A sudden signal had come. A transmission for anyone nearby—it didn’t matter who as long as they could help. The crystal illuminated in the unforgiving hours of night with only letters and no image, saying, “A girl here has contracted the Ten Day Fever. Someone help her.”
A very simple and unadorned message. The abnormality of how it was sent and the uncharacteristically messy letters made it questionable as a message sent by a Mage. When Vigo replied asking where the girl was, the answer revealed they weren’t too far from the orphanage. Very close considering the distance between the orphanage and Rvydom’s capital city. If they were located in a settlement somewhere, there should have been a doctor in the vicinity yet they chose to send out a message only Mages could pick up on—there had to be more behind their plea.
Vigo’s suspicions were proved correct when he arrived at the destination relayed through the crystal.
The rendezvous location was a far too dilapidated building to even call it the house it once was. The miserable, decaying wooden frame looked like an unstable shack now. Whoever he was meeting had chosen to reside in one of the burned down villages; one of the many casualties of war. The settlement built in the ashes of a once vibrant village was as still as death. The sound of hooves brought several men out of the woodwork to stand guard outside with leery faces.
“Are you the doctor?” one of them asked him warily.
“Yeah. Where’s the patient?” Vigo dismounted his horse and handed the reins over to one of the scrappy men.
“This way,” another man said, raising his hand.
Vigo surveyed the area as he walked through the center of the rundown village. Every person he saw was a burly, muscled man that could have made up a mercenary band, bringing a frown to his face. No women or children were in sight.
…What’s going on here?
A village wiped out by the war had become the base of action for nothing but war-hardened men. The men guiding him stopped in front of the building at the innermost section of town—the old mayor’s house.
“This is the place.”
“Is the patient the only one inside?” Vigo inquired, searching to see if there were any other possible infected around.
The man shook his head. “No. Several bonded Knights are inside as well.”
Bonded Knights. Even if they contracted the illness, it wouldn’t mutate much beyond a common cold.
“You have my gratitude for showing the way. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Please help Lady Tita,” the guide said with a bow and returned to the village.
Lady Tita? …A noblewoman? Why’s a noblewoman in a makeshift settlement? Vigo pondered as he placed his hand on the peeling door. He sharply inhaled at the person he saw when he opened the door.
“I take it you’re our doctor?”
Inside was a man in his prime and a young man with darkly tanned skin. And beside them stood the very person Rifaenotis had just warned him about. However, the appearance of the man before him drastically clashed with the person in his memories. Although he had lost a lot of weight and aged dramatically, the sharp glint in his eyes was as bright as ever.
…Lord Galian…
Vigo nearly dropped his medical bag.