Master of Fire - 3. The Magic of Healing

The stream broke from the trees to meander between the fields of a large farm. The boys could see buildings just short of the horizon. “About five, maybe six miles away,” Chandler said. “Horizon on level ground is about six miles away,” he said in response to Marty’s question. If this world is the same diameter as Earth, he thought.

The boys walked along the hedgerow that lined the stream, avoiding the fields where green plants were beginning to break the surface. They had covered about half the distance to the farm when they were confronted by two boys, mid teens by their appearance, wearing rough cloth trousers and shirts, brown leather boots, and straw hats. They were carrying hoes, and had long knives sheathed at their belts.

“Who are you?” one boy asked, not unpleasantly. “And where are you from?”

Chandler, suddenly shy, looked at Marty, who spoke for them both. “My name is Marty; my friend is Chandler. In truth, we are lost. We came from Sedona…but I don’t know how far away it is. We’ve been in the woods, and followed this stream until it led here. Please, where are we?”

“A half-day ride south of Riverside, which is a tenday ride west of Barrone on the Sea. Where is Sedona?” the boy asked.

“Riverside…is it in California?” Marty asked.

“No…it’s in Arcadia. Where’s California?” the first boy said.

“I’m not sure, anymore,” Marty answered.

“Then, how did you get here,” the second boy asked.

“We were on a farm a few miles outside of the town where we live. We went into some woods, and got lost. Most of our stuff was lost, too,” Marty tried to explain what had happened without admitting that they were from an entirely different world. “We don’t know where we are; we don’t know Arcadia or Barrone. And we don’t know where home is, anymore.”

“Then you must come home with us,” the older boy said. “My name is Larry; my brother is Steve. Our parents will welcome you; you’ll see.”

Larry and Steve’s father met the boys in the courtyard of the farm. True to his sons’ promise, he welcomed Marty and Chandler, ending with, “…there’s enough time for a bath before supper.”

Steve and Larry stoked the fire that was burning in a ceramic oven below a small building, and then led the boys into the bathing hut. Marty and Chandler hung back, and watched as the boys undressed and showered briefly, before taking soap from a pot on a shelf and washing one another using their hands, and what looked like loofas. Cautiously, the boys copied their hosts, showering the soap away, before following Steve into a huge hot tub. “Larry will clean your clothes with ours,” he said. Marty and Steve watched as the boy dipped each piece of clothing in a bucket of soapy water, and shook it gently. It didn’t look as if it could possibly be clean, but they were not in a position to complain.

Larry dumped the bucket of water into the floor drain and padded across to the tub. As he eased himself in, a boy—scarcely more than a child—scampered into the room. His bare foot slipped on the soapy drain, and he fell. His hands, stretched out to break his fall, slid between two boards. He screamed when his right arm jammed against the ceramic chimney of the firebox below.

Marty was closest and fastest. He was out of the tub and at the child’s side in an instant. His stomach tumbled at the smell of charred flesh. He took the boy’s arm and pulled it from between the boards, praying that he would not leave flesh behind. The boy continued to scream. Marty held the arm, and looked at it. Bright red surrounded blackened flesh. The boy gasped and choked with the pain.

Oh, he hurts so badly. I wish I could make it better, Marty agonized. A glow from his hand spread over the child’s arm. The little boy hiccoughed, and stopped screaming. The black ash that had been skin dropped away to reveal red flesh; the red became pink.

“Marty! Marty, it’s okay. He’s okay,” Chandler’s voice woke Marty from a trance. “The boy’s okay.”

“But Robbie’s arm was burned!” Steve said. “I saw it. It was charred!”

“Marty’s a healer,” Larry said. “Thank the Light he was here.” Larry had taken the boy from Marty and was cradling him.

Marty and Chandler looked wide-eyed at one another, but said nothing.

A few minutes later, Robbie was clean, and splashing in the hot tub, his pain forgotten. Larry moved closer to Marty.

“Would you share boy magic with me?” Larry asked. He put his hand on Marty’s shoulder. Only partly screened by the water of the hot tub, Marty felt himself getting an erection.

“I’m sorry…I don’t…,” Martin answered, flustered.

Larry touched Marty’s now fully erect penis. “It looks like you’re ready to share,” he said.

“Oh…oh…” Marty said, looking helplessly to Chandler. “Um, we, that is…”

“Oh, you’re promised for now,” Larry said. “I understand. Perhaps another time.” He quickly kissed Marty and moved down the bench.

The clothes that Larry had washed were not only clean, they were dry. Marty and Chandler exchanged puzzled looks, but said nothing.

“My mother would speak with you,” Larry said to Marty. “Please, it will only be a moment.”

The boys’ mother was in the kitchen where she and two girls were preparing the evening meal. She wiped her hands on her apron and took Marty’s right hand in hers. “Thank you for healing my child…you’re very young to be a healer…”

“Uh, I’m not a healer,” Marty said. “I never did anything like that before.”

“Ah,” the woman said. “Then you have just discovered your talent. You must be very, very careful. Healing is a powerful magic, and can be used for Evil more easily than in the service of the Light.” She stared at Marty, then at Chandler who had followed him into the kitchen. “You are both very young and still searching for your way. I commend you to the Good, and thank the Light that it brought you to us when you were needed.”

The woman’s words were both benevolent and a clear dismissal. The boys left her kitchen, more puzzled than then they had entered.

“What was all that about in the hot tub?” Chandler asked as soon as he and Marty were alone.

“Do you remember what I said about the glow when we have sex? And the little boy’s burn? I saw a glow, then, too. It came from my hand and went to his burn…and the burn went away. Chandler, I think sex is magic!” Marty said.

Chandler hugged Marty. “Of course it is; I know that, now,” he said.

“No, seriously!” Marty said, pushing Chandler away. “Larry wanted to have sex…and he called it sharing boy magic. I heard the words clearly, and I know he meant sex. I think sex really is magic! I think that somehow I used that magic to heal the boy. And, when you were cleaning your teeth…I noticed a little glow…the same color. I think you’re using magic, too, but you just don’t know it, yet.”

“She did say that healing was magic,” Chandler said. “I figured that it was just…well, like she talked about light and evil…like she’s some kind of religious person.”

“I don’t know,” Marty said. “I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that I see light when it seems that magic is being done.”