Outcasts

Chapter 12 - The Healer's Apprentice

Matilda looked at the villagers, gathered around Little John to get food and supplies. After getting their share, many of them came to her to show her a wound or to tell her about some ailment and receive a remedy. The healer quickly checked them, and she divided them in two groups: the ones who really needed her cares and those who only needed a dressing for a small wound or a simple remedy.
"It's just a little burn. Go to my assistant, he'll see to it," she said to an elderly woman who had touched a hot pot while cooking. The woman gasped and shook her head in fear, then she rushed away, forgetting her burn.
"It's no use, Matilda, I told you. Nobody will accept to get treated by me," Guy said, with a sigh.
"Then they don't really need our help. Don't be too disappointed, they have their reasons to fear you, but sooner or later they will understand that you are trying to help them."
"I think that many of them don't need that food either," Guy said, looking at he people gathered around Little John. "They are strong and young, they should be able to work and feed their families."
Matilda nodded.
"I told Little John the same thing. We are few and we are trying our best to help the survivors to rebuild their lives, but some of them just get what we give them without even trying to work hard to survive on their own."
"The sheriff said they were just parasites."
Matilda slapped his hand.
"The sheriff said a lot of horrible things, and you should forget them all, you should be ashamed of repeating his words! Fool!" She scolded him, then she softened her tone, "But it's true that some of those people could try harder."
Guy lowered his gaze, in shame.
"Maybe I should go back to the forest and try to get some prey."
"You are going to stay exactly where you are. Today you are my helper and people will have to get used to it."
"But I'll keep scaring your patients..."
"This means that we'll save herb and bandages for people who really need them."
Matilda went inside one of the newly rebuilt huts of the village to check a sick woman, while Guy waited outside. The villagers kept glancing at him, but they kept their distance, wary.
Little John distributed the last supplies, and he sadly shook his head when they asked for more. Guy knew that the big man had given everything he had to them, even his own meal.
The outlaw didn't like Guy and Gisborne returned the feeling, but he had to admit that Little John really tried his best to help people, even to his own detriment.
Now he looked really sad because the villagers were asking for more food, and he couldn't give it to them. The people, instead became louder and disgruntled, complaining because they didn't get enough supplies.
Guy walked to reach them and he crossed his arms, staring at them.
"Is there any problem here?" He asked, and the crowd got silent. "John gave you everything he had, what else do you want?"
A woman glared at him.
"Our children are hungry!"
"Have you even tried to feed them on your own, instead of just relying on charity?" Guy pointed at a group of trees at the edge of the village. "Look there! Nobody climbed those trees to get the apples, and those fields are abandoned. Why aren't you cultivating them? And the forest is right there, I don't see people going there to search for food. You can set trap and snares, pick berries and mushrooms, and there are a lot of plants that are edible. If you can't recognize them, we can teach you, but there's a lot of food there that you could find with just a little effort."
"But Robin used to give us all we needed!" Another man said.
"Well, Robin isn't here now. John, Matilda and the others are all doing their best to help who needs it, but it's time you do something as well."
"Why should we listen to Gisborne?" A woman cried, and the others approved, nodding and commenting.
Guy looked at them and he felt defeated. Probably Matilda was wrong: he could try to help, but nobody would ever accept his efforts or listen to him.
He gave up, and he turned to go back in front of the hut to wait for Matilda, when Little John spoke.
"Gisborne I do not like," he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "but this time you should listen to him because for once he's right!"
The people stared at him, disconcerted, but Guy was the most surprised of them all.
"I agree," Matilda said, approaching them and putting a hand on the shoulder of both men, affectionately. "Everyone who is able to work must do their part. So, who's going to pick up those apples? It might be a job for the children, they're always climbing trees for fun anyways, the young men could work in the fields and go hunting, while the women could pick vegetables and berries and set a few snares. The elderly people and the ones who are too weak to work can dry, store and preserve the food you gather, so there will be supplies for the winter. John, show them how to build a simple snare, Guy come with me, I need your help with my next patient."
The villagers were too surprised to complain, and Little John began to teach them how to catch little prey with simple traps, while Gisborne followed Matilda.
The healer smiled at him.
"Maybe you're not a complete fool after all."
"Even if I still think that most of them are parasites? John gave them everything he had, and they were demanding more! Am I like the sheriff for thinking that they don't deserve our help?"
Matilda shook her head.
"What did the sheriff do with parasites?"
Guy lowered his gaze.
"He got rid of them."
"I didn't see you trying to kill any of them. Instead, you tried to show them how to stop being parasites and become useful. That was the right thing to do. You're not like the sheriff, my boy, not at all. Now come, it's time that they let you do your work."
She entered in another hut, and Guy followed her. A woman was lying on a cot and she was startled when she saw Gisborne entering after Matilda.
"What is he doing here?!"
The healer ignored her words, and she looked at the arm of the woman, roughly bandaged and swollen.
"What happened?" She asked, beginning to carefully unwrap the bandages.
"I tripped and fell," she answered quickly, but she kept staring at Guy, frightened. "Please, don't let him touch my children!"
Matilda glanced at the kids, huddled in a corner of the room: there were a little girl who could be no more than four or five years old, a younger boy and a baby in a cradle. They looked dirty and scared, and they were all weeping.
"That's exactly what he's going to do, instead."
Both Guy and the woman looked at her, in shock.
"What?!"
"Please, take the two older children outside and take care of them. They could do with some washing and surely they are hungry, find some food for them. And ask Little John to come here."
"No! Don't let him take them!"
Matilda stared at the woman.
"Your arm is broken, I'll need to fix it or it won't heal right. It will be very painful, but necessary. Do you really want them to see and get even more scared?"
The woman began to sob.
"No, of course not, but Gisborne..."
"Gisborne will keep them safe." She nodded at Guy. "Go. And take them far enough that they can't hear their mother scream," she added, lowering her voice.