Chapter Seven - Horny Men

-Summer-

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The first thing Belbet noticed about the man was his horns. Large, curling things whose points rose just above his cheeks on each side, surrounding long, lamb-like ears and dirty white curls. The second thing she noticed was the strength in his build, although he looked quite thin, as if he were a bodybuilder who hadn’t eaten properly in a month.

The third thing she noticed was that he was favoring his right hoof (she set aside the curiosity that elicited in favor of focus), and there was a grimace on his handsome face that spoke of annoyance, or perhaps pain. When she met his eyes (surprisingly lacking the sidewise pupil of sheep and goats), it was like a jolt went down her spine.

She threw out a hand, calling her daughter to her side, and Dahnei came easily, hiding behind her mother with no issue. Her brother did the same, leaving Deenat and Eefim at Belbet’s sides, Eefim holding his sling loosely in his hand, and Deenat clutching the digging stick.

“Peace,” The ram-horned man croaked, “I’m Kaion of Elk Tribe. I seek a new tribe to join.”

Deenat spoke up first, “Greetings, Kaion. I am Deenat of -” She stopped, frowning. She turned to her sister. “We… have not named our tribe.”

Belbet startled, realizing that that was true. Their old tribe had been named Tiger Tribe, after an old chief. However, they weren’t really a ‘tribe’ anymore, in that they didn't wander. And she had been banned from the tribe, so she couldn’t use their name anymore anyway. She fell back on Victoria’s naming instincts, and spat out a name.

“Willowcliff Farm. I’m Belbet of Willowcliff Farm.” Belbet declared, “This is my daughter, Dahnei, and my son Mohniit. My sister, Deenat of Willowcliff Farm, and her son Eefim.” She gestured to each one as she spoke.

“Why do you seek a new tribe?” Deenat asked, as if the awkward naming- interlude had never happened. Her voice was hard, distrusting.

Kaion didn’t seem to mind. He tilted his head, leaning on the stick he was using to hold himself up. Belbet took a moment to consider the thick curled hair down his legs, the digitigrade limbs ending in delicate cloven hooves. Larger than a sheep’s, of course, but still delicate, and clearly hurting him somehow.

“I grew bored with my tribe, and wanted to meet others.” He said, “Perhaps sire some children along the way.”

Heat blossomed in Belbet’s cheeks at the mention, Victoria’s rather horrendous attempts at romance and Belbet’s rather… successful sexual dalliances making such an announcement too embarrassing for her. She turned and headed for the herb drying rack if only to shake off the blush. “You’re injured. Sit down, I’ll treat you, so sit down.”

Taking this as Belbet’s tacit permission for him to be here, Deenat and Eefim lowered their weapons, allowing the man to sit at their fire.

“Dahnei, bring me a cup of honey,” Belbet called. She pulled several stems and roots of echinacea off the rack, heading for the rocks. She picked through until she could find a round stone and another that had a bit of a lip to it. Taking them over to where the young man sat, she nodded in Deenat’s direction.

“Can you get some of the boiled water and heat it up?” When she got a nod in return, she reached out, “May I lift your foot?”

The ram-horned man nodded and lifted it for her. She looked underneath, where the hooves parts met, and sure enough, there was a deep redness and an odd green crust around one area. “An infection.” She murmured, “Did you get a cut here, recently?”

“...I got a rock stuck a week ago. Cut it out, but… Must’ve knicked something. It bled. I put some mud in it, to try and stop the bleeding, and that worked. But it’s been sore ever since. Getting worse by the day.” He answered, golden-brown eyes on her as she gently picked at the green goop.

“Yep, that’ll do it. Who knows what was in that mud, You needed to boil it first.” She explains, just as Deenat came forward with a bowl of freshly boiled water. Belbet crushed an echinacea flower into the water and stirred it with a freshly burnt stick. “The echinacea will help cleanse the wound of the pus and infection. The boiled water will too. It’ll take a while for this to heal since you’ve been walking on it this long.”

“Mama… Should we make Kaion a shelter?” Dahnei asked, and Belbet smiled warmly at her kindness.

“Yes Baby. Can you and Eefim work on that, please?”

“Yes, mama!” The sound of running footsteps filled her heart with glee.

“Deenat, I’m going to need a stone knife that’s been in the fire. Once it’s burnt for a while, stick it in a bowl of boiled water, then bring it to me.” She was going to have to scrape out the dead flesh and mud. She started by rubbing some of the echinacea tea into the wound, clearing away the mud and filth that could be cleared easily. “...Kaion, this is going to hurt. A lot. I’m going to have to scrape away all the dirt and dead skin.”

Kaion frowned down at her, “I am not afraid of pain.”

“Good.” Belbet turned, and Deenat placed a bowl next to her of boiled water. “While we’re waiting for the knife, can you start boiling willow tea? He’s going to need it. Add in some of these.” She gestured to the echinacea flowers. “A small handful will do, don’t use it all.”

Deenat did as she was told, and Belbet went back to cleaning the wound with the infusion. Soon, the knife was cleaned as well, and she picked it up. Taking it to the wound, she ignored the hiss of pain from her patient, as she scraped away mud, dried blood, and puss. She scraped the grossness into the bowl of water, and only when she began to see pink flesh, did she have Deenat switch the bowl for another clean boiled one.

It took a bit, but she got to the source of the problem. “Ouch. Okay. So, this is an abscess.” She pointed to the pocket of puss and infection buried under his skin. “It will poison you slowly if we do not open and clean it out. It could very well kill you.”

“Do what you have to,” Kaion grunted through his teeth. Deenat came forward, then, with a new bowl and handed it to Kaion.

“Drink this.” Belbet’s sister insisted, “It will numb the pain, and help healing.”

Kaion started at it, before taking it and drinking it down. If he thought it was too hot, it didn’t show on his face, which Belbet had to admire. He handed back the empty bowl, and then Belbet got to work. She knew from Victoria’s experience having a minor abscess removed that it was best to get the pocket of puss out without breaking it. But she was no surgeon or doctor, so she was pretty sure she wasn’t skilled enough to do that.

So, she’d have to do the next best thing. She had Deenat prepare another bowl of echinacea tea. Once it was prepared, she slit the abscess open, and poured the echinacea tea directly over the wound, letting it carry the puss out of the cut. It was near-boiling, so the sound Kaion made was blood-curdling. She did as best she could, holding his leg still, and carefully scraping out all the muck and blood. It took ages, longer than Belbet thought it would until finally, the only thing was pink skin and the clear red of blood.

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“Good. Red blood is good. That means it’s healing.” She murmured, turning to Deenat. “The honey, and the echinacea.” Once they were in her hands, she ground up the echinacea, all of it, roots and leaves and petals, and poured them into the honey. This, she mixed until it was a paste. It was still quite runny, and she wished she had some bandages to cover it in. “I need a boiled rawhide, a clean fur, with all the fur scraped off. It needs to be cut into a strip about three fingers wide.” She demonstrated by holding up three fingers.

Deenat went to fetch it, as Belbet applied the honey poultice. Again, Kaion tried to stay silent and failed, his other leg shaking in pain. Belbet bit her lip, guilt welling up at the sight of his sweat-clammy skin. “I’m sorry. It’s going to hurt for a long while. We’ll do what we can, but this is the only way you’ll keep this limb and your life.” <

Once the strips were clean, Belbet wrapped them up, tying them hard to avoid them coming loose. “You’re not to walk on this foot until it’s healed.” She patted the top of his foot. “You’ll need to drink a cup of Echinacea tea four times a day. Willow bark tea four times a day too.”

“We’ll need to harvest more,” Deenat murmured, sighing. Harvesting herbs was her job, for the most part, and Belbet smiled her apology for putting more work on her.

“We’re done! We’re done!” Dahnei called, turning the three adults’ attention to where the children had built a wonderful little lean-to. It was close enough to the fire that he’d be warm, although it was between the campfire and the area she was making the smoker in. The children had moved the fur-drying rack, which was good, too.

Something nagged at her, as she watched Deenat and Eefim help their newcomer into his shelter. There was a reason that dosages were the way they were in Victoria’s time, and that was because medicine when used improperly was poisonous. She bit at one of her thumbnails, thinking. Victoria knew from experience that a small amount of overdosing on something like acetaminophen (such as willow bark tea) isn’t going to kill him, but over time, it could cause ulcers or even liver damage.

So how was she going to time his doses? She couldn’t even keep track of time here. She could tell noon, and she could tell dusk, but those times changed based on the turning of the world. She needed… A sundial! Snapping her fingers, she grinned.

“Mama has idea!” Mohniit declared, startling Belbet out of her thoughts. She looked down at his smiling face, his hand curled into the furs of her skirt. She gave a huff, before leaning down and ruffling his ears.

“Silly boy, what makes you think that, hm?”

“Mama face.” He replied. He let go of her skirt, lifting his hands so she could pick him up instead. She sighed, before picking up her little prince and hugging him tightly until he wiggled and laughed.

“Yes, well. Mama had an idea to help make sure the medicine doesn’t hurt Kaion.” She explained, and suddenly she had an audience. Every eye in the area was on here, and she wondered suddenly if this meant she was the leader of this little tribe. “You see, too much medicine can poison the body, like eating poison food. So we have to space out the willow-bark tea, so that Kaion doesn’t get poisoned. We’ll need to tell time. For that, I need to make a sundial. So can you kids grab me a lot of sticks?”

Dahnei nodded, grabbing Mohniit out of his mother’s arms, “He won’t walk if you carry him all the time!” She chided, before setting the whining bunny boy down. The two of them headed towards the stockpile of sticks.

Belbet sighed, watching them, before turning to her sister. “We’ve got a lot to get done, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving our guest while he’s feverish and injured. We should take turns staying in camp.” She turned to look at Kaion, who seemed to be fighting sleep. “Kaion, you’re sick. You should sleep, okay? That’s going to be the best way to break that fever of yours.”

The man grumbled, before closing his eyes and seemingly doing just that. Belbet nodded, taking Deenat’s arm and leading her closer to the river. The waterfall would cover what she was about to say. “I do not want to leave him alone with any of the children. Understand? He could hurt them while we aren’t around.”

Deenat frowned as if this idea hadn’t occurred to her. Then understanding dawned, her mouth opening and her eyes widening. “I see. ...Yes. We should watch him.”

Belbet nodded in agreement, letting her sister’s arm go. “We’ve got a lot to get done still. I can stay in camp, since I have to finish the smoker and a bunch of other stuff too. We need to work on the Storage Shed too.” She sighed, rubbing at her forehead. A headache was forming, and she wished dearly that she didn’t have to do construction today, but that was not in the cards.

Cards. That reminded her, she needed to figure out how to make some paper. Bark was okay, for crude things, but to properly optimize their food, she was going to need actual records that would last a while. But that could come later, first they needed to store food, before they could count it.

“I’ll do the gathering now, focus on the smoker.” Deenat decided, “When I come back we can work on the storehouse.” Belbet nodded her agreement, and the sisters split up. Belbet went to the clay pile, and started pulling the ash out from under the grate. The grate and walls were cold now, and when she tapped on them, solid. No cracks had occurred, which was good. So, Belbet spent several minutes mixing up the clay with some more water.

She kept one ear out for movement from their new guest, restless sounds or noises, just in case. She wanted to make sure he got better, not worse. However, only a few minutes into her task, she was interrupted by three children coming up with far more sticks than she’d really meant.

“Children, I only needed thirteen of them.” She laughed, shaking her head. Then, as they gave her that look, the one with the pursed lips and the frowning eyes, she realized they had no idea what she meant. “Look, you see how many you brought me? I only needed as many as this-” She lifted both of her hands, “And-” then she put down all but three fingers.

The children still didn’t understand, so she decided an impromptu counting lesson was in order. She gestured for the children to settle their sticks down, and then pulled out five. “This is five. Five sticks. See how many fingers you have on your hands?”

“Five!” Dahnei crowed, holding out her hand. Belbet grinned.

“Yes, that’s right. Now, how many sticks is this?” She took five more, and added them to the pile. “How many hands worth of fingers, is this many sticks worth?”

It took them a bit, but eventually Eefim figured it out. “Ten.” He stated, holding out two hands worth of fingers.

“Good job, Eefim. That’s right. Now, if I told you to add one more hands worth of sticks, can you do that?” She pointed to the pile, and let Eefim work it out. It took him a bit, and Mohniit had already wandered away to play with his half-finished blocks, but eventually, the boy added five more sticks to Belbet’s pile. “Exactly. Perfect, Eefim, you did great.”

Dahnei seemed confused, looking at her fingers and trying to count them, but she seemed stuck on what came after five. Belbet decided that she needed to start teaching the children. Perhaps a dedicated amount of time each day, that way they could at least learn counting and writing. She had no problem bringing the knowledge Victoria had to this world, and saw no reason not to pass it down.

“We’ll learn more about numbers later, alright? First we’ve got to get some chores done.” She explained, “Does anyone want to stick around and learn about time?”

The intrigue that bubbled up on their little faces made her laugh, and she had them all sit down, so she could explain how time works. “As the day passes into night, that is time. Time is spent doing things and being with others. We can break down these bits of time into smaller bits, so that we can keep track of it easier. In this case, we’re going to break an entire day, from sunrise to sunrise, into twenty four bits.”

The children groaned, Dahnei flopping against Eefim in an annoyed huff. Belbet laughed, shaking her head. “It’s okay. Since we can only really measure time using the sun right now, we’re only going to have to count to twelve to be able to tell time. So don’t worry.”

She cleared an area she was relatively sure would get sun all day. Then, she turned to Dahnei, “Can you and Eefim bring me a bunch of rocks? We need to make a circle around these sticks. We need a lot so it’s going to take you a few trips, okay?”

Dahnei nodded. Eefim, however, frowned. “Dahnei can do that. I want to know how to make that.” He pointed to the smoker, and his eyes sharpened. His rounded almost mouse-ears were pointed forward in what Belbet knew to be interest. She smiled, and nodded.

“Alright, I’ll teach you while Dahnei gets the rocks for us.”

This led to the two of them making the clay mud and pressing it into a circle around the top of the grate. They managed to get a good half arm-length wall done, and just as they were about to start rounding it out into a top, Dahnei declared she was done making the rock circle.

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