janusscientes - Here you are my dear 3 Thank you for leaving a comment!
By dawn, Dove and Julian had already awoken to meet the rising sun, the two ready to go to the market, Julian taking his potions as he threw a large black cloak around Dove to cover her from peoples view, putting gloves onto her hands too so she may touch things and not spread her disease. Dove pulled the large hood of her cloak up and over her face, a dark shadow being cast all down her delicate features – it was suspicious looking no question, but most people tried to hide themselves during times of sickness so Julian hoped it wouldn't cause a stir. As Julian opened the front door and stood outside, he reached up to held Dove down the few small steps before he reached for the mask on his face taking it off slowly to reveal himself to Dove as he shut his front door gently. Dove's eyes opened wide at his face. He was undoubtable handsome, more so than the stories she'd heard of the mysterious doctor, this making her once more bow her head with a smile.
"There," Julian said happily. "Perhaps now you won't be as frightened of me now with the mask on. So, there are some rules, keep by me but if a guard is near go look at a nearby stall in sight of me so it doesn't look like I'm with you in case something happens. Now, come – there are things we must do." Julian took off a good few steps in front of Dove, her steps small as she tried to keep herself as steady as she could as to not cause any form of upset. People passed her by naturally, not taking any notice to her as the Doctor kept stopping every few minutes to talk to someone new, people seemed to stand to talk to him when he walked by, he was clearly popular to the public, and before Dove could even realize due to mostly daydreaming during her walk they arrived in the main market place. People bustled around the small plaza absentmindedly, vendors and buyers alike speaking loudly and struggling to get through the large crowds. Dove stopped to look at a stall that sold flowers and she recognized many of them for potions and such, smiling down as she picked up the flowers in her gloved hands gently to study them before putting them back again as she had given all her coins to Julian, who with a glance, she'd realized she'd lost in the crowd.
"Damn." She said in a soft tone as she moved back into the crowd trying to find him, scanning around the market quickly before she accepted that she had truly lost him in the hysterics of the day – it was just her luck. Regardless although, she kept making her way through the crowds happily, stopping every few stalls to talk to vendors and to look at what they had to sell and she noticed very quickly that mostly every stall sold things that could be used for alchemy – she assumed it was because of the plague. Due to living outside the city most of her life she had no clue how wide spread it had become over the years. Stopping at a stall that had tall glass jars with large black leeches inside she tapped on the glass lightly as the creatures floated as if dead, it was disgusting to her but even so, she glanced up to the vendor who had their arms crossed over them, smiling with a raised brow.
"Pardon me but what procedures are these used for?" Dove asked in a soft tone as she stood straight once more as the man before her made a 'heh' noise.
"Blood lettin', ma'am," He stated. "Most of these are bought by doctors to be taken to the plague house to try to let the disease out of people by draining blood, but most of these shipments go to the island." He said as he shrugged casually as Dove brought a hand to her face in curiosity.
"Island?" She questioned as the man squinted at her as if he thought she was joking.
"Haven't you heard of it ma'am? It's where they take people with the plague to die, and that's where they are all burned."
Dove stood back in horror, her hands over her mouth in dismay as her eyes went wide, tears pooling as she imagined what the man had said to her. Would that be her fate? To be burned as everyone else, to be nothing more than something that had to be cleansed from the world? Her horror quickly overwhelmed her, a pressure in her chest causing her to start coughing loudly in her panic attack like state, this drawing great deals of attention to her, and before she even realized, blood was running down her face from her eyes like tears, people surrounding her screaming in horror as she looked around to everyone, people dragging their children away from the scene and shouting at others to flee.
"Plague victim! Plague!" The man who stood behind the stall she'd been talking to shouted out, Dove struggling to get the words 'no, please' out as royal guards pushed their way through the masses to get to Dove, rushing her and grasping her arms just as Julian pushed through the crowds with a horrified expression. He stared for a moment before he too rushed towards Dove.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen," He shouted at the guards. "Do step back from the infected, get back – Back I say!" He exclaimed to them as they quickly did as the doctor said as he gripped onto Dove's arm and began to drag her through the crowds, as soon as he could no longer see the guards quickly picking her up into his arms and sprinting through the streets with her as people watched wide eyed. He knew he should've never lost sight of her, and with a glance down to her he noticed she was completely unconscious in his arms once more.
Pushing his way through his front door he quickly put her back down on that same table from the first night, throwing his gloves off across the room to feel her pulse. It was dull, but it was still there – he was, for the first time, very unsure of what to do. He couldn't feed her medicine whilst asleep in the fear that she might choke, he couldn't even shake her away she was very clearly gone in her own mind as her eyes lay shut. He was about to try to get her water to maybe help her rouse when he heard loud knocks on his front door making him curse under his breath.
"Royal Guard! Open up!" He heard from the other side setting him into a panic like he'd never felt before – he had to hide Dove. He scanned around his tiny house for somewhere, anywhere he could stash her, and then his eyes fell on a large pot in the corner, one where he kept many writings. He quickly picked her up once more and prayed that her frail body would fit into it, and as easy as could be, she slid in gently, her knees to her face as her head bowed forwards in her unconscious state. Making a makeshift lid out of a cloth he moved to the door, regaining his composure as he opened to the same guards from the market.
"Pardon us Doctor Devorak, but we need to search your house for that woman, is that alright?" One of the larger guards asked in a gruff tone and Julian smiled happily, stepping aside for them to have their look around, his eyes constantly flipping to them then to the pot in the corner – he could only hope she wouldn't wake up for the time being. The guards looked in every space where Julian could've hid her. Behind his book shelf, in his bedroom, but suddenly to his horror one of the guards went to lift the cloth to the pot.
"Gentlemen! Pardon me," He said catching their attention, making them turn his way. "I do believe I just saw that woman running, perhaps with a terrible limp but running north," He moved closer to his open door to more so give the illusion making the two guards look to each other and nod before they too moved for the front door.
"Sorry for that Doctor, just had to make sure, thank you sir." They said with another nod before they too took off running north, Julian taking a moment to stand in the doorway casually before turning and slamming the door before quickly moving to the pot and reaching in, taking Dove out as she fell completely limp in his arms, quickly taking her to the bedroom and setting her down, covering her in blankets as blood was dried on her cheeks like tears, a mournful expression on her face as she lay still. He watched her for a moment to make sure that indeed she was still breathing, he had no idea what putting her in a small cold space like that could've done to her condition and as he stood once more he screamed in pure frustration taking his plague mask from a nearby shelf and throwing it across the room, the red glass shattering everywhere as he collapsed down to his knees just by Dove.
For hours Julian sat with her like that, his head in his hands as he reflected over the day – how could he have been so foolish? How could he be this bad of a doctor? Nightfall fell over the city like a blanket of sadness for Julian, the light from a candle he had lit in the bedroom giving a soft glow onto Dove's rosy skin. He knew, he always had known, that he couldn't cure Dove, and today showed him at that, and even more so, her charm convinced him that taking her outside would be a good idea – he was ashamed of himself. The thought of her being burned on plague island tore him apart, and he knew that those guards would come back when they couldn't find her – he wanted her life to end on his terms.
Slowly he moved closer to her, straddling her as he brought his shaking hands down to her throat. It was small and delicate, he understood he could easily crush her with enough force, and with a deep breath he began to choke the unconscious girl. His whole world spun around him almost as if he was going to fall unconscious himself, his shaking hands struggling to keep even pressure on her neck, but almost as if fate, Dove suddenly began to rouse. Her eyes opened wide in horror as she began to kick her legs in a struggle as she attempted to scream through her gasps for air. Julian's grip slowly loosened as he suddenly fell back from Dove who quickly scrambled to her feet, her hands gripped over her mouth in horror, holding back a scream.
"J-Julian! Y-You…You tried to-…" She couldn't even finish her sentence before she grasped her cloak from earlier in the day and jumped out the window in the bedroom to the street where she quickly fled out of sight. Julian sat for a moment stunned, as if he had to take a minute to realize if he'd truly done it, looking to his trembling hands for a second before he quickly stood, staring out the window.
"Dove!" He cried out as he too jumped out the window into the night air, going in the direction she had gone with his eyes frantically scanning the streets – but he came to realize the only way she could've gone was towards the harbor, and within minutes, he saw the figure of Dove with her hood down staring out into the darkness at the edge of the dock. With a creak of a piece of wood of the pier, Dove whipping around in horror to see Julian, her eyes wide and wild as if she was looking at a ghost.
"So, is that it then?!" She screamed at him, the loudest he'd heard her speak, her voice not raising above just a whisper before making him step back. "Am I to burned like the others, was this a last glimpse of my life today? Why didn't you tell me that that's where I am destined to go if I don't get well?!" She yelled as she marched up to him, slamming her fists against his chest as she shouted before she began to break down, sobbing into his chest as he tried to put his arms around her.
"Dove, you must understand that-"
"Don't touch me! Please…" She snapped as she slapped his hands away, turning her back on him as she looked out in the darkness in the direction of the island where smoke was rising from. "Have you been there, doctor? What horrors did you see? Will those horrors be me?" She said more rhetorically as she turned to look at him, tears running down her already stained face.
"I told your father I will get you well, I promised him and I have promised you." Julian said in a strong voice as he felt his sins crawling up his back.
"How can I possibly believe that you will-"
Julian suddenly pulled Dove into a tight embrace, leaning right over as he was right into her space.
"In this proximity, for this amount of time, I too should now be infected. We will get better together, we are now in this together, Dove." He said in a soft voice to her as her arms slowly wrapped around him also, a sob escaping her as guilt now began to crawl onto her, the thought of infecting a prestigious doctor as himself a terrifying thought.
"Know this Dove, you will get well if it is the last thing I do."