PANTERA - Sara Reinke

SARA REINKECHAPTER TWO“Offer sacrifices to Aesculapius and his daughter,Meditrina, god and goddess of healing and restored health,”Abdes heard a man say quietly.With these murmured words, a stabbing, agonizingpain ripped through his abdomen, and though he tried to twistaway from it, to cry out in protest, he could not move. Hisentire body felt leaden and weak, stripped of any strength hecould muster. He was also ablaze; he couldn’t breathe for theterrible heat.“His wounds are too deep,” the man said. “I don’tdare suture. It would trap the fever in him. Watch me now—take strips of clean, undyed linen and soak in a mix of boiled,pressed basil leaves, tallow and honey. Pack the wounds withit—gently, do you see, Seneca?”“Yes, Gallus,” said another man.More pain speared through Abdes, and he managed afeeble, breathless moan. He felt a hand settle against hisforehead, smoothing his hair back from his brow. The manwhispered to him in soft, indistinguishable sounds andsomething pressed against his face, a cloth soaked in fragrant,blessedly cool water. Abdes gasped at the sensation against hisflushed, burning skin and tried to turn his face against the rag.“He won’t want to eat,” the man, Gallus, said. “Donot make him. It will only make things worse. Give him brothto drink. Plenty of fluids, as much as he will take.”Abdes opened his eyes, his vision blurred and dazed.He blinked at a man leaning over him, little more than a14