3. What Am I Supposed To Do?

The 8 witches and sorcerers set to work immediately while the unconscious person was stripped, dried down and covered in a warm blanket, laid down on the makeshift stretcher as they went to look for herbs which were abundantly growing around the area.

They gathered self heal, feverfew, and willow as it was used to break as well as prevent fevers. It was taken down and gathered while the herbs were sparingly used.

Even if the unconscious body before them did not show any signs of fever, they felt that prevention was better than cure. The herbs were lightly pounded and grounded in a small porcelain mortar and pestle and were strained with a piece of cloth and the greenish liquid was dropped into the mouth of the unconscious person.

Goosegrass and boneset were believed to be good for healing breaks and well as cuts and lesions and it was also being lightly pounded and grounded into a paste. It was strained and the tincture was used to cover the cuts and bruises that had almost covered 65% of the unconscious person's body.

The mode of measuring an affected part of bruise or burns was according to a palm-size. A single outstretched adult palm size indicates 5% coverage for a bruise, cuts or burns. Fortunately, the unconscious person before them did not suffer any breakages except for a couple of broken ribs on the right-hand side of the body.

Hemp cloth was quickly being made and turned into a wide bandage as it was slowly wrapped around the affected body after smearing it with the tincture from the goosegrass.

As for food, these 8 people were excellent at finding edible plants, stalks and tubers and they had found several tubers which they had broken down by boiling them and mashing them up before adding other edible stalks to it.

As for the unconscious person, they made a watery kind of gruel from the tubers and used a reed stalk to transfer the cooled off gruel directly into the throat. Fish were boiled and mashed together with the tubers to give it some nourishment as well

A small bowl that could be finished off by a small child within minutes actually took a gruelling hour to complete the process to manually feed the unconscious person.

It was on the fifth day when the witches and sorcerers discovered the floating unconscious body when it started to stir with signs of recovery and regaining consciousness. Most of the swelling had gone down and they could see that the unconscious person was barely in his mid-teens.

Andy's lips were a bit parched as his eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the light and the unfamiliar environment. A sudden movement made by him in an effort to stand up shot a fierce burning pain that emanates from his broken ribs in his right side.

"Owh... Where am I?" his voice croaked hoarsely and someone attended to him and pointed out, "Take it easy, my boy. We had found you floating face-up down the river some days back. You are safe now. Don't try to move so much at this moment."

"Are you thirsty or hungry? Do you need some water?" someone spoke gently and all Andy could do was nod his head and said he just needs some water first. Drinking too much in a short while is not good so someone handed him a half cup of boiled water that had been cooled to drink slowly.

A reed straw was used to let Andy drink from it without much difficulty and after some time Andy was able to regain his focus and asked once more, "Where is this place? I thought I had died when they threw me off the ravine. Those conniving rapscallions, they would be reported for sure."

Andy groaned as his sides were giving him the pricks and needles and he eventually had to lie down again but this time he was able to lie on his good side and he watched the activities around here.

"Look here, boy. We have been chased off by the Lord of this land to go somewhere else. Would you like to join us or do you have somewhere else to go? Would you mind telling me what had befallen you?" a man in a long robe came near and touched Andy's forehead to ensure he had no fever.

"I have nowhere else to go. I ended up in this position because....." Andy replied and began to relate to him on what had happened from the start to the beginning where he saw the edge of the ravine and him trying to catch on to something before he lost consciousness.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk... You had gone through such an ordeal. Don't worry, my boy. You are safe with us and I am sure you would be able to suit yourself here well."

"Won't you miss the rest of your family, I mean your mother and father? Do you think they might be searching for you?" the man clucked his tongue as he checked Andy's nerve points especially his hands and feet and all responded to his touch well.

This showed that he had no damaged or severed nerves on his feet and hands, which indicated that he could walk once he was able to stand and hobble about.

Andy didn't reply to the man's questions because he felt somewhat betrayed by his own brother and blamed his parents for not coming to his aid whenever a squabble started and ended with him being in the most disadvantaged position.

Andy saw his clothes neatly folded beside him and he grabbed at it to ensure that the coins that he had saved all these years were still there. Seeing the frantic look on Andy's face, the man simply remarked, "Don't worry, your silvers and coins are intact. We have no need for those kinds of worldly possessions as we have enough from what Mother Nature has to offer."

"It is a good thing you didn't sink to the bottom of the river under that weight on you. Or else you might become fish food, or worse, poison the water with your decomposed body. Hahaha." the man laughed at his own joke and this brought a crooked smile on his face. Mainly he smiled because his hard-earned savings were still there and nothing was missing. It is just too bad that the two landlords that he was working with would miss him dearly.

"I'm Andy, Andy Cole and I hail from Moor Monkton, a population that was used to be 211 residents and now had recently became one short. Hahaha. Owh...!" Andy introduced himself to the man and was acknowledged.

As he was lying down on his good side, he tried to move and wear his clothes since he felt naked underneath the blanket until his injury reminded him to stay back on the stretcher for a while bit more.

"Yeah, you should rest a bit more and once you are able to sit up on your own and feed yourself, you should be able to fend for your own." a young woman quipped in as he prepared a bowl of gruel at his sides with a freshly caught roasted fish.

The smell of the roasted fish and gruel made him salivate and he can't help but take a big gulp of saliva. He then tried to move by himself and managed to sit up with much difficulty as he reached out for the warm gruel and a small roasted fish resting on it.

This was the first time he was able to feed himself after so many days being on the stretcher and luckily he was turned about when he was still unconscious so that he doesn't get any bed sores.

The warm gruel made up of some tubers and edible plants was a welcoming sight and he gobbled up the food as he was definitely starving. Some of the ladies watched how he ate and they were sure he would soon be up and about.

Although he got a few broken bones in his ribs, it doesn't stop him from moving about soon after he had his meal. A lady served him seconds for the gruel and another roasted fish and he accepted it appreciatively. After he had finished the meal, he washed the bowl at the river bank and handed it back to one of the ladies.

"Hmm... May I ask who are you and why are you wearing clothes that are different from others?" Andy began to look around the camp and saw nothing much amiss after he had worn his clothes back.

He saw the group of 4 men and women wearing the same kind of cloth material that was black from head to toe. The men were wearing a one-piece robe, with a golden tassel around their waist like a belt or something. The robe was a one-piece with a hood attached to it.

As for the women, they had headscarves that covered nearly half of the bodies and they too were wearing robes right above their ankles. Both of their robes were long-sleeved, as wearing their robes seemed to be of great convenience to them.

The robes that they were all wearing were not those overflowing ones that seemed to sweep the ground as they walk but were sort of modern and not too body-hugging nor too oversized. At least some of them were wearing those robes that could accentuate their lithe figure.

"We are witches and sorcerers, Andy. We are gifted with special abilities to aid us in our journey. A lot of people regard us as the Pagans but we just accept it since we only worship the ground we walk on."

"Besides, all of us are Christians and the only thing additional is our special abilities to....." the man, who introduced himself as Michael narrated and introduced everyone in the group, their names and their specialities.

Andy listened with his jaws wide open as he never knew he would meet these people face to face and being treated and associated with them. He was wide-eyed when he realised Michael was able to conjure up minerals after he had scooped some earth and placed them in a shallow basin.

With a single incantation, he was able to extract iron minerals from the soil and consolidate it to become a small sphere like a marble. He explained that the Pagans would never run out of minerals even if prospectus declared the mines to be exhausted.

"Wow... I mean with your ability to extract minerals and with Farah to be able to smelt these into shape, wouldn't we be able to sell these for money to add to our provisions? What I mean to say is that, instead of foraging, you could also stock on consumables? Don't you think it's a good idea?"

Andy pointed out and he was well enough to sit up and discuss with them. After 2 bowls of gruel made from some tubers, he was considered as 85% alright to move on his own and chatty since he had not been this close to any good conversation for a very long time.

"Look at us... the moment people saw us from a distance they would shut their doors and windows tightly. How are we going to trade with them? We were shunned as if we are some kind of disease." Penelope the plant manipulator spoke up and highlighted their issues.

"Yeah, people know us from anywhere and from there, we were even being treated as lower classed than the nomads. Even the nomads treat us worse than they were once treated." Earl the earth manipulator pointed out with a solemn look on his face without a single sign of disdain.

"How about a change of clothes, more vibrant or something like that?" Andy inquired since a change of clothes might cause a certain reaction to others as well.

"We have tried, it's either black or white. Either colour would also incur suspicions and that why we chose black over white. We do less laundry in this way and dirt could just be brushed off. Haha." Walter the Water Elementalist spoke up as he laughed at his own joke.

"That leaves only you, Andy. The odd one out. You could be our representative or even be a leader and no one suspects you." Hendry pointed out and everyone seemed to be agreeable.

"As a Leader? What am I supposed to do?"