As of Kyron the Warlord

sorry this is late

The doctor shrugged and told him not to do anything too energetic for the rest of the day and that he would see him later. He had barely left the room before a different nurse appeared and inserted a new catheter in his other wrist before drawing a new blood sample which she bore off like a trophy. He visited the bathroom again and then propped himself up to watch the television.

An hour later, his parents walked in, surprising the hell out of him. Apparently, they had flown to Crete as soon as they could get airline tickets and visas organized. Once there, they caught the next local flight to Santorini, dumped their bags in his hotel room, and immediately headed for the hospital. Much emoting followed their arrival, even from his father, which surprised him a bit. His father was not, as a rule, the overly physical contact type usually. They were clearly very upset at his near-death! His sister hadn’t been able to come but sent her love.

They had get-well messages from many of his friends, relatives, and even a couple of his professors! And they brought his laptop! With an amazing display of self-discipline, he forbore opening the device and disappearing into it while they were there. Eventually, they were sufficiently satisfied with his recovery that they were persuaded to retire to the hotel to catch up on their sleep. After they had finally departed, he found his email account overflowing with get-well emails. He had never had all that many friends, and getting emails from people he didn’t even know was a strange experience! The fame he had engendered for himself with his translating Linear A, at least amongst the Classical Studies world, was brought home with a rush by the sheer number of messages he had received. And he wasn’t even game to look at his social media accounts! Ha, they would probably be less full if the truth be known.

The doctor reluctantly signed him out the next day as, to all intents and purposes, he was completely recovered, if more than a little weak and very pale looking, and the new blood tests had come back all normal.  His mother made him stay at the hotel on Santorini for another day, which was awkward with them sharing the room before they began the trip back to the States. Jason found himself so weak and prone to the shakes that her maternal hovering was actually welcome rather than annoying. The flight home was long and boring and included a three-hour layover in New York, making the trip seem even longer. At least by the time they arrived back in San Diego, the shakes were finally starting to subside.

He thought back over the trip and wondered whether the leaves had done anything to him? Apart from apparently killing him, twice, that was. Hmmm. Then there was all the strange carry-on with the blood tests. Urasmian had said normal people had a two in a hundred chance of dying from drinking the tea made from the leaves of the right plant. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing if he had actually found the right plant or not. He didn’t feel magical, that was for sure! But at least he wasn’t dead, which was a good thing!

Kyron the Rescuer is out now.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSXDQPFD

The following morning, he felt almost back to normal, apart from a level of weakness commensurate with five days in a coma. He had no trouble hopping out of bed to use the toilet and was sitting up watching the television after scarfing the meager breakfast when the doctor next visited.

“Well,” The doctor said, walking over to the bed. “You are looking much better.”

He quickly studied the records, did a few tests of Jason’s vital signs, and then nodded at Jason.

“Hmm. Interesting. If I didn’t know better, I would say there is nothing wrong with you.” The Doctor offered at the end of the process.

“I do feel a lot better today,” Jason commented, smiling sweetly at the doctor.

“Yes. All your vitals are normal. It is so abrupt it is almost scary. The last blood test was still odd. It is possible your catheter got contaminated somehow, so I am going to have a new one inserted this morning and do a new blood test.” The doctor didn’t sound so much upset as puzzled.

“So, I’m not getting out of here just yet?” Jason asked.

The doctor frowned and shook his head. “Not yet. You’re still rather debilitated, and I want to keep you under observation for another day, at least anyway. I am probably being overcautious, but if anything, you have recovered too quickly from whatever it was, and I am wary of a relapse. That liquid you drank certainly did not agree with you!”

“You don’t know what it was I drank?”

Jason thought he had said a tea of cannabis leaves the first time he had seen Jason once Jason had woken up.

“Didn’t you do a stomach pump or whatever? I thought you knew?”

The doctor shook his head. “Yes, of course, we did, but there was nothing unusual apart from some odd organic remains commensurate with a hemp plant, the leaves of which you had apparently boiled and then drank. We couldn’t identify anything else that would be the cause of the metabolic shutdown you experienced.” He paused. “Drinking a tea made from the hemp leaves should not have caused the symptoms you exhibited. I doubt it would even get you high. Do you remember what you ate or drank before the episode?”

Jason tried to look like he was struggling to remember. “Nothing substantial. I had some herbal tea I picked up in a shop on Crete, which I brought with me. That is the only thing I remember after I got back from the cruise around the island that I went on during the day. Other than the tea, there was nothing else apart from the hemp leaves. Someone told me that boiling the leaves made a drink that was less harmful than smoking that stuff. I was just trying to relax a bit before I was to meet with a couple of colleagues for lunch, and then I suddenly felt strange and had trouble breathing which was when I managed to call reception before passing out.” He paused and decided to play down the tea bit. “I had been drinking the herbal tea on Crete for a couple of days, so I doubt it was that, and I don’t remember eating anything during the afternoon.”

Some indeterminate time passed by after the nurse’s visit, during which he semi-dozed while the strange nerve twinges gradually waned, thankfully. Eventually, the door opened, and a small, dark-haired man wearing the traditional white coat came in and looked him over.

“So, you tried drinking boiled marijuana leaves. Interesting way of hospitalizing yourself.” He said in flawless English.

This observation was accompanied by a shaken head and a frown on the part of the doctor. Jason went to deny it but then realized that it was probably a better explanation than the real one. The doctor pursed his lips and nodded at Jason’s aborted attempt to speak.

 “Yes, Weak and disorientated, aren’t you?”

Jason nodded.

“How long?” Jason managed to croak through dry lips.

“Five days, young man. You died twice in the first two days from cardiac arrest. You were very lucky. I hope you have learned your lesson?”

The doctor looked like he wasn’t all that impressed with his patient’s intelligence, which Jason decided was understandable in the circumstances. The circumstances certainly looked pretty stupid from the doctor’s viewpoint. Then the full import of what the doctor had said struck home. Died twice! Jason thought in surprise. Oh. And yet, he was still here. Ah, the marvels of modern medical knowledge. I wonder if… He broke off that thought and smiled at the doctor.

“Yes, sir.” He muttered, finding it surprisingly hard to speak.

His throat and mouth felt like someone had taken sandpaper to them. Dry, harsh, and nothing seemed to want to work properly. The doctor nodded at him.

“Well, you seem to be on the road to recovery. Your body is getting back to normal, and now that you are conscious, that is one more thing I can cross off my list. I will be back to check on you this evening. In the meantime, please stay in bed today and rest up. Your body is debilitated and behaving very strangely even though it appears to be recovering now. You had a bizarre reaction to whatever you drank. Almost like an epileptic fit in some ways. Very odd. Anyway, you will be staying here for the moment while we wait for the latest round of blood tests.” He paused and nodded at the catheter in Jason’s wrist. “We took more blood earlier while you were still in a coma. The first blood test came back with some very strange results, which is why we are retesting. Drink lots of water. Call for help with any bodily needs, yes?”

Jason reluctantly nodded. Yuk, he means bedpans. Jason semi-dozed some more and drank all the water left on the mobile table next to the bed. When he used the help button, he was surprised to find the nurse was quite willing to help him into the bathroom and then wait outside. A damn sight better than using a bedpan! By the time the doctor returned in the afternoon, he was feeling considerably more alive and sitting up. A quick check of his vital signs and he was allowed a light dinner which caused his stomach to churn a little at first and give him the feeling that he was going to throw up initially, but his stomach settled down, and Jason was feeling much better by the time he fell asleep.

Well, there was only one way to find out, he thought to himself. But he still hesitated for another few minutes before steeling himself to take the glass, and with eyes closed, he drank the liquid. Which sort of tasted like licorice, or what he imagined liquid licorice would taste like. I hope all this means it was not just a type of licorice plant, he thought to himself. He could feel the liquid run down inside him, and seemingly nothing happened. He sighed in exasperation and relaxed as he started packing things up. Then his guts suddenly twisted and not so much hurt as he began to feel really strange. He saw stars and sat down on the bed, where he quickly found himself struggling to breathe. His vision started tunneling as his chest labored, and he leaned over the bed to the house phone, managed to press zero to get reception, and as he felt himself fading away, he heard a voice say in Greek. “Reception. How may I help you?”

“Medical emergency, room three oh four.” He sputtered out in Greek, and then everything went all black on him.

Chapter 7

Huh! Not dead yet!

Jason opened his eyes into darkness and experienced a moment of panic but then realized he was in a dark room where the features were unclear due to the gloom. His body felt heavy and lethargic, while the act of raising his head to look around left him feeling exhausted and rather nauseous. His waking up must have done something somewhere because a few moments later, what had seemed to be a solid wall over to his right proved to have a door.

The door opened to admit a lot of light, and a female in a uniform he decided had to be that of a nurse came bustling into the room. She gave him a slight smile and said hello in Greek, after which her conversational skills seemed to be limited to very simple phrases. She took his blood pressure and temperature before updating a clipboard at the end of the bed. During this operation, she said little beyond occasionally muttering a few placating words in his direction, which he gathered were designed to calm him more by the tone than the actual content. It was possible she didn’t realize he could speak Greek if she knew he was an American. The nurse finished with her tasks and told him to stay in bed till the doctor came and accompanied these words with suitable hand motions that confirmed his earlier suspicion. As he didn’t even feel the need to attend the bathroom, he was happy to oblige her request, given how strange his body felt. He had aches and pains throughout his body, he had discovered as he woke up fully, but they were only dull aches and pains, as if he’d been run over by a truck, say a month ago or something. Very odd.

He was getting small nerve twinges all over his body as well. They were only mild, small sudden twitches or jerks, but it felt really strange like he was a puppet and someone was not so much as pulling on the strings but rather just jerking them a little. It was also a bit like pins and needles but sharper, if not as painful, and not so generalized. Instead, it was like little pins being shoved into him here, there, and everywhere. Mostly on the inside rather than on the outside, as happened with pins and needles. He lay there hurting, twitching, and trying to remember what had happened. Ahh. His mental blankness regarding how he got here was suddenly full of memories of making the liquid concoction. What the hell had he been thinking?

For those of you who didn’t know we have been moving house. A tedious business that also involved a lot of travel as our new house is 190km or 118 miles from our old address. Two and half hours by car.
Uplift (i.e. they loaded our stuff) was the 19th and delivery the 20th.

This is my new office: (When the weather is fine)

View from office to the left and the right and then the left

I wrote nothing last week due to all the travel etc.
Where we are at:
Kyron the rescuer is at the editor finally
I have started on the Kelad Onslaught which is the third New Federation book.
I am thinking that the next Ithria book will be one joint volume with both Taroniah and Kyron working together….. it depends on how much storyline there is.
The first Western Reaches book (The further adventures of Princess Gizel) should follow the Ithria book or books.

After that – tentatively – Taroniah at Home and Kyron the Conquerer.
and then we’ll see.

Peter

“That’s actually quite interesting,” Jason commented as he moved to one of the bushes. He pointed at some lichen on a rock nearby. “Is that the odd lichen as well?”

The local moved over to where Jason had pointed and peered at the lichen before nodding in affirmation.

“Yes, it is. It is spreading too. See, I’m sure that area there is new.”

His guide pointed at the part of the lichen-covered rock to the right-hand side of the patch and moved a little in that direction. While he was looking at the lichen, Jason stripped a couple of fresh, new-growth leaves off the plant that looked like marijuana and shoved them in his pocket before his guide looked up again.

He continued to play the part of the interested amateur for some time as they discussed the erosion of the area by the sea. They both agreed that although the plants had spread a little in recent times, it was probably because there had been no big storms coming from the right direction for a couple of years. It was pretty clear that the whole area was slowly eroding into the sea, even if it would take many years, possibly centuries, for that to happen. It was an interesting discussion, but eventually, the boatman realized it was getting late and insisted they return to the boat and head back to civilization before it got too dark.

Jason had to restrain himself over his desire to try out the leaves and made a valiant effort to be patient during the sail back to the small port and then the drive back to his hotel. He had to put off experimenting with the leaves until after the previously organized dinner at the hotel. He only just made the dinner on time because of the lengthy trip. The group of Symposium attendees that Jason was ostensibly with had arranged a special dinner with a couple of Archaeologists working on the Akrotiri site. Jason found the discussion around the table far more interesting than he had anticipated, and not just because he could understand the parts in Greek that they thought he couldn’t follow! Even so, by the time the meal and the after-dinner discussion were finished, he was chomping at the bit, wanting to get back to his room. Then he realized he couldn’t boil the leaves in his room because there was no stove with a hotplate. Damn! He looked at the small jug for boiling water to make coffee but decided not to try it. He went to bed very frustrated but refused to give up.

The next day he wandered around the small town and found a general store that sold some camping goods. They had a small camp stove setup, complete with a small gas bottle which he bought. They also had a small saucepan-type thing that was made with a handle that folded into the center of the saucepan so it would pack easier in a rucksack or such, and he headed back to his room with his purchases. He soon had the leaves boiling away and was just trying to decide how long to give it when the water changed color. It was clear the leaves had reached a point where some chemical had been released due to the boiling they were undergoing.  He turned off the gas and looked at his concoction. He poured some of the water into a glass and studied it. The color was a dull, transparent reddish-brown and smelled slightly of licorice. The leaves had largely broken up into small to tiny particles that were suspended in the water, while the still largely intact stem parts had sunk to the bottom of the small pot. He sat the glass on the small bench near where he’d set up the camp stove and studied the water for some time.

Coming back from Nea Kameni, they detoured around Palea Kameni towards Therasia. Knowing that the eruption largely carried east and southeast, he asked his guide if any of this island was untouched by the eruption. The fellow at first shook his head but then, glancing at Jason with narrowed eyes, suggested that the northwestern coast of Therasia was perhaps the least affected, but it would cost more to go that far out of his way. Of course! Jason thought to himself. Jason agreed to the increased cost after a little mild haggling, and eventually, the boat wandered out of the bay around the southern point of that island. A bit of open sea sailing followed before the man eventually turned the boat into a protected bay that didn’t look all that exciting.

The boat went around a large upthrust of rock with the low swell causing the small waves to break against the rock, but the upthrust also served to protect a somewhat hidden and sheltered cove where the wave swell was reduced to some extent. His guide grabbed a rope in the bow, waited for an upswell, and nimbly jumped ashore. The rope was quickly tied around a convenient piece of protruding rock, and Jason tried to emulate his guide’s smooth exit from the small boat. Having watched his guide closely, he waited for an upswell and then tried to hop ashore with the same ease the guide had shown. Well, at least he got ashore without getting wet! The guide waited until Jason had stood back up from the all-fours position Jason had finished up in before he pointed to an area further around the little bay.

“See there. That layer is the original island ground level before the eruption. You can tell by the type and color of the rock. There is another spot on the north coast where the sea has eroded the volcanic rock that covered almost everything after the big eruption as well.  I took a couple of English geologists up there and listened to their talk as they examined that area.” He clambered around an outcrop and then pointed at a sort of hollow. “See how there is a layer of eruption stone at the top with the original rock below. I think this was a cave channeled out by wind and waves. When the island erupted, the volcanic outflow was so heavy that the roof collapsed a fair way back, but perhaps not till well after the eruption, and then the fallen rock was eroded away over the three and half thousand years since.”

“Really?” Jason asked, suddenly a lot more interested as he grasped what the man was saying.

“Yes, Mr. Jason. You can see here at the back that there is a type of lichen growing that is like none found anywhere else on the island. And see these two types of bushes? They only grow here, and nowhere else on the island that I have seen. I brought a botanist here once, but he wasn’t impressed, saying the plants were obviously planted here in recent times as this one.” And he pointed at a weedy-looking thing. “It is like a type of thistle common in Greece, and the other is some branch of the hemp plant used to make marijuana, and he thought I was trying to hoax him. But truly, these two types of plants grow only here, and neither likes full sun, which is why they haven’t spread much, although that type of bush has expanded to that crevasse over there since the first time I was here.”