Paul Kater - Bactine

Daniel looked at the book. The leather was old and beaten, and many-coloured. The letters in the leather were faint, but clear enough: ‘Litany’. “Thank you, sir. Sygra.”

The senator nodded with a smile. “I will lend you the book. Hand it back when you feel you are finished with it, Daniel.”

They ate in silence for a while.

“I heard something interesting from my servants,” Sygra said. “Did you play with Kernak?”

“Yes. I did. She invited me. Pulling a stick. She is one strong animal, sir- Sygra.”

Sygra smiled. “Yes. She is strong. Amazingly so. It is good to know that she likes you so much. When Rayko is well enough, I will introduce her to Kernak also. I am quite convinced Kernak will appreciate her as well.”

“Appreciate?”

“Ah. You do pay attention, Daniel. Yes. Kernak can accept many, but appreciate only few. She appreciates you. Enough to play with.” That was all Sygra wanted to say about it, because whatever Daniel said, he would not divulge more.

In the small library they enjoyed a glass of wine, when Sygra said: “I really hope that the preacher has time to see Rayko before she goes to sleep, Daniel.”

“Do you think that is a good idea?”

The senator just nodded. “Go. Change. Talk to her. She’s had a rough time. Ask her. Let her talk. Get to know her. And do not ask her name. A preacher works in anonymity.”

Daniel was not all fine with the idea, but he decided to follow the lead that Sygra gave him. Silently he moved through the corridor and changed into the preacher’s outfit. Then he walked to Rayko’s room and gently knocked. “Hello?”

“Who is there?” The voice was stronger.

Daniel opened the door and came in. “It is me,” he whispered. That seemed to work.

“Preacher…” She sounded really happy with the visit. “Will you sit with me for a while?”

“Naturally.” Daniel sat down, to her side, so the hood would certainly cover his face. “How do you feel now?”

“I am better than this morning. It is still painful, but… better. I am grateful for good friends, preacher.”

Daniel held out his hand. She put hers in it. “Do you want to speak about what happened?”

Rayko nodded. “I want to. But I don’t know if I can say everything, preacher…”

“Say what you can, and hold for yourself what is too painful.” Daniel wondered where the words came from. Maybe the hood and the clothes were enchanted. He suppressed the silly chuckle. This was not the moment for that.

“I have been thinking,” Rayko said. “About my life so far, and what happened in the last days. I have had terrible fights with my father about some things I heard. And what I cannot understand is this horrible man… How he gained access to my room I still don’t know. I was reading, and then he was there. He put something against my face, and…”

Daniel felt how her hand squeezed his. Her shoulders showed him she was crying, even though she made no sound. He wondered if it would be preacherly to put an arm around her, as he felt sorry for her. Before he could make a decision, her crying stopped.

“If it had not been for Mr. Zacharias, I don’t know how long I would have been left there, in that filthy cellar…” Her fingers still held on to Daniel’s hand. “Maybe I should thank him. I do not recall if I did…”

Daniel almost said something as himself. He couldn’t. Shouldn’t. “Give it time. You have gone through shocking experiences. You need to take time to accept them, work through them and leave them behind. They cannot be undone, but they can make you a stronger person.” The words came by themselves. He had heard something like them from a psychologist once, on star base, as he was being prepped for a mission.

“I don’t feel stronger, preacher,” she said, as she looked at him.

“It will come. Zoroon and Skarak were not built in one day. Nor will you recover from everything in one day.” Daniel improvised with an old Earth saying and hoped it would not sound ridiculous. “Maybe you should sleep now. Work on recovering. On rebuilding yourself.”

Rayko nodded. Her hand slipped from Daniel’s and dropped onto the bed. “Yes. I am tired.” She tried to pull up the covers and groaned.

Daniel got up and bent over. He reached down and pulled up the covers. “Is this enough?” He noticed the gentle scent, as of flowers, that rose up from her.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Daniel’s face got hot as he noticed how she tried to see who was inside the dark hood. He hoped, calling upon fire and brimstone, that the candle cast enough shadows to hide his face.

“Would you please blow out the light for me?” Her voice sounded weak and sleepy suddenly.

Daniel blew out the candle that was on the small table. He could now barely see her as some light from the corridor came in. “Sleep well.”

“Sleep well, preacher…”

Daniel turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. His mind now had even more to round around with. He went to bed and had the strangest dream during his sleep, filled with bombs and cellars crashing down on him, and a bed of flowers to rest in.

“Mr. Zacharias…” Someone was shaking Daniel gently but persistently. “Mr. Zacharias…”

“What…” Daniel refused to leave the flowerbed, but the hand on his shoulder was stronger.

“Miss Dandra ko Galem asks to see the preacher, sir. The senator is sorry to wake you, but the lady is in low spirits.” The man, who was still shaking Daniel, spoke with an urgency in his voice that Daniel could not ignore.

“Okay… give me a moment…” He got up as the servant left the room and waited for Daniel in the corridor. Daniel became the preacher, yawned, rubbed his face and stepped out of the room. As they walked to the room where Rayko was, Daniel made sure the hood was properly hiding his face.

There was a lot of light in the room. Sygra was there, wearing a dark long housecoat. “Ah… preacher…” he said as Daniel entered.

Daniel looked at the woman in the bed. Her face was all sweaty, her eyes looked strange.

“Preacher,” she whispered, holding out a hand for him.

Unsure what to do, Daniel sat down on the bed and took her hand. It felt warm. Too warm. “What is wrong? How can we help you?” He turned to Sygra. “Has a doctor been warned?”

“Yes. The doctor is on his way,” Sygra said.

“I am so warm, preacher…” Rayko whispered.

Daniel felt her cheek, it was burning with fever. “Bring cool water and towels,” he said, disregarding the fact that he was actually commanding the senator as well. “And something easy to drink.”

The two servants both quickly left.

Daniel carefully used the sleeve of his brown tunic to wipe the sweat from Rayko’s face. As he did so, she took his hand with both her hands and lay it against her cheek.

“Please… one moment…” she whispered.

Daniel’s hand was cool against her face, he felt the difference too. He bent over and put his other hand over her other cheek. A flash of his dream came back to him as he smelled her flowery scent again, even through the heat of her sweating.

One servant returned, carrying a bowl of water and several towels. Daniel slowly took his hands away from the warm face, stuck a towel in the bowl and cooled her face with it.

“Why didn’t you do this already?” he asked the servant.

“She only wanted the preacher, sir,” the servant apologised. “We wanted to but she refused.”

Daniel bit away a remark that a hurt and feverish girl did not have to refuse anything, but again, this was not the time to do that.

The doctor was brought into the room. “Oh dear, this looks serious,” he said.