Chapter Four

CHAPTER 4

Meanwhile, in another village, a young girl was tending to the sick. Mopping fevered heads, and trying to get them to drink the bitter herb potion was tiring work. The hacking cough seemed never ending. The girl was bone weary; she had never felt so tired. Her golden hair was held up with a pin but it was coming loose. She had changed her dress for trousers and a tunic because trousers made it easier to move about from one patient to another.

The girl had not had much sleep over the last few days. There was nowhere quiet, no where to be alone.

“It was quieter at home”, she thought.

She remembered what it was like two years ago. Before she had been apprenticed to the wise woman. The hustle and bustle of a busy home, the laughter of happy children. Here there was only the moaning of the sick, and the constant coughing.

The girl looked across to where her mistress, the wise woman, was tending a sick child. The old woman looked more bent over than usual. She had slept even less than her apprentice.

“Why don’t you go and rest, Mistress?” the apprentice said. “I’ll see to these folk.”

“I cannot rest”, said the wise woman. “I need to brew more of the fever potion.”

She pulled her shawl more closely around her shoulders.

“And Astrid wants me to read the runes again.”

“I can do that”, said the girl, eager to help in any way she could.

“Don’t be silly, child”, the old woman scolded. “You can’t read the runes. You’ll get it wrong, as usual.”

“Then let me brew the potion”, the girl pleaded. “I can’t get that wrong. But you must get some rest!”

She placed her hands on her mistress’s thin, bony shoulders. Then she began to guide her to the door. The girl stopped when she saw who had just entered.

Astrid, wife of the Chieftain, looked tired also. She, too, was helping to nurse the sick. With her husband away overseas with the raiders, Astrid was in charge and her word was law.

When illness came to the village, Astrid had gathered all the sick together. She had taken them into her own house.

“It will make it easier to care for them altogether”, she had explained.

And so it was. The wise woman and her apprentice had spent most of the past week in the same place, caring for the sick. And more people were becoming ill day by day.

“How are they?” Astrid asked.

The wise woman shook her head.

“We lost a baby a little while ago.”

Astrid bowed her head. Another death. There had been too many already.

“Any news from the town?” asked the wise woman.

“Not yet”, Astrid answered. “Jan Oneleg has not returned yet.”

A messenger had been sent to the nearby town. He had taken furs and animal skins to trade for herbs. They needed medicine to cure the terrible coughing, the coughing that meant the illness was nearing its end. An end that meant death.

“You look tired, Torunn” the head woman said.

“I have told her so, Lady”, said the girl. “She refuses to leave.”

“Go and rest, Torunn” Astrid ordered. “Your apprentice and I will take care of the sick.”

Later that day there was a great commotion outside. The girl looked out to see the cause. A man had entered the village. He was old and he walked with a limp, and he looked ill. There was sweat on his brow, and he was coughing so much he could hardly take a breath. Two of the village women had gone to him. With their help he staggered towards the house.

“It is Jan, Lady”, the girl called. “He still has the furs!”

She looked back at the man, the she threw open the door.

“Bring him in” Astrid called to the women.

Jan struggled into the house. It was clear that he was very ill. He sat down near the hearth, and accepted the drink the girl handed him. He gulped it down. The drink tasted rather bitter.

“What news, Jan Oneleg?” demanded the head woman. “You have the herb?”

“It was no good, Lady” gasped Jan. “I went to the town gates, as you instructed. They have the sickness too.”

Jan gulped down more of his drink. It made him cough. When the coughing fit ended he went on with his report.

“Their dead are piled up, waiting to be buried. They refused to trade, Lady. They chased me away!”

It was late at night when she woke up. The head woman had made the girl take a rest. She had fallen into a deep sleep. Their voices had woken her, the head woman and the wise woman. They were speaking in hushed tones, bent over one of the patients.

“He must have used his last strength to get back home”, Astrid was saying. “It must have been an effort to keep going.”

“Jan was a good warrior in his day” said the wise woman. “He rode on many raids before his leg got smashed. It’s a pity he had to die this way.”

So Jan had died. The girl was not sad. She had seen many people die lately. Too many. She heard the voices again.

“We must send the girl”, the wise woman said. “I will instruct her on the route she must take. I will make sure she understands what she must do.”

“Do you think she’s up to the task?” asked Astrid.

“We have no choice” answered the old woman. “There is no one else we can send.”

The girl heard movement. She kept her eyes shut, pretended to be asleep. Someone bent over her, shook her shoulder.

“Wake up girl” said the wise woman. “You must make a journey, far to the north. Beyond Vesteigen Mountain.”

The girl listened to the wise woman. She explained the route to be taken, the dangers she might meet, and the herb she was to bring back.

“We cannot hope to beat the illness without it”, her mistress told her.

In a daze the girl allowed herself to be prepared. She was dressed in warm clothes, laden with tools and food. She was placed upon a horse. The journey began and she made her way north.

“The gods go with you, child!” called her mistress as she rode out of sight.