Night had fallen and the moon did a fine job of illuminating Fount Salt. Cira and her assistant walked towards the crowd of patients sitting in mostly neat circles. A city guard approached—the same one as earlier, with longing in his eyes.
“Madam sorcerer…?”
Cira held up a finger, “Almost there. Just send your replacement to me on your way out.”
“Thank you!” He went for a bow but sagged as if all the tension left his body. She didn’t think her simple instructions from the other day could have devolved so thoroughly for this man, but he’d earned a break.
She again wore the priest robes despite her own wishes, with a shining golden scepter. After applying a few protections to Nanri, she also gave her a cloth mask to wear just to keep up appearances.
“Area Heal! Area Cure! Area Hydrate!” Turning it into a single spell would increase the mana cost. Gazen called it the convenience fee—bringing it down took refinement and practice.
The group of patients she just healed all glowed with holy light, then all the gasping heads looked around for an explanation.
“It’s her!”
“The saint!” Came one woman’s broken cries, “She’s returned at last!”
“We’re cured!”
Cira’s expression was tough. It would appear the guards failed to convey her message. What was she supposed to do? Yelling out, ‘There is no cure!’ sounded like a bad idea. Appending a little ‘yet’ on the end would have no effect on the crowd, she was sure of it.
“Oh Saintess, please cure us next!” A man broke from his circle and fell to his knees before her. Cira froze in place, pretty much stumped.
“Everybody, please calm down!” The Titan Witch was bathed in the glow of her staff as a large block of metal appeared in the air. Everyone gazed in awe at the cube as it reflected the moonlight. “Sorry, this is the best I could do. Is that poison the cure—”
“Shh!” Cira rushed to bring a finger to her lips and spoke in a whisper, “It is not. I’m almost certain of it.”
Some of the people had been chattering and gotten loud, “It’s a witch, look!”
“A witch is here!”
“Hey, shut up!” Another man yelled.
They got rowdy for a minute then died down, nervously looking at the witch. Cira watched with wide eyes, and nudged Nanri along.
Nanri gasped when she realized what that nudge meant. Delighted to be relied on, she cleared her throat, “Everyone get back to your groups. The, uh, Saintess will get to everyone soon!”
“Hey!” Cira whispered, “What the hell?!”
“Oh! Umm, and she is working very hard to find the cure!”
Cira buried her face in her hands. No words she could conjure would help the situation, that much was clear to her.
“Was that okay?” Nanri’s smile was so proud and sincere.
The sorcerer’s heart grew weary. To wipe that smile away would be akin to smothering a newborn nimbus seal. Cira was left one response, “Yeah, you did great,” and a difficult smile. She moved onto the next group to heal.
Each time, she explained that she was attempting to treat their symptoms, but the name ‘Area Cure’ wasn’t doing her any favors. She bit the bolt with her satchel full of elixirs and developed a new spell which combined all three of her treatments. It wouldn’t do anything about her new title, but at least she could stop shouting ‘Cure!’ among the masses.
Cira raised her staff before the frail men, women, and children huddled together, “Area Symptom Treatment!” A bright golden light burst out of her scepter before falling in the middle of the group.
“Area Symptom Treatment!” She was on a roll now, like down in Uru. So long as Cira paid the convenience fee, she’d be done in no time. “Area Symptom Treatment!”
She’d finished about half of them and downed a few potions when her new guard approached. He was a stubby man not dissimilar to Lomp but much wider in the belly. He threw a salute, “Here to report, madam Saintess!”
Cira sighed, “Sorcerer… Whatever. Tell me, there’s still people in the second ward and the clinic over here, right?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“So, does that mean all these people need lodging?” There were hundreds, filling the field of salt and damn near in her front yard, “Have they been staying out here?”
“Er- yes, well, since yesterday. The rest of the infirmary is packed too.”
Dammit, I was gone too long. That’s another thing I have to take care of before bed, “What about food? I imagine some of these people at least had a little to eat at home, but the infirmary can’t possibly have enough food for them.”
The guard looked nervous, “It’s… exactly as you say. Food was rationed but the last was handed out this morning. People were getting restless until you showed up.”
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And the famine had fallen right back on Cira’s shoulders with a shiny new time limit. Well… I’ve got the mana to waste… “I’ll have to think about that one. This is going to take a while already. For now go tell Pappy to contact the underworm farms, wherever they are, and get as many worms as they can spare. Tell whoever you need to that it’s a direct worm acquisition order from the Hidden Witch. That won’t be fast, so tell Pappy to drop everything he’s doing and get on it.”
The man was stock still, “You… you want me to go tell him that…?”
“Oh, you’re right. Send me your replacement on your way out. Area Symptom Treatment!” The two continued their rounds.
The symptoms were all fairly minor outside, and Cira suspected the worst cases would be inside somewhere. The bitter acrimony of mushroom paste and demonseeds gnawed at the back of her throat already, and at this rate she would tasting it into next week.
She gulped another down, cleared her throat, then kept healing. This went on for another hour before everyone outside was treated. The second ward was packed wall to wall, with a small path to step through. There would have been no way to group them up in here, so she just started blasting holy magic into the room until she was sure she’d hit everywhere.
Unfortunately, the rest of the downstairs area was the same. Cira had no idea who she healed and who she didn’t, so another ten potions later they’d all been healed again. She found herself catching her breath, leaning against the railing of the stairs.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t call it a day?” Nanri’s voice betrayed concern, “There’s no way it’s healthy to drink that many of those. I can’t even imagine the all the mana you’re cycling through… Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Can’t call it a day yet.” She yawned, “The night’s only just begun.”
Upstairs they found the hopeless and the wretched. It was quiet save for the pained moans and rasping coughs. She could hear some had already fallen into a troubled sleep. She had to double up on the healing, but even then it hardly helped most of them.
They were packed in here too, and each one was covered in relentless wounds. The many that couldn’t manage to sleep swayed in place, staring blankly forward. A child’s muffled sobs could be heard from across the room. Cira made her way around as quietly as she could, one hand healing and another in the potion satchel. It had gotten noticeably lighter by the time they were back downstairs, heading outside again.
“Almost there…” Cira paused once they got outside to feel the cool breeze, “You ready?”
Nanri offered a nervous laugh, “Of course I’m ready, I haven’t done anything…”
“Don’t say that,” she patted her on the back, “I’m more elixir than sorcerer at this point.”
They made it to the clinic when frantic steps came up behind them and Cira could hear heavy breathing.
“Madam—” he panted, trying to catch his breath, “Madam Sorcerer, I was told you needed assistance.”
“Hmm?” Cira gave the man a funny look, “Didn’t I send you home already?”
His eyes told her that he was half asleep, “There’s only two of us now. The others left when we finished rounding up the infected.”
“So that’s what happened…” She felt sorry for the poor man, “You can go back and rest, I’ll get it worked out on my own.”
“No, if… if it helps cure the plague, just tell me what you need.” He straightened up.
“Well, aren’t you dependable?” He probably has family among them, “This one should be quick, but it will take a little explanation that you absolutely can’t get wrong.” She gave him a stern look.
The guard nodded seriously so she continued, “I need a single patient. Preferably a healthy adult no older than about forty. There’s a treatment I need to test for the plague, but it’s a potent poison. I may as well just say, it’s not the cure. Whoever takes it will experience great pain and be bedridden, needing a steady three meals a day without fail for a few months following this treatment or they will die. I don’t know if the infirmary or Pappy can make that happen, but I need you to find me this person.”
“I’ll do it.”
Cira was taken aback. She didn’t know if it was the bedrest he was after or if he was acting with a pure heart, “Do you even have the plague?”
He lifted his shirt revealing a festering lesion across his belly, “Just last week. That’s why I need to do what I can for them while I’m still able… This is perfect.”
She looked at him for a second before saying anything, “Well, if you’re sure. But you’ll really die if you don’t eat three meals a day. Honestly, for half a year to be safe.”
“My son still remains healthy. He has a store on the upper deck, and he has the means to take care of me.”
That’s right, traders still come through here. Famine only applies to the poor majority. “Then bring him to me. I’ll be done here soon.” And the guard rushed off.
The clinic was sort of a mixed bag. Some minor patients and some more severe. They were so close together many were asleep leaning against the next few people. Wounds rubbed together, everyone was in pain. It was a horrible sight.
The boy with the twisted arms was still here, and she didn’t notice any change in his condition over the last few days. Aside from him and the man in Uru, nobody else had those intense deformities. If there were more, they either died or lay dying somewhere in a hole far below her feet. She burned through another handful of elixirs and walked out the doors exhausted. Slumping against the clinic’s stone wall, Cira muttered a holy spell and ripped her veil off, trying to get fresh air in her lungs.
“Cira I know I’m getting annoying, but…” Nanri crouched down and looked at her with worry.
“I know, I know. I’m almost done.” She put a hand on the witch’s shoulder and stood up, dusting off her robes, “I just have to build a new clinic and poison that guy then we’re done…”
She wobbled on her feet and Nanri helped steady her. There were two men waiting by the corner of the building and they approached. One was the guard and the other was a younger man with a rag wrapped around his face, wearing a clean button up and slacks.
“Are you the witch?” He looked Cira in the eyes.
“I guess,” She shook her head, “So your father’s agreed to undergo a treatment that will in no way cure the plague. It will be an incredibly painful, horrible experience. He will be bedridden for months and require three full meals a day for half a year, without question, or he will die.”
“Oh… Okay…” The man looked bewildered, “Then what does it do?”
“I don’t know the best way to explain this, so I’m just going to say it. There are tiny, invisible demons inside your body—”
“What?!” The young man was aghast, patting himself up and down. His father started doing the same.
“What do you mean?!” He asked.
“Don’t bother looking, you couldn’t see them if you tried. But that’s alright. Everyone’s got ‘em and they’re all around you all the time. Most of them in your body are good… demons. It’s the bad ones I’m worried about. There is a very small chance that this plague is caused by one of those tiny demons. The problem is that this treatment kills tiny demons indiscriminately. But, again, I’m almost certain that this is not the case, and will not rid your father of the plague.”
After looking around in paranoia then at Cira in shock, then disbelief, the young man shouted, “That’s absurd! What kind of witchcraft are you trying to—”
His dad put a hand out to stop him, “That’s enough, boy. I don’t know if she’s a witch or a saint, but she’s the real deal. If there’s invisible demons in my body, there’s invisible demons in my body.”
The son stood there with his mouth hanging open, “Then why are you doing this if you’re certain it won’t work?!”
“I’m not completely certain. But I will be soon. If I’m right and this does nothing, it will leave very few possibilities as to the source of the plague.”
“I still don’t know about this…”
The guard scoffed, “It doesn’t matter what you know, boy. I’m doing this.” He turned to Cira, “Now please, commence the exorcism.”