She had to get the man’s fever down.
“When did ye start feeling so poorly, Talus?” she asked, pulling the covers off him. He was dressed in a sweat-stained tunic and linen breeches that had been torn to shreds because of his thigh wound. “I was sitting on the other side of the hearth and ye slept soundly all night. I could see ye.”
Talus sighed heavily, closing his eyes as Annaleigh began to remove his tunic. “I do not know,” he said weakly. “I dreamed of fire. When I awoke, my eyeballs felt as if they were ablaze, yet I am both hot and cold.”
Annaleigh managed to get the tunic off of him. “’Tis the fever making ye feel like that,” she said as the servant brought over a bucket of water and the requested rags. “We must cool ye down.”
With that, she dunked the rags into the cold water, wrung them out, and began bathing Talus’ head and neck. The servant also took a rag and began to do the same thing with the man’s arms and chest. They were hard at work when the physic appeared, a man by the name of Collingwood.
Oddly enough, Collingwood was a sickly man himself. He had a disease of the lungs and, sometimes, he could hardly breathe, but he was an excellent physic and William had learned to trust him. More than likely, he wasn’t going to live muchlonger, but that didn’t stop him from working very hard when there was the need for a physic. William kept him on because the man had nowhere else to go, but also because he needed a physic for a castle this size.
Even if the physic was a patient himself.
“The poison is in his veins,” Collingwood said after a quick assessment of Talus’ fever and the color of his eyeballs. “You are doing the right thing, Annie. Cool him down. I must fetch the rotten brew I’ve been steeping since last eve.”
Annaleigh looked at him queerly. “Rottenbrew?”
Collingwood nodded. “It is made from rotten bread, but only bread that has turned blue,” he said. “I’ve no time to explain. Keep doing what you are doing and I will return shortly.”
Annaleigh nodded quickly and the man fled.
Talus was quickly sliding in and out of consciousness. Sweat had formed on his upper lip and forehead. Annaleigh and the servant bathed him steadily, but whatever poison had him in its grip was working swiftly and savagely. As Annaleigh worked over him, trying to bring his fever down, she could see War’s shadow over to her right. She paused a moment to look at him.
“I am sorry I canna join ye for yer meal,” she said softly. “But he needs help. I hope ye understand.”
War did something then that surprised Annaleigh. He moved forward and began taking off Talus’ boots, which were still on.
“The man needs a tepid bath,” he said. “That is the only way to reduce the fever quickly. Do you have a private room where you can take him?”
Annaleigh nodded. “The corridor where yer chamber is, I suppose,” she said. “There are other chambers there, but…”
“Then we take him to my chamber,” War said. “Wait here.”
He was off again, his enormous bulk moving through the wounded and out into the hall. Annaleigh watched him for a few moments, but he was heading off somewhere so she returnedher attention to Talus. The servant had moved to the man’s feet to soak them in cold water while Annaleigh put a cold cloth behind his neck, letting it sit until his body heat started to warm it up.
It was warming up quite quickly.
They continued bathing Talus’ arms, neck, and feet with cold water. The physic finally returned with a cup of something that smelled awful. Annaleigh was a few feet away from him and even she could smell the rancid scent. But the physic went straight to Talus, trying to rouse the man.
“My lord?” he said, shaking him. But Talus was difficult to rouse, so the physic put his hand behind the man’s neck and tried to lift his head. “My lord, you must drink this.”
Annaleigh moved to help him. She held Talus’ head up, as much as she could, while the physic tried to force that terrible-smelling potion down his throat. Talus sputtered and coughed as he drank it, but he managed to ingest a good deal. That seemed to satisfy the physic. He set the cup down and put his hand to Talus’ forehead.
“He must drink that brew every few hours,” he said. “I’ve been steeping it since last night, knowing we would be having wounded, but it is not yet at full strength. Still, I could not wait for it. Sir Talus needs it now.”
The physic wiped Talus’ mouth and neck where the brew dripped down as Annaleigh picked up the cup that had contained the concoction, sniffing it and feeling her eyes water at the mere scent.
“God’s Bones,” she muttered. “’Tis a strong brew.”
“It is meant to cure.”
Annaleigh thought that might be debatable given the pungent smell but she didn’t question him. She simply nodded, set the cup down, and resumed bathing Talus’ face and arms with the cold water. The physic, unable to do anything more forhim than he’d already done, picked up the coverlet on the floor, the one that had been tossed off by Annaleigh when she realized Talus was running a fever. He was in the process of putting it on Talus’ legs when War entered the great hall again.
He made his way over to Annaleigh, but he was focused on the physic.
“I have prepared my chamber for this man,” he said, yanking the coverlet off of Talus’ legs. “I am having the servants fill a tub with cool water.”
The physic nodded. The enormous knight was taking charge of the situation, which was interesting considering the knights should be busy with settling the army. But this man was a visitor, a stranger to Castle Questing, yet he was showing genuine concern for a fellow knight.
