Sunday dawned cold and wet with rain spattering against the windows all day in a constant torrent that ran down the edges of the roads and Rhys wondered what damage that might do at Greg’s dig. But they stayed indoors, baked a cake with two of Lily’s chicken’s eggs and Lou finished off the housework while Rhys wrote his short description of what it might have felt like to live in the years when plague ravaged the town. When Lou read it later she smiled to see much of Greg’s talk rephrased and used and she was glad they’d stayed in town for that the day before.
The week stayed wet and cold and Rhys was coughing and sneezing by Thursday so that Lou told him he couldn’t go and help Greg on the dig at the weekend unless he felt better and stopped coughing. On Friday he struggled through school with an aching head and sore throat but no temperature and by the time he got home he had started to feel a lot better.
“We’ll see how you look in the morning.” Lou insisted as he went to bed on Friday night and he couldn’t answer because he was coughing so much his eyes watered.
Almost as soon as she’d gone downstairs and Rhys heard the TV coming on and the muffled sound of the theme tune to one of her favourite shows, there was a flash and a sudden weight on the bed.
“Darkling!”
“Of course.” Rhys felt the Darkling settle into a seated position and as his eyes adjusted to the dark without the light on and after the flash that had dazzled him as always, he could see its outline with its head tipped to one side and arms folded across its chest. “You are sick.” It said with a concerned note in its voice. “I will fetch medicine for you.” Another flash and it was gone. Rhys propped himself up on his pillows in a position he had found that eased the cough just enough that he could sleep better. It wasn’t the most comfortable but at least he didn’t wake himself up spluttering through the night. His eyes were just beginning to droop and he was starting to drift off to sleep when the flash and sudden weight of the Darkling’s reappearance woke him with a start. Rhys reached up and turned the light on, rubbing a hand over his face and coughing.
The Darkling was not alone. The second one was smaller, thinner with hands that were so long fingered they looked like sticks. Its feet were wide and splayed and its hunched posture made it look like it was very old.
“This is our healer, she has brought you medicine and she can heal you.” The Darkling sat at the edge of the bed while its companion waited for Rhys’ reaction. In her hands she held a bottle made of something dark and uneven and its neck was stoppered with what looked like a cork.
“May I?” She asked in a voice as soft as feathers and as warm and gentle.
Rhys hesitated. He wasn’t sure but the Darkling had never harmed him or caused any trouble and he desperately wanted to be well enough to go and help Greg with the dig. Then there was the need to find a way to get to the tree in the old woods and there was no way he could do that if he was sick. He nodded and swallowed hard.
She eased herself awkwardly up the bed and held out the bottle. “You must drink all in this and then you will sleep. Then when you wake as the sun rises you will feel well.” She pressed the bottle into his hand.
“What’s in it?” he asked, with his fingers just brushing the corked top.
“It is a blend of herbs with willow bark for fever and aching limbs, feverfew for the same, honey for general healing and to ease a cough.” She sat back and waited patiently. “It is your choice. You will heal and recover in time on your own, this will only speed the process.” She smiled and it was nothing like the shark grin of Rhys’ Darkling and he chuckled as he realised he was thinking of the first one as his own. He tugged the stopper free with a squeak and a pop and he smelled it carefully, pulling a face in anticipation as the Darkling and the Healer looked on. He stuck his tongue out and licked at the top of the bottle and it didn’t taste too bad so he tipped the bottle to take a sip. It was sweet but with a bitter back taste that lingered on his tongue and in his throat after the sweetness had died away but it wasn’t completely disgusting and if it helped him feel better by tomorrow then he’d drink it. He gulped the rest of the bottle down in two big mouthfuls and then pulled a face as the bitterness welled up, making him gag a little and cough but after that he felt it settle in his stomach and warm him from deep inside. Then the exhaustion of healing overwhelmed him and fell fast asleep, still propped up on his pillows. The female Darkling healer eased the duvet up around him and rested her hand on his chest where a soft glow briefly flared but Rhys didn’t stir as she took the bottle from his relaxed hand.
“He will be well by sun rise.” She spoke softly, sounding tired, and with a flash both of them vanished, leaving Rhys to sleep.
On Saturday morning Lou didn’t wake Rhys when she woke up, she decided to let him sleep and wake up naturally when he needed to and she turned over, snuggled further under her own covers and tried to go back to sleep. She dozed on and off for another hour before she heard Rhys getting out of bed and wandering to the toilet.
“Are you getting up Rhys?” She called; half hoping he’d want to go back to bed.
“Yes.” He called from the bathroom, which was right beside her bedroom. “I feel fine Mum, no cough, no sneezing or anything. I’m all better.” She heard him using the toilet, then the gurgle and rattle of old pipes as he flushed it and a moment after that he was at her door.
“Oh come in then and let me have a look at you.” She smiled as the door opened fully and he peered round. “You do look a lot better.” She observed quietly. “I suppose you want to go and get freezing cold digging with that Greg then?”
“Can I please Mum?” He squirmed under the duvet with her and she pulled away from his freezing cold feet but wrapped her arms round the top half of him.
“I know you feel better now but I don’t want you getting chilled and getting ill again or worse.” Lou hugged him close, feeling his disappointment as he tried to pull away angrily. “Let me finish Rhys.” She insisted, tightening her grip on him until he subsided. “I don’t want you getting ill again before you’ve had chance to recover properly but it looks like a dry day so we’ll see how you’re feeling after breakfast and perhaps we can get into town for part of today so you can go and help Greg for a while at least. But only if you wrap up warm and promise to come home without any arguments when I decide it’s time.”
“I’m going to get dressed and then I’ll go and out the kettle on for you and get the bowls out for cereal.” He swung his legs out from under the duvet and stood there thinking for a moment. “Unless you want porridge? It’ll keep me going a bit longer if I’m digging.”
“If you go.” Lou warned him, sitting up and getting ready to get up and dressed after him. She was surprised that he hadn’t started coughing yet and was expecting him to start at any moment and then she’d have to dash his hopes again and tell him he couldn’t go. “Porridge would be good anyway though Rhys, can you put out a saucepan? The middle sized one?”
“OK Mum.” He shouted and Lou could hear him moving about in his room getting dressed but there was no stifled cough, no catch in his voice. He did seem to be completely recovered.
By the time Lou got downstairs Rhys had oats, milk and water in the pan, there were two mugs standing ready beside the kettle and breakfast bowls and syrup were waiting on the table as the kettle boiled and turned itself off. By the time Rhys had eaten and was skipping about the house anxious to go out, Lou could find no reason to stop him.
They walked into town and Rhys spent the bulk of the day crawling about in the dirt with Greg being shown how to ease the soil from whatever might be underneath. Lou hovered nearby and found herself chatting with a young volunteer called Kris who was the days tea maid.
“I get to make tea and make sure they all eat at some point. They’d forget otherwise, especially Greg, he’s dreadful.” Kris confided. “So we decided that we’d rotate it and one person gets to be Mum for a day. Is that your lad with Greg?”
Lou nodded.
“Then he and you are on the list of workers for today. I don’t suppose you fancy lending me a hand do you?” Kris nodded towards a small frame tent where a cable led from the church to power lights and a hot water urn rested on a table beside a pile of bread and a single gas ring with a huge pot standing on it.
“Why not, it’s got to be better than standing about watching the boys play in the dirt.” Lou grinned and they both laughed. “What do you want me to do?” They disappeared into the tent and heated up thick soup for lunch, cut warm bread into thick slices to go with it. They made tea, coffee and hot chocolate until it started to drizzle and Lou decided that Rhys needed to go home.
They walked home and Lou insisted that Rhys get straight into a hot bath to wash away all the dirt and to ease any muscle aches that might be developing. As he soaked, Rhys made a decision.
Tags: 2009, darkling, library, Nano, NaNoWriMo, November, portal series, rhys