The healer

Two days later I woke up with the sunlight streaming into my eyes through the tall floor to ceiling windows in the warm room. My head was throbbing, but I managed to sit up and look around the room. A large black stone fireplace was in the wall across the room and the pale grey walls were nearly bare. A few shelves held medical tools and medicinal supplies. At the back I noticed a large Ashwood desk with scattered papers and books.

A closet door stood ajar and I could hear someone within rustling through the shelves inside. At my left a small table held an empty bowl of what smelled like broth and an empty pitcher of water. When I swung my legs over to get out of the narrow hospital bed a wave of nausea rushed over me and I nearly fell from the bed with a loud groan as I swayed toward the floor.

My breath whooshed out of me when a sturdy body caught me and gently laid me back into the bed once more. After a few dizzying seconds my head stopped spinning and I managed to open my eyes ag