Gifted Apprentice

  Sallis remembered. "The one Father reckons I caught off the sheep."

  "Maybe you did and maybe not," said Elvallon. "But this sickness is something like that. May have been something brought in from food that they ate, or a sick foreigner they work with. Whatever the something might be, I suspect it's run its course. All those going to catch it have, else we'd have an epidemic on our hands by now. Which we've not. No new cases in more than a day is good news."

  The Big House, when Sallis finally saw it, lived up to its name. It stood a good two levels higher than those surrounding it.

  Popular in Leynx, limewash had also been used liberally here, but the main doors, which stood open, were painted gloss black. Guards stood at the doors, presumably to stop people from wandering inside. Or the sick from escaping.

  Having met the Papan, Sallis suspected the second reason.

  "This is the poor quarter?" he murmured, staring at the doors.

  Elvallon gave him a sharp look. "You don't know how lucky you are to live on this island," he told him. "The poor areas in most cities stink and the worst off live in abject poverty. Some are forced to scavenge or even beg, just to survive. 'Not-as-wealthy' describes the poor living in this city."

  "They still can't afford your services," retorted Sallis.

  "So why am I here?" Elvallon gave a wolfish grin. "Even I must eat to survive. And I have to feed one greedy little boy."

  "And a sylph."

  Elvallon waved a dismissive hand. "Lyssan eats very little. Compared with you, anyway."

  Seeing they were about to enter the Big House, one of the guards stepped forward.

  "Sickness in here, Sir," he cautioned. "Sure this is where you want to be?"

  "The Papan sent us," replied Elvallon. "I am a healer."

  The guard paused. "Elvallon, is it?" Seeing the healer nod, the guard stepped aside. "I hope it's safe for the boy, Sir."

  "He is my apprentice."

  Sallis smiled at the guard and nodded his own head. The guard gave him a neutral look.

  "In you go then," said the guard, wearing a 'more-fool-you' expression.

  The air inside felt delightfully cool compared with the heat on the streets and, some coughing apart, nothing to say that they weren't alone. After the glare of reflected sunlight outside, it took Sallis a few moments before he could see properly again, but the interior still seemed pretty gloomy. Moments later, he spotted Romand descending the stairs.

  "Elvallon! So glad you're here. We sent for you days ago!"

  The two men greeted each other. Romand turned to Sallis.

  "Healing already? You said you hadn't begun when I saw you last."

  "He's here to watch," grunted Elvallon, before Sallis could reply. "I brought him back the moment I heard about the sickness here. He's nowhere near ready to practice yet."

  "Of course. Well, let me show you the patients."

  There were thirty, mostly youngish men, but with a smattering of women. Some hacked and hacked, as if they tried to cough up something that refused to come. Others lay quietly.

  "Any idea of the cause?" asked Elvallon, quietly.

  "None," replied Romand. "But nobody has suggested sorcery. Yet."

  "Let's hope they don't."

  "Is it sorcery?" whispered Sallis.

  "Don't be foolish," replied Elvallon. "Of course it isn't."

  "It came on for no reason and has stopped spreading for no reason," said Romand.

  "There's a reason all right," insisted Elvallon. "We've just got to find what it is. I may as well get started."

  At his tutor's side, Sallis readied himself to watch and, hopefully, learn.

  ***

  Chapter 14 - Healing

  Grasping several linen cloths in one hand, a bucket of cool water dangling from the other, Sallis followed his teacher around the room. Elvallon moved methodically from patient to patient, gently laying hands on each forehead and pausing for a few moments.

  All the patients lay in one large room, with other healers moving among them. They lay in beds, presumably to ease access for the healers, whom Sallis noted were both men and women. They carried bags of herbs, unlike Elvallon, who had left his in the carriage, unlikely to use it today.

  Sallis concentrated and tried to see what happened when Elvallon healed. The first few times, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He'd last encountered touch-healing a lifetime ago, when suffering from that mysterious fever.

  Elvallon murmured to himself as he worked. The first man looked at the healer with such gratitude that Sallis knew he was cured.

  Romand followed them. "Any idea what's causing it?" he asked.

  "Some sort of parasite," replied Elvallon. "Probably came in from abroad and already dying when it got here. Do these people have anything in common other than where they live?"

  "They're all porters or hauliers," replied Romand.

  "And all probably have contact with the quays," nodded Elvallon. "That makes my suspicion stronger. One of the ships brought it in. Perhaps the people on board were sick earlier, or have a natural immunity in their homeland."

  Sallis watched Elvallon work on the second patient. And the third, fourth, fifth...

  "I can't see anything," he muttered.

  Elvallon skewered him with a sharp blue gaze. "Keep trying," he almost snapped. "You have this in you, I know it."

  Sallis blinked in surprise, unused to sharp words from his teacher. Romand laid a hand on his shoulder.

  "He's always like this when working," he said. "Don't worry about it."

  Sallis felt a little better.

  "If anything, he's in quite a good mood," continued Romand.

  "Will you two be quiet?" demanded Elvallon.

  Romand winked conspiratorially.

  Other healers stopped to watch Elvallon work, perhaps to see how he wrought his miracles. Just in case any of them had a latent ability with the Gift.

  Sallis eyed them all cautiously, remembering a lesson.

  "Lots of healers turn to sorcery," said Elvallon. "For the purest of reasons. They want to heal, they want to make people better and ease their suffering. So often, their herbs do not work and their remedies are ineffective. Then they learn of another way, of miracle cures that do work. They learn the true cost of their knowledge and the price they must pay only when it is too late."

  Did any healer here harbor such desires? Surely all did to a greater or lesser degree: all healers must want success. Perhaps that woman, staring at Elvallon with a curious mix of resentment and wonder on her face. Or that man, with eyes large and round in his face.

  "Pay attention!" snapped Elvallon. "Don't let your mind wander."

  "Sorry," muttered Sallis and watched his teacher work.

  By the tenth patient, Sallis felt certain he had seen something. The healer connected with the Gift present in everything, including the patient, and searched for things that should not be there. Once those were identified, they could be isolated and expelled from the patient's body.

  He blinked when he realized just what Elvallon was doing. The... nasties, he supposed he could call them... were then manipulated until harmless and allowed to dissipate into the air.

  Elvallon glanced at Sallis.

  "You're beginning to see it." He smiled. "Good. That's pretty quick work."

  "It's very complicated," said Sallis.

  Elvallon nodded. "Which is why I will not allow you to practice it today. We will start on smaller, simpler creatures."

  "Expendable ones," added Romand.

  Sallis shivered. "In case I get it wrong?"

  "Something like that," answered Elvallon. "Sparrows and squirrels don't form mobs if you get it wrong. People do."

  Sallis grimaced.

  The first patients Elvallon had dealt with now sat up in bed, some rising uncertainly to their feet. Much of the strength for healing had come from them, rather than the healer, so some weakness must be expected.

  Sallis overheard whispered conversations,
worried conversations, about payment.

  "The Papan is paying," Elvallon announced to the entire room. "He doesn't want to catch whatever it is you've had."

  Laughter met the healer's words, the Papan's hypochondria well known throughout Leynx.

  "Will he pay for my bunions to be dealt with too?" asked an anonymous voice.

  "Or my bad veins?"

  Elvallon held up a hand. "Whatever I find wrong with you will be dealt with," he replied. "And the Papan is paying. So relax and enjoy yourselves."

  "How much rest do we need?" asked one of the already-healed patients.

  "You can return to work in the morning," replied Elvallon. "I'm sure you've lost enough pay as it is. Now, will you let me work?"

  The patients subsided at this, just in case Elvallon changed his mind about payment. Sallis smiled and privately looked forward to the day when simple words from him would bring people to heel.

  Sallis watched each patient as Elvallon continued. Every time Elvallon worked the Gift, Sallis saw pretty much everything he did. He felt certain he could copy and said so, but his master shook his head.

  "Remember that mob," he said. "Get it wrong and they will tear you to pieces, Gift or no Gift."

  Sallis subsided. He might be too young to fear a mob - in truth, he did not really know what one was, other than a large group of people - but he understood a no when he heard one.

  He would get no chance to prove himself today.

  ***

  Darkness had fallen by the time Elvallon finished. He had refused food and an offer of a bed, saying the sick must come first. Sallis hid several yawns behind a hand and hoped his teacher had not noticed.

  Some hope.

  "And you thought the life of a Gifted healer was easy, young Sallis?" Elvallon's blue eyes twinkled, despite his hectoring tone. "Once started, you cannot stop until the task is complete."

  "What if there were a thousand of them?" demanded Sallis.

  "Then you will be very tired at the end," retorted Elvallon.

  Romand barked a quick laugh.

  Sallis narrowed his eyes. "Nobody could touch-heal a thousand people in one day," he said.

  Elvallon nodded. "True. Any practitioner would be exhausted before he got even a quarter of the way through. The trick is to ensure diseases are prevented from spreading in the first place." A wolfish grin bloomed. "Or else charge prices the majority cannot afford."

  "Survival by the purse," muttered Romand. "Cruel, but effective."

  "All of life is cruel," said Elvallon. "You can thank the Malefic Sephiroth for that."

  ***

  Chapter 15 - In Leynx

  Welcomed back to the palace, Elvallon and Sallis accepted the rooms offered for the night. Sallis was especially taken with the large bed given to him. Even stretched out, he could not reach either side or either end.

  He almost sank into the mattress and the sheets felt delightfully soft. He wondered what they were made from, or how the laundering made them so soft.

  A servant provided washwater and offered to help wash him. Still young and just beginning to be very aware of his body, Sallis blushed and refused her politely.

  She gave him a knowing smile, inclined her head and left the chamber.

  Ready for sleep, Elvallon chose that moment to enter his room and ensure everything was fine.

  "Now this is what I call living," announced Sallis, sweeping his arms to show off the room. "Why don't you live in one of these?"

  Elvallon smiled. "It would cost me a fortune to run it," he said.

  "You would need a lot more disease to cure."

  A shadow flickered in Elvallon's blue eyes. "Something like that." He glanced around the room. "Sleep well and I'll see you in the morning. Tomorrow, we'll spend a couple of hours in the city before going home. We need to make sure Lyssan hasn't wrecked the house."

  Sallis laughed. "Would she?"

  Elvallon smiled back. "Probably not; but I was away to take you home, then away to bring you back, and then straight out here after a quick meal. Sylphs are gregarious, they dislike being left alone too long or too often, so expect some grumpiness when we return."

  ***

  Leynx impressed Sallis. Hardly surprising given that he had never seen anything bigger than a village before Hendrek, and Leynx was twice the size of Hendrek. The streets were hardly paved with gold, but the city's wealth as a trading post obviously stood out compared to other places on the island.

  Elvallon led him to the docks, where Sallis spotted a couple of yesterday's patients back at work. They gave the pair friendly nods before carrying on with their labors. The boy stared at the ships, some taking on cargo and others discharging it. The men - and sylphs he saw, with surprise - on these ships must have seen many exotic places. Including the mainland.

  "What is the mainland like?" he asked Elvallon.

  "Busy and, in places, at war," replied his teacher. "You are better off here."

  Sallis shrugged.

  "Ah. I see the travel bug is biting you. Well, no running away to sea until you've completed your training. We want no Gifted roaming free who don't know what they're about."

  "There are sylphs on the ships," pointed out Sallis.

  "Just the one usually," replied Elvallon.

  "For luck?"

  "Something like that. The ship's sylph is an important member of the crew."

  "Why?"

  Elvallon smiled. "When you feed that yearning to travel, you'll find out," he replied.

  "Does that mean you don't know?" pressed Sallis.

  "It means that finding things out for yourself is more satisfying than simply being told the answer."

  They wandered back into the city, Elvallon pausing a few times. People certainly recognized him, waving a hello or stopping to exchange pleasantries. Sallis met rather more of Leynx's wealthy elite than he could remember in one go.

  Worryingly, all seemed to have heard of him.

  "It's over that criminal you ran to ground," explained Elvallon. "That brought you even to the Papan's notice."

  "I didn't catch him. The guardsmen did."

  "You as good as caught him," replied Elvallon. "If we had more crime on this island, you could make a very good living hunting those who commit it."

  "Oh."

  "Quite. Keep practicing the staff and sword; a good bounty-hunter must know his weapons."

  "Speeding up time would help with that too," said Sallis.

  "You should know by now that the Father always grants talents that are related, or which complement each other," said Elvallon. "But remember my warning about using the Gift alone when fighting. People rightly fear sorcerers."

  Sallis quickly grew bored of looking at trading shops and market squares. He spotted a few more sylphs, busy about their chores.

  "Is it true there are many more sylphs on the mainland?" he asked.

  "It is," said Elvallon. "Here, you have a sylph-owning society, but they are quite rare. The mainland is a sylph society and there are more sylphs than humans."

  "More?"

  "Many more. Society is a pyramid. You need more people at the bottom of it to maintain and support those at the top. And on the mainland, those at the very bottom of the pyramid are sylphs. Here, it is mostly humans at the very bottom."

  "Is that what Lyssan means when she calls Re Annan empty? Because there are so few sylphs?"

  "Yes." Elvallon nodded. "Are you done looking around?"

  "I think so."

  "Now you know there's nothing that exciting in a city," he looked around and sniffed disparagingly, "we may as well go home."

  ***

  Chapter 16 - Learning to Heal

  Despite Elvallon's warnings about returning to a grumpy sylph, Lyssan seemed pleased to see them again. With no hint of ill-temper, she fussed over her owner and gave Sallis a warm smile. Whatever else had happened the night of that storm, some sort of bond had formed. Not so deep as that she shared with her owner, but Sallis felt cer
tain they were friends.

  Quite the contrast from the sylph's original reaction to him.

  Elvallon rested inside, claiming fatigue from the efforts of healing so many people in one go. Perhaps the hammering heat of summer helped persuade him, but Sallis and Lyssan were left to look after Polless. The large carthorse, also unimpressed with the heat, appreciated Sallis's attention.

  Sallis concentrated on currying Polless and giving him a good scratch all over. He ensured water filled the trough, laughing as the horse nudged him with his nose, a hint that he wanted some spraying over him. He doubtless knew it would help keep him cool.

  At least the stable kept out the worst of the heat and bright sunshine.

  Wary of the carthorse, Lyssan worked on the tack, polishing leather and brass, before turning her attention to the cart. She swept the cart bed and washed it down, once she got her turn with the water. While waiting, she watched and laughed at Sallis's antics with Polless.

  Even so, she still finished first, and threw herself onto straw in the spare stall, where she watched Sallis work. Her silvery eyes glinted in the stable's gloomy interior.

  "I think Polless likes you," she remarked to Sallis. "Good that somebody does."

  "Don't you?"

  A faint smile touched Lyssan's lips, but her earpoints twitched fully upright. "Maybe I do. Of course I do."

  "Did you miss us while we were away?" asked Sallis, when he finally plumped down beside her.

  Lyssan smiled. "I survived and there were no storms," she replied. Her silvery gray eyes looked carefully into his brown. "Did you learn anything in Leynx?"

  "Yes." Sallis nodded carefully. "I thought you didn't like talking about this."

  "So long as we do not talk too specifically," shrugged Lyssan. "It grows stronger; I can sense it in you now."

  Sallis gave the sylph a sideways look.

  "How can you do that?" he asked. "It must have something to do with the Gift." He did not add that Elvallon had told him all sylphs could do this.

  Lyssan blinked. "I do not know and do not want to."

  "All right." Sallis held up his hands in surrender. "I'm merely curious."

  The sylph shrugged. "We just can. But I have only just sensed... it... in you today. Before now, only when you used it."

  "Does that mean anything?"

  Lyssan shook her head. "Maybe not. Perhaps now it runs free properly in you. I-" She shot him an accusing look. "I do not want to know. How did you make me answer that?"

  "Me? I did nothing." Sallis stared at her wide-eyed. "I would know."

  Lyssan looked unconvinced. "Nice and cool in here," she said. "Humans like that on hot days."