The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 09

Harold watched out the window with interest once the coaches got in motion and onto the Highway, which was Havisham's Main Street. He was used to having the coach leave going southeast out of town towards the stage that was at the top of the road that led to Portnoy, not going northwest to the Capital. He hadn't been in the Capital since he'd passed through more than seven and a half years ago after delivering Millie Nordstrom to the Magic School from Svend in the Northlands. He'd collected a goodly sum of back pay accumulated from his travels and had inquired about opportunities in the Westlands, which was one of the few areas in The Kingdom that he hadn't visited. The person in the library had reminded him of an organization with the unlikely name of the Order of St. Thrimble that had chapters all over the Kingdom and were always looking for help. She'd given him the address in Havisham, and off he'd gone on the next stagecoach out.

The trip involved two overnight stops and got into the Capital at about four o'clock in the afternoon, with no unnecessary excitement. Long-distance coach travel had overnight rest stops for the sake of both the drivers, who had eight-hour shifts and often changed at stage stops, and for the passengers, who can only withstand so much travel on the road at a time. Safety, of course, was the other factor, since although horses can see very well at night, their drivers can't. Coach lamps can only illuminate a portion of the road and the Moon was not a reliable source of light.

On both nights, one of the female travelers insisted that he share her bed, so he offered her his thanks by giving her a very thorough (and badly-needed after a day in the coach) massage that was concluded by her demand to massage her vagina with his hard glowing cock and to 'put out the fire that you started', which he'd started because she'd wanted him to start it in the first place. Both times he'd woken up to find her on top, riding his cock with a smug little smirk on her face, so he'd stroked and squeezed her breasts, sending little sparks into her nipples while sending some into her clitoris from his cock, changing her carefully managed orgasm into a stampede that had left her wild-eyed and breathless and him with the smug little smirk.

The amount of space that's required for a coach terminal meant that it was located in the southeastern suburbs of the Capital. There was another terminal in the northeastern suburbs that served areas from the northern reaches of the Kingdom, and provided a steady stream of customers for the large number of taxi carts that plied the route between them. There were also taxi carts that served to transport people to and from the centre of the city to the terminal, and they lined up in an orderly way at the curb outside the terminal so that the lead one would get the first customer, then the next one, and so on. By the time Harold had been able to get his pack and staff and walk to the street, along with two others, there was not a cart in sight.

"What's going on?" asked the man. "There are always carts here."

"Ugh, I don't want to have to wait, I've got a meeting to go to," complained the woman.

"Aw, bollocks," said Harold. "It's me. There's a Deity that wants me to walk and do something for him or her." The others stared at him.

"You've seen Gods and Goddesses?" she asked. He nodded glumly at their attentive looks.

"I'm a Healer, as you know, and the Deities seem to know that and often have someone who needs the Healer's touch. I don't see them very often, but they have their ways of making their desires known, and when a Deity wants you to do something, the correct answer is 'Yes'. So, I'll start walking and within five minutes, there will be a full stand of taxi carts. Have a great day." He offered them Polite Bow #3, which they returned, and he set off down the sidewalk muttering to himself. As he'd predicted, carts did show up shortly after and he waved at them as they passed him by. "All right," he said quietly, "here I am. I serve the Deity, whoever you are. Please guide me to where you want me to go."

This part of the city had an eclectic mix of shops and offices in large, older houses that had been converted to commercial uses. It was a lovely mild afternoon, with the sun shining in a sky dotted with puffy cumulus clouds and a gentle breeze from the west off the ocean and he walked with his coat open and hat pushed up his forehead to better enjoy it. The streets and sidewalks were busy and the general mood seemed to be upbeat, as it was the Eve of Beltane and everyone was ready for a big party to mark the occasion. As a Mage, he could always feel the shifts in the Magic that occurred around this time, and around Samhain at the end of October, which included an element of wildness that made the Mages have to take extra care when casting spells because of the greater chance of backfires. As he approached the second street corner from the coach terminal, his senses started to pick up the signature of another Mage in the house on the corner, which was the office of Dr. Anna Hollerith, Doctor of Magical Dentistry.

"Sir! Sir!" called out a female voice from the nearest window that had been suddenly pulled up. The brown-haired, blue-eyed face of a woman was pressed almost comically against the bug screen. "You're a Healer, right?" She sounded a little desperate. Maybe this was the Deity's mission for him.

"Yes, ma'am, I am," he replied with a winning smile.

"Please come in, we need some help in here!" He immediately turned, trotted up the walkway and up the three steps to the veranda, where he was greeted by a rapidly opened door. The face in the window was Dr. Hollerith as he felt her signature more closely. She was five-foot-seven, slender with a small bust, a cute button nose, a dusting of freckles across her face, and a small mouth with thin lips. Her hair had a few streaks of gray and was tied back to be out of the way when she was working, and she was dressed in the dentist's garb of white blouse, slacks, and shoes. The hallway behind her was filled by two burly people, one man and one woman, dressed in full Army uniforms, leather armor, a sword on the left hip and large knife on the right.

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded gruffly. He had the stripes of a Master Sergeant on his shoulder and L Markin on his name band, and the woman had a First Sergeant's insignia and the name S Clark on her name band, both of which were located on the left side of the shirt above the heart.

"I am Healer Harold Moser, former Lieutenant of 22 Corps, attached to 5th Battalion as Company M," he replied, snapping to attention and saluting with his right fist to his heart, knuckles up.

"Company M," said the woman, looking surprised as they both reflexively returned the salute. Both of them looked to be close to his age. "The Mage Company in Carcosa." It was Harold's turn to be surprised.

"You've heard of us?" he asked as Anna all but hauled him into the front room, where a woman, also dressed in Army gear, but much younger, probably late teens or early twenties, was lying in the dentist's chair. She was clearly in pain, and the swelling in her jaw was hard to miss.

"Hell's bells, we were there," the man replied as they stood in the doorway. "You were the one who made that God-awful amped-up scream that panicked all of the horses and broke their lines, if I recall," he added with a grin.

"That was my singing," Harold replied, also grinning as he dropped his pack on the floor with a thump and sat down on a stool that had castors on it for easy movement. He was on the right side of the patient and Anna sat on another mobile stool on her left. "It's why every karaoke bar in the Capital has my face on a poster by the door with 'Do not let this man sing!' printed on it," he said to the woman, getting a weak smile from her. "Let me guess," he addressed the dentist, "wisdom teeth?"

"Correct-amundo," she replied with a sigh. "They came in about two minutes after my assistant, who's a Mage Dental Intern, left for a very late lunch. You probably know that it takes two to reposition impacted wisdom teeth?" He nodded.

"Believe it or not, I've actually assisted in this procedure a few times over the years. I'm no dentist, but they showed me what has to be done." He looked into the patient's brown eyes and again gave her his winning smile. "It's similar to what we do to mend broken bones. I cast a spell to soften the jaw bone and gum enough for her to shift the tooth, nerves, and blood vessels back. She has enough room?"

"Yes, I have a big mouth and lots of room," replied Private D Clark, according to her insignia and the name band on her chest with another weak smile. "Or so my parents tell me."

"We'll have to put you to sleep for this," said Anna. "Even with the Numb spell, it's a really weird feeling and it's necessary to have you be still when we're moving teeth around."

"I understand," she replied. "I just want this pain to stop." The two Mages looked up suddenly and out the window as they felt the presence of another Mage coming rapidly towards them. It was a man in his middle twenties, holding a brown paper bag that likely contained his lunch. He obviously had detected an unfamiliar presence and hustled up the walkway and in through the door.

"I hope I haven't missed anything," he said in a surprisingly deep, mellow voice as he squeezed in past the Sergeants.

"You're just in time to get a hands-on lesson in shifting impacted wisdom teeth," said Anna cheerfully. "Since we happen to have had a Healer appear at exactly the right time, you can do the work, I will supervise, and he will work the gum and jaw."

"Which is what I would have been doing were he not here, and I'd have missed out," he said cheerfully as the patient gave him the full force of sad puppy eyes. He was a tall, handsome fellow with dark brown hair in a stylish, short haircut, bright blue eyes, a medium-sized nose and a wide, easy smile. "I'm Walter Blackburn," he introduced himself, first to Harold, then the Sergeants, and finally the patient.

"You two should go out for a walk for about an hour," said Anna firmly to the Army personnel. "It's Beltane Eve and we need to be able to concentrate on what we're doing even more than usual."

"That makes sense," said Master Sergeant Markin. "This would cease being interesting in about five minutes."

"See you later, sweetheart," said First Sergeant Clark. "She's our daughter," she added for the others' benefit.

"She's in excellent hands," said Harold helpfully. They nodded, left the room, and shortly after were out the door and heading down the walkway. "Ready to go to sleep now, Ms. Clark?" She nodded, looking a little apprehensive, and he smiled reassuringly at her as he cast the spell and tapped her temples and she closed her eyes, exhaled, and was asleep even as Anna was casting the Window spell to summon what looked like a two-foot-square pane of glass, which she quickly shrank to a more manageable size of one-by-one foot. Harold and Walter moved over to her side, with Harold surrendering his mobile stool to the Dental Apprentice and taking a wooden one that was in the far corner. Anna zoomed in the view to show the back molars and they both whistled.

"No wonder the poor girl is in so much pain," Walter murmured. At Anna's direction, Harold cast the bone softening spell just behind the lower wisdom tooth, carefully adjusting the consistency until it was just right, while she cast the Numb spell. "Nicely done, Healer Harold," he added.

"Lots of experience fixing broken bones," he replied. "Too much experience." Walter had learned the technique in school, of course, and had had some practice manipulating teeth in the Practice Skull, but the shifting of a tooth also requires moving and stretching the blood vessels and nerves that support it, and it was much harder to find subjects on whom to practice. After a bit of a shaky start, with Anna providing guidance and Harold offering encouraging noises and a calming presence, he quickly got into it and within the hour, all four of the offending teeth had been shifted back a few millimetres and top and bottom aligned, which had required Harold to soften the bone under both simultaneously. All three of them had cursed at one time or another as they felt the weird hiccups and shifts in the Magic that had required them to clamp down on their spells. Harold was just releasing the Sleep spell as patient's parents returned to the walkway and marched in step up it. Her eyelids fluttered as they walked in, with the floor creaking slightly under their weight.

"How are you feeling, Diana?" her mother asked, looking a bit concerned.

"A bit woozy, and my mouth feels weird, but it doesn't hurt any more, Mom!" Her smile could have lit up half a city block as she carefully sat up, with Anna's assistance.

"No sign of caries or gingivitis," added Walter as they got her to her feet. "You're taking excellent care of your teeth." She batted her eyelashes at him and giggled, provoking a throat-clearing and stern look from her father, which just got another giggle.

"This is why we do what we do," said Harold with a tired smile of satisfaction. "You'd better eat that lunch before I do," he threatened Walter, who hastily rescued his bag from the floor beside his pack. "Mmm, smells like curry. Where'd you get it?" It had gotten cold while they'd worked, but a judicious modification of the Ignite Fire spell could easily fix that.

"It's at Mel's Diner, about two blocks down the street. Great food at really good prices." They noted the transfer of eight Sovereigns from the parents to the Dentist.

"Let's go to the front desk where Marie has the insurance forms ready for you," she said and they all trooped out, with Harold hauling his pack onto his back and clipping the belly band and band that connected the shoulder straps across his chest, then grabbing his staff from the corner in which he'd leaned it. "Army Medical covers about 80%, if I recall correctly."

"I'll be getting on my way," said Harold as they gathered in the small lobby. "I have to get to the Magic School to collect a prize, then get myself back to the Coach Terminal so I can get home."

"We're actually heading to Central Barracks, which is right across the Grand Park from the School," said the First Sergeant automatically. "As I'm sure you'll remember," she added with an eye roll. "I'm Susan Clark, by the way." They shook hands.

"I'm Larry Markin," said the Master Sergeant and they shook hands too. "Thank you very much, Dr. Hollerith, and Dr. Blackburn."

"Thank you, Dr. Blackburn," said Diana, giving him a hot stare.

"Ethics say no relationships with a patient for six months," said Walter smoothly, softening the statement with a bright smile, but Diana still made a complaining noise as she was guided, or perhaps pushed, out the door, by her parents.

"Wait, Harold, this is for you," said Anna, pressing a Sovereign into his hand. "You did excellent work there with the softening. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Wow, thank you very much!" he said in genuine surprise, making the coin disappear into his right pocket. "I wish you both all the best. You will do very well at this, Walter," he said, offering Respectful Bow #2 to each of them. With a friendly wave, he plunked his well-worn, broad-brimmed, sand-coloured hat on his head and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He blinked in the bright sunlight as his eyes adjusted to being outdoors again, yawned and stretched to relieve his aching muscles.

"We passed the time by going on a walk around the neighbourhood," said Susan, "and all the locals recommended Mel's. We know how working with Magic makes a Mage hungry." Harold's stomach grumbled loudly, making all four of them laugh. He hadn't eaten since the last stage post before entering the Capital, and the work he'd done had been draining.

The four marched down the sidewalk and the people there moved around them automatically. Harold noted that Larry was about his height and Susan and Diana just a bit shorter. All three wore hats with bills out front that, like the clothes under their armor, had a green, tan, and black camouflage pattern. All three were physically fit, with their hair cut short in Army fashion, and Diana for sure was easy on his eyes, but he was thankful that the Code of Ethics also prevented him from getting entangled with her, as he really didn't want to get involved with two top-tier Sergeants.

The aromas that greeted them when they opened the door to Mel's had them all drooling. It was now 5:30 and the start of the dinner session, and the place was full, but a table for four was conveniently just being vacated as they arrived, and they were seated once it had been cleared. Unsure if the Deity who'd directed him to Dr. Hollerith's office was somehow responsible for this, Harold whispered thanks under his breath, masked by the noise of the other patrons and their getting themselves arranged. The waitress, a sturdy blonde with a professional, if somewhat harried, demeanor appeared and accepted requests for coffee and water after handing them menus.

"I haven't been able to eat properly for a week," said Diana as she scanned hers. "I could eat this table, or at least the parts that you don't," she added to Harold, who grinned back. The waitress reappeared with their coffee, took their orders, then returned to the open kitchen window to hand them in to the ordered chaos behind it.

"You wouldn't recognize us, I'm sure," said Larry as they sat back and waited for their food to arrive, "but we were in a company on the left side of the line and were under some serious pressure from the Carcosans when you broke them with that awful noise. Was that some sort of Magic? We've always wanted to know."

"I have been afflicted with a weird curse of some sort since birth," Harold replied, sipping his coffee, which he'd kept black and was very good. "It has made me unable to produce anything musical at all. My singing efforts are discordant, and every musical instrument produces the weirdest noises when I try to play it. All the Professors at the Magic School tried to figure it out at one time or another, but the only thing that they could conclude was that the spell must be at a Deity level or higher because they just couldn't see the Magic behind it."

"Why would a Deity want to curse a baby?" Susan asked as they all looked confused.

"Deities work within their own set of rules," he replied, rubbing the thinning hair on his head. "They play the long game, manipulating things behind the scenes for whatever purposes they have. Having me there, at that time and with that ability, may have been a part of their plans." He shrugged. "It's annoying and occasionally inconvenient, but it also makes me able to stand in at theatres for the sound effects people and do comedy acts in bars when I need some coinage to get something to eat."

"It probably helps when the patrons are a little drunk," commented Diana, looking hopefully at the waitress emerging from the kitchen with a serving tray and Harold nodded in agreement. The portions were generous, the food and beer were good, and all four of them adhered to the unofficial Army policy of not wasting time talking when food was in front of them. Fifteen minutes later, it had all been inhaled and they were sitting back in their chairs, burping contentedly. The waitress then hustled by and dropped the bill on the table, whose amount raised eyebrows.

"No, you don't need to pay a penny," Larry insisted as Harold reached into his pocket. "We'll find a way for the expense account to cover at least some of it." The waitress seemed motivated to get them moving, as there was already a line at the door, so they settled the bill, added a generous tip, and were back on the street about forty-five minutes after they'd entered.