Chapter 27: Can you heal a broken foot?

Koth was watching the stable roof. The icicles hanging from it had grown longer, which he believed was a good sign. The snow was beginning to melt, even though the nights were still cold enough to freeze it again. He'd been into town two days earlier, and the road had been a muddy mess. The mayor had told him that outside merchants had started showing up again. Koth was restless, eager to leave, but reluctant to go too soon. He wouldn’t mind getting caught in a snowstorm if it meant avoiding becoming a sitting target, but Irin… He sighed, he didn't want to put her through that unnecessarily. For all they knew, no one was chasing them; they hadn’t seen any signs. Then he shook his head. Even if Mohind wasn’t looking for them, his own family would be. Had it been just Jasper, Koth would have felt safer, but both his father and Mika would refuse to see reason and let it go. He sighed and kicked the snow, forgetting the large stone hidden beneath it. He swore loudly as his foot throbbed. Irin came running outside.

“What’s wrong with your foot?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he told her, not wanting to admit his foolishness. She raised an eyebrow, looking at him standing on one foot and holding the other.

“Did you kick the snow and accidentally hit the stone?” she asked.

“No,” he huffed, as if it were the most ridiculous idea ever. She snorted, clearly unconvinced.

“Come inside, and I’ll have a look at it.”

“It’s fine. Nothing to worry about,” he insisted.

“Can you heal a broken foot? How useful will you be on the road with a broken foot? What if it heals crooked?” she asked, taking his arm and placing it over her shoulders to help him inside. The gesture seemed comical, as she was so much shorter than him. Koth knew some rudimentary healing spells, mostly for stopping bleeding or curing poisoning. He wasn’t sure if he knew how to heal bones, so he let her lead him inside and sat down as she helped him off with his boot. She gently probed his foot through his sock. “Doesn’t seem broken,” she said, wiggling his big toe.

“I didn’t think it was,” he told her. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

“You could just say thank you for helping me, you know.”

“Thank you,” he said with a grumble.

“You’re welcome, I’m happy to do it. Would you like me to heal it anyway, so you don’t have to be in pain?” she asked. Koth was about to say no out of habit, then stopped, thinking it would be nice not to limp around all day.

“Yes, please,” he said. Irin smiled, bent down, and placed her hand just above his foot. He could see her lips moving, but there was no sound. A gentle breeze came into the room, and a soft glow emitted from Irin’s hand. Koth felt the pain disappear. As always, he was fascinated watching her use her magic. “All better,” she told him.

“Thank you,” he said, putting his boot back on so he could go outside and continue what he had been doing.

He came back inside a couple of hours later to help with dinner.

“It’s really dripping from the roofs today,” Irin said as she chopped the vegetables he had been peeling.

“Yes. We should start getting things ready. I want to leave as soon as the roads clear up,” Koth agreed. She nodded. “Do we have everything on the list?” he asked.

“Yes. If we supplement the food with hunting, fishing, or foraging when we can, it should last us about a month without needing to restock. Everything else just needs to be packed.” There was silence for a while.

“I’ve made some teas and herbal remedies we can sell in town. We could maybe earn enough to buy a packhorse,” Irin suggested. Koth understood her reasoning. A packhorse would mean they could carry more things and would provide an extra horse if something happened to Maximus or Glima, but an extra horse also created logistical issues. Parts of the journey would be difficult with just two horses.

“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe we sell them and keep the money instead. It will be harder to earn on the road.” For the thousandth time, Koth cursed the fact that he hadn’t known what kind of mission this would become. He hadn’t prepared to be away for months. It was supposed to be a quick and easy mission—there and back, a month tops—so that was what he had packed for. Back at home in his tower he had money, and other riches, things that would have made the journey easier, but he couldn’t access them. Both Irin and he had offered their services to the people in the village during the months they had stayed there, earning enough money to live off and save some. He just wished they had more; it would help him keep Irin safe.

“How do we handle the thing?” Irin asked. It was something Koth had thought about a lot.

“It’s best if someone has it on their person at all times. We can switch every so often,” he said. Irin nodded in agreement. “My seal is still strong, so it shouldn’t affect us, and it will be almost impossible to detect,” he added.

“It makes my skin crawl, even when sealed,” she told him.

“I can carry it all the time,” he offered. Irin shook her head.

“No, we share the burden, and we keep an eye on each other, so it won’t start to affect us in some weird way.” Koth nodded; it was the smart thing to do. The artefact had been hidden in the arch in the garden since they had arrived, and neither of them had felt any ill effects. Koth tried to think positively, telling himself it would be fine. What could go wrong with carrying an artefact probably bound to a living soul around the country while being chased by his family? It sounded easy enough. He grunted for no particular reason. Irin didn’t flinch like most people; instead, she smiled and shook her head. In some ways, living with her had been easier than Koth had feared; in other ways, it had been much harder. She was testing his self-restraint daily.