Godiva, now left alone and uncertain in the room with two strangers who purported to be doctors, was unable to move as the heavily clothed doctor and her religiously adorned assistant placed whatever equipment and medicines they had on the nearby table. The man walked behind her as to close the heavy curtains, leaving only the warm fire and wall sconces to provide light with-in the darkened room. The doctor in question carefully removed her mask and some of her heavier articles of clothing to reveal her own pale skin.
It did not take long for the doctor position herself beside her, placing her bound notebook and quill to one side, and start to examine her disabled body. Her cold touch caused her body to shiver, one of the few sensations that she could still feel from her flesh-bound prison. Each action taken by the strange medicine woman was promptly followed by quick scratching in her little book. While some actions, such as observing her heartbeat, could be done without assistance. Others required the simultaneous comparison to that of her assistant, removing any biases from her own pale body from the assessment. The initial tests seemingly required further extensive comparisons with previous records in her journal, in all likelihood checking the results with former patients. “Physically, she is healthy. Albeit slightly malnourished.” she proclaimed. “I think we can mostly rule out disease as the cause, leaving either mental impairment or the supernatural.”
From her deductions, the doctor changed her approach in diagnosing the current patient. Something in the room had changed from Godiva's paralyzed perspective, as if the flow of the air had changed around her, much to the ignorance of her assistant. “You are about to feel a strange sensation...” Victoria stated, placing her hands over her heart. It took a few short moments before a fuzzy sensation started materializing on her chest, pulsing at regular intervals. “Please relax and breathe, I will be done shortly.” she said, trying to focus on her patient's chest. The man, although struck with a look of fearful concern, remained watching from his position nearby the covered window. Soon the throbbing sensation and died down as the doctor relaxed for a second, breaking her concentration and the abnormal feeling in the air. “There is at least some bit of good news, I believe that patient's soul is inside her body and seemingly fully aware of everything happening around her. Furthermore, there are no other souls present that I could tell. Which eliminates many possibilities.” Although unable express the enormous relief that she felt, Godiva cried silent tears of joy that someone finally could understand her.
The good news was not as widely well received as the patient, William's expression was one of concern and not of some form of medical enlightenment. A subtle hint of questioning had form on his brow that demanded some form of elaboration, which was readily provided. “If you can remember my interactions with Utultar, you might recall how he could enter another's soul. I have trying to recreate their skill with minimal success over the winter. While I lack the ability to enter one's soul, I am able to roughly sense their soul and their general traits.” The name of apparent importance meant nothing to the young girl, mind now silently celebrating the small glimmer of hope that this strange woman would be the one to rescue her from this living hell.
“Alright Godiva,” she said returning to her attention to the patient. “I am going to ask some simple questions. I want to try and walk when you want to say 'Yes' and stay still for 'No'. Do you understand?” In what could hardly be described as 'coordinated series of motions,' the obvious attempt at movement was enough to confirm the doctor's theory that her mind was still active from with-in her body. What followed were a series of yes and no questions to gauge the strength of her mind, with a few fake questions to trip up any false positives. While in-consequential to any semblance of a cure, the small glimpse of hope was growing with every second.
“William, I need to taste her blood. Per our understanding, can I proceed to take her blood?” The sudden mention of blood drinking unnerved the patient, the once promising saviour might be yet another soul tempting the family into damnation. The seemingly righteous man was even considering the option, furrowed in thought. Thoughts of hellfire and brimstone, as absorbed from the local's pastor's fiery sermons, came to the forefront of Godiva's mind. The only time the consumption of blood was mentioned was in reference to vile parasitic creatures, such as the leeches which dwelled with-in the swampy marshes, or hedonistic demon worshippers that reveled in carnal desires. “Fine,” the supposedly righteous assistant relented “You aren't likely to do any lasting harm. You at least put your patient's health above any desires you hold.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
From her position, Godiva watched as her heretical doctor produced an ominous ornate looking knife from her satchel and quickly wiped it down with some sort of clear substance. “This will hurt a little, but I will put some numbing salve on afterwards. Please bare with-it” the doctor calmly said as she made a small incision on her forearm. The dark-red blood quickly rose to the surface, before dripping down onto a ready placed receptacle. It did not take long to gather enough liquid as to satisfy her questionable requirements, upon reaching the desired amount the doctor quickly applied a herb-laced bandage on the point of incision. The strange herbs were noticeably potent, as any discomfort from the minor cut had soon vanished from her consciousness.
The sedative and lack of any supernatural spectacle had calmed Godiva down, her mind now returned of a skeptical hope surrounding the doctor. The heretical doctor gave the blood a few tentative licks, appearing to saviour the metallic taste as long as she could. “It's consistency is good, and I cannot taste much in the way of 'dirt' or other contaminants.” she began, her normally relaxed tone taking on traits common amongst the certain subset of nobility who often obsessed over high quality liquors and their various textures. “There is a slight bitterness there, likely caused by some intestinal worms which can be dealt with later.” Each observation was met with additional notes in her small book, whatever this queer doctor's occultist methods were, they seemingly were far more effective than the conventional wisdom of the town's medical collective.
“Hmmm, that should not be there” She continued, taking another taste to confirm. “There appears to be wild magic in her blood system...” William's expression turned from one of abhorrent curiosity to one of concern. “That might explain why the exorcism the local priest performed didn't cure her, their chanting was probably targeted towards demons and not the local variety of spirits.” The doctor nodded in agreement, making some approving remarks to the clergyman about their understanding based on prior discussions on incense that were lost on Godiva. The doctor finished the remaining blood without further commentary or analysis before returning to the previous examination. “Relax now, Lady Hurst. I will be doing the soul-searching technique one more time. However, this time I will be looking for the source of the the wild magic which is causing your condition. It will take a little while longer, please try and put up with it.” The doctor's reassuring tone did little to temper Godiva's justifiable fear.
Starting at her chest, the occultist slowly worked her way up her body from the patient's chest. Her cold fingers slowly feeling for any reaction to the pulsating magic emanating from her fingertips. In reaction to the methodical probing, her body started to twitch uncontrollably as the magic reached her skull. It did not take long to find the small bony lump at the base of her skull, emitting faint natural magicks from said raised mass. “Come here William, can you feel the lump here?” calmly asked the nurse, summoning her companion to feel the apparent cause. In spite of the constant rubbing, the raised mass in question did not cause any adverse reaction in the patient raising more questions for the doctor.
A sudden change came across the doctor's face, although subtle, she had somehow received a message from elsewhere. “Leo and Rose have found something in the river and will be bringing it to the castle once they catch it.” She announced seemingly putting the pieces together. “I am going to try something I haven't done before, but it should give us the final piece of the puzzle. This may hurt a little.” Placing both hands on the back of Godiva's head, the doctor returned to casting out whatever magical spell she was casting.
As compared to previous pulsing, this one was far more intense. The sensation seemed to reverberate around the small lump, piercing into her head like a nail through wood. The blood in her head seemed to burn and sting as it danced around whatever that cursed lump was. The sensation soon died down as seemingly she had found what she was looking for and returned to make some final notes in her records. “I will explain what I found in detail with her parents, would you mind carrying Lady Hurst downstairs to the main halls.” Calmly stated the doctor, now focused on reviewing her diagnosis and returning the equipment to her sturdy cases.