“Well?” she asked. “What’s the verdict?”
“I believe it is wise to ask Krib and Burok to start preparing this meat and tomato pie for the horde. It’s a worthy food.”
Beth burst out laughing. Sonya and Missy followed, and Abby joined in after she almost choked on a bite.
“And we have plenty of TVs, too,” he continued. “Maybe we can find a way to make them work.” He turned to Beth, who’d smeared pizza sauce on her cheek. He used his thumb to clean it, then licked it absentmindedly. “Would you like that, my love?”
“I would like that very much. My love.”
As they shared a kiss, Sonya grinned from ear to ear. If Uthar the Hunter brought pizza and cable to their town, then she saw no reason to miss the world of humans.
Chapter Eighteen
Abby was lying on a table in one of the rooms in Kinna’s house. It had been a bedroom once, but the mage had turned it into what Beth could only think of as an infirmary. The table in the middle of the room was where Kinna’s patients lay, so she could move around them, administer her potions and ointments, sing her chants, and do her magic. The walls were lined with shelves that were filled with jars, bottles, and tin boxes. Bouquets of dried plants hung from the ceiling, and the room smelled of lavender and rosemary. There were two other tables, and they were filled with books, some open, some closed, and burning candles. Beth wondered about the candles. What could their purpose be when they had electricity? Maybe it was mystical.
Kinna walked around Abby, a burning stick in hand, murmuring something in orc language. She stopped at her feet and started drawing symbols in the air. Then she moved to stand at her head and drew more symbols with her fingertips. She touched Abby on the forehead, then at the base of her throat and on her chest.
This ritual lasted a while. Beth stood in a corner, arms crossed over her chest, foot ready to start tapping with impatience. It had been a while, and Kinna hadn’t said anything. She’d just walked round and round the table, filling the air with the nasty smell coming from her stick.
Abby looked scared. She closed her eyes, opened them, moved her lips silently as if she was counting to ten. Or to one hundred. She held her arms at her sides, and from time to time, her fingers twitched. Kinna had made her remove the wig and had given her a pillow to rest her head. To say that had made Abby feel uncomfortable and close to tears would’ve been an understatement.
Kinna walked away from the table and placed the stick onto an iron cast plate. She turned to Beth and thought for a second before she spoke.
“Well?” Beth asked.
Abby realized the consultation, – or whatever that had been, – was over, and pushed herself up. She was shaking slightly, and it wasn’t because she was cold. She was afraid of what the mage was going to say. Incurable. That was the word all the doctors she’d seen had used. She was afraid of that word. Better to not hear it and not know.
“I can do it,” Kinna said. “I can treat her.”
“Oh, thank God!” All the tension in Beth’s body left, flying away like a moth in the night. “Oh, dear God! Thank God!”
The mage cocked an eyebrow. She looked slightly offended. “Your God has nothing to do with this. Thank me. When I’m done, and your sister is cured.”
Abby jumped off the table and reverently approached Kinna. “Are you sure? You... can cure me?”
“Yes.” The mage stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. “When I say that I can do it, then I can do it. It’s not very nice to doubt me, you know.”
“She’s right, Abby,” Beth said, a smirk playing on her lips. “This, she can do. She can cure cancer. The part she still has to work on is enchanting jewelry. For some reason, she keeps making them explode.”
“Hm. Funny.” Kinna was not impressed.
Abby stared at them in confusion. She couldn’t yet wrap her head around the fact that she was going to be cured. For real. And forever.
“I’m sorry. I don’t doubt you... I would never...” The mage scared her a little. But she also gave her hope. Hope like Abby had never felt before. “How will you do it?”
“There’s no point in trying to explain it to you, because you wouldn’t understand. It will take time, though.”
“Time? How much time?”
“I don’t know. We will see. I will need to see you ever day, and I will perform various rituals that will take a few hours. It’s hard, tedious work, and you’ll have to be patient.”
“I can be patient.”
“And you will have to take the potions I prepare for you. You will take them at exact hours, and you will not miss a single one.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“Good.” Kinna gave Abby a smile. It was open and genuine, the kind of smile that didn’t grace her features often. “Go settle in, now. Come to me tomorrow at dawn.”