Through the Portal

Jake had been crushing herbs for a little while when his hand slipped and he mashed his thumb with the pestle. He jerked his arm back, reflexively.

Galen looked at him, for a moment, then chuckled. “Got your finger, didn’t you?”

Jake nodded, embarrassed. “Pretty clumsy, right?”

Galen shook his head. “I’ve smashed my fingers more times than I would ever admit. I even made myself bleed once and had to throw out the herbs I was crushing.” He grinned. “Mind you, I could never tell most of the elves that. They wouldn’t like to think of their healer as being clumsy.”

Jake smiled and nodded his understanding. “Hands of surgeon and all that?”

“Exactly.” Galen returned his attention to his own mortar and pestle. “We can all be clumsy, sometimes, as long as we’re steady when it matters.”

Feeling much better, Jake returned to crushing herbs, careful not to get his fingers, again.

At breakfast, there was no orange drink from Galen, but William decided it wasn’t a big deal. He wasn’t nearly as sore as he had been the previous morning. He sat with his group and they enjoyed another meal of unusual fruits. He looked over at Jake. “So, how have things been going with Galen?”

“Pretty good.” He elected not to tell them about hurting himself. “Is the lady still beating you up?”

William laughed, resisting the urge to throw food at him because he feared that would be considered rude. “I could tell her you called her a lady and let her beat you up.” He shrugged. “At any rate, it’s getting a little better. We start back after breakfast, though, so I don’t know what it will be like later.” He turned to Meredith. “How’s archery?”

“I think I’m really starting to get the hang of it.” She smiled. “I mean, I need a lot more practice, but I’m improving bit by bit. I hit the center of the target several times this morning.” She looked at Henry. “How’s the weaving?”

“It’s good.” He smiled. “But Pene, my teacher, said she was going to help me learn some sewing, today. It seemed like a useful thing to know.”

The others nodded their agreement and finished eating before heading to their various activities.

When Jake returned to the healer’s hut, Galen handed him a blue ring, identical to the ones the other elves wore. “You’re going to need this, today.”

Jake stared at the thing, surprised at getting one. None of the others had, despite Ezra mentioning they might before they left.

“We don’t have all day,” Galen told him, good-naturedly.

Jake slipped the ring on and could have sworn it shrunk as he did, so it fit his finger perfectly. He looked at Galen, waiting to see why he needed it.

The healer laid out a large book. “This is a collection of various herbs and their uses.” He opened a page and there was an orange plant pressed into it with a description. “I figured we could take a break from crushing herbs and go over some of these. You’ll need the ring to read it, since it is in our language. The plants will be good to know when you’re travelling.”

Jake nodded and looked at the page, doing his best to memorize it. “There are a lot of herbs in here, aren’t there?” It reminded him of the textbooks William always made them study because he wanted them to be educated. Jake had never had much luck taking an interest in those or remembering half of what he read. Out of curiosity, he slipped off his ring and stared, in wonder, as the letters swirled and transform into something unreadable to him. He put the ring back on, trying to focus on the task at hand.

Galen nodded at his comment. “There are a lot of herbs in the world. It’s important to know about as many as possible. We don’t want an accident because someone mistook temero grass for nimbus weed.”

Jake quickly looked up each of those plants, so he understood. They looked similar with thin, red leaves. However, the nimbus weed had an orange streak and was good for treating wounds while the temero grass was solid and poisonous. He realized that knowing even a few of the plants could mean the difference between life and death. That thought made the book seem far more interesting than any school book he’d ever seen.

“We’ll start with the plants you’re likely to see on your way to the Blue Palace,” Galen told him. “Those will be your most immediate concern, I think.”

“That makes sense.” Jake wondered if he would ever need to use this and hoped he wouldn’t, for fear he may get it wrong and kill one of his friends. With that in mind, he set himself to studying every detail of the plants, hoping it would be enough to help him if the time came to use that knowledge.

William managed to hold his own against Valda for over two minutes, that day. It was a new record for him. Even so, he hit the ground with a rough thud, knocking the wind out of him.

“You’re going to have to do better than that if you ever want to win a fight,” she told him. “However, with some more training, you may have a chance.”

He sat up and looked at her. “You think so?”

“Maybe.” She kicked his stick over to him. “Again.”

At lunch, he was relieved when Galen gave him some more of the orange drink, even though it was less than before. He shrugged, thinking he probably didn’t need as much, anyway. Once he had drunk it, he caught sight of Jake’s ring. “Where did you get that?”

The younger boy had forgotten he was wearing it and looked at his hand before shrugging. “Galen wanted me to read over a book, so I needed a ring to translate.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Henry commented. “It almost makes me wish I’d taken up medicine, but I don’t think all those plants would interest me.”

Jake smiled, remembering how many plants he had looked at that day. “It’s not as bad as you think, but sewing probably suits you better.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Henry demanded.

“Just that you have such feminine hands, they’re suited to delicate work,” Jake replied with a grin. He and his brother liked to have ridiculous arguments sometimes, just to mess with the others. In truth, everything was identical about them, including their hands, but the rest of the group had given up pointing out such flaws in their logic.

“Well, you had better hope your fat butt doesn’t rip a hole in your pants while we are travelling, because I won’t sew it up,” Henry informed him, sounding angrier than he actually was.

“Then you’d better hope your big feet don’t trip over something and get you hurt, because I won’t patch you up!” Jake retorted.

“You had both better stop arguing or you’re going to be travelling by yourselves,” William told the twins, shutting them both up, quickly, and allowing the group to finish the meal in peace.

Had anyone besides William tried something like that, the twins would have called their bluff. However, the older boy had taken care of the group for a while and was still seen as an authority figure to them, even in Mirra, where everything else seemed to have changed. That one constant was a comfort to them all in the unfamiliar world.

William looked at Jake. “Any chance your new mentor has said anything about how much longer Katherine is going to sleep?”

Jake shook his head. “I wouldn’t really expect him to talk about it. He promised to let you know if anything changed, so we should just trust him to keep his word.”

William sighed, but nodded, knowing he was right. Galen had given them no reason to doubt him. He looked at Meredith, wanting to move on to a new subject. “Archery training still going well?” His tone wasn’t particularly interested, but she nodded and smiled.

“It’s not easy. My arms are pretty sore from pulling back the bowstring, repeatedly, but it’s enjoyable, still.”

“You could probably ask Galen for some of that stuff he’s been giving me for the pain,” William suggested. “It’s really something.”

Meredith shook her head. “I prefer to avoid mysterious liquids, when I can.”

“Besides, you probably shouldn’t drink too much of that stuff, yourself,” Jake told him. “Galen only gave it to you because he knew how grueling Valda’s lessons could be and he knew you would need it. Surely, you noticed he decreased the dose, today.”

William frowned at that. “Why? What’s in it?” He looked at the empty glass, suspiciously.

“It’s probably better you don’t know,” Jake replied, offering no comfort. “Just don’t worry too much about it, okay?”

William nodded, not feeling any better. He remembered the pastry from that morning and wondered if he should worry about it, as well. “What about the roll he left outside our door this morning? Did he tell you anything about that?”

Jake nodded. “That was just a little something for the morning aches. It was mostly herbs and such. No reason to worry about that, either.”

“Right.” William debated whether he should consume anything else that Galen offered him. However, he also wondered if there was any chance Jake was just messing with him and he was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to make it through training without the healer’s help. “What kind of herbs, exactly?”

“You wouldn’t recognize them if I told you,” Jake replied, a bit smugly. He was feeling cocky since he knew something more than the rest did about this world.

“Alright, then.” William didn’t want to push the subject and allow his head to get any bigger. He couldn’t help but smile at the boy, though. A few days ago, he had seemed completely aimless and he had never had any interest in studying of any kind. However, he now was learning useful information with great enthusiasm. It made William think their trip to Mirra might be worth something, despite all the danger they had faced. He looked to Josie. “Have you been having fun, today?”

She nodded. “I really like Alesia. She’s nice.”

“That’s good.” He smiled at her, then turned his attention to Henry. “Based on your previous comment, I take it your sewing lessons are going well.”

The younger boy shrugged. “I mean, it’s not something you can rush to learn, but Pene is a really good teacher. I’m learning faster than I would if it was a human showing me how to do it.”

William thought about that. He realized that he was probably improving faster with Valda than he would have if he had taken sword-fighting classes in his world. “I guess elves make better teachers.”

“We certainly like to think so,” Galen commented, walking over to their table. He looked at Jake. “I just heard from the gatherers that there are some unusual berries in bloom, nearby. I wondered if you might be willing to help me collect them, assuming you are done with your meal.”

Jake nodded and stood, glad to be useful. He left with the healer and headed out into the forest.

“Well, now, I feel jealous,” William joked, thinking that whatever Jake was going to be doing would be more pleasant than his plans. Even so, he went straight to the clearing to meet Valda after lunch and put all his energy into the exercises until dinner.

“So, what are these berries we’re getting?” Jake asked as Galen led him into the woods. “Are they important?”

“They’re called curatio berries. They are excellent for helping to seal wounds,” Galen replied. “They help to speed the healing process, too. We haven’t studied them, yet, but, today, I’ll teach you about them as we gather.” They reached a bush full of berries as golden as the tree trunks. “Be careful when plucking them. You have to pull the leaves off with the berries, or they lose some of their potency.”

Jake nodded and did as instructed. It took them an hour to collect all the berries. By the time they were done, Jake knew everything anyone could ever want to know about the plant, including how rarely they bloom and for how long they lasted if no one picked them. He understood why Galen had been in such a hurry. They had dinner in the forest and he took the time to process what he had learned. “How long did it take you to learn about all these plants?”

Galen just gave the boy his usual, kind smile. “A few hundred years and I still don’t consider myself to be an expert.”

Jake stared at him. The elf looked to be no more than twenty, but Jake realized that must be because of his immortality. He could be ancient, for all the boy knew. “I would think that a few hundred years would be enough time to learn all the plants in the world.”

Galen shook his head. “If there were a set number of plants, perhaps. However, new plants are always being discovered. They evolve or combine with other plants. I could no more be an expert on every plant than I could learn the name of every child born.”

Jake nodded his understanding. “Well, I hope to learn as much as I can in the short time I am here.”

“Then I will do my best to teach you during that time,” Galen promised. “It is rare to find such an enthusiastic student of any subject besides fighting, it seems, but healers are just as important. After all, the warriors can’t keep going without us.”

Jake smiled, not knowing how to respond. He liked the idea of being so important, but he wasn’t sure if he really could be. He wondered if he could even really become a healer. He was nothing special; just a runaway foster kid who could never even survive on his own.

“Well, I think it’s about time we headed back.” Galen stood and dusted himself off, bringing the boy out of his thoughts. “We wouldn’t want to be out here after dark.”

Jake nodded and stood, as well, gathering his bag of berries before they headed back to the village for the night.

After dinner, Valda and William meditated, again. It came easier to him, this time, and he considered what Henry had said about the elves being better teachers. He didn’t know if that was true, but he felt like he was progressing fairly well with Valda’s help. He didn’t even feel completely sore when he went to bed, that night.

When Jake woke up the next morning, William was already gone, but he had known he would be. Jake got up and dressed before heading to the healer’s hut. He was surprised to find there was an elf in there, lying on the cot, which was usually pushed to the side. He looked unconscious and Jake froze for a moment, wondering if he should leave so he wouldn’t be in Galen’s way while he treated him.

“Good, you’re here,” Galen commented, barely looking at him. He was busy cleaning a nasty wound on the elf’s side. “Grab me the nimbus weed.”

Jake nodded, forgetting any idea of leaving, and rushed to the shelves, finding the plant quickly. He held it out to Galen, but the elf shook his head.

“Grab the mortar and pestle. Mix it with a single curatio berry and some water, then make a paste.” Galen was now putting pressure on the wound, which was seeping blood awfully fast.

Jake hurried to obey and quickly had the paste ready. He silently prayed that he hadn’t done something wrong as he handed it to his teacher.

Galen spread the mixture over the wound and the bleeding slowed. He breathed a sigh of relief and gestured to a shelf. “Grab me some of those leaves.” When Jake handed them over, Galen used them to cover the wound, before wrapping it in cloth. “That should do it.” He smiled at the flustered boy. “Good morning, Jacob. I trust you slept well.”

He nodded, dumbly. It took a moment for him to find his voice. “What happened to him?” He indicated the unconscious elf.

Galen grabbed a bowl of water and started cleaning his hands. “There was an unfriendly serpent in the forest. Usually, they don’t bother us, but the recent shadow creature nearby sent a chill through the woods. Some of the animals are acting up. Apparently, Alaric, here, was out gathering some fruit, by himself, and he got bitten. He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll be okay, now.” He looked at Jake. “It’s a good thing you showed up when you did. It could have gone badly if I’d had to leave his side to make the paste.”

Jake nodded, again. “I’m glad I could help.” He smiled as he realized that he would have a pretty interesting story to tell at lunch time.

Alaric stayed in the hut for most of the morning, but was able to return home in the evening, after promising Galen he would rest.

“I’m going to hate to see you go,” Galen commented, that night, as he showed Jake how to fix some elixirs. “When you go, I mean. I know it might not be for a few days, but, when it happens, I’m going to miss having your help.”

Jake thought he might be blushing and developed a keen interest in the ingredients they were mixing. “I might be able to stay. I don’t see any reason for us to leave any time, soon.” He didn’t really want to leave. Part of him hoped Katherine would stay asleep for a few months, but he felt guilty about those thoughts and pushed them aside. Of course, he wanted the girl to get better. He just didn’t want to leave the village.

Galen just shook his head. “If our lady says you have to get to the Blue Palace, it would be unwise to argue.” He smiled at the boy. “Of course, we need not worry, yet, since she is still resting.”

Jake nodded, looking down. He had become comfortable in the village, but he was used to changing homes and tried to tell himself this would be no different. In the end, he was still just a foster kid.

Those thoughts kept him up for a while after everyone else was asleep. He rolled over to face his brother, who lay right beside him, as always. “Henry?”

“Hm?” he replied, mostly-asleep.

“What do you think is waiting for us at the Blue Palace?” Jake asked, wondering if his brother had thought about it.

“Riches beyond our wildest dreams.” Henry clearly just said the first thing that came to mind. “Now, shut up and go back to sleep.”

Jake sighed and rolled back over, staring at the ceiling, and wishing he didn’t have to leave the village, even if there were riches waiting at the palace, which he sincerely doubted.