Intrigues

shields aren’t already handling it, come see one of us about it.”

“Uhm... yessir,” said Mags. What else was he to say, after all?

“And Bear, whatever you care to give him, I endorse.” The Healer’s faintly sour expression had faded, replaced by faint good humor.

“Yessir, Healer Juran, sir,” Bear said, and the Healer bustled off, stopping to check someone in a bed at the far end of the room, before leaving through the door on that end, off on some other urgent task.

Mags gazed after him, thoughtfully. This was the first time he’d actually been treated by a Healer, but he’d watched a few, and to tell the truth, the man’s straight-forward sarcasm appealed to him. “I like ’im,” Mags said. “ ’E don’t mess about. I don’ like people what won’t tell ye the truth. I don’ mind him bein’ a bit sharp; reckon Heralds don’ make th’ best patients.”

“I like him too, but there’s plenty that don’t,” Bear replied.

:Like me,: came the sulky comment. :Haul wood indeed!:

“He’s good enough that I have the feeling he talks like that in order to keep troublesome patients away. You know, the ones that make out as if a bit of gout is going to kill them.” Bear pulled back the covers to look at the bruises on Mags’ belly.

“How bad are you hurting?” Bear continued. “Cause between you and me, I think you should sleep some more. Specially when I get the leeches, they really make some people feel sick to look at.”

“I could sleep,” Mags admitted. “I’druther eat first, though. An’ I ain’t worrit ’bout leeches. Had worse’n leeches where we all bedded down at th’ mine, I reckon. All manner of bugs and creepies. Rats runnin’ over ye in the middle of the night.”

Bear shuddered. “Aye, that’s worse. All right, I’ll go make you a dose; you can have it after you eat.”

One of the Healer’s Collegium servants came in at that moment with a tray loaded down with soft foods— oatmeal, soft eggs, mashed apples and tea. Mags tucked into it while Bear went off somewhere and came back with one of those mugs that always seemed to hold medicine, and a pair of jars.

“Drink this, and if you really want to watch, I’ll start now,” Bear said.

Bear had not sweetened the stuff. Mags managed not to choke. “Sure, I wanta watch,” he said, with some interest. “Mebbe I kin use this sorta thing if I gotta out in the field. So tell me why’s ye do this?”

Bear fished a leech out of the jar and applied it carefully to a badly bruised and swollen part of Mags’ belly. “The muscle gets all crushed, blood goes in but can’t get out. That keeps things from healing as fast as they could. The leech pulls it out, watch.”

Mags watched as the ugly little bit of black slime swelled up to a fat little pod of black slime. Sated, it detached itself. Bear caught it before it could fall into the blankets and dropped it in another jar. “It works really well where people have had fingers or toes crushed instead of broken—or well, lots of things, any time blood doesn’t seem to be actually flowing.”

“So—what’s it do, now it’s full?”

“We’ll go put them where they can go make babies now they’re fed,” Bear said. “We try and breed our own, so we know they come from clean water and don’t have anything nasty about them. Look at where he was.”

Sure enough, the area was less swollen and not as blue. Bear applied a few more. Mags watched them, fascinated. “This is why some people call a Healer, especially one that doesn’t have a Gift, a ‘leech,’ ” Bear went on. “Animal Healers use leeches too.”

“Huh.” There was actually something rather... appealing about the idea. That this ugly little thing could help a person heal, without a Gift. “You gonna put those on m’face too?”

“Aye, if you don’t mind.”

He yawned. “I don’ mind, but I’m feelin’ like I oughta get flat.”

“That’ll help the leeches too,” Bear said, catching one that was full and dropping it in the jar, giving it an oddly fond look.

“Huzzah, leeches, good fer ye,” Mags said muzzily, waiting until Bear had taken the last one off his belly and chest, and scooting down in the bed. “Go make lotsa liddle leeches . . .”

Bear laughed, and he closed his eyes.

He didn’t actually sleep, more like drowsed as Bear worked. He definitely felt Bear put the leeches on his skin; they were cool when they first were put on but quickly warmed up to his temperature, there was a kind of pinpicking sensation he wouldn’t even have noticed against the general ache of his bruises if he hadn’t been concentrating on seeing what it felt like. Then there was a numbing feeling and no more pinprick sensations. He thought about it, and decided that the leeches were probably doing the numbing themselves. After all, it was in their interest to make you not feel it when they were biting you and sucking your blood.

“All done,” Bear said at last, rousing him out a lethargic, dreamy state. “You still awake? You look a lot better.”

“Kinda,” he mumbled. He opened his eyes with an effort. It felt as if he could open them more now. He blinked at Bear, who smiled at him. “So, ye know what happen, down i’ Haven? Thet crazy feller?”

“They found him tied down to a bed in that inn when they broke into the rooms the men had been renting. The Guards brought him up here, and he’s worse than before,” Bear replied, shaking his head. “I don’t know what his so-called friends were dosing him with, but it wasn’t doing him any good, he’s down to skin and bones and raving just as badly as ever. Besides that, he’s suffering from not having whatever drug they were giving him, and the Mindspeakers don’t want to come within a furlong of him. Maybe a really, really powerful Mindhealer could mend him, but we don’t have one strong enough. So they gave him over to me.”

“Well—thet’s good, right?” He blinked again, trying to focus on Bear’s lenses. “ ’Nother reason why yer family cain’t drag ye home?”

“It is,” Bear acknowledged, but looked unhappy, “The thing is I just wish I had more options for dealing with him. Right now all I can do is get him a little healthier and see if some of my remedies can help him out. I don’t like not being able to do something for a patient. And, yes, I know, no one else can either, but... well, I really, really want to break him out of this. If Lena is right, and he’s seeing vrondi, maybe I can find something, some medicine, in the old records that blocks magic. Or at least blocks Mindmagic. If he doesn’t sense them watching him, maybe we can get through to him. All I was able to do before was to—well, dose him so that he didn’t feel threatened by them watching him, if that makes any sense. I don’t know, even if no one wanted me to try and help this fellow, I would do it.”

Mags pondered this, drowsily, and closed his eyes. “I get it, Bear. Ye wouldn’ be fightin’ t’ be a Healer if’n ye didn’ feel thet way. Healer’s a Healer, bone deep, Gift or no.” He paused. “Am I a fool fer feelin’ sorry fer ’im?”

“No. I do, too. He never did anything to either of us that I know of, and it was his so-called friends that kidnapped me, not him. Besides, I get the feeling he was forced to come here—and I am pretty damn sure he was forced to stay.” The chair scraped against the floor as Bear got up to leave. “I need to take these little fellows back where they belong. I expect you’ll be getting more visitors.”

“Mebbe. An’ if not, I kin sleep.” He couldn’t imagine who, besides Lena, would be all that anxious to see him. Pretty soon everyone would realize just what balderdash that “hero” business was. So long as everybody figured out that he wasn’t the “foreigner” in those visions, he’d count himself a happy fellow.

Bear chuckled. “All right then, sleep. It’ll be good for you.”

He did just that, soothed by the stuff in Bear’s tea, until a servant woke him for lunch, which was more soft food—pease porridge flavored with ham, but without any ham in it, mashed pears, mashed turnips. It was good. The cook had taken extra care with it all, he could tell. He winced a bit even so, as he ate; he supposed he was lucky none of his teeth had actually been knocked out of his jaw.

:Half the Collegium wants to visit you,: Dallen reported. Mags laughed.

:Reckon ye kin take that on yerself?: he asked. :I think it oughta be you what gets all th’ attention.:

:Oh, I might... : Dallen temporized. : Gennie and the team are on the way with a couple of your books, anyway. Healer Juran told them you won’t be down long enough to need all of your studies brought in.:

It hurt to smile, but he did anyway. The servant who had come to take his dishes smiled back at him. :Then I’ll tell ’em what kinda big damn hero ye are, an’ let ’em spread it round.:

He chuckled at Dallen’s astonished reaction.