[Deorlin]

Deorlin turned at Sadbh's approach and rose, towering a good two heads above the girl. She extended her hand and offered him the stachel. Taking the bag he peered inside. "Did they have all we asked for?" he queried. "Yes, and I see you've found the nettle." Sadbh replied.

"It wasn't hard." Deorlin chuckled. He held up a fistful. "Now, let's find a bucket. I'm not sure of the exact proportions, but we can try." He led their way back to the stable. Sadbh produced the half of a small candle, and by it's faint glow they found an empty pail. Deorlin dipped some water out of a rain barrel at the corner and proceeded to pour in the salt, then crushing up a handful of mint and the handful of nettle and adding them to the pail. lastly, he added all of the honey, hoping its sweetness would hide the unusual taste and coax the horse to swallow what he hoped would be a cure for the assumed poison. So many "ifs" he mused.

"Pat his neck and speak to him softly, Sadbh, and we'll see if we can get him to swallow this lot." Deorlin instructed. As the girl tried her best to sooth the animal, the young Rohhirim placed his hand under its jaw and pried the mouth open with his thumb. Using his arm to lever the head upwards, he quickly poured the contents of the pail as best he could into the mouth, then clamped his hand over the horse's nostrils, vaguely remembering that in this way his uncle had been sucessful in getting horse to swallow unpalatable tastes. Half of the mixture had not even made it into the horse's mouth, but Deorlin hoped enough had gone in to do the trick. After a few seconds of surprised indignation, the horse swallowed with a reassuring gulp.

"Well, I guess that's the best we can do for now." Deorlin tried to sound confident. "Let's go in and have something to eat ourselves. At least I for one could use a wet ale and some hot food. "