Chapter 3
So it was that day turned into day, which turned into weeks. Eric got used to his new job as healer. The aches and pains he had experienced the first few days, had disappeared. He was now used to the pace he set himself. It was just that he was now on roads and in areas that were so heavily traveled, that his pace was slowing.
Eric was feeling rather annoyed. His combat car was being leap-frogged up, as hiding spots were found for it. But this last time, something had gone wrong. Some men were hiding in a cave. The cave had totally hidden the men from his ship's sensors, and from the SNARK'S sensors, also. They were not revealed until the combat car had landed a short distance from the cave. Eric had been forced to kill them.
Eric regretted their deaths. His mission was surveillance, and total secrecy had to be maintained. He took samples from the interior of the cave afterwards, and sent it up to the ship via SNARK for analysis. He buried the two men in the cave, along with their equipment.
While it was possible these men had a legitimate reason for hiding in the cave, he had already been attacked twice on the trip north by robbers. He just could not afford to take any chances. What really pissed him off the most, was that his ship had activated his combat capabilities, taking the decision from him.
Eric could not get them to agree to be quiet about the combat car's existence, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the two men were dead at Eric's feet. While Eric understood the reason the ship cited, it still bothered him.
Eric was thinking of buying a horse. He had seen a lot of these animals, and they appeared to be a good mode of transport. While he was not experienced with riding these beasts, he knew he could learn quickly.
He had also made a lot of money on the way north, stopping frequently to heal. He turned his coppers into silvers, which in turn, he turned into golds. He was accumulating a lot of coppers and silvers. He still kept 10 coppers on him, and a couple of silvers, but the golds were weighing on him. He had to find something to do with them!
Keldema was only another week's march up the road, according to the ship. Perhaps he could invest his gold there. He was going to settle in that city for the foreseeable future, and it would be nice to have a cushion of money to fall back on.
Also, the weather was definitely turning colder. It had snowed lightly the night before, and Eric definitely wanted to be in the city before winter set in. So he started pushing himself as hard as he could, while maintaining the fiction that he was a normal man.
Eric was even considering paying for a ride in one of the coaches that seemed to ply the roads. Now that he was farther north, the towns were apparently large enough to support something as expensive as a coach service.
The coaches were heavily built. They were very solid wooden boxes on wheels. Not only were there these coaches you could rent space in, but Eric saw private coaches, too. Still, only the affluent seemed to own them. They must be expensive to build. They also had to have at least four horses pulling them.
During the last couple of weeks, the ship had informed Eric that a radio transmission had been picked up from outside of Keldema city. So far this had happened twice. It was on a low frequency, but would carry to anywhere on the continent.
The first time had been an accident. A SNARK happened to be in direct line with a tight beam signal directed southwards. No responding signal had been picked up. Eric found this interesting and exciting!
The ship had been decoding the transmissions it had intercepted, and was sure it was an automated signal of some sort. According to the ship, it had the, 'feel', of a house keeping signal. Well, the ship should know, shouldn't it?
So there was some hi-tech on this planet. It now fell to Eric to investigate, once he got to the Keldema area. Of course the ship would help out, but ground forces were needed, and that was Eric.
Eric was firmly ensconced in a good Inn. It was called the Silver Chalice, and he was fortunate to get the deal he had. He paid 5 silver a month which included two meals, breakfast, and the evening meal. Lunch was up to him.
Eric made a deal with the inn keeper to allow him to work out of his room. After seeing the success Eric had with his healing, the inn keeper changed the arrangement. In addition to the 5 silver a month (which was cheaper than the normal price of a months stay at an inn of this sort), Eric paid 1 copper per person, who was sent up to his room for healing.
Eric's fame as a healer was growing. Everyday found people crowding into the inn, which also put money into the innkeeper's coffers, as people who were waiting bought drinks or meals.
Still, Eric found time to explore the city. He also bought herbs which he sent up to the ship via a SNARK, and the ship started making medications from the ones that were actually useful. The ship supplemented his supplies, via a SNARK, also.
Eric had some free time and was down in the main room of the inn, when he was approached by the inn keeper with a woman in tow.
"Eric? This is the lady Kalea Devon. She has a request of you," with that, the inn keeper bowed to the lady and withdrew.
Eric stood. "Lady? How may I help you?" Eric asked curiously.
"I have heard good, no... great things, about you. My son is ill, and the other healers who have seen him can do nothing for him. The, 'separate ones' came, but refused to help him. Please, will you come and help us? Help him?" she asked somewhat desperately.
"I don't know that I can do anything, but I will at least look," Eric responded.
He went upstairs, made sure his bag was full, and that everything he might need was in place. He returned to the Lady, and she took him outside. They entered a small coach, which in turn took them to a rather rich part of the city.
He was curious about the 'separate ones', but could find no way to ask about them, without arousing undue attention to himself. They drove through a gate and up a long paved lane, to a large manor house.
They entered the manor, and Eric was taken upstairs. He was led to a room with a young boy lying in bed, sleeping. Eric's diagnostic computer already had done a scan, and the results were not good. The boy was in liver failure, due to poisoning.
While Eric could take care of the poison, the liver failure was beyond anything he had with him. His query activated a link to his combat car auto-doc. It stated it could heal the trouble. Ten hours would be required in the auto-doc itself.
"I think I can help. His liver is in failure. You might want to find out who has been poisoning your son. I see evidence of poison in him," Eric said grimly.
The Lady gasped, and her hand went to her throat. Eric stated he needed complete privacy, and it would take all night, but hopefully by morning the boy should be all right. The Lady was grateful, but Eric firmly insisted he needed complete privacy, or he would not do anything.
The Lady agreed, but with one stipulation. If the boy took a turn for the worse, she should be summoned, immediately. Eric agreed.
The first thing Eric did was administer a counter to the poison in the boy's body. That brought some relief to his laboring heart and lungs. The liver was still damaged, but was repairable.
Eric went to the window and looked out. There was manicured lawn everywhere he looked, and it was starting to get dark. He ordered the combat car to his present location, camouflaged, so it would not be noticed by the local population. He gave it specific instructions. It acknowledged, and gave an estimated time of arrival of 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Eric left the boys room, and sought out something to eat. The Lady was pleased that the boy was breathing a bit easier when Eric had let her in to visit him while he ate. He again told her once he started, there was to be no interruptions. She assured him none would interfere, but would be ready in case he called for anything.
The combat car arrived right on time. Eric opened the window and a seeming hole opened in the air outside the window. Eric picked up the boy and leaped from the room into the combat car.
He quickly placed the boy into the auto doc and made sure everything was going as planned. He then jumped back through the window, and into the boy's room. He turned but saw no evidence of the combat cars presence.
Twice during the next 10 hours, there was a knock on the door. Once was a servant asking if Eric needed anything. He thanked the man politely but said he was fine. The next knock was a couple hours later, and it was the anxious mother.
Eric stepped through the door quickly, making sure she didn't see the empty bed.
"My Lady. All is going well. He should be greatly improved in the morning. Please, go and rest. You will not do yourself or him any good, if you are exhausted tomorrow, when he will need you most," Eric told her gently.
"Bless you! It is just that I am so worried. His father is away, and would be crushed if our boy had died," she said with a catch in her throat.
"I understand. Still, you might want to find out who has been poisoning your son. This has been going on for some time. The poison attacks the body in several ways. First it makes it difficult to breathe. This makes the heart labor a bit harder. Finally, when the liver tried to expel the poison, it was itself damaged. It was a near thing," Eric said.
The Lady got a grim determined look on her face, and promised to find the one responsible. With that, she left Eric alone. He re-entered the room, made himself comfortable, and slept.
It was very early in the morning, close to 4:30 AM, when the computer informed him the boys damaged organ was repaired. Eric stretched, and opened the window. Access into his combat car opened, and he made the leap once more. The auto-doc was open. Eric scooped up the boy, and returned him to his bed.
The combat car sealed itself and left. Eric checked the boy with his wrist diagnostic computer, and it basically supported what the auto doc had stated. Eric went to the door and opened it, to find the boy's mother asleep on the floor outside the door.
Eric shook her gently awake. "Would you care to see your son? He is going to be fine," Eric told her with a smile.
With a cry, the woman jumped to her feet, and rushed to her son's bedside. She hugged him, and he complained sleepily. She was crying, but they were tears of happiness. This was the first sign of him even knowing she was there, in some days now.
A few minutes later, the boy was awake enough to say he was hungry. The Lady left to order food for both the boy and Eric. Eric felt a deep satisfaction at helping this child, but was angry that someone had been poisoning him. The auto-doc had sorted out the poison, and gave Eric the stats on it. Eric would have to ask around to find out the particular name of it, but it had been coldly and maliciously given to the boy.
Later, Eric was back at the Inn and having lunch, when the ship contacted him.
"Commander. Another tight beam communication has been picked up. This time it was picked up by a probe directly east of the city. The communication came from a location just slightly north of Keldema. Probability is 98.4 percent positive that the site is the large group of buildings in the foothills of the mountains just to your north," the ship stated.
Eric finished his meal, and went upstairs to ponder his next move. It was cold and a trip into the mountains, or the foothills was not the most intelligent thing to do. But, to go to the separate ones compound, was a different story. Eric was almost a hundred percent sure himself, that this was where the signal originated. The group of buildings to which the ship referred, was the compound of the 'separate ones'.
The same 'separate ones' who had refused to treat the boy.
Edited by TeNderLoin