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John blinked with shock as Rodney slumped sideways and leaped up from the bed to catch him while Lorne did the same to catch the harp before it hit the floor. They both managed to grab hold of what they dove for and Lorne set aside Windrider while John lowered Rodney gently to the floor. John ran a quick check over Rodney and didn't like what he saw. Rodney was pale, sweating and trembling badly.
Atlantis! he cried out. Get Carson! Rodney's unconscious, pale and sweating! He got a quick flick of acknowledgment from her and then the impression of her talking urgently to someone else.
"What happened? Did he overextend himself?" Lorne asked as he lifted up Rodney's feet and shoved a pillow under them to keep them elevated.
"I dunno," John replied distractedly, loosening the neck of Rodney's shirt, then taking his pulse at the base of his neck. The number of times his heart was beating was frightening and John quickly passed that information along to Atlantis so she could forward it on. He sat back and ran hand over his hair, feeling helpless. "Damn it, he could have but this happened fast."
"Did you know what his Gift was?" Lorne asked as he grabbed a blanket and placed it over Rodney.
"We didn't know he had Bardic Gift, that's for sure," John replied, then ran his hands over his face, trying to calm down and get a grip on his worry. "Daniel said he's a really strong Mindspeaker, but that was pretty obvious right away. He and Cadman bitch at each other constantly."
Lorne paused from putting the harp back into its case. "Two strong MindGifts? Haven, now I'm beginning to see why he was Chosen."
The sound of running footsteps came down the hallway and then a sudden pounding on the door had Lorne hurrying over to open it. As soon Lorne pulled it open, Carson came charging through with a satchel in one hand. A number of concerned faces followed, peeped in around the doorway to see what was the matter.
Carson dropped to his knees next to Rodney and held out a hand over Rodney's forehead, his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. "Good Havens!" Carson cried out as his eyes opened to look at Rodney incredulously. "What have ye been doing, lad?"
"What? What's the problem, Carson?" John asked. He'd never seen Carson this disturbed in a medical emergency and his worry cranked up another couple of notches.
Teyla came running into the room and joined Carson on the floor next to Carson, breathing a little heavily. "I came as soon as Charin told me, Carson. What is wrong?"
"Look fer yourself!" Carson demanded and caught Teyla's hand with his own as his other hand stretched back out over Rodney. Teyla closed her eyes and an expression of intense concentration settled over her features.
She gasped and snapped her eyes open. "Oh my!" Teyla then leaned forward and gently cupped a hand to the side of Rodney's sweating face before turning her regard to John and Lorne. John was surprised by an odd jealous lurch in his chest as she touched Rodney. "What was he doing before he collapsed?" she demanded.
"He, he was playing some music," John managed to stutter out. "Why? What happened to him?!"
"Och, laddie, it had to happen to you after all this time," Carson said sadly and laid a firm hand over Rodney's chest.
"What happened?" John all but begged. He needed an answer, damn it.
Teyla looked at him oddly but then answered in an undertone so that only those closest could hear, "It appears that Rodney forced open several Gifts at once while he was playing. In addition to Bardic, I see that he has also triggered the Fetching Gift, Firestarting and a very odd form of Sight. This opening of so many Gifts at once has badly overextended his mind."
Lorne sucked in a surprised breath and John sat back on his heels, blinking. Nobody had that many active Gifts. Nobody. Almost all the heralds had just one, maybe two Gifts. Very rarely one would come along that had three. Rodney had what? Five?
Carson sighed and withdrew his hand from Rodney's chest. "There. I have him stabilized and he should come round soon." He turned to the doorway and shouted, "One of you lot! Run off and get me some food, hot water and apple cider! Quickly now!" Footsteps pounded down the hallway and Carson pulled a packet of powder out of his satchel bag. "He's going to have the mother of all reaction headaches when he wakes up," he muttered fretfully.
At that point Rodney groaned and John jolted himself back into action. He stretched out his hand and put it on Rodney's shoulder saying softly, "Hey, relax there, buddy. You don't want to be moving around too much until we've had a chance to get some medicine in you for that headache."
Rodney groaned again and tried to roll up like a pill bug despite John's restraining hand. "Hurts," Rodney whimpered, rolling onto his side as he curled up.
"Yeah buddy I know, I know," John said, rubbing Rodney's shoulder. "We'll have some medicine for you as soon as someone gets back with some hot water."
Rodney gave another broken whimper as he curled closer to John's knees and John snapped, What's taking them so long? at Atlantis.
They will be there soon, Atlantis replied soothingly. One of the cooks met them at the door with what the healer requested. They're running back with the tray as we speak.
Just as she finished saying that, John heard the sound of quickly moving feet coming back up the hallway. An off duty herald came in, carrying a tray with honeycake, fruit, a mug hot water and a small pitcher of apple cider perched on it. They set it on the floor next to Carson and he grabbed the mug of hot water, dumped the packet of powder in and stirred it with an eating dagger that Lorne wordlessly handed over to him. Once the powder was dissolved, Carson nodded toward John.
John reached down and lifted Rodney up by the shoulders. "Okay buddy, we need you to sit up here." He shifted so that he formed a back brace for Rodney to rest against and then leaned Rodney back against him and tucked the blanket securely around the shaking man.
Rodney moaned again and tried to roll back down to the floor but John kept a firm grip on him. "No, Rodney, stay here. You need to sit up so you can take some medicine."
Carson shuffled closer, wrapped Rodney's fluttering hands firmly around the mug and then guided his hands and the mug towards Rodney's mouth. "Come on, lad, drink this up. There you go. All of it, mind you, it will make your head feel better." Rodney winced and whined but obediently drank the entirety of the mug down. His lack of complaint over the foul taste of the stuff brought home to John just how much pain Rodney was in at the moment.
Cadman is doing what she can to help with the pain but the drug will help more, Atlantis commented, concern dripping from every word. It was unexpected for his Gifts to manifest like that. The music was a powerful catalyst.
No shit, John replied, still trying to take in the fact Rodney, his chess buddy, had altogether too many Gifts. No wonder he'd been Chosen. A chill ran down his spine. Something bad was coming down upon the kingdom soon. One truism of Valdemar was that unusual Gifts tended to show up in the kingdom's time of need. And resting against his chest was a whole boatload of Gifts all wrapped up in one package.
Carson had taken the mug away while John wasn't paying attention and was now forcing honeycake on Rodney. "Eat, Rodney. You've exhausted your energy stores and need to replace them or you will get sicker."
Rodney grimaced but bit off a mouthful of the cake and started chewing. John noted with relief that his color was better and that the expression of intense pain was draining off of Rodney's face, although he was still very shaky.
"That's a good lad," Carson said, encouraging Rodney to take another bite of cake. John noted out of the corner of his eye Lorne getting up, pushing all the onlookers out of the doorway and shutting the door firmly in their faces.
John's concern kicked back up when Carson had gotten Rodney to eat the entire slice of honeycake, the fruit and a mug of the cider yet Rodney's shakes had only slowed slightly. Carson turned to Teyla and said, "Teyla, love, can you please get us some more food? Perhaps some stew?"
Teyla gave a quick nod, went to the door and spoke to one of those still hanging around in the hallway. Shortly thereafter, Teyla came back with a bowl of stew, thick with meat and vegetables and a slab of bread with a small mountain of butter heaped on it. Carson took the bowl from her and spooned some up to Rodney's mouth.
"Not a baby," Rodney managed to slur out. Bands that John didn't know had been squeezing his chest loosened at the words. It was the first normal response that they'd gotten out of Rodney since he'd collapsed.
"I realize that Rodney, but if you try to feed yourself right now, you'd be wearing it instead of eating it," Carson replied patiently. "Now open up and eat like a good lad."
John could feel Rodney humph softly against his chest but Rodney opened his mouth and let Carson feed him a spoonful of stew. After Carson had gotten half of the slab of bread and three quarters of the stew in Rodney, he finally stopped shaking in John's arms.
"No more," Rodney said drowsily, waving away another proffered spoonful of stew. "I'm full. Tired."
"Aye, that'll be the medicine that's making you sleepy," Carson answered back, sitting back on his heels and setting down the bowl of stew. "You're looking a sight better there, lad. Go on and fall asleep. It'll do you good."
John felt Rodney sag against him and soon he was breathing evenly in sleep. They'd have to get Rodney into a bed soon, thought John. Even if John could stay in this position all night, Rodney would wake up with a crick in his neck from the position he was currently asleep in. John was distracted from those thoughts by Carson clearing his throat.
Carson looked at John, Teyla and Lorne's concerned faces. "I think he'll be fine. He used up a lot of energy doing that and we'll be needing to make that sure he eats enough while he recovers but he's out of the woods now. Although he's going to have a right vicious headache for the next few days, if I'm any judge of these things."
"Once he's recovered, he's going to need tutoring in getting all those Gifts under control," Lorne commented, sitting back in his chair. "It's not good when a Gift comes on abruptly like that."
Teyla rubbed her chin with one hand, looking unusually perturbed. "I will speak to his teachers and the Dean. I believe we must rethink his course of study entirely."
John met her eyes. They reflected the same troubled thoughts he had himself. Heralds functioned as, among other things, weapons for the kingdom. And there was no denying at this point that Rodney had become a very dangerous weapon indeed.