The Healing Touch

"Well, I rejoice in the idea of another companion," said Fred. "However, it may be a few days before we are ready to go. Checkers' wing is hurt, so she cannot fly, and my foot has been bothering me since the wallhugger fight."

"That is too bad," answered Belboz, with gentle sympathy. "I am not a healer, but perhaps I can help. Please let me see what I have." The old man walked over to a recessed area in the stone walls, and chanted an sing- song incantation in the common language. He pulled out a pamphlet, a little larger than the palm of his hand.

"My memory is not as good as used to be. I think that there was something in this pamphlet," Belboz states. After a few minutes of leafing through the pamphlet, he stops at a section. "'Quickening the healing process.' That sounds about right. There are a couple of ways to enact the spell. Has either of you ever performed any magic? It would make it so much easier on me if you have."

Fred and Checkers both shake their heads.

"Are you sure? I feel that at least one of you has some latent ability."

"Latent?" asks Fred.

"That means hidden", Belboz replies. "Maybe there is some ability that you do not know about. I would love to test for it. Later perhaps. Let us try the second method, 'Healing by an Outside Agency', which would be me. The spell calls for some magic herbs, a little bit of blood from the person to be healed, and 'an outside agent that is pure in heart.' Do you trust me, Fred?"

This is an awkward question. Belboz seems to be benevolent, but there is something odd about his manner. Fred cannot quite put his finger on it. Still, as he has trusted him this far, it would be worse to show distrust and arouse any suspicions now.

"You have not done me wrong yet. Certainly, I shall trust you, Belboz."

"Excellent." Belboz reaches into the dias holding the tome, and chooses two blackened bottles. "This is wintergreen," Belboz declares as he place a bit into the hollow of a small stone mortar. Belboz asks Fred for his sword. He gently cuts Fred on his left thumb, and a dark red drop of blood wells up. He scrapes the blood into the mortar, with a stone pestel. He then opens the second bottle, and pours some small green seeds into the mortar. Then finally, he asks Fred to go down into the cavern to fetch a bucket of mushrooms that he left there.

"Don't say anything, Princess. And do not worry, I shall not make him mute. This will indeed be a healing potion. Among other things."

Fred comes back with the bucket of mushrooms. Belboz places one in the mortar, and grinds it, and the seeds, blood, and wintergreen, with a pestle. "Fred, eat the mixture." The Wizard said something in the Old Common Language that Fred could not understand. The mixture tasted spicy, and Fred felt flushed and very sleepy. Within a few minutes, he was out cold, peacefully sleeping on the stone floor.

"And now, Checkers, it is your turn."

"No offense, Belboz, but you do not fly. I do not expect you to understand, but a Glider will never take a cure to repair a wing from someone who does not. Besides, there are limited opportunities to fly in a dungeon. If I can just get my spear back, I will be as good to the expedition as I am likely to be." "And I could fly for a short time if I needed to, in an emergency," she thinks.

Belboz could not think of a reply that would not arouse her suspicions. "I understand, Checkers. But there are vast spaces in the cavern. I shall carry a little bit of the starter with me, in case you do get hurt severely. Once Fred is awake, we should be ready to go."

Checkers reaches into her pouch, and takes out her diptych and stylus, and her map. "Princess, I cannot see the center of the map, but if you are like Fred, you should be able to. Fred says that there is an ampitheater, an arsenal, and a hostel on the map, to the east. I know that there is some water toward the west, and there are passages in other directions. You have seen the dragon. Please study the map, and let me know what would you recommend."

1. Princess Astra looks at Belboz. Seeing no objections from him, she studies Checkers' map, and then writes on the diptypch ....

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