Zoey had been working round the clock for the whole night. She had been at the outer city when the attack came, but they too felt the brunt of the attacks when the wyverns started to do their thing.
Then came that period of unrest, when no one was sure what was going on. Given how the dragons were circling their city, everyone did not know whether to celebrate or hide. Many chose the latter, as such suspense rarely held good news. Among them was a beautiful woman by the name Zoey.
Zoey was athletically built with all the right junk in all the right places. She was curvy but also athletic, with tell-tale signs of a not-so-comfortable-life. For most of the people fleeing the city, especially those born from much deeper in the walls, it felt like they were lost, but for Zoey, it felt as though she was going back.
Zoey was like most folks born outside the city. They would commute daily to the city since that was their lifeline. Zoey had always had a passion for taking care of things mostly due to her brother, Mason.
Mason was born mentally handicapped. He was incapable of accomplishing much apart from walking, sorry, limping here and there, and mumbling sounds when he wished to communicate. As if that was not enough, Mason had a perpetual drool running which had to be wiped out otherwise he would be strangled by his drool.
Handling Mason had been a full-time job not only for her but for her mother as well. Once the condition was confirmed, her father up and took off to god knows where leaving a dejected family.
Interestingly though, to the mother, Mason was the best thing. She adored and doted on him for hours, to the point of making Zoey feel somewhat jealous. However, Zoey loved her brother too. She learned all she could about nursing from her mother, and she got pretty good at it too.
Bad news struck one day. Her brother was playing out and he happened to wander off. Worried, both mother and daughter had gotten on a frantic search to find him, but 2 days later, they still hadn't gotten any word. When word did come 4 days later, it was that Mason's body had washed up downriver. He had drowned while playing by the river. How he got there remained a mystery.
Zoey and mother stuck together in this time of grief, consoling each other for their loss. It was around this time that news of a coming war began to spread. They were led into Tristan city where there were shelters for the non-residents.
After sneaking out, Zoey and several others had wondered for a long time before chancing upon a patrol group. What they didn't know was that the patrol had been shadowing them for almost an hour trying to determine if they were friend or foe. Only after it was established they were Tristanites did the patrol approach.
Zoey never expected to find such a depressing sight in her life. Men were wailing and screaming for their mothers in pain. Then some had gone silent, looking more dead than alive. Finally, there was the coughing and feverish ones that looked at the point of death. She couldn't just do nothing. Springing into action, she joined the nursing team and went to cater to the sick and injured.
***
Barda did not beeline straight to the camp but made sure to pass by the group picking the herbs and plants he needed. To his pleasant surprise, the group had gathered quite a bit of what he had instructed them, despite the moon abandoning them at some point.
Having guessed what Barda intended to do, the group had done some basic preparation work on the materials collected. Everything that Barda had them collect had some association with apothecary and medicine in general.
The 2 fields were quite similar, alchemy and apothecary. Alchemy involved all kinds of chemicals, while apothecary only dealt with medicine. To put it in perspective, alchemy was like general chemistry while apothecary was pharmaceuticals.
As part of life, we all encounter chemicals. Unlike modern times where the chemicals were bottled and packaged, with only the list of ingredients at the side, Barda's contemporary time involved people interacting and extracting the herbs themselves. They knew which herbs to use for minor injuries and they knew which were used for heavy-duty drugs.
Barda allowed his troops to get whatever rest and sleep they could get. Once done, they would meet at daybreak. They were going to have a long day ahead, so he allowed them some time to get themselves ready.
As for him, he had some preparations to do. Some legumes needed to be removed from pods, some berries needed proper cleaning and the equipment he had brought with him needed proper inspection before class. Barda also needed to produce some chemicals to get himself familiar with the process. Not that he needed to, but he felt it was easier if he knew his way around the herbs. This was his first time handling chemicals after all.
Soon the class was assembled. To Barda's shock, when news of him intending to teach an apothecary lesson spread, many people volunteered to learn under him. Many were present as volunteers to assist in the production of the medicine in aide of all the sick and dying soldiers.
You might be wondering why dying. Here's something they don't tell you in the movies. In the olden days, most warriors who died as a direct consequence of war did not die from the injuries picked up in war, but rather from the infections that ensued from these injuries. Without proper medication, the war continued to reap its toll on the warriors by deploying harmful pathogens. Of course, they didn't know that was what they were. Even the great Khal Drogo of the Dothraki khalasar succumbed to infection.
As such, having a steady supply of medication for the infection was a welcome sight. Unfortunately, there were hardly any apothecaries in the wartimes and those that were catered only to those that could afford, so the supplies were limited, especially if you were in the losing side.
Barda made quick decisions. Yes, it was true that he had equipment and tools to teach a lot more than his team, but only they had the materials to work with. He organized the would-be students into several groups based on the medicine they would be crafting. He then showed them the necessary materials and information on how to get them. After that, he sent them off to collect the material with instructions on when to come back.
While these collected the materials, Barda proceeded to have a class with his guys. These were the logistics team, they were tied to the hip with him. To them, he was going to show way more than just simple drug-making procedures. He even went ahead to explain some concepts, polishing their newly-acquired skills immensely.
Soon after, he had them go off to make the products, while he took on the next class. Just like that, a whole day passed by. Barda had held seven classes on that day.
The first had been the longest and it had taken almost all morning. It involved making fever medication. There were different kinds of fever treatments depending on how advanced the fever had developed in the person's body. Moreover, treatment was a mixture of henbane and hemlock. If you got it wrong you'd be making poison, quite literally.
This was the class where Batoo and the other members of the logistic team attended. It was comprehensive since it needed to be. The rest of the classes were fairly less intense. They barely involved any contorting, mixing or cooking.
Mostly Barda taught them how to go about washing and just generally how to handle the materials that were needed. He also taught them how to measure and weigh the units they were administering the patient. If they got it wrong, they would be killing their patients.
Barda would not teach them any more than this since this was a very sensitive subject involving human life. Too little information was worse than none. There was a reason doctors went to school for 5 years and then an extra 2 just to be sure. In any case, this knowledge was more than enough for them to apply in the current situation.
Barda went ahead and taught them first aid and how to handle a patient according to their injuries. He taught them to wash wounds, clean infections without getting any themselves and sanitation. He insisted on it, making it seem to the people under him as though he was a clean freak, but he didn't bulge. Oh well, every genius had to have their qualms.
As the day transitioned into evening, Barda was done with his classes and was enjoying a light moment with Lady Ellen when a messenger came to him and said, "The Queen requests your presence."