Skipper shook his head and continued rubbing. “No, it’s these pains I get in me paws and tail. The minute I come out of the water, or even after a rainshower these days, it starts throbbing right into me old bones. Ooh, the pains, matey. It’s agony!”

Fortunata crouched in front of Skipper. “Here, allow me to take a look, sir. I’m a healer of pains.”

First she stroked the fur on Skipper’s paws, then she probed and tested with her claws. The otter put on a fine display of anguish.

“Ow, ooch,” he exclaimed. “That’s it, right there. You touched the very spot.”

The vixen stroked her whiskers, looking very professional. “Hmm, yes, I think you’ve got a touch of the stiffeners,” she told him.

Skipper expressed concern. “The stiffeners? Float me tail, is that bad?”

Fortunata shook her head gravely. “It will be, if you let it get any worse. I’ve seen otters bent double with the stiffeners. Very, very, painful indeed.”

“Can you cure me, Besomtail?” he asked.

Fortunata leaned against the table. “Feverfew, wormwood, extract of nightshade leaf to stop the pain, that’s what you need. Plus, of course, a few other items that I don’t normally carry with me.”

“But you can get them?” Skipper asked hopefully.

Fortunata smiled at Mask. “Well, I suppose so. Though I’ll have to go out into the woods to gather them. What d’you say, Patchcoat?”

Mask had caught on to the scheme. “Right, Besomtail,” he said. “We’d better go out into the woodlands and hunt for the stuff. After all they’ve done for us here, it’d be a shame to watch this poor otter suffer when we can help him.”

Fortunata kept her voice light and casual. “Of course we’d need a couple of helpers, creatures that aren’t needed for other duties. What about those two little hedgehogs? I’ll bet they’d love a romp in the woods.”

Spike and Posy (disguised as Ferdy and Coggs) were eager to help. Goody Stickle wiped their snouts with her apron corner.

“Now mind you, don’t go a botherin’ the healers,” she warned them. “Behave yourselves like two liddle gentle’ogs.”

Fortunata patted them gingerly on their heads. “Oh, they’ll be just fine with old Patchcoat and me, marm.”

* * *

The healer and her assistant strode off, in the wake of the two small hedgehogs who scampered playfully ahead. Mask hitched the medicine bag around his neck as he trudged along with the vixen.

“Here, Besomtail, what are you up to now?” he asked. “I thought we were supposed to escape back to Kotir and tell this Queen of yours where the woodlanders are hiding out.”

Fortunata ducked an overhanging branch. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do, Patchcoat, but there’s no harm in bringing back a couple of escaped prisoners while we’re about it. You wait and see. It’ll be an extra feather in both our caps, though I’d hate to be one of those young hedgehogs when Tsarmina has them back under her claws.”