World of Ranicke 03

"I can't move right now. My back is so tense that any movement makes me see flash's of light. Just carefully pick me up and lay me on my bed after taking the gown off. Lower my pants since I am sure the healer will want to look at all of it." His arms were starting to shake and he wasn't sure how much longer he was able to stand.

The four men moved over and Solon looked at him. "This is going to hurt. Do you need something to bite?" When he nodded the male took a piece of leather and allowed him to bite on. They carefully picked up Jim and carried him to the bed and settled him down. They didn't bother with the covers and had to wince at the muffled screams from him.

Once he could talk again he started muttering. "I am not going to kill the bastard, I am not going to kill the bastard, I am not going to kill the bastard." Jim was trying to relax and calm down but he was so worked up he simply couldn't.

The warriors all turned a bit pale though they also looked very satisfied. All knew the elder and all despised him. This story was going to get passed around to all the warriors.

When the healer walked in she almost snarled but didn't. He didn't need her to be worked up as she worked on him. "Young man I heard what happened and it should have waited. Eldon is one thing but Solon was the wrong person to talk to you. They should still have waited." Her hands gently touched his back and winced. "You are so tense I am surprised you aren't screaming."

One of the warriors leaned over. "He was screaming around the leather we gave him when we moved him. Please help him ma'am." He was one of the warriors that was on the team Jim had been training with. Originally he hadn't had a high opinion of the human but he slowly gained his respect as they trained.

"Go outside youngling and he will be okay." She set her bag on the table. "I am going to use a needle treatment to help relax your muscles. That and I am going to give you a drink to make you drowsy. It is different from what you are used to."

As she was starting to pull out her items Nasha came in and looked horrified since she could smell the pain he was in. "Oh Jim what happened." She settled on the far side and wasn't sure what to do. He solved that by grabbing her hand.

"Just hold on please." He pressed her hand against his cheek and tears were leaking out as hard as he tried not to. "God damn it this hurts." It was one of the first times he had really admitted to pain. Yes he had groaned before and clenched his teeth but this was the first time he was almost breaking down in front of them.

"Son drink this please and take slow deep breaths and it will help." One of her helpers gave him something to drink and he sucked it down as fast as possible. "I am going to be using some techniques to help relax your muscles which should help the pain. It is going to take a bit of time but you will feel better soon." The drink she had given him was going to relax the muscles and also put him to sleep.

It took a bit of time for him to start relaxing and finally fell asleep. Once he was she pulled the needles out and carefully inserted the in the meridian points in his back, hips, and shoulders. There was a few in his hands as well. Right about then Sorrel came in as well as Nora.

Both women waited for the healer to finish what she was doing. "Go ahead and sit down but don't jostle him. He is going to be asleep for a while and the treatment needs time to work as well. I will be back in a few." In the chief's tent she heard Moran speaking in a low but angry voice. She was going to have her say as well.

The elder was standing in front of Moran and was looking totally unconcerned. From his ears she could tell that he wasn't quite as unconcerned as he was acting. "And what gives you the right to give me orders? I am an elder." His voice was dripping vitrol.

Moran advanced towards him and held up his heavy silver and gold necklace. "Do you recognize this? Do you? What does it signify?" His voice was hard and cold.

Solon tried not to show anything. "Yah, it means you are chief of the rest of the clan. It does not give you power over me Moran. I am an elder and that is all there is to it." His voice was bored.

Moran almost slugged him again. "What it does give me is the right to pass judgment when you have broken tribal law. You entered a tent without permission, you threatened an injured clan member, you denied him his food and medicine. I know this because I heard the entire conversation."

"Well you should have also heard him threaten me with bodily injury." It was sort of pathetic but he was going to stand up for himself.

"After you called his wounds minor and pathetic." He was getting ready to say anything else the healer moved forward.

"Minor my ass you pompous ass. You want to know just how minor his wounds are?" She couldn't heal the way the White Lady could but she could show the pain. Before Moran could stop her she rested her hand on his shoulder and showed him just how much agony Jim was in at the moment. "Minor my fucking ass. If you come near him again you will regret it." That was a snarl. "Oh, and you can recover by yourself." She stalked out of the tent and back over to Sorrel's tent.

When she impressed the pain on him he collapsed in agony and screamed. It was all he could do to even vaguely move. Moran had never seen that power before but each healer had their own powers and to be honest he felt the bastard deserved it but he was going to need to talk to her.

Moran was more than startled but he didn't let it stop him. "You are to report to the women's tent to learn your manners again. You will be there till such time as they approve your actions." His voice was hard. "You are no longer an elder till such time as you prove yourself worthy." He called out the tent. "Warriors take him to the women's tent and make sure they are to know he is not to receive any treatment and I expect weekly reports."

The warriors picked him up and weren't all that gentle with him. Unlike Jim he screamed and squealed as they drug him off for his punishment. As they were dragging him off a number of the tribe watched and outright laughed at his punishment since they had heard much of what had been going on. "Oh shut up. If Jim can take it and he is a human you should be able to." One said.

~~~

Jim finally woke up and for a moment tensed up and then realized that it wasn't hurting nearly as bad as it had been. "God that hurt." He squeezed their hands and looked sort of startled to see Nora in there as well. "You didn't need to stay here. I was well taken care of by the healers."

The old lady sighed. "Well if nothing else you keep me busy young man. You are going to need to stay in bed tonight till you are totally relaxed." She ran her fingers down his back and sighed. "Your back was so tense I am surprised you didn't pull a suture out." She stroked his head. "Not sure why but you almost make me think of one of my son's. You had better not hesitate to call if you need me." She handed Sorrel some more meds. "He needs to sleep alone tonight."

He was taking slow deep breath and focused on relaxing. While he was doing that Moran came in and settled down next to him. "I am so sorry Jim. If I had known who they were going to send I would have stopped it. He really isn't the right time to deal with you." Since he knew his back hurt so much he rested his hand on his forearm. "He has been dealt with though there might be some complaints about your offering to show him what your wounds felt like." There was a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Chief I am sorry for that but he had denied me my meds and food and the angrier I got the more my back hurt." He glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. "I will take whatever punishment is required. I apologize for my threat and nothing can account for it." He has his honor and he was going to respect it come hell or high water.

Moran nodded. "If it comes to that then I will give you what you deserve. It will be after you are healed. Now I am going to let you eat and take your meds before my daughter brains me." He squeezed his arm. "Getting better soon son. The warrior master wants to talk to you." Moran left the tent.

~~~

The next morning he was feeling somewhat better but ended up getting help to the bathing area. "At least I can soak for a bit." It had been long enough since he had been injured that he could soak for a few. One thing he noticed was that the warriors that had helped him stayed close and waited for Sorrel to get him undressed.

They helped him into the water and Jim sighed. "I think I can get in myself guys." He grumped at them though it meant a great deal to him that they were helping him.

Thomas laughed. "If you fell or tripped Sorrel would get us back and that is a horrible ideal." Once Jim was in the water they stripped down and slid in as well and started getting clean. "Man I wish I had someone cute like Sorrel helping me get clean." Thomas commented.

Hanzel laughed. "Maybe if you weren't such a schmuck you might find a cute young thing to wash your back." He was laughing at Jim as he turned bright red.

"Oh go to heck you two. When I am better I am going to kick your butts." Jim laughed slightly. "You are just jealous pansies." He leaned forward as Sorrel carefully washed his back. A few moments later Nasha climbed in and started on the chest. "Oh my, I feel so special now." He got dirty looks from the two warriors.

Nora came in and frowned. "Well shoot I was hoping to help as well. Maybe tomorrow." She stripped down and settled down to start cleaning.

Thomas glowered at him. "Jim I hate you right now. Kick my butt my ass. I am going to kick yours." After a moment he looked at the ladies. "Just what did you do to get three lovely ladies paying attention to you?" He smiled at Nora. "Well Nora I can see but Sorrel and Nasha? I want to know your secret."

All laughed but Jim finally slid out of the water and carefully stretched. "When I find out I will let you know... then again maybe not." He was helped out by the ladies and settled for soaking his legs in the hot water. His back just wasn't ready for it. "Well I need to get something to eat and then find Master Eldon." That got a reaction and he looked startled. "He wants to learn music from my world."

One of the warriors reached over and looked at the bracelet. "This says differently. You are his apprentice. I will need to let the warrior master know." To lose him would be a horrible loss.

Jim gently pulled his arm back. "In a way I am yes but he is only going to have me for part of the day. Then I am going to work with the children and once I am healed I am going to start back with my training in the afternoon." He was not going to change what was his pattern.

Thomas looked at him. "But nobody has more than one job or skill." Jim had proven his skills.

"Thomas I have been doing both teaching the children in the mornings and after lunch working with the warriors. Now if they want to add another job I might scream." He reached over and grabbed Thomas's arm. "Please don't worry. I enjoy the work I have been doing." He sighed. "I almost don't want to go home. I have several lovely ladies that care for me. I have some good friends who like to give me bruises. I am useful by teaching some of the children some of the music I know and I am learning how to protect the tribe."

Thomas gave him a warriors shake and Dan walked over to the towels and carefully toweled off before getting dressed. "Later guys. I have to get something to eat and take my meds." He walked away standing as tall as he could and since the ladies were still bathing he got some food and settled at a table and started eating. As he was he felt a bit odd greeting strangers as they walked past. Once he was done he tossed back his meds and then headed to the tent and grabbed both cases and headed to the music tent.

When he walked in there was a different person in there. "Have a seat and get warmed up and Eldon will be here shortly." His voice was brusk but not harsh. It was more that he was interrupted as he was teaching several students.

Jim nodded. "Yes sir." He settled across the tent from where they children were. He pulled the gitturn out and carefully made sure it was in tune before setting it aside and pulled the other instrument out. He considered it and then tuned it to his pitch and set it back in the case. Once done he pulled the Gitturn out and took his time and worked his way through all the chords he knew.

Once he was done he waited for the students to finish and leave before warming up with the other instrument. The other male frowned at him. "Your instrument is out of tune. You need to adjust it."

Right about then Eldon walked in. "Morning Journeyman. He is actually teaching me how they play where they come from and I am going to teach him." He smiled at him. "Thank you for watching over my apprentice." He had another case similar to the one for the six string. "I have another of the same style of instrument and I am going to show you how to tune it to our pitch. That way you don't have to keep changing and before you worry about it this is just a generic instrument."

He set the case down. "Are you going to be okay to play after yesterday?" He had heard about disagreement with the elder and was worried about him.

Jim's face hardened. "If something like that slowed me down I wouldn't be worth my salt." He looked away for a moment. "I might not be able to do too much though." That admission hurt.

"Relax Jim what you can do is fine. I talked to the healer and as long as you don't push yourself you will be fine. Now let's tune the student corwith and then I will show you the basic chords." He showed Jim the pitch for the strings and then started with the simple chords. "This is actually one of the harder instruments to learn."

Jim looked at him and tried to figure out if he was joking and not but couldn't really tell. "Um, okay, not sure what to say. I found the twelve string pretty hard to get used to." Just because he could he knocked out a riff similar to the one from Back to the Future. When he looked up Eldon was giving him an odd look.

"Not sure what that was but interesting. Not quite what I was looking for and a twelve string? Any reason you do things by sixes?" They tended to do it by fives since they have five fingers. The six string instrument was an experiment and he had learned it for his masters level. This human played it as if he had been born with it in his hand.

Jim sort of shrugged. "I couldn't really tell you but not all our instruments have six strings. Some have four strings, lap harps can have a varying number and same for the floor harp." As he was talking his fingers were lightly fingering the strings in the various chords. "So how do you want to do this sir? I teach you and you teach me?" He really had no idea how their relationship was supposed to be.

Eldon considered it and then nodded. "I think what we will do is teach each other every other day. On the days we aren't learning I am going to teach you one of the wind instruments. That is the only thing that you really need to earn your journeyman status. After that it is simply a case of learning the various teaching songs." He flashed him a grin. "Well and how to read our musical notation."

Jim made a face at that and then grinned. "That always was my weakness. I learn by listening easier than reading sheet music." More crap to learn. "So what wind instrument do you want me to learn or do you want me to see which feels best?"

"Why don't you take a look through the instruments and try fingering them and see which feels right in your hands. That is usually a good way of telling if the instrument will work for you." He settled down in a chair and was quietly strumming his instrument as Jim walked around the tent.

It sounded like a sort of odd way to find an instrument but shrugged slightly and looked at the various instruments. Very few were made of metal and those were off to one side. He stroked some of them and frowned. Others just didn't interest him what so ever and he walked past. For some reason he picked up a flute looking instrument and it fit his fingers very well. Without thinking he lifted it to his lips and lightly blew into it and had to smile. It had a deeper tone than he had expected.

"Well I think you have found one that will work for you. Before you start learning it I am going to start teaching you our notations." He pulled out some scrolls and waved Jim over. Since Jim was teaching the kids he didn't spend the entire morning teaching him. "Okay, that is a good start and here is a starter book. As you feel fit at night start working your way through it."

As Jim left the tent he felt like he was loaded down. He had the two Luterns, the flute thing, and the student's manual for learning the notes and pitchs. When he finally arrived where the kids normally met and sighed. There were even more kids and he wasn't sure just how many more he could handle. "Okay kids I am going to have to put my foot down. There are almost many for me to really teach."

Someone had brought a stool for him to sit on and they were staring at all the things he was carrying. One of the older boys gasped and reached over and lightly grasped his hand and stared at the bracelet. "Master Eldon took you on as his apprentice? Oh wow." The boy showed him his bracelet. "I am Journeyman Lonon's apprentice."

Jim shook his head at the boys reaction. "He seemed to indicate that he was taking me on so I can teach him things from my world as well as things from your world." He sighed. "I don't have my Gitturn so it is going to be somewhat different." He grinned when he pulled it out and they all oogled it. "This is tuned to my world and here is a song for you." He couldn't resist playing Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry.

The kids started clapping when he was done and he noticed a few frowns from the adults since it was such a different style even though there was nothing offensive in it. He winked at them and proceeded into Rocky Mountain High by John Denver. As he was singing it he met the eyes of the adults and had to smile since he enjoyed the song so much.

Eventually he was done. "That is one of my favorite songs and on a bad day can make me feel better. I hope all of you enjoyed it." Once he was finished the adults started moving on and he turned back to the children. "Feric would you mind teaching me one of the training songs you were teaching them? I need to learn them as well."

The boy lowered his ears at being asked by Jim to teach him something. He was Eldon's apprentice a warrior, and heaven only knew what else as he aged and learned about the clan. "Yes sir I would be honored to teach you. This is about edible fruits." Many of the kids were younger. He started playing and as he did Jim mentally ran through the fingering.

Eventually he made it back to the tent and for the moment set the instruments on the bed and the manual on the table. Since Sorrel wasn't there he headed for the communal eating area and got in line for food. Even there he was getting some looks from both the men and women. From the men there was a bit of jealousy and with the women it was interest. Once he had his plate and cup he settled down and in Spanish muttered 'just shoot me now'.

Thomas settled down across from him and gave him an odd look. "What did you just say?" It wasn't a language he recognized what so ever.

Jim simply grumbled. "Just feeling like I am being stared at and it is driving me nuts." He stabbed a thing like a meatball and munched on it. "All I did was what anyone worth their metal would do what I did. I don't feel that I deserve all the attention I am getting." He impaled another meatball and ate it. "Hell I was made a songsmith trainee or apprentice part time. What is next? I am not sure how much more I can take." He didn't want to whine but all he did was his job.