Read Online Healers by Laurence Dahners - Free Book Online Page B

rolled leaves up and down the front of the man’s neck on the right side, then on the left side. Kazy watched when Tarc threw the leaves away, wondering if she would see the bloody-fatty material rolled up in them again. She certainly hadn’t seen Tarc put anything in them before he rolled them up. However, when he tossed them aside, he ground them under his boot. Kazy thought she saw a little blood, but it was hard to tell.
    The caravan disappeared behind some trees and Kazy began to worry about how far away it was.
    To her dismay, Tarc told Daussie to take another break while he collected some more leaves. After that they bent over the man’s chest for a while. Becoming more and more worried, Kazy took to watching the woods at either end of the cleared area they were in.
    At long last, Tarc and Daussie sat back on their heels for a moment, then Tarc said, “Okay, we’re done. Even though we’ve removed some of the crud out of your arteries, you’ll probably make more. So, even if you’re feeling okay, the next time the caravan comes through your town, you should let us check you.”
    The man sat up, gently touching his neck and chest. “I can’t tell you done nothin’, so it still feels to me like you must have cheated me out of my gold pieces. But I couldn’t tell it when you fixed my left leg either, so I’m trustin’ you made a difference. I hope that’s true…”
    “It is,” Tarc said with quiet confidence. Kazy wondered how in the world holding leaves against the man even qualified as a treatment.
    The man walked to his horse, looking at the road back towards his home. “Now if I can just get back home without getting’ robbed…” He turned and glanced the other direction toward the caravan. “Hey, your caravan’s gone completely out of sight. If I were you I’d catch up to them quick like; these roads ain’t safe.”
    The man mounted and trotted away as his words shot fear through Kazy. She went to the black horse and led it to the big rock the man had been lying on during his treatment. She mounted and then fretted as Daussie wearily climbed up onto the rock as well. She wanted to tell Daussie to hurry, but held her tongue in view of Daussie’s apparent exhaustion.
    Once all three of them were mounted, Tarc set off to follow the caravan. He didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry, trotting for a while, then slowing to a walk as they neared the trees ahead. Kazy urged the black up beside him, saying, “Shouldn’t we be going faster? Trying to catch up to the caravan as quickly as we can?”
    Tarc shrugged, “We don’t want to wear out old Blackie there. If we were to encounter some thieves, we certainly don’t want to do it on exhausted mounts.”
    Kazy was just wondering whether they would be better off with the two girls on the younger, stronger bay horse when two swordsmen stepped out from behind trees and onto the road ahead of them!
    Kazy glanced back over her shoulder at the road behind them. There were a couple of men back there as well!
    When she looked back ahead, she saw a man on horseback picking his way out of the trees just beyond the two men up there. Kazy’s stomach cramped with fear. She tensed and let out a low moan.
    Daussie patted Kazy on the shoulder and to Kazy’s astonishment she whispered, “It’ll be okay. Try to relax.”
    The man on the horse walked it into the middle of the road and gave them an oily smile. As he walked the horse up between the two men blocking their way, he said, “Hi kids. I’m a thinkin’ you shouldn’t have strayed so far from your caravan. Didn’t nobody warn you the roads around here can be dangerous?”
    To Kazy’s surprise, Tarc kept walking his horse towards the men. She’d reined the old black in when she’d first seen the men. Now, glancing over her shoulder and seeing the men back there closing on her, she kneed the horse back up beside Tarc. Tarc said, “What do you want? We don’t have any money.”
    The man