Part 86 (1/2)
He grunted ”Very well I'll look at it But I told you, I have no ic to cure wounds They can baffle our best atte Antony He voiced the usual disclai, doesn't hurt, doesn't , doesn't hurt, doesn't ht, in the fading light of dusk, he proffered his hand and let Olympos exa for a word from the taciturn physician, did Antony say, ”So I ave a noncorunt, and I could have kicked him He could be so aloof it crossed over into rudeness It was a sometimes, but not now; Antony did not deserve the treate drivers or overeager merchants
”You are supposed to be so skilled you can bring back the dead,” said Antony, in his friendly, openover the hand and sniffing it
”But themy children safely into the world, when it see with the Queen herself”
I had told Antony of the debt ed to Olympos for the lives of the twins
Finally, Olympos looked up at him, and I saw the faintest trace of a s of the dour expression He nodded slightly ”How long have you had this?” he asked
”In the last skirmish with the Parthians, just before we crossed over the boundary into Armeniaabout twenty or thirty days, I suppose I didn't notice it at first”
”Yes, that's the way these things develop,” said Oly at it ”I suppose this hurts?”
Antony atteh, but it was a thin one ”Oh, a bit--it feels like a mild torture” He juer along it
”Well?” said Antony
”Untreated, itup ”Of course, it would leave a large scar, and the hand would always be stiff”
”And treated?” Antony was clenching his fist, then stretching out the fingers, like solove
”It would be very painful,” said Olyhtiest voice You certainly don't want that You certainly don't want that, his tone implied ”I would have to cut away all the darkened flesh It is dying--my nostrils told me that I would have to scrape it down to the raw flesh and let it start healing fro on the size of it--it may need an old device, so old no one uses it anymore--a tin pipe so it can drain--”
”Then do it,” said Antony si Antony would demur and spare him any further involvement
”I can't do it now!” he said quickly ”I need daylight so I can see And tis as well”
”What are they?” I asked ”I will see that all is ready by tomorrow”
”Red wine that is between six and nine years old,” he said ”That has the strongest effect on fresh wounds”
Antony laughed ”Wounds have expensive tastes! Order enough that we can drink soht to drink yours beforehand,” said Olympos ”It will dull the pain--which will be considerable” He e to scare him
”I will follow your prescription, wise one,” said Antony, and Olympos smiled in spite of hi to ht, I can make a medicated stick for tomorrow”
”You don't ask for much!” I scoffed ”Myrrh at sundown!” But I would find some
The next day Olympos and Antony disappeared into a field station set up to ad I foundto the raven, who alternated caith rasping, ”Hail! Farewell! Kiss, kiss!”
When Olympos finally returned, he was drained; hisover his shoulder, looked ransacked
”Well, I've done my best,” he said ” ”But it's nasty I had to take so much flesh out that he'll always have an indentation there--assu?” Babies had been born in less ti did it take?” He sank down on a bench ”I lost track But with the wine, and the e tube--I'm quite proud of it Hippocrates used the”
”So, did you drink the wine?”
”Not me,” said Olympos ” ”And Antony--he passed the ti the oddest questions”
”Well, what?”
”He wanted to knoe did as children--when I first met you, and all that What you were like”
”I hope you didn't tell him!” Yet I was touched that he would be curious
”Only the respectable parts,” said Olympos ”I did tell him about some of our adventures--like the time ent to the embalmer's, and you lay down on the table like a mummy And the ti boat, pretending to be crocodiles”
”Now that I know more,” I said, ”it's a miracle we didn't encounter a real crocodile ourselves”
He laughed ”Those were happy days,” he said
But I knew better They had been dangerous days, and er had come not from crocodiles but from the court, where my sisters seized the crown Yet such is the stoutheartedness of childhood that ere able to put that out of our minds for an afternoon and paddle around in thememories that lasted a lifetime
”Yes, I am surprised that he would ask,” said Olyun to win hi tier think of hied hand, so bulky it looked like a bear's paw A little tin straw protruded froe and all, was to be plunged into a bucket--a bucket-- of eight-year-old Falernian every hour or so
”Does it hurt?” I ventured to ask
”Like hell,” he said jovially
”If it works, then it will be worth it,” I said
”That's easy for you to say--you didn't have to sit still while he carved you up,” he reminded me
The hand responded, and after several days, and es, Olyinal wound had subsided, and the edges were clean Olyround myrrh on it His stitches looked as neat as Syrian eold thread,” he said, ”and make it truly decorative”
Decision tio to Roth Antony told me that after much deliberation, he had decided to downplay the losses in Parthia, but not claiht victory
”It will not be dishonorable to be vague about the particulars,” he said
”But ue,' ” he repeated stubbornly ”It is no dishonor--”