At that moment he woke up, his fever gone. A stranger was leaning over him.
‘Drink. It will do you good,’ the stranger said. Bladud looked up at the man suspiciously. He studied the cup. It was ordinary earthenware.
‘What is it?’ he whispered hoarsely.
‘This? This is fresh spring water from the mountains,’ said the man in some surprise.
Bladud raised his head from the bedrest painfully, and reached for the cup. Noticing his own hand as he took hold of it, he was surprised how thin it looked. The physician tried to help him, but Bladud insisted on taking it himself. He drank greedily, the water spilling over the rim on to his face and down his chest. Cool, cool water from the earth. Pure, life-giving water.
The strange, terrible dream was already fading, leaving only an aftertaste of i
