Chapter 49: Nobody
Captain Edric, much to his credit, allowed Valens to check the other patients suffering from the sickness down in the church’s basement. A dozen of them, as Harlow said, creeping ever so slowly to the death’s door, smarting from a number of blisters and bloody holes, bodies seemed to be intent on devouring themselves as though in a race. Each had the same strange rhythm interfering with their unique Resonances, the source of which Valens couldn’t trail when he tried to peek into their chest cavity.
The Priests tending to them, a good-natured Father Harmon with a shining pate, and his disciple whose name was Simeon, offered similar observations about the sickness that the only way to prevent it from spreading to the whole body was to keep constant care, which was, in their case, not entirely possible with a dozen men in hand, and another dozen whose legs would be chopped off tomorrow.
Valens could understand the root of their reasoning even though he didn’t appreciate the way they treated him. Not only did they see him as a stranger, they acted as if he had an insidious quality to him, a sort of lingering filth that would splatter over their sinless bodies through the simple act of breathing. They didn’t curse at him, nor did they draw swords and try to hack at him to cleanse his abhorrent existence, but they did seem relieved when Captain Edric escorted him outside.
Before he left, though, Valens did mention to both clergymen that their limb-chopping practice wouldn’t bring the wanted results. When a man’s own body had turned against itself, relieving him of his legs would only accelerate the inevitable.
“For all the glamor and righteousness of your order, Captain, your Priests never fail to amuse me with their deeply inept practices. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is the real reason why you banished the Healers from the Kingdom. To hide the truth of it,” Valens said as they trudged off toward the inn, with Garran keeping a close ear to their conversation from behind them. Mas and that towering guy, Dain, was nowhere to be seen.
“They’re doing the best they can,” Captain Edric didn’t seem to care for Valens’s biting remark as he breathed in a long, deep breath. “But this one is beyond their abilities.”
“So you do have an inkling of an idea as to what’s behind this sickness,” Valens said with an arched eyebrow.
“I have a theory,” Captain Edric said, then gave him a look. “But I’m curious to hear from you on this matter. Surely you’ve seen cases like these before, considering you’re on the brink of your Trial?”
“I’m afraid not,” Valens said simply. “But if I am to offer an opinion, I would say this matter is likely tied to an occult practice. Perhaps a spell that can afflict the core of a man with dark intentions, one that seems to be close to curses in nature. Or it could’ve emerged from the system itself. Pity that my knowledge in those fields is painfully limited.”
“The system doesn’t have the habit of cursing people,” Garran said.
“Indeed,” Captain Edric muttered. “But I don’t think what we’re dealing with here is a deliberate attack against the Brackley mines. I believe they were caught in an unfortunate coincidence.”
Sounds like another cult. I wonder if those evil classes Garran mentioned could be behind this case.