Free Tranquil Fury by P.G. Thomas Page A

up with fever. Still, it was like a hot iron spike through her heart. She pulled a berry out of her leaf pouch, and placed it in his mouth, “Sleep.”
    Once Lauren was sure she had cleaned each wound, she maneuvered his legs so that she could apply the poultice, and for the smaller wounds, she simply smeared the thick ointment on them. She toiled for hours on Ryan, making sure that every nick and cut received treatment, and while Ryan needed more healing, the rest would have to wait for later, but she knew he should be able to walk in a day or two. She covered him up, and went over to Zack.
    Lauren pulled two berries from her leaf pouch, and squeezed them into Zack’s mouth. The burnt shirt, no longer covered his torso, as he had retrieved the black hoodie that was in his backpack, and after waiting a few minutes, she undid the zipper. Zack had been picking the burnt plastic from his wounds, which looked the worse for it, and she was stunned to see Zack’s torso covered in multiple patches of fur, which were growing from his skin. There were a few that she was able to identify, like skunk and polar bear, but over a dozen remained a mystery, and over half of his torso was now a crazy quilt of different animal furs. Between the furs, pieces of plastic, fused into scabs were still present, some small, some large. She slowly opened his hoodie, exposed more of his chest and abdomen, and was shocked to see his upper right shoulder covered with snake-skin. She rolled Zack onto his side, and was surprised to see a large feather firmly attached into his back, with several smaller ones growing beside it. What sins have you committed, that your reward is such a horrific curse?
    From the leaf pouch, she pulled out a dozen different items, and added them to a fresh pot of water. She stirred the contents until she had a thick green cream, which she applied to all of the raw wounds, and then ran her hands over his body, and could feel the toxins inside him. Zack needs purification . To a third pot, she added water and some of the beans from that coffee-like drink, that Logan enjoyed so much. Lauren pulled out a much larger pine cone, smacked it on the ground, and shook loose three seeds. She ran her hands over his body again, had heard rumors about Zack, and his fondness for illegal substances. Over the pot, in her right hand, she held two of the pine cone seeds, and in the left hand, she held one. Then, ever so silently, she mumbled, “Help me.” After a minute, she dropped in all three seeds, and waited for it to boil, eventually straining the contents into a mug, and for an hour, she sat spoon-feeding the dark liquid to Zack.
    Tired by her nocturnal healing activities, the tarp overhead growing brighter, it signaled that pre-dawn was arriving, and she wandered back to her little patch of bliss. Again, she crawled into the tree cavity with her tri-wood staff, smiling as she fell asleep. The staff lay across her body, the root cluster resting on the ground outside, and slowly fresh roots extended from it, drinking in nourishment from the ground.
    She was on the stump again, as twelve multi-colored butterflies circled her. Then to her amazement, one by one, they started to join each other, and in the end, one giant butterfly floated over to her, embraced her, and rocked her back and forth. It was the embrace of a mother, and she wept as relief flooded over her.
    * * * * * * *
    The night before, when Mirtza finally went to sleep, he tossed and turned, as his head filled with nightmares of plague. It was dark out when the sound of magic startled him awake. So quick was the noise, that he was unable to identify its direction or distance. He awoke early the next day, still tired, the nightmares having fought off the restful sleep. Without having a morning meal, he climbed onto the back of his steed, leaned forward, and whispered, ‘find people’ into its ear. A slow trot quickly turned into a blistering gallop, countryside flew by, and