Hey so quick warning, but this chapter gets pretty graphic with bubonic plague and amputation. If you're not into that I recommend skipping this chapter


Valleri stood near the pulpit when the healer sat the farmer down. The healer, a lithe tall Redguard woman, helped the farmer remove his shirt and started to look around for anything wrong. Valleri couldn't see the healer's face, but she'd spent enough time with the woman to know her face was twisted into a concentrated frown.

It was the same face she remembered her mother making before she died.

Valleri didn't want to think about that. Not now, not ever.
The healer stopped her examination when the farmer lifted his arm up. She rubbed her hand over a bump in his arm pit. Her face turned steely as she turned back to the young girl, "Go get Anya."

Valleri's chest felt tight as she looked past the healer to the farmer. His skin was pallid with sweat all over his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, little one," she paused, "Go get Anya."

Valleri took one last look at the farmer sitting in the pews before taking off down to the hall. Valleri could still see the farmer clearly in her head when she told the head priestess that the healer needed to see her. The girl waited a few minutes before following the priestess up to the main hall of the chapel. She watched them behind a support beam as the healer spoke to Anya.

"I think we should keep him here just in case."

"Saffra, what if it gets out of hand like last time? This is a serious matter."

"It's not right to just send him home back to infect his family, Anya. I can handle it."

Valleri watched Anya scowl as she looked at the farmer and crossed her arms. "Fine. You can keep him here. But if things get out of hand, you'll be the one to have that on your conscious" Valleri watched Anya storm off. The priestess gave the little girl a pitiful look as she saw her hiding behind the pillar.

The farmer moaned loudly during the night. Valleri watched him lying on the makeshift bed from the back pews with fascination. His fingers and toes were black now, contorted into grotesque claws that reminded the little girl of the dying bush in the back courtyard.

She didn't go closer than a few feet. They told her that she wasn't allowed to go closer when her mother came down with the illness. She did the same for each new sick person that came to the chapel.

Soon enough, the curiosity got the better of her and Valleri found herself walking closer to the sick farmer. Candle light highlighted the bulbous growths under his skin and the thick sheen sweat all over his body. Valleri couldn't pull her eyes away and her feet refused to move.

Without warning, the farmer sprung up with a loud coughing noise. Sputum came up from his mouth with each cough. Valleri still couldn't move.

"Valleri! Get out of the way!" the healer yelled as she pushed the girl aside. She took one look at the farmer before looking back to Valleri. "Don't just stand there, grab me a basin and start boiling water!"

The little girl didn't say anything as she ran off to the chapel hall. Her stomach churned as she put water on the hearth to boil. Priestesses peered from their rooms with sleepy eyes as the girl tried to look for the largest basin she could. The healer came into the room and started to pick out the supplies she needed. Valleri's stomach dropped again when she watched the woman grab a saw and tourniquet.

The water boiled with a hiss, bringing Valleri back to the task the healer gave her. She hefted the bucket and basin up the stairs. The healer was already assessing the further damage before sticking a wooden spoon between the farmer's teeth.

The healer turned back to the little girl. "Valleri, I need you to stay calm otherwise this isn't going to work."

"What's happening to him?" Valleri asked, voice croaky. The girl tried not to look at the bloody mucus running down his face. Her own breathing was shallow and quick and the girl almost felt like fleeing.

"His feet and his hand are dead. We need to get rid of them."

The healer threw the saw into the boiling for a few minutes as she wiped away the mucus. The woman took a smaller knife from the tool kit at her side and began to slice the bulbous growths open. Yellowish liquid began to drain from the incision. Valleri took a step back when the smell hit her. She'd smelled this before and she never wanted to smell it again.

Still, the girl couldn't find the will to move.

The healer was busy tying the tourniquet around the man's left foot when she barked an order for Valleri to hand her the saw. "He's going to start flying up when I start cutting. You're going to have to stand back."

Valleri did as she was told and clung to the pulpit. With long, thoughtful strokes the healer began to cut away the blackened flesh. The farmer screamed in pain each time the healer moved her arm. It was only a few minutes before Valleri could see the bone.

That wasn't what she thought bone looked like.

The bone was still covered in white tendons, slick with all sorts of reddish fluids Valleri didn't want to think about. Long, thin, ropey filaments moved up the bone like snakes while blood continued to ooze down from the remaining flesh at the top of the exposed bone.

Valleri felt herself go dizzy as her eyes grew wide. She began to lose her breath as she tried to look away. Suddenly the little girl burst into a sprint across the hall while the healer called back for her. Valleri could feel herself begin to dry heave the farther away she got. The image of the poor farmer's leg and his face twisted in pained horror wouldn't leave her.

She slammed the door to the undercroft shut as she tried not to cry. Valleri still couldn't think about anything other than the leg. The little girl backed away from the door and she couldn't stop the tears. The screams from upstairs were still audible when she curled up in a dark corner of the dank hall. Soon the hall was filled with eerie silence and Valleri was able to chase away the bloody visions.

Valleri tried not to think when the back of the chapel was being scrubbed clean and the healer was busy with her bonfire in the back.

She didn't have to have the adults tell her to know that the poor farmer died.