[OOC: EDITED by Johan, Wildfire and Dray on Monday 03-20-06]
As Ragnor left, Ashe closed and then bolted the door behind him. When he turned, Jarmok's concern was obvious to him.
"I knew when she had complained six hours ago of back pain that she was in trouble. Damn my blood for letting her out the door! I should’ve looked out better for her Jarmok." Ashe said as he made his way back to the bed that Kit lay face down upon. Jarmok stared on quizzically.
"She had stated that it was the result of a horse riding injury, which occurred many days ago." He laid a hand upon Kits' right cheek. "I beg to differ young one." He said kindly to his unconscious patient.
He turned his head to Jarmok, "She is burning up." He nodded towards a bench across the room. "Under that bench is a small covered barrel. Please bring it the bed."
Jarmok sprang into action, concerned for his new friend. Peering under the indicated bench, he did indeed find a small barrel there. It was surprisingly heavy as he pulled it out from under the bench, and by the time he had reached Kit's bedside with it, Ashe had already removed her tunic, and had the undergarment untied.
"Her life is far more important than her modesty. Reach under her thigh there and untie her leather skirt."
Jarmok realized that Ashe was correct. In times when one had to choose between saving a friend’s life and preserving that friend’s modesty, their life was far more important. And Jarmok had precious few real friends. He clumsily felt around where Ashe had indicated and felt a knot of leather. ‘Must be It,’ he thought.
Jarmok tugged at the loose end, but it did not budge. “Not come off.” He said as he reached with his other hand for his hunting knife.
“No, Jarmok.” Ashe stayed the outlander’s hand. “It’s no doubt a sailors knot, she is a clever girl. Pull on the loop instead. It’ll come loose” Ashe said as he had already started to examine her back.
Jarmok did so and the knot untied easily. Ashe turned away from his examination and pushed his four fingers under the top of the leather skirt. He deftly pulled down the skirt off of her slight frame, cupping the material between his palm of his hand and his thumb leaving her lower undergarment on.
With Kit exposed in full view, the two tenders could see that something internal was definitively ravaging her body.
She was still convulsing, all of her muscles seemed to be flexing in tight bands across her body as if cramping up. Worse yet, her spine appeared to be stretching towards her head, the vertebrae actually pulling skin and muscle towards it. A pool of bluish-black blood was forming under her skin in an oblong pattern across her lower back, which slightly quivered with the shaking of the muscles around it.
The heat emanating off of her was almost unnatural.
"Yes, she already has a high fever," Ashe said, as if reading Jarmok’s mind. "In that barrel are cloths soaked with an ointment that I crafted." As Ashe spoke Jarmok began to remove the cover from the barrel, anticipating the herbalist’s instructions. When he had wrested the cover from the barrel, a fine, cool, peppermint mist issued forth.
"That ointment will cool her body down.” Ashe continued. “Cover as much of her body as you can with those cloths." Ashe instructed. He then quickly left the bedside to start working at his bench. Jarmok noted that Ashe was surprisingly spry for a man of his years.
”There’s an energy coming from her.” Ashe spoke, but Jarmok didn’t know if the herbalist was talking to him, or whether he was working things out with himself. “It’s an energy I’ve not experienced for many years.” Jarmok noted the worry in Ashe's voice.
Jarmok began putting the cloths on Kit, starting with her infected area and working up her back. He looked sadly upon her pretty face and wondered if he would ever see a smile upon it again.
“Why sick?” He asked, a bolus of sadness in his voice.
Ashe sighed heavily and replied, "I wish I knew more. It has something to do with the seers though" The look on Ashe's face was of grim understanding and distant reverie.