Chapter Two: On the Trail of a Healer
The residents of the various towns and settlements through which Moonshadow travelled greeted him and provided anything he asked with an awed respect that precluded any true warmth or friendliness — and that, he felt, was just as it should be.
He asked in each town about the local healer; in some it was an Animal with some knowledge of herbs or skill at treating wounds, but none of them seemed as if they would have the audacity to write in the Book of Healing, even should they manage to get their paws on a copy. All of them were quick to assure him that of course, they would send any difficult cases to the centaurs at the Halls of Healing, and with that he was satisfied.
As he travelled north, the settlements grew smaller and more scattered, the Animals' homes resembling more and more those of their wild cousins, and less and less those of Men. He regarded the dwellings with some scorn; so, the Creature that dared to think itself a centaur's equal was no more than a half-wild Beast!
"Have you heard of a…'healer'…in the northern forests?" he questioned in a little village he hardly deemed worthy of the name, at what he considered to be the furthest edge of civilization.
"Oh, aye, sir," the hedgehog mistress replied, bowing over her paws as she had with nearly every sentence she spoke to him. "That'll be the Fox Rawlstow, sir."
So…a Fox, was it? Sly…devious…cousins to the Wolves, who had joined the White Witch and were now considered enemies of Narnia, even though they retained the power of Speech. Little wonder it was a Fox who had set himself up as the centaurs' equal!
"Everyone knows about Rawlstow, sir!" the hedgehog continued, losing a little of her awed shyness as her eyes sparkled at the mention of the name. "Why, I've even sent poor creatures on to him, when they were beyond my simple herbs."
Moonshadow scowled. "Better you had sent them to the centaur Halls of Healing!"
Flustered, the hedgehog tried to bow and step back at the same time, nearly tripping over her own paws. "Oh, aye, sir! But…it's so far, sir…and too grand for the likes of us, aye?"
"Where is this Rawlstow?" Moonshadow questioned, recognizing there was little he could do to sway the beliefs of this simple hedgehog. Far better to root out the infection at its source; once he exposed the Fox for the imposter he was, seriously ill Beasts would of course seek out the centaurs.
The hedgehog stammered out directions, then gratefully shambled out of the centaur's presence as he turned in obvious dismissal and without a word of farewell.
It was high time the Book was taken back from that upstart Fox, Moonshadow thought loftily as he made his way through the woods.
He was startled out of his musings by a Skunk dashing out of the underbrush, so nearly under his hooves that the centaur half reared to keep from treading on him. "Mind yourself, Creature!" he exclaimed.
"Sorry, my lord!" the skunk exclaimed, obviously as startled at the sight of a centaur as Moonshadow had been by him. "I wasn't watching where I was going; my kit swallowed something and I have to get Rawlstow!"
He would have rushed on, but Moonshadow's scowl and the stamp of a heavy hoof stopped him. "The centaurs are the only healers worth asking aid of!"
"Are you a healer then, sir?" the skunk asked, the hope of help this near overriding a little of the awe in his voice.
"Aye, I am," Moonshadow replied regally; it was not followed, as the skunk had expected, by an offer of aid.
"You'll come help my kit, then?" he prompted.
Moonshadow drew himself up in offended dignity. "The centaurs do not enter the homes of Beasts, Skunk; you should bring your kit to the Halls of Healing, where he will receive the best of care." Lost in the mists of history was that the reason for the centaurs not coming to the homes of their patients had once been one of simple courtesy on the part of the Animals; the centaurs were too large to fit comfortably into most of their dwellings.
"Oh, aye, when he's in too much pain to move even an inch," the skunk retorted sarcastically, all his respect for the centaur lost now, "an' likely couldn't last long enough to make the trip anyway. Thanks for the 'offer,' but I think Rawlstow will be good enough."
"Tell him I wish to speak with him," Moonshadow ordered as the skunk made to run off once more.
His only answer was to pause for an instant and raise his tail in unmistakably insolent threat before dashing off in search of the healer he knew would be willing to help.
Next chapter coming next week!
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