Before we reach Castle Bryggja, we stop in at another castle on our path.
by Melanie Dickerson
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As we pass through the gate that leads to the castle, we enter the courtyard, surrounded on three sides by Hagenheim Castle itself. To your left you will see the blacksmith and his apprentices, hard at work making many of the tools necessary for daily life. Straight ahead is the well where we draw water for cooking and cleaning.
To our right is the healer’s chambers, located in the southwest tower of the castle. Frau Geruscha is Duke Wilhelm’s resident healer, and she also treats anyone from Hagenheim who would rather trust her skill than one of the town barbers. She is very knowledgeable about medicinal herbs and treats all kinds of injuries. Let us look in on her, shall we?
Inside the main chamber Frau Geruscha is giving dried herbs steeped in a cup of hot water to a young girl who is lying on the sick bed.
“Drink this, my dear, and it will help you get well.” Frau Geruscha places her hand on the child’s forehead, then her cheek. Then she dips a clean cloth in a bucket of cool well water and washes the child’s face with it.
A young man hovers beside the child, his brows puckered in a troubled expression.
“Sabine? Bring me instrument bag.”
Frau Geruscha’s fair-haired new apprentice scurries to the shelf and brings the bag of tools to her mistress. Frau Geruscha chooses a sharp metal object, like a sewing needle only larger. She picks up the child’s hand and bends over it, examining the festering wound on her finger.
Sabine, the new apprentice, glances at the child’s older brother. “Don’t worry,” she whispers, trying to assure him. “Frau Geruscha knows what she’s doing. She can help her.”
The young man gives her a grim smile. He kneels beside his sister and holds her by her shoulders while Frau Geruscha scrapes the pus from the wound.
When it is all over, the child falls asleep.
Sabine begins to clean and tidy the room. Frau Geruscha stops her. “I will do that. You take Marcus here to the kitchen to get something to eat. Then you can come back and check on the child.”
Sabine nods. “Yes, Frau Geruscha.” She turns and smiles shyly at Marcus.
Unknotting his brows for the first time since brought his sister in, the young man looks down at Sabine, as if seeing her for the first time. He stares at her, open-mouthed, no doubt taking in her flawless skin, bright blue eyes, and pale blond hair, before leading the way out the door.
Frau Geruscha shakes her head and smiles. “I lose more apprentices that way.”
~end
The Healer’s Chamber by Melanie Dickerson
Based on characters from The Healer's Apprentice © 2010. All rights reserved.
by Melanie Dickerson
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by Melanie Dickerson
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