Suddenly, Dmitri’s sense of smell exploded and Antonio vomited.

“What is that?” he exclaimed after he had finished coughing.

“I think we are getting closer to the source of the disease,” said Dmitri. He avoided breathing in through his nose; he could understand why Antonio had vomited, it was the stench of the tainted water magnified; the smell of dead flesh in an advanced state of decay, something that should have well and truly been buried. Swallowing back nausea, Dmitri help up his hand to halt Antonio, who gladly complied and he followed the stench. He rounded a corner and found the source. If he had have been holding a lantern, he had no doubt that he would have dropped it in shock at the sight. As it was, he did lose his control of magic enough that his orb of fire began to flicker as if going out. Antonio, back around the corner, noticed the flicker, “Dmitri,” he called out, “Is everything alright?”

Dmitri shook himself, “I’m fine,” he called back. “I just had a bit of a shock. Stay there, I’m coming back to you.

As Dmitri came back around the corner, Antonio could see by his face that he was a bit shaken by what he had seen. “What was it?” asked Antonio, his voice fearful.

“It is the source of the disease,” Dmitri replied. “It is absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ve come back so we can shield each other.”

Antonio nodded, still wary of something that could rock Dmitri like this. Together they both traced the glyphs for air and water, and shields shimmered into existence around them.

“Now,” said Dmitri. “What we have around this corner isn’t going to be pleasant; you can smell that much already. But I’m going to give you the choice. You can easily help me from back here. I’m going to be using fire. I simply need you to send me continuous flows of purified water. Can you do that?”

Antonio nodded, still apprehensive of what lay around the corner, “I’ll come with you as well though,” he said, still slightly unsure.

Dmitri nodded and led Antonio around the corner, his flame floating ahead of them. Once again the sight threw him somewhat and he fought to hold onto his magic. He steadied his flame as Antonio came around the corner beside him. Antonio surveyed what lay in front of him; corpses. But it wasn't just a single or a few corpses; it was scores of bodies laying there in various states of decay. His empty stomach heaved and he retched again, spitting out bile. Dmitri patted him on the back, but not in a mean or condescending kind of way. Yet stranger still was the variety of corpses, they were from all sorts of animals; boars, wild cats, deer and Dmitri even pointed out a bear or two rotting amongst the rest. There were also, to his horror, a few human bodies there as well.

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How had this many bodies arrived at this one spot? Images of a demon stalking through the village came unbidden to his mind. Shaking his head to clear foolish thoughts of a demon causing all of this, he turned to Dmitri who started to trace the glyphs in the air to clear it all.

Antonio did as he had been asked and drew the glyph for water and began to channel it towards Dmitri. Using his fire and Antonio’s water, Dmitri burned and purified the corpses, one by one. The smell that had hung in the air previously was enhanced by the heat of the fire and steam in the air and several times they had to stop as Antonio grew ill.

After several hours of this, it didn't appear as though they had done anything; their efforts didn't have any visible impact. Sighing Dmitri signalled Antonio to stop and let go of his magic. When he did however, he released all of his magic, including the shields.

“Antonio! The shields!” called out Dmitri, relieved that he had insisted on shields from both of them.

Antonio cursed himself, “Sorry Dmitri, I’m exhausted.” Along with his apology, Antonio reached once more for his magic to remake his shields.

Dmitri held up his hand to stop him, “It’s alright, I have them.”

Stubbornly, Antonio went ahead and created the shields. Dmitri smiled, Antonio was learning, the harder path strengthened the spirit. After the shields coalesced around them, Antonio sat down and rested.

While Dmitri was sitting there, listening to the gurgle of the stream, he saw that they were on a wide bend of the river, and then it hit him. “I’ve got it!” he cried.

Antonio sat up, suddenly alert, “what?” he asked, looking around in all directions.

“The water could easily rise to this height during flooding!” exclaimed Dmitri. “In this case any people or animals that died up river could be washed in here quite easily.”

“Oh,” said Antonio relaxing again, and then a few moments later, “Oh, so they died naturally?”

Dmitri laughed, “You weren’t still thinking about a demon were you?”

Antonio shook his head adamantly, “No, of course not.”

But Antonio was in much higher spirits, his confidence level at a peak, he was using his magic to help people, it was why he was here!

“Are you up for something more?” asked Dmitri seeing his companions spirits high once more.

Antonio nodded emphatically.