AN: Hey guy's sorry it's taken me so long to write another chapter, but I got slammed with last minute home work in all of my classes. 5 reports, 7 papers, and 8 bio quizzes. Yeah I had NO time to write. I stayed up late tonight to finish this little bit and get it posted for everyone. Once again I don't own any of the Ranger Apprentice series. And I hope you enfoy this next chapter.
Taryn woke to a cool hand on her forehead. "Finally you are awake. We thought we were going to loose you for a while, you were not responding to the antidote." She glanced up at the person who was talking to her and as her eyes brought the face into focus she could make out the town healer, Aidan. She could smell the healing herbs that were wafting through the room. The calming smell of Chamomile could be smelled more strongly than anything. "Wha.." Taryn broke into a coughing spurt, "Shh don't try to speak until you drink something, your throat will be very dry." Aidans hand reached for a cup and helped Taryn drink from it. Tasting the Chamomile and a hint of honey, Taryn smiled in thanks before finishing what she had been asking. "What happened? Where's Mark?" Taryn sat up in the bed. "You were hit with an arrow, although it passed through you the shaft it's self was poisoned." Aidan stood up to go refill the cup. "You were found on the outskirts of town by a young boy named Garret, he was the one who carried you to my house. You had passed out and fallen from your horse." "My horses where are they? And you still didn't answer my question about Mark." Taryn asked as she waited for Aidan to turn around and come back to the chair that he had been sitting in. "Your horses are with your friend Jackson back at your farm. As for Mark, he's being taken care of." Aidan returned with the cup along with a bowl of what looked like broth or a soup of some kind. "Here see if you can try and eat something." Aidan said as he handed her the bowl and a spoon. Taking them from Aidan Taryn was great full for the food and glad that the horses where ok, still wondering about Mark she decided to wait until she had finished eating.
"Knock, knock." A voice sounded in the next room. "In here Audry. " Aidan called out. The door to the room was pushed open by a young girl around the age of 16, brown hair that was pulled into a half tail that fell to her shoulders framed a heart shaped face that held big green eyes that matched the dress that the girl was wearing. "I brought the White Willow Bark and the Devils Claw that you asked me to get Aidan." The young girl said as she walked into the room and headed strait for the table that was pushed up against the far wall. "Thank you Audry." Aidan replied as he stood to meet her at the table, opening the package that she had set there. "Oh your awake! I'm glad, Aidan and I didn't know if you would ever wake up. You where out for three days." Audry walked over and sat down in the chair that Aidan had just left. "Taryn I'd like you to meet Audry, my apprentice. Audry could you please bring me the mortar and pestle from my room." "Yes sir." Audry said as she roase to fetch what her mentor had requested. "She seems nice." Taryn said when the young girl had left. "Yes, she's a very eager student. Very willing to learn. The only thing is she gets to excited about little things like simple arrow through the shoulder." Aidan winked at Taryn as he started shifting throught the package of herbs. "Here you go Aidan." Audry returned to the room with the mortar and pestle. "Thank you Audry." "So Taryn how are you feeling? Any pain and sourness?" Audry turned and addressed Taryn with an eagerness that made Taryn smile, she remembered when she was an apprentice horse trained and approached everything with such eagerness before she started actually training a horse and found out that you need to have patience and a calm mood, not a hipper and energetic one.
"I'm doing pretty good, I don't feel any pain yet, but I'm sure it's only because Aidan slipped something in my drink when I woke up." Taryn smiled at Audry as she accused Aidan of drugging her. "Actully, it was in the soup." Aidan smiled as he started to grind the herbs up and put them in jars that where sitting on the shelves above the table. "You put it in the soup? I didn't know you could put it in a food." Audry said as she looked up at her mentor with wide eyes. "I normaly don't put it in food, but it would have tasted weird in with the Chamomile and honey tea, so I decided to put it in the soup, but only her bowl so the soup is still safe to eat for anyone else who would like to have some." Aidan said as he walked back over to stand next to the chair that Audry was sitting in. "Oh, well I guess that makes sense." Audry said. "So what are we going to do know Aidan, does she need her bandage changed or does she need another antidote for the poison?" "Sometime Audry all you have to do is sit and visit with your patient, the bandages won't need to be changed till tomorrow morning remember we only just changed them an hour before she woke up." Taryn laughed inwardly at the young apprentice, "So eager. Just wait till she see the really world and what it can do to people, she won't be so energetic after a couple more years." Thought Taryn as she glanced in between the two healers.
"Oh, I can just sit and talk. What are we going to talk about?" Audry said as she sat up straighter in the chair. "How about finding out what Miss Taryn remembers before blacking out." Aidan said as he walked over to the other chair that was hiding by the door and pulling it over to the other side of the bed. "Um, I'm afraid that there isn't much that I remember about the shooting. I remember riding in the forest on my way back home and talking with Mark. I remember starting to fall into my thoughts when Mark put his hand on my arm and told me that we where being followed, then he cried out in pain and slumped forward. I grabbed his horse's reins and ran. I don't remember getting shot though." Taryn finished with a soft sigh of aggravation. "Did you happen to see the person or persons who shot at you and Mark?" Aidan asked. "No at lest I don't remember if I did or not, I'm sorry can we stop I'm getting rather sleepy." Taryn replied with a yawn. "Yes that's fine, Audry why don't you go get the sleeping drought ready and add a little of Devil's claw to it for her pain, I don't want her waking up in to middle of the night in pain after what I gave her earlier wares off." "Ok Aidan, do you want me to use the Chamomile from earlier or Valerian root?" Audry said as she stood and mad her way over to the table. "Valerian, it's stronger, and she'll sleep deeper." Aidan replied as he too stood and picked up the empty bowl and cup that had been used earlier. Audry made the drink in a flash, obviously having practiced that particular brew many times. "Here all done." Audry announced as she handed the mug to Aidan and took the bowl and cup from him and left the room, most likely putting them in the kitchen. "Drink it all, and don't try and spit it out, I know it taste horrible." Aidan commanded as he handed her the drink that smelled just as horrible as it looked and from what Aidan had just said tasted. "Bottoms up." Taryn managed to chock down all of the concoction. "That was awefull!" Taryn said as she tried to keep from throwing it back up. "I know, but it will help, trust me." Aidan said as he took back the mug and turned to leave the room. "Aidan?" "Yes." "Thank you for saving me." Taryn said as he paused at the door and turned. "Your welcome, but it wasn't just me, you would most likely never have made it to my house in time for the antidote had Garret not carried you here." "But still, thank you." "Your welcome. And sleep well." "Oh I will if what ever you forced me to drink does what it's supposed to do." Taryn smiled as he laughed and once again bid her good night and left the room.
AN: Well there you go, Taryn finally woke up. She doesn't know that Mark is dead; Aidan didn't have the heart to tell her when she just woke up. Gilan will most likely show up in the next chapter or so. Hope you guys liked it and Please review. I only got one review from the last chapter. Also Devil's Claw and White Willow Bark are real herbs used for pain management. Chamomile and Valerian root are also real herbs used to help someone fall asleep and calm down. Don't believe me look it up on the Internet. :)