Chapter 171

"I think I'm going to be fine. I won't know until we make room for Eileiea to take the bandage off and look. It was only a flesh wound anyway and I was never in danger of dying from it."

"It was only a flesh wound, but it was very ugly and it was big. You are right it wouldn't have killed you, but if it festers you could become very sick and could even die from that. Let us make room to check the wound now," she said.

My mates all pulled back a little until I could lie on my side so Eileiea would have room to get the bandage off. She took her time with it but soon enough my wound was revealed.

"It is not festering and it looks much better than I thought it would. It is healing very well," she told us.

I convinced them to let me out of bed then. Jaada, Geera, Dalia, Shelalliea, and Delia headed for the kitchen to start the coffee and breakfast while Xailieta and Margeeta went over to see about Baatiea and Beetiea. Yareela and Yaroola said they were going to sit in Deimeta's room, watching over her until she woke. The rest of them took me to the bathroom and gave me the most careful shower I'd ever even heard of.

When I was clean and dry they took me back to the bedroom where Eileiea put a new bandage on my leg. The others then dressed me for the day and led me out for coffee and later breakfast.

The worries my mates had harbored about my well-being were reflected in the quantity and quality of the things they brought for my breakfast. The initial serving required two plates and a bowl and it included ham, bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, and maple syrup. On my best day I couldn't have hoped to eat it all and I told them this.

"We wanted to make sure you had plenty of everything, eat what you want and the pigs will enjoy whatever you don't want," Dalia told me.

The pigs were going to eat well this morning because I could see at least enough for two more servings over in the kitchen.

I wondered what time it was and how long it would be until the sun came up. There was no way to tell from inside the cave and I wasn't going to get up from the bounty in front of me to go look outside. I knew it must be early though because no one else had come in to eat yet.

"Does anyone know how long it will be until sunrise?"

"I don't think the sun will be up for another hour at least," Kateata said.

"Good, I'm getting an early start then."

"You are going to stay still and rest today aren't you?" Maia asked.

"No. I am going to go out and find the two who slipped away yesterday and I hope you and Merita will bring the wolves to help me."

"Eileiea, please tell him not to go out with his leg still wounded," Gema said.

"It won't do any good to argue with him. He will do as he pleases. Anyway, his wound is already in much better shape than we could have hoped for. In fact I can't believe it has done so well already.

"If it were anyone else, I would expect them to be lying in bed moaning and feverish now. I don't know whether it was the spirits or not, but John's wound is nearly healed," Eileiea said.

"In that case I will be ready to go as soon as you are. The two of them not only injured my mate, but nearly killed our precious Deimeta, I am ready to get my hands on them," Dieta said.

"You and Ameliea are welcome to come with us if you really want to, and I assumed most of you would want to join me, but if Shatalto lived through the night someone will need to stay with him while I am gone today. He needs to be reminded often of the pain and suffering he will soon be going through."

"That would be an even better way to spend the day, he lived and he is tied up in the practice cave right now with all the wolves watching him. I think Merita made them understand they weren't supposed to bite him very often. I think he was confused at first when the wolves who had never bothered him before were suddenly very angry any time he moved even the tiniest bit," Ameliea said.

"That will probably be the least of his surprises. Did you look at his leg Eileiea?"

"Yes, his knee was destroyed. Jalayla did a good job of stopping the bleeding and after you fell asleep Raalto, Racaato, Bigglieo and Barago held him still while Jalayla and I straightened his leg and put a splint on him.

"If he does not fester and if his lower leg does not swell and get rotten, when it is all healed I think his leg will still be nearly useless. It will probably be as if there never was a knee there," she said.

"I don't think we are going to give him enough time to heal and I don't see any point in taking the chance his lower leg might swell and rot. If you have time today you might ask Ralph to show you the best way to cut his leg off above the knee. I want him to live for a while, but I don't care whether he will ever be able to walk again or not. In fact I'm sure he will not live long enough to try."

"Very well, if that is the case then I already know how to cut off his leg, but I will need to make a special drink to make him sleep while I do it," she said.

"Eileiea, you are a healer and I am not going to ask you to inflict pain if you don't want to. I am going to ask you to consider the man you will be treating was involved in trying to kill your mate and that he didn't care if little Deimeta got hurt or killed in the process. Are you sure you must give him medicine to keep his pain away."

"Now that you mention it the medicine for pain is not necessary, but it will be better if we drive stakes into the floor and tie him to make sure that he doesn't cause himself more damage with wiggling and squirming, especially after he learns we will be cutting his leg off. It would be hard for the men to hold him still enough.

"I have already treated people who were not kind to me before they were sick or injured. I know ways to make them sorry for the previous treatment while still making sure I do my best to keep them alive," she said, with a tone that made me shiver.

"If it can wait until we get back I would like to be there while you are helping him."

"It can wait, after all, if we are going to cut the leg off anyway what does it matter if it festers and swells a little?" she asked.

I was surprised all this gruesome talk seemed to lift the spirits of my mates instead of the opposite. Apparently they weren't far enough into civilization to have a concept for the humane treatment and hopeful rehabilitation of dangerous criminals. They did possess an active thirst for punishment and revenge though and in this case I couldn't find any fault with it.

In the civilized world most people detested murders and many thought the death penalty was justified, but mostly it was an academic point to them. Most people in the civilization I'd come from were far removed from such things.