Riders of Tethra Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
"Think I'll go grab us some more bread," said Fergi. He got up from the table and wandered to the corner of the chow hall returning with another basket containing a crusty loaf.
Rory smiled questioningly at Hunter and Sayer. Hunter just winked and returned his smile.
Mealtime was now a lot more pleasant than when they had first moved into One. All four boys had endured taunts and jibes about being "special" or the "Doyan's Darlings." To be sure there was still some resentment, especially amongst the seventeens who expected to be the elite of the Fen. Hunter's skill at archery certainly did much to change many attitudes and as they progressed earning bolts in almost every skill in amazing time, some respect was granted by everyone. But the one thing that was the most beneficial was the attitude of "The Four" as they came to be called. Not that they needed to force it, the boys agreed to socialize and maintain happy, friendly relations with everyone, with the exception of Bandor's bunch.
After the frightening and revealing night in One when Rory and Talen had lip-locked by unheard command, they again had decided to keep this skill hidden from everyone else in order to see how it worked and under what circumstances. It seemed that there were very few limitations on Sayer's and Hunter's ability to control others except if the emotion of hate entered their thoughts. They had tried many times to cause Bandor to have accidents, all to no avail. And they could not cause another person to kill, not even a fly.
After discovering the situations that resulted in failure, Bandor seemed to be having some unexplained difficulties. Hunter was almost relentless in his attempts to cause the bully grief. He was careful to limit it to Bandor rather than his two pit bulls so that the cause appeared to be Bandor's own problem. All Hunter needed to do was think of something humorous and Bandor was overcome.
"We need to leave him alone now," Sayer said one evening. "We have had our fun and I think we can safely control him if we need to."
"He deserves it," Hunter argued. "Talen still has a scar."
"We have more important things to do now, Hunter," Talen interjected. "You have done a great job of making a clumsy fool out of him. Let's let him go now. That last one was the best though!"
All four boys laughed reliving Bandor standing in front of his class in Lore giving a mandatory presentation. There was a slight snicker from the class that grew into a riotous roar as Bandor's pants began to show a wet spot that grew until the entire inside of his left pant leg was soaked and he was running for the door. He spent the next two days in the infirmary being checked for various possibilities that might have caused it.
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"I can't wake him," Talen screamed. "I can't wake him!"
Hunter and Sayer, startled awake, leapt from their bed in confusion but quickly realized it could only be Rory that Talen was yelling about.
"What happened?" Sayer yelled as the three boys ran into Talen's bedroom. Rory was motionless, his mouth slightly open.
Hunter reached out and felt the boy's forehead. "He's burning up!" he yelled. "We have to get him to the infirmary, like now!!!"
Rory could not be awakened and the boys dragged their friend to the one place in the fen that no boy wanted to be. There was a master there who specialized in normal treatments but after applying cooling cloths and a potion of willow bark extract, all that could be done was to wait. Rory's eyes fluttered open to everyone's relief but he said nothing and quickly went back to sleep.
"We can't treat him here," the master said. "We have to get him to Lorenwood as soon as possible!"
"It is possible to go now?" Talen asked urgently.
"I must notify the Doyen," Master replied.
"Fine, you notify him and we'll be taking Rory to the boats," Hunter replied.
"No, the Doyen must approve."
"Bullshit!" Sayer cried, and the three began to lift Rory off the bed and carry him toward the dock area.
By the time Doyen Parfell got to the dock, Rory was already in the boat and the boys were loosening the rigging to the dock.
The boat was one of the larger ones but still only intended for four. The Doyen climbed in and placed a hand on Rory's forehead. "I'll be going with you since I know it would be impossible for me to stop you."
The three boys nodded gratefully, released the ropes and the boat quickly found the wire and sped up the river.
It seemed like hours although it was less than thirty minutes before Rory was in a bed at the Lorenwood healing facility. It was a comfortable old building but Hunter did not see anything technically modern about it at all. Then it dawned on him, just as he was being trained in skills that had long since been replaced with more efficient ways of killing in his parallel, there were also more efficient ways of healing. And here he had developed skills that no one had in his world. He wondered if his riding would work there.
"This boy is in very serious condition," the healer said. "He has a very high fever and an infection that is not letting go. Everything we have here may be able to slow the progress but ultimately I fear the disease will win."
"Win?!" Talen screamed. "Win? You mean he is going to die?"
"I know of nothing else to be done but what we are doing. I will keep trying and hope for the best."
The Doyen looked panicked. Talen was inconsolable and Sayer was pacing around the room in helpless confusion. Finally, Talen grabbed his two friends and took them away from Rory's hearing. "I can't go on without him. I don't even want to. I tried to ride him. I just get screams of pain. We have to do something!"
The Doyen emerged. "I am so sorry boys. I don't know what to do either. I feel so helpless."
Hunter was in a daze. His eyes glazed over, lost in thought. Then he spoke.
"I know what to do," he announced. "It's a long shot but I know what to try."
"What, Hunter, what?" Talen was crying.
"I'm going back to my parallel," he said quietly.
"That can't be permitted," the Doyen said almost instantly.
"You can't stop me sir. You know that and I am not willing to let Rory die because of the risk that I might not return. Please just allow me to do this without trying to stop me, Doyen. Please!"
"Why do you need to go back?" Sayer asked, his own eyes beginning to fill with tears, thinking he could lose two of the people he loved most in the world.
"We have medicines there that can work on infections that you do not. If I can get them and bring them back, we might be able to save Rory."
Hunter raced back into the room. "How long can you keep him alive?" he asked the healer.
"He is weak but he is stable for the moment. There is not a lot of time but his death is not immanent."
"Do everything you can to keep him alive. Everything, do you understand?" Hunter commanded.
The Doyen had followed Hunter into the room. "Please do as he says," he nodded to the healer.
"Doyen Parfell, could you please find the Pathfinder and ask him to provide the key to returning to the lake?"
The Doyen sighed and obligingly left the room to do as asked. At the same moment Rory's mother arrived, shaking and crying, racing to her son's side.
"We are doing everything we can," the healer said trying to comfort Rory's mother.
"What you can do will not be enough!" She shouted. "He needs help beyond what you can offer. I am going to get Fellsmane."
"Fellsmane?" the healer asked. "He's a mentally unbalanced old codger. What could he possibly do?"
"I don't have time to explain to you what you don't know. Keep my son alive. I will return with help."
The healer simply shook his head as Rory's mother rushed from the room.
"Finally, we are alone," Hunter said to Talen and Sayer. "I can't get this stuff alone. I need you both to go with me. I have no clue what Fellsmane could do but I do know what we can do."
"To your parallel?" Talen exclaimed.
"Yes, Talen. If I have to deal with my mom or anyone other than the doctor really, everything will become delayed. There is a doctor -- er -- healer in my town and there is a drug, er medicine store. If I can get the medicines and bring them back in time, maybe we can save Rory."
"Why do you need us?" Sayer asked.
"I need Talen because he can ride, if riding works there. And I need you because you can control, if that works there. We don't have time to argue with anyone. Talen has to make sure we are not interrupted and you have to control others while I try to influence the doctor to give us the drugs we need based upon what we can tell him about Rory's condition. Then we have to influence the medicine supplier to honor the doctor's orders and you must block any interference from others there."
"What if we can't get back to your parallel or even worse, back here?" Talen asked tearfully.
"Do you want to give up, Talen? It's our only chance. If we just wait, Rory dies."
"The Doyen will never let all of us go," Sayer said hopelessly.
"We have to try, Sayer. Let me take care of it," Hunter said.
Hunter and Sayer both listened intently to the healer's description of Rory's condition and symptoms. They repeated everything the healer told them to make sure they had it correctly.
The Doyen returned with a middle-aged man who was the Pathfinder for the day. The path was defined and the three boys and The Doyen headed for the opening in the wall that would take them out onto the path.
They stood in front of the opening prepared to say goodbye and good luck to Hunter.
"Oh!" The Doyen exclaimed. "I forgot to get one thing you must take with you, Hunter. Wait for just a few minutes. I'll be right back." He turned and headed back toward the town.
"You controlled the Doyen!" Sayer exclaimed in alarm.
"Are we going or aren't we?" Hunter said, a small smile of satisfaction on his lips.
The wall closed behind them as they raced through the maze to the boat on the lake.
The boat skimmed across the lake at a remarkable speed, much faster than the comparatively leisurely pace Hunter recalled from months ago but it seemed like an eternity before he led the loping boys up the slope to the place where his life had been transformed. He only hoped he could see the opening still existed.
Gasping for breath, they reached the top and there was a detectable shimmering at one spot.
"That's got to be it!" Hunter yelled, gulping air.
Talen and Sayer paused briefly, the reality of what they were about to do setting in. Would they go through and would they be able to return. Fear gripped them and Hunter did not need to ride them to know their minds.
"I'll go alone if I have to, guys. I am afraid I won't get back either. Maybe it wasn't fair of me to ask you anyway," he sighed, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "If I don't make it back, always know I love you, both of you. You have made my life worth living whether it must be in my own parallel or back here." He disappeared into the shimmer.
The rocky outcropping was the same, the wind was the same, the chill was the same and the view had not changed, except now there were two other boys with him, cramped into the small space.
"Thank you," he said tearfully.
"Rory is part of us. We are four, not three. If we don't get back or whatever you are getting doesn't work, part of all of us will be dead," Sayer said. "I'm freezing my ass off here too! Can we get going?"
Hunter had forgotten about the conditions in which Sayer and he first met. It was cold and now they were dressed like something out of Robin Hood. There was no time to worry. They clambered down the rocky slope onto the paved highway and ran east in the direction of the doctor's office that his mother took him to. The doc was a kindly old man, as he recalled but always wondered why he spent more time examining him than he seemed to take with others. He shook the thought from his head and stopped in the parking lot of the building.
"Here's the plan," he announced. "Talen needs to stay out here and try his best to delay anyone that might interrupt. If anyone comes in, Sayer needs to ride to control, keeping whoever it is thinking they need to go back home to get something, like what I did to the Doyen. I'll go talk to the doctor and describe Rory's symptoms to him. I know he will demand to see Rory but hopefully he will tell me what kind of drugs Rory needs. At that point, I'll ride to control, make him write the prescriptions and then we're off to the medicine shop."
"What's a prescription?" Talen asked.
"Never mind, let's just do this!" Hunter exclaimed.
Hunter and Sayer burst through the door while Talen remained outside.
"We need to see Doctor Harlow right now," Hunter screamed at the receptionist. "It's an emergency!"
Talen raced in through the door, looking terrified. "Machines!" he said shaking and pointing outside.
"The doctor is busy - do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked without concern.
"YES!" Hunter screamed and jammed through the doorway into the inner office. "Ride!" he screamed at Sayer.
The receptionist raised her hand in alarm and then calmly sat down and began looking at something Sayer didn't recognize but that her mind seemed to be attracted to. He pushed her thoughts to a picture frame with words and some buttons below that she seemed to want to use. Sayer just kept her focused on that thing, whatever it was, while Hunter raced through the hallways until he found Doctor Harlow.
"Hunter, what are you doing in here?" he asked, once he got over his initial surprise at a young teen bursting into the room.
"We're in a school play," Hunter said pointing to his clothes. We were practicing up in the hills when my friend passed out. He's sweating and burning up."
"Well bring him in here immediately!" the doctor replied not minimizing Hunter's apparent panic.
We can't, we took him to his house but his mom's not there. He's in bed but I think he's going to die!"
"I'll get my bag," the doctor said and began to walk away briskly.
Hunter jumped into his head. It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. He was causing the doctor to listen to every symptom Rory had displayed and making him consider the condition and diagnosis. They were standing in the middle of the hall with no sound coming from either of them, while inside Harlow's head a cacophony of thoughts were raging. At last the doctor went to a locked cabinet, opened it and removed a small bottle and a hypodermic needle.
"It seems he most likely has a very serious infection. Give him this injection as soon as you can get back to him." The old doc moved quickly toward a computer, typed in some instructions and then turned back to Hunter.
"I ordered antibiotics for your friend, STAT," he said. They should be ready to go in less than ten minutes at the pharmacy down the street. What you have described sounds very dire. Don't delay in getting the medicines and getting back to him!"
Before the doctor could regain his senses, Hunter raced out the door with the needle and vial. Talen was having a huge argument with a lady that had come in demanding to speak to the receptionist. Whatever he was doing had worked because Sayer was keeping the lady at the strange picture frame machine glued to it.
"Let them go!" Hunter screamed and raced out the door. Talen and Sayer followed closely behind him, the wonder of this world just now hitting Sayer for the first time.
"Cars!" Hunter yelled. "Mechanical transportation. Nothing to worry about. Just come on!"
The three boys ran about a block down the street and into a store filled with all sorts of things Sayer and Talen did not recognize. Hunter was already at the back of the store at the counter.
"Fletcher," he said hurriedly to the pharmacist.
"Right," she said. "I've just finished them. How would you like to pay?"
`Shit,' Hunter thought to himself. "Uh, the doc said he would just have you put on my mom's account."
"What's her first name?"
"Rachael, Rachael Fletcher. Could you please hurry?"
The druggist looked at her computer screen, typed in some stuff, scanned some bar code. She put the package on the counter. "Ah yes, here we are. It appears that your mother's account has not been paid in some months. I'm afraid that...."
Hunter snatched up the package and raced for the front door, the pharmacist screaming for him to get back there.
"RUN!" he shouted at the other two boys.
The advantage of a small town was that nothing was very far away including the low foothills that housed the gate to Tethra. Although all three boys were young and athletic, they had to stop at the base of the hill to catch their breath. They could hear the sirens howling toward the drug store but did not see anyone following them. It seemed like hours before they recovered from the run to begin scaling back up the rocky slope to the rock overhang.
"I sure hope this works," Hunter said, once again breathless as they reached the passage between the two sides of his special place.
"That stuff?" Talen asked.
"Well that too," Hunter said with a short laugh, "But I mean the gate. He launched through it and disappeared. Talen and Sayer found themselves tumbling on the grassy slope of Tethra once again.