Read Hyllis Family Story 1: Telekinetic for Free Online

What good is it for us to know that he has gout, and how gout feels, when we can’t really do anything to help him?”
    With an exasperated look Eva said, “We gave him willow bark tea!”
    “So it makes his pain a little less. It doesn’t really make him better . He probably could have brewed his own willow bark tea.”
    “When you’re hurting, having somebody lessen your pain does help! Besides, gout causes inflammation, and willow bark decreases inflammation, so it really is helping him, not just the pain. Just knowing that it’s not an infection is tremendously important. If he went to someone who didn’t know what gout was, they might have thought he had an infection like you did. Supposing then they’d tried to lance it to drain the pus out? Then he’d have a wound that might actually get infected. A wound that did him no good at all!”
    At this outpouring of words Tarc put his hands up, covering his head as if shielding his skull from a beating. “Okay, okay… I understand … We helped him.” He shrugged and grinned shyly at Eva, “I just thought we’d be able to do something… better.”
    Eva ’s shoulders drooped a little and she sighed, “Well, yeah. There are a lot of diseases that we can’t do anything for. In the old days they used to have medicines for most of them,” she shrugged, “or so we’re told. The medicines we have now, like willow bark, aren’t very strong.” She eyed Tarc sternly, “However, the fact that we can’t do all that much is no excuse for not doing the very best we can.”
     

Chapter Two
     
    Tarc turned the corner on his way to his afternoon of drill. With a shout, Jacob lunged at him, full-length, running him through with an imaginary sword. “Missed me!” Tarc exclaimed, twisting to the side like a matador.
    “ If I missed, it’s only ‘cause my sword won’t penetrate ugliness!”
    Tarc sniffed ostentatiously, “What is that stench? Is that you ?”
    The two friends continued down the street trading insults. They had only been old enough to drill with the defense teams for a few weeks now, but the fact they were doing it made them feel quite manly.
    As the name-calling wound down, the two friends talked about the events of their week. Jacob was excited because his birthday was nearly there and he hoped his father would get him a new knife.
    Tarc desperately wanted to tell his friend about his new talent, but his father had warned him of the dangers of talking to other people about the Hyllis family’s talents. If others knew that members of their family could do things that no one else could, it could cause a lot of trouble.
    Instead, he told Jacob about the big soldier who had caused the trouble in the tavern.
    Tarc ’s friend didn’t seem surprised. “Daussie is… really pretty,” Jacob said quietly, as if he were somewhat in awe.
    Tarc shoved his friend off the sidewalk and out in the street. “Get out!” He searched for something to say. Something that would remind Jacob of just how annoying his sister could be.
    “Really Tarc, she’s your sister .” Jacob said, “You probably don’t see it ‘cause of that, but I’m not the only one who thinks she’s beautiful.”
    They entered the armory and drill center, Tarc’s head spinning with the ramifications. Could it be that the big soldier wasn’t the only one who had a thing for Daussie?
     
    Tarc’s first assignment in the drill center that afternoon put him on wall defense. He took his position on the defenders’ platform of the drill center’s practice wall. Armed with a practice spear that had a cushioned tip, he waited for his turn. His team would try to keep the other team from scaling the logs. Sometimes he thought the most important lesson of these practice drills came from being on the outside and trying to climb the palisade. Understanding how difficult it was to get over the walls gave the defenders more confidence.
    However, Tarc often wondered how difficult it would be