John Ringo - There Will Be Dragons

“Graveyard dirt?” Edmund said then shook his head. “The point is, maggots do work. We just have to worry about secondary infections.”

“What about…” Sharron said, creasing her brow. “What about finding a handful in… something and washing them?”

“Ugh!” Daneh replied. “I think I’d rather let the flies land.”

“Gangrene is an anaerobic infection anyway,” Edmund said. “Keeping the wound open would help more than hurt, I think.”

“Is there any way to… get more oxygen to it?” Sharron asked.

“Not short of a hyperbaric chamber,” Daneh replied. “Or some way to separate out oxygen, which is a high-pressure, supercold method. I’m not even sure it would get past the pressure protocols.”

“Sheida?” Edmund asked.

“She’s refused to give up any power so far,” Daneh said exasperatedly. “She has enough to go gallivanting all over, but none for medicine !”

Edmund shook his head at her in a meaningful way then sighed. “I think the maggots are the only choice.”

“That and some minor bacteriofacients I can come up with,” Sharron said. “There are some herbs. I can make up a wash pretty quickly. It won’t be as good as antibiotics but it will help some.”

“Do it,” Daneh said. “Please. And we need to get you a lab set up. Edmund?”

“I’ll see the glassier about getting the appropriate materials,” he grimaced. “He’s gonna love this on top of everything else.”

“Tell him that he might need it soon,” Daneh replied sharply. “That should center his thoughts nicely.”

“Sharron knows other herbs and medicines as well,” Talbot noted, carefully. “Including tansy.”

“Not something I recommend, short of absolute necessity,” the woman interjected. “It’s terribly dangerous from all I’ve heard. But there are others. I have some poppy seeds so as soon as we can get some poppies growing we’ll have opiates. Strong and addicting, but there’s few painkillers that equal it. And then there’s willow bark.”

“That one I know,” Daneh said with a chuckle. “But, really, that’s about as far as I can go. That and cherry bark.”

“I think you two will get on just fine,” Edmund said. “I’ve got…”

“Other things to do,” Daneh said dryly. “That’s okay. See you tonight?”

“Hopefully,” he answered, glumly. “You’re finally back and we never see each other.” With a nod he strode briskly away in the general direction of the town hall.

“Well, you at least get to sleep together,” Sharron said with a sly wink.

“No, we don’t,” Daneh replied.

“But… well…” Sharron stopped with a puzzled frown.

“Leave it,” Daneh said then shook her head. “Let me put it this way, I may be the first candidate to try tansy.”

Sharron looked at her for a moment until she realized the doctor was serious then blanched. “Oh, my Goddess.”

The next morning there was quite a row between Cruz and Shilan. The reason Cruz had disappeared were some friendly gents running a dice game. He ended up losing every chit he had and hadn’t even had enough for breakfast. The burgeoning relationship between Cruz and Shilan was most definitely off, in her opinion. And Herzer had to wonder just what he had missed by playing the paladin.

He wasn’t able to find out, though, because Class A-5 was told off immediately to the sawmill. There was a short briefing in which they were solemnly informed that cutting and forming wood was the basis of industry in preindustrial civilization. They were so informed by John Miller, the sawmill manager, who was a somber and unsmiling man. When asked about the source of the wood, and whether it might be the basis of industry he had unsmilingly told them that any idiot could cut wood, but it took a true master to form it.

After a number of warnings about how hands and feet no longer could be regrown if you cut them off, the class was put to work sawing and forming the endless stream of logs that was coming from the surrounding forests. For the first few days all they did was move the logs, roll the logs, position the logs and eventually run them through the band saw. It was again backbreaking work using many muscles that had not been developed while cutting and there was very little time for interaction.

The class stayed in barracks a group of which had been set aside for members of the apprenticeship program who were in and around the town. The barracks were segregated by sex so Herzer was unable to determine if Shilan had actually been interested or if she had just been playing around with him. Or, as was just as likely, playing him off against Cruz. He invited her to the baths one night but she pled a rain check on the basis of extreme fatigue. Given how he was feeling, it could have been an honest answer.

The last two days they were introduced to woodworking tools, including lathing and drilling. There Miller proved that although he didn’t appear to like apprentices too much, he truly loved wood. He was a master at lathing and carving and didn’t laugh at their efforts. He simply commented that he’d been doing it for seventy-five years and couldn’t expect them to master it in one session.

At the end of the week they were paid off and only Mike got a bonus. He had shown a remarkable aptitude for woodworking and Miller had even smiled at one of his efforts. Herzer, on the other hand, could best be described as “inept.” He personally used the term “ham-handed.” When he wanted a deep chip he got small, when he wanted a small chip he got deep and when he tried to plane, he gouged. He and wood simply didn’t get along.

The first day they had been shown around the mill and seen the wooden turbine water wheel, the sprockets, the joins, and he had marveled that Miller and a few other similarly skilled craftsmen had been able to assemble it in a bare two weeks with nothing but hand tools. He didn’t have any particular envy for their mastery, but it was impressive.

As they were being paid off, he touched Shilan’s arm and raised an eyebrow. “Bath?”

“Oh, Herzer…” she said.

He held up a hand to forestall a reply. “It’s okay. I just wanted to know where we were at. Last week you seemed to imply that you wanted something more than just waving in passing.”

“Herzer, I’m kind of tired most evenings,” she said, frowning sadly. “And right now I’m just not ready for any kind of relationship.”

“Cool!” he replied with a nod. “Neither am I.”

“What?!”

“You don’t want just a casual roll in the hay and I don’t particularly want a long-term relationship,” he said with a shrug. “Cruz did, but I don’t. It’s not that I want to play the field, it’s just that I like you as a friend .”

“Oh,” Shilan said.

“I was trying to tell you without hurting your feelings. This makes it a lot easier.”

“Oh.”

“Friends?” he asked, sticking out his hand.

Shilan looked at it for a moment as if confused and then shook it absentmindedly. “Friends.”

“Hey, I plan on going to dinner with Mike and Courtney. Want to come along?”

“Uh, no,” Shilan said. “I’m going to… I’ve got to…”

“Okay,” Herzer said, waving. “See you when I see you. Bye.”

He walked over to where Mike and Courtney were waiting for him.

“So, you gonna get lucky, again ?” Mike asked.

“Nope,” Herzer replied. Now that his back was turned to Shilan he smiled evilly. “I told her I just wanted to be friends.”

Mike turned his own back and grimaced. “Ooo! Score one for guydom !”