XIV.
My mother... For some reason Jay reminded me of her, his attitude was so like hers, she had just wanted the best for me. She had worried that my father wouldn’t be able to cope. So she held on until she had taught me all that I would need to know, sewing, cooking, all the things my father found mysterious and dangerous. After she was satisfied that I could take care of him, she gave up. Yes, we nursed her as best we could, but even after her fever broke, her body had totally given up all hope. There was nothing that could save her after that, not my father’s pleading, not my tears. I wasn’t going to let Jay do that, no matter how guilty he felt.Arthur and I went out later to buy supplies. I hoped to find some nectars from the Orient that would relieve the fever, or at the very least a doctor whose opinion I could ask.
“How long have you two been married? You don’t look very old.” he said, stopping at a fruit stand. I jiggled the basket nervously.
“Two years. She...lost our first baby.” I said, making the appropriate catch in my voice. “She’s never quite forgotten that.” Arthur clucked sympathetically, and started haggling over the price of some apples.
“Was it a boy?”
“Yes... Poor Toby. He didn’t even make it past the first week.” I said with appropriate regret. Which wasn’t hard to muster because all I had to do was remember my little sister and I’d be crying for hours. “She hasn’t been eating very well. I think she wants this child to replace him. It’s so sad.”
He shook his head and paid the owner. “I’m glad I never got married. It sounds like more sadness than I want to deal with.”
I shifted my gaze to the ground and sighed. How right he was.
The apothecary lived in the bottom floor of one of the houses in the marketplace. I pushed in through the rough screen and was instantly confronted with smells that I couldn’t identify and thousands of tiny glass bottles full of liquids and beings from far away lands. “Yes, may I help you?” a remarkably young sounding voice asked from in between the racks. A young man stepped out and looked at me. His dress was quite good for one in his position and his skin seemed to be relatively clean. Not that I cared much.“Um, my...friend has a fever.” He rolled his eyes and went back to a small room, then emerged carrying a large ledger book.
“Let me see...” he said, trailing his finger along the entries. “It looks like a fever would be caused by an excess of choler in the body. Choler is hot and dry, so to counteract it we’ll need something wet and cold...” His gaze shifted to the bottles. “Willow bark I think...” A quick look back at the book and then he nodded. “Yes, willow bark.”
“Um, and he also has...well, he’s in a lot of pain because of some wounds. Is there anything for that?” I asked. I only had to wait a few minutes and I had yet another bottle in my hands. The contents were murky and mysterious, a viscous liquid.
When Arthur and I finally got back I ran up the stairs to our room. Bobby had tied Jay to the bed, and Jay was busy straining to escape, his face behind the gag almost bright red with exertion. “He really hasn’t let up since you left. I tried to get him to drink something, but he just spat it out. Were you able to get anything for it?” he asked.“The apothecary gave me some willow root and a potion...should we try the willow root first?” I handed the bottles to Bobby and then crawled over next to Jay. He kept his eyes on me while he shivered and struggled against the sheets tying him down. Ran my hand over his forehead and his eyes rolled closed and the flailing stopped for a moment. “Shh, you’re going to have to swallow something that might not taste very good...but it’ll make you feel better.” Slowly untied the gag and freed his mouth. His lips pursed and then his tongue slid out. Bobby handed me the willow root and I put it into Jay’s mouth, holding it closed while he decided whether or not he was going to swallow.
“This smells funny.” Bobby said, giving me a big whiff of the contents of the other bottle. I inhaled a bit and almost choked. It smelled of sleep and far off places.
“Well, it’s what the apothecary said to use.” I said, “It must be useful for something.” Jay tried to turn away from me as I put it to his lips, but after it entered his mouth he drank it willingly. Pulled the bottle away before it was empty. Then I tied the gag back in place and sat up.
I stayed with Jay and mended Arthur’s clothes, taking some comfort in the mindless repetitive work. After a while I realized that Jay had stopped lunging about and was staring at me intently. “Are you feeling better?” I asked. He nodded, making sorrowful eyes. “If I untie you, you aren’t going to start screaming again, are you?” He shook his head.
Tongue traced my fingers as I pulled away the fabric, his eyes heavily lidded and satiated. Sighed as I touched the mark. He didn’t even pull back in pain. A sloppy smile crossed his face. What the hell had been in that bottle? I stared at it, fingering the small piece of paper hastily pasted onto it. Wished that I could read. At least he was quiet. “Jay?” I whispered.
He just kept on smiling at me, too doped up on whatever had been in the bottle to do much else. I felt his forehead and found that it was still warm, but not as hot as earlier. Could he possibly be getting better? A cool breeze spun in through the window. Closed the shutters and then settled into bed next to him. He grabbed me and curled into me, closing his eyes and smiling. I sighed and laid there for a while. Ran my fingers through his sweaty hair. Grinned as he leaned into my hand, eyes closed in pleasure. “Paige...” he whispered, the one coherent word he had uttered in two days.
“What?” But he had drifted off to sleep. I held him gently, hoping that morning would bring relief.