was over, he stuffed his handkerchief in the hole in Ian's mouth, thinking that it would not be good to leave the cloth square in place all that long, as it could inhibit Ian's breathing. The geranium root powder should have been in the saddlebag medikit, and soon he found it. "Sit still, Ian." Shaw quickly removed the kerchief, now more red than white, and re-dabbed the wound several times before sprinkling it with geranium root powder. Ian's face and hands were paler than normal, most likely from blood loss. "Mariah, do you have a small piece of cloth? Smaller than a kerchief?"
"I think that the medikits have small bits of bandaging in them," she called back, trying to stop Ben from whimpering. Ben staggered back after Ian had collapsed, perhaps from lack of blood but more likely from pain. Ben began to nurse his knee, where Ian had kicked it so hard that now it was a useless lump of bone, sinew and meat. The cap was bruised, and Ben was screaming, when Shaw took a look at it.
"Shut up, Ben," Shaw snapped, feeling the kneecap. "No liquid under it, but the cap's cracked, and the joint has been hyper-extended. Goddamnit!" he yelled. "We have to take a leave from the trip or leave Ian and Ben here," he said, going over to the others. He grabbed the willow bark potion, and force-fed Ben a good dose, then took a long strip of cloth and began to bind Ben's knee in place.
"Take them South, back to the palace," Mariah suggested.
"Good idea. Come on, all of you. On your horses. Sulin, behave." The Mearas mare glared at him, neighed loudly, and Tarichar came streaking out to land on her back. Silence mounted, and Shaw took Ian by the shirt, tied him in place behind Silence, and mounted his own horse behind a still-whimpering Ben. "Southward bound," he called, and the group headed South.
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Five days later, the group had not met with the Bardréd Palace at all, and Shaw was getting nervous. He was confused as to their location, until they passed a young woman in rough clothing on a bay gelding. A kerchief covered her long brown hair, and her breeches were patched about the insides of her thighs, as if they were mended often there. Her tunic was a deep forest green and belted at the waist with a length of rope.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Hello. We're lost, can you help us?" Silence asked.
"You're from Eryn Lasgallen, aren't you? Well, now you're in East Lorien, more specifically the town of Nimlad."
"White Ravine?" Silence asked.
"Versus Morais, our brother-town," the woman said. Her eyes were those of someone who believes in something so devoutly that they consider no other recourse of their faith.
"Black Horn?" Shaw asked. Ben's jaw dropped like a weighted stone.
"And where is the Star?" Ben said in a reverent tone.
"What star?" his twin asked, completely confused.
"The Seal of Solomon. The perfect balance between the Masculine and the Feminine."
"Eleno David. Another town, with no sibling. How do you know of it?" the strange East Lorienese woman asked, looking thoroughly confused.
"The downward pointing arrow, like a ravine, is the symbol for the Feminine. The upward pointing arrow, like a horn of a mountain, is the symbol for the Masculine. Together they make the Star of David, the perfect balance between the Masculine and Feminine. You're Masons." Ben's theory was mostly correct, though the Masons had been from Scotland. Eryn Lasgallen and East Lorien were in Germany.
"No, we're descended of the Knights who discovered the Temple of Solomon."
"Descended of the Knights Templar. As am I, and my twin sister, Silence Dogood Gates."
The woman had an odd look on her face. "I have never seen you before."
"We are from outside of the forest," Silence said carefully. She apparently was not going to risk getting these people mad at her.
"We found the Templar treasure. The one from beneath the Vaults of Solomon," Ben said, not being able to stay quiet when talking about the treasure.
"You found her? And what are you doing with her? Dragging her across the entire countryside, no doubt?"
"Her? We found the jewels and the gold…"
"Aha! The physical, tangible treasure. Not the real treasure. That is information."
"Information about what?" Ben asked, sounding rather confused. As Shaw was riding pillion behind Ben, who Elen had not taken well to, even though he was injured, he could not see Ben's face.
"The Holy Grail. Come, Father Shumaker will be wanting to see you." She turned her horse, and the group decided to follow her. Ben looked excited, like a child on Christmas morning. Tarichar looked like she would rather be someplace else. And the other people were not so sure about such a journey. But it could not be avoided, as both Ben and Ian needed medical attention, and fast, and if a woman who believed that the Grail was in King Solomon's temple was to give the aid, then at least she could.
Shaw looked at Ian who was riding pillion behind Silence. He was looking a lot better, considering, and since the willow bark potion was being used almost constantly, the fever he had due to the abscess and infection from it had subsided and now Ian was sitting up and taking in the scenery with eyes unclouded by pain or fever. Ben on the other hand, was still being an idiot where his knee was concerned. If he never walked on that inflamed joint, it would heal stiffly and it would be an entire session of Ben relearning how to walk. Shaw was not up to teaching some complete moron how to walk on an inflamed or stiff joint! Knowing the git, he would think that the Holy Grail would help him. What an idiot. The Grail was not the Cup of Christ, and thus would not help him.
"The Grail was in the Vaults beneath Solomon's Temple?" Ben cried, excited. Shaw refrained from braining the idiot.
"No, did you not listen to what I just said? It was information about the Grail, about what it is," the woman said, sounding exasperated. "I've got to get you two to the Healer, you don't look so good. Come on." She led them out of the woods into a clearing, where the town was bustling. In the center was a tall stone structure, and it took Shaw but a second to realize that the entire town had been built about a massive stone cathedral. "Welcome to Nimlad, and I hope that you enjoy your stay here." She led them to a stone house near the cathedral, and a woman with blonde hair and green eyes looked at them with a stern expression in her face. "Nicole de Lonquret, I have a couple of patients for you. One has something wrong with his leg, the other I think is close to being completely healed."
"Well, get down from your high horses, and come inside. I can't very well set broken bones from up there." Townspeople were beginning to gather, and a woman dragged their guide away.
"Therese Brochu! I should have known it would be you. Get inside and finish the paperwork you need to do, and get into some proper clothing, not some your brother's breeches." Appologetic, their guide, Therese, was led away along with her big-boned bay gelding, and the doctor drew the human travelers inside the house, Tarichar yelling and latching herself to Ben's back then his head as he walked in. Ben yelped then sighed in resignation, realizing that the cat's personality clashed with his own, and Mariah chuckled.
"That cat really has it in for you, Ben." She looked at Shaw, smiling gently, and winked at him. He felt a flush of warmth touch his cheeks and felt his lower body tighten. She was beautiful, but right now he had to see what this healer could do. Ian was always his first priority. Even if he had to stop doing something with Mariah, he had to look after Ian. Ian had looked after Derek after Danielle had been turned away.
Flashback
Derek looked at the bottle of whiskey. It had hit him like a ton of bricks at first, but now it was mere oblivion. Danielle was gone, had forsaken the Bardred ways. And now Derek was a mess and unable to help her. He took another swig, and felt his mind sink lower into oblivion.
"Hey there, you're going to get yourself run over," a kind, yet skewed from the alcohol, voice said. Strong arms picked him up.
"My… sister…" he thought he said. He had most likely said it in Elvish. Or perhaps even East Lorienese, a form of French spoken by the East Lorien people south of his home of Eryn Lasgallen.
"Come on, lad, you're a mess. Come here." The man helped him to a car, where he embarrisingly uprooted his entire last meal into it. "You're going to the hospital."
End Flashback
That was the last Derek remembered of that day, and the next thing he recalled he was being talked to by Ian, and spilling his entire life story. There began a friendship that Derek had never before known, where he was given to as well as being the giver.
"He had three abscessed teeth," Derek supplied when the healer looked at him in explanation for the massive healing wound in Ian's mouth.
"This was well done, Monsieur Shaw. I commend you. Now all of you need sleep. Go lay down." Shaw didn't, though, and stood awake by Ian's side. "Go lay down. You need to sleep." Shaw still didn't sleep. The healer left Ian and Ben for a moment, and returned with a glass of wine. "Well, if you won't sleep, then take some wine to help you with your senses, and tell me how your friend got three abscesses without noticing it." Shaw drank down the wine, too tired to think about it, and began to ramble. About ten minutes later, he began to feel very sleepy.
"You drugged the wine, Madam!" he accused.
"You would not sleep. Now go to bed! I can take care of two patients!" Derek stubbornly stayed up, until his body hit the floor from sheer exhaustion.
Celebwen Telcontar: How was that? I gave you a bit of information as to Shaw's past.
Balrog: Personally, I think you're wasting your time.
Celebwen Telcontar: (Splutters.) Wasting my time! How?
Balrog: You only have eleven reviews. Not many people like this story. Ahhh! Damnable beast!
Celebwen Telcontar: What? You're making no sense.
Tarichar: (Races onto the scene, meowing loudly)
Celebwen Telcontar: Review, please!