Bonds
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Well?" Lyra questioned, with more than a hint of fear as Jasmine straightened up. One look at the frown on the Priest's face, however, was more than enough to give her an answer.
"The malady afflicting them is like nothing I've seen before," she shook her head. "I'm afraid none of my spells will help in curing this."
"So, is this stuff contagious?" Erika asked from the doorway. "'Cause if it is, I'm voting we split from this town as soon as we can."
"No," Geo folded his arms, looking at the coughing man on the bed. "We have to help these people."
"Oi, boss, I know you're big on the spreadin' love and peace through the world thing, but Jasmine's the closest we got to a healer. If she can't fix it, want makes you think any of us can?"
"I don't know, but we can't just leave this people be! I mean, it's Lyra's hometown! And if we don't do something, all these people will…"
"Will what?" Erika scratched the back of her head. "This, um, plague thing hasn't excactly started dropping the people like flies, have they? Accordin' to the nun at the church, nobody's dead yet."
"True," Jasmine said from her position at the bedside where she was carefully placing a damp rag on the suffering man's forehead. "But nobody's gotten any better either. And even if this disease isn't actually fatal, half the town's already crippled. If this goes on much longer, Coffinwell won't be able to sustain itself."
Meanwhile, Lyra sat silently on a chair, wondering when everything in her town had gone so wrong so quickly. Geo was still pacing the room, eyes dark and looking down at the ground. Finally, he looked up.
"I'm going to talk to the Elder."
"Mayor."
"What?"
"Coffinwell has a Mayor, not an Elder. Mayor Laria," Lyra corrected automatically, not really paying attention.
"O – oh. Anyway, I'll go talk to him and see what he says. Maybe he knows a bit more about the disease."
"I'll go with you," Jasmine said. "Probably better that you don't do this alone."
"Right… thanks."
As Geo and Jasmine departed, Erika was left there with Lyra. An uncomfortable silence descended on the pair, broken only by the occasional coughs coming from the men in the bed.
"Sorry."
"What?" Lyra glanced up.
"Sorry 'bout your town. Any way you slice it, this is a lousy situation," Erika raised and lowered one shoulder.
"Yeah…" Lyra's voice trailed off and she swallowed. When she'd first stepped into the town, she'd anticipated visiting some of her friends and family members. Instead she'd been greeted by a pale-faced farmer advising them to leave the town as quickly as possible. Now many of the residents were too sick for Lyra to even pay them a quick visit. She found that her grip on her staff had tightened, and she shook her head. This was awful.
"Listen, I'm not good with soft words and all that rot, but…" Erika raised and lowered one shoulder. "I just get the feeling Geo's gonna figure out a way. He's got that feeling about him, you know?"
"Geo?" Lyra had to chuckle slightly at the thought. "The same Geo who told us he'd never seen a sandwich before when I offered him one?"
"Yup, that little blighter," Erika had a small grin on her face now. "There's something special about the boy, don't you reckon?"
"Yeah…" Lyra turned to look out the doorway, at the last rays of the setting sun. "Yeah, I guess so."
"So, head over to this ancient tomb that nobody's ever heard of, beat up some sentient blob of evil disease – however that works – and we're golden?"
"That's the long and short of it, yes," Geo replied as he finished tightening his scabbard to his belt. "Is everyone ready?"
"Why did it have to involve Phlegming?" Lyra muttered. "Biggest stick-in-the-mud in town, and he's the only one who can save us? Somebody up there has a bad sense of humour."
Geo chuckled at that, although Lyra could detect a faint strained air in that laugh.
She felt a soft hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Jasmine giving her an encouraging smile. "Don't worry. Your town will be restored soon."
Lyra nodded. "Yeah… I know."
And they set off across the grassy plains once more.
Thanks for reading.
