Fallon's Deceit

 

As the elephant ascended the slope of hill to the plateau, Alithea held Erthen close to her. The ground was more uneven than the path to the castle from the beach and she felt that the whole tent might twist off the animal’s body. She peeked out of the flap at the queen’s castle, then looked right to the soldiers gathered outside of the barracks. Beyond the barracks she recognized the field where the soldiers drilled and played games, and beyond that the blue of ocean. “Oh, baby boy, what evil has mama brought you into? We should have left, even if we died in the desert.”

The elephant came to a rest and Alithea recognized the sounds of a slide set up on the left side of the elephant. She shifted Erthen in her lap. He was curious about the hazel fury leaves in her front pouch and the deadly mold-infested berry mash below them. When she opened the tent flap, the boy’s attention turned to the outside. Two Fae warriors near the bottom of the slide and just beyond them the queen stood.

Glancing left, she recognized Fallon as he came from the rear of the travois. Seeing the queen, a tight knot in her throat made it difficult for Alithea to breathe. The queen would see her and Fallon together, perhaps remember the first time she had seen the couple on the beach, and their ruse would be uncovered. Fallon was not of the Washiti tribe but a prisoner from one of the northern tribes. The soldiers would surely kill Fallon. She forced away the thought of what they might do to her and Erthen.

Her training reminded her to breathe from her belly, not her mouth and her tension quieted a bit. As Fallon approached the slide, she wondered if he was hurt. His head was forward, his back curved and he walked with a limp. He shuffled outward away from the elephant and the slide and paused, then lifted his head and made a feeble nod. Oh, you deceitful warrior, she thought.  

She slid down and the Fae warriors helped her stand. She shifted Erthen into the papoose, then walked forward to the queen, who reached out a hand to her. “I’m so happy to see you, my dear,” the queen said. Alithea could understand none of it, but she understood the sincerity in the woman’s voice. “I am so sorry for what happened to you the last time you were here.” Alithea smiled and nodded, not knowing what else to do.

Pretending to adjust the papoose, she turned slightly to Fallon two lengths away. With a quick motion of his fingers, he signaled that the queen was sorry for something. That was enough to guide Alithea’s reactions.

The queen turned to the palace, then looked back and motioned Alithea to follow. When Alithea hesitated, the queen shook her head and said, “He is not here.” She pointed to the soldiers who were helping to unload the food for the banquet. “He is over there. He will never threaten you again.” She put her hand on Alithea’s arm and Erthen reached down and touched the queen, who drew back her hand. Alithea understood that gesture well enough and thought we are not animals, you white naked worm queen. It helped quell any doubts about using the poisoned berry mash.

The queen helped her settle in the room adjoining the clinic in the palace. The queen made eating motions, pointing to her and Erthen. “I will have some of our banquet brought to you, doctor, but here is some of my food packet.” She gestured to her chest as she spoke, then turned to a cupboard and withdrew two food bars. Alithea recognized only the words ‘doctor’ and ‘food.’ She accepted the food bars, then the queen said, “I will leave you alone to get settled. Perhaps you can see some patients tomorrow.”

Alithea recognized only the word ‘patient.’ Did the queen want her to see patients now? Alithea pointed down, close to her chest and asked, “Patients now?”

The queen pointed away from her and said, “Patients tomorrow.” She put her hands together and laid then next to her ear and tilted her head to signal sleeping, then made a circular motion with one hand. “Sleep. Patients tomorrow.” Alithea thought she understood and relaxed.

When the queen left the room, she gave a bit of the energy bar to Erthen, enough to ease his hunger pangs. She would watch his reaction before eating any herself. If he got a bit sleepy, then she would know that this was one of the drugged food bars. She was grateful for the water next door in the clinic and used it to clean Erthen face and head, then washed her hands.

She heard a sound in the outer room and turned to see a Fae warrior leading a limping Fallon from the outside. When the Fae warrior pointed to a gash on Fallon’s right leg, Alithea was worried. Had Fallon reopened that wound? Alithea did not look at Fallon’s face, afraid that the Fae warrior would see a look of recognition. In the papoose on Alithea’s back, Erthen bounced, holding out his arms to his dad, crumbs of food bar falling from his mouth as he babbled “Daddy! Daddy!”

Alithea’s heart sank, knowing that the Fae warrior would report this, but she gestured to the clinic room and led the bent frame of Fallon into that room. Alithea shrugged out of the papoose, then set it down. “What will I do with you, little warrior? You will give up the game.” She opened one of his eyelids, looking for the pupil constriction that would be a sign that the food bar had been drugged. Finding none, she gave Erthen more of the food bar, which he took in his hand and talked to. “That’s right, you talk to your food and be still,” she said.

She turned away to go into the clinic, then remembered that the poisoned berry mash was in the front pouch. She couldn’t leave Erthen in the papoose and she couldn’t let him crawl around. She opened a few cupboards until she saw them folded cloth and pulled one out. Seeing it was long enough, she swaddled Erthen in the cloth leaving one arm half free so he could hold his food bar. He didn’t seem to mind. She propped him up against the wall where she would be able to see him from the adjoining room. His humming while chewing satisfied her that he was content.

She went into join Fallon, who talked to her in some strange language she didn’t understand. When Fallon motioned to his leg, she had him lean back and inspected the gash, then signaled to the Fae warrior that she could wait outside. After the Fae left, Alithea looked around to reorient herself. Remembering where the supplies were, she cleaned the wound in preparation to sew up the open gash. “Stay still,” she said to Fallon, as she glanced toward the outer room where the Fae was waiting.

Fallon pointed to the gash, then said, “Grunt baby talk, mixed language,” and some other words she didn’t understand.

She nodded that she understood, then said, “this will sting,” as she applied some bala antiseptic paste to the old gash. He had deliberately cut open an old wound as a pretext on visiting the clinic. The hair follicles had not grown into the skin on either side of the cut yet. Fallon instinctively pulled his leg away.

“Baby,” she teased and glanced up again to make sure the Fae warrior was not looking. She reached into the papoose and gave Fallon the bar. “It’s not drugged. Eat. No crumbs as you eat,” she said in a stern voice.

“We can leave here,” Fallon said, then added in some foreign words. “Go toward the mine. They won’t expect that. Ow!” He flinched as she stuck the needle into his skin.

“You’ve gotten soft,” she said in a low voice. “Stay still,” she said in a louder voice, trying to sound like this was a normal interaction between a doctor and a patient, and not between two partners. When she finished, she wrapped the leg with a gauze-like covering.

Fallon went to stand up, but she held her palm against his chest.

“Let’s go!” he urged in a low but insistent voice. He looked back at Erthen in the next room and waved. Clutching his food bar in his little hand, Erthen waved back and babbled Daddy, crumbs falling from his lips as he spoke.

She had not wanted to involve Fallon, but she had no choice. Keeping an eye out for the Fae warrior in the outer room, Alithea gingerly reached into the front pouch of the papoose, careful to touch only the leaves of the hazel fury as she withdrew the rounded mass of berry paste from the pouch. She deftly wrapped it in gauze then tied that around Fallon’s leg just above where she had wrapped the wound.

“Take the berry paste inside the leaves and mix it thoroughly into something, a dessert, or porridge, that the soldiers and the queen will eat,” she said. “It is sweet so a dessert would be better.” Fallon started to interrupt, but she laid a hand on his upper leg to quiet him. “Do not touch the paste with your hand. A spoon or stick. Thoroughly. It must be thorough.”

“We can leave,” he implored.

She looked up again to make sure they were not watched. She had to speak to him in the language he knew well. “This is war. For our baby. For our home. This is war.” She straightened up, and said in a louder voice, “Ok. Up now.”

Fallon stared at her for a moment, then looked down at the wrap around his leg. He moved his tunic down and stood.

“Can you walk with that extra wrap?” she asked. He took a tentative step forward, flexed his knee, and nodded. In a lower voice, she said, “Do not eat anything with that in it. Don’t let Sisseku eat it. It tastes good so it will be tempting.” Fallon looked at her directly, then turned to the outer room. “War,” she reminded him softly as he limped away.