He nodded, the ice-blue eyes oddly warm. Kenneth was not the warm type. “I do indeed,” he said quietly. “So you must not despair. We will all get through this. You must trust that Tate will do what is right.”
“But I am afraid.”
“I know. But do not give up hope.”
The tent flap suddenly moved again, issuing forth a small man with thinning blond hair. Icy air blew in after him, rattling the tent. The man was clad in heavy robes and held a big satchel in one hand. Kenneth was on his feet, placing his massive body between Toby and the new entrant.
“What is your business here?” the knight demanded.
The man was diminutive and meek, quite intimidated by Kenneth’s hulking presence. “I am the surgeon,” he said in a soft,high-pitched voice. “My name is Timothy. I have been sent to help the lady.”
Kenneth eyed him as if by sheer glare he could crush the man, but the little surgeon had yet to fade. Gradually, the knight moved aside to allow him access. The little man kept a close eye on Kenneth as he scooted to the lady’s side, setting his heavy bag down.
“She has at least three broken ribs that I can assess,” Kenneth said. “There is nothing to do but wrap her tightly so they will heal.”
Timothy St. Maur had been Roger Mortimer’s physic for three years. He was a former priest, as many of them were, who had a gift for healing. The fact that he was a consecrated priest had oft come in handy when giving last rites to patients he could not save. But the small lady lying before him didn’t seem to be in need of that particular talent.
Toby opened her eyes when she felt the man beside her. He was small and pale. She watched him as he opened his bag and rummaged around in it. He pulled out a strange device that looked as if it was two wooden cones with some sort of leather string in between. She began to watch him more curiously as he rubbed at the cones.
“What is that?” she asked.
The young physic smiled. “This is my listening tube,” he told her. When she looked worried, he held it up so she could examine it. “See? The cones magnify the sounds that travel through this leather tube. I will be able to hear many things from your body to determine your health.”
She looked dubious. “What do you do with it?”
Timothy gestured to her torso. “May I?”
She frowned. “May youwhat?”
“Demonstrate, of course.”
She looked up at Kenneth, who shrugged faintly. Toby reasoned that as long as Kenneth was standing nearby, no harm would come to her. Reluctantly, she nodded.
“Very well,” she said. “Will this hurt?”
The physic shook his head, very carefully peeling back the edges of her cloak. “Not at all.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Listen, my lady.”
“Listen for what?”
The edges of her cloak fell away and he moved for the neckline of her shift. The moment he did so, he felt a very large hand grasp him around the neck. Not tight enough to cut off air, but the implication was obvious. Timothy put up his hands as if in surrender.
“I am going to listen to her breathing, I swear it,” he said, his voice strangled by Kenneth’s grasp. “Nothing improper will occur but I must be permitted to examine the lady if I am to help her.”
Kenneth looked at Toby for permission, who nodded faintly. Kenneth released the man and Timothy coughed a couple of times, rubbing his neck, before resuming. He delicately pulled the neckline of Toby’s shift down to just below her collar bone. Then he took one end of the strange contraption and put it against her flesh, the other end to his ear.
“Now,” he told her. “Cough.”
She gave forth a weak cough, groaning when it pained her. Timothy listened intently, moving his cone around to different positions before finally removing it.
“She sounds stable enough,” he put the device back in his bag. “I hear nothing strange so I would assume nothing has been punctured.”
As Kenneth hovered over him, Timothy proceeded with his examination, going so far as to examine her arms and legs. Afterhe had thumped and poked enough, he finally returned to his big bag.
“She has three broken ribs and her entire right side is bruised, but she should heal,” he announced, pulling forth a roll of linen. “I am going to have to wrap your ribs, my lady, and I cannot do it through your cloak and surcoat. We must remove your clothes down to your shift.”
