Hylore – Seahold (Noreland Capital) Spring 2344 AS

  Day 7

  I awoke suddenly to the distant ringing of bells.

  I was wrapped up in sweaty sheets.

  The sun was high in the sky, flooding the room with light. The night had been long and hard. I had slept, but I had woken up often. During those times, I slowly removed my gear and armour. It was all scattered around my bed.

  I had emptied both canteens during the night but was still thirsty.

  Looking around, I noticed a jug of water on the cabinet next to the bed. I was not there yesterday. My head was heavy and foggy, and I tried to remember where such a jug would have come from. I looked around the room, seeing my gear scattered around the floor around the bed.

  Everything seemed to be present.

  I reached over and picked up the jug. In my present condition, it was far heavier than it should have been, and I was forced to use both hands to lift it. I inspected the contents, gave a quick sniff, and only smelled water. I quickly began drinking as I had no other option. I quickly guzzled down nearly half of the container. It was then that my bladder reminded me that I had not urinated for quite some time.

  I managed to place the jug back onto the cabinet without dropping it and looked woefully at the door.

  I was going to have to get out of bed, cross the room, and then go down the corridor to the toilet. I wasn't sure if I could make such a journey.

  I lay back in the bed, my throat slightly better now, but the insistence from my bladder is getting worse by the second.

  Sighing heavily to myself, I got up…. Eventually.

  Every joint in my body was aching. I called up my hand and looked at the countdown to remove the lesser disease. It read: 07:34:17. I groaned, another few hours of joy ahead of me.

  I stood up, and the world tilted. I was forced to spread my arms out to help balance myself. What was happening to me reminded me of the only time I'd ever been on the ship, which had given me insight into what it was like to be out at sea. I never went back out again.

  I eventually went over to the door, almost falling onto it. I found the door was locked because my key was on the cabinet next to my bed. This led to another loud groan as I was forced to turn around and get it.

  I eventually got back to the door and realised I had locked it last night.

  My bladder was telling me to ignore all this information and get the issue with it resolved, and I was forced to put that to the side for the moment. I opened the door after a few attempts and stared out into the corridor.

  "Here we go."

  By the time I got back to my room, I felt like I had gone through an epic quest that spanned many months. My bladder was far happier, but the rest of my body was complaining loudly now.

  "Good day. Hector." Came a bright and cheery voice. I turned and found Acolyte Mandolin smiling at me with a big, toothy grin. "I came to see if you…"

  The voice cut off when she saw my current condition.

  "By the Mother! You look terrible!" She said with a great deal of worry. The whole expression changed when she realised how ill I was.

  "Going… Back to bed… It will be fine tomorrow." I told her as I moved back into my room.

  "No, let me help you. If you are this ill, you need help." I could hear the concern in her voice.

  "No… Need… Sleep… Will be okay tomorrow." I started closing the door, but she blocked it with her foot.

  "You've contracted black rat fever. You need to see a healer." Her tone had become very stern.

  "No need… I will be okay tomorrow… Maybe later tonight." Talking was hard, but I needed to understand that I would be okay. My bed was so close. It was calling to me.

  "Are you sure?" I could see the confusion of features warring with the need to do something.

  "Eight hours and I will be fine." I managed to get a complete sentence. "Sleep now."

  "Very well, I will check on you later tonight to see how you're doing." She didn't believe me, and I was sure I would be seeing her later on, but right now, my bed was all I could understand.

  She stepped back a foot, allowing me to close the door and lock it. I leaned back against the wood and stared at my great goal.

  "Almost… There." With that, I made my final significant push.

  "What should I do?" Mandolin asked herself outside the room.

  She was conflicted. She had been sent to bring him to the temple today to meet House Mother Hendricks. Her House Mother had been gathering information on his movements over the last few days since he arrived.

  Mandolin had come over to The Poor Man's Dream often this week to see her friends, the Lodestones, but also to check on Hector. She had spoken to him several times. He seemed to be settling into life in the city, but today looked terrible.

  Black rat fever was a devastating disease that had ravaged Low Town. The local rat catchers, who usually hunted the brown rats, had suffered the worst, to the point that they had stopped hunting the black rats infesting the city.

  Hector was clearly suffering from it, the sweats and yellowed skin, the signs of the fever. Sufferers endured days of torment, and yet he said he would be fine in eight hours.

  Eight hours.

  That was oddly specific. Not that he would be fine in a day or a few days, but in eight hours.

  She needed to speak with her House Mother. She felt the tavern and walked the streets back to the temple. The streets were crowded, with most heading in the same direction as her. Whorshipday always see all the temples and shrines open their doors to all. Today, the population gives thanks to the pantheon for their work holding back the monsters beyond the walls.

  She reached the temple of the Mother in Low Town, which was filling with supplicants. Once the crowd saw her acolyte robes, they parted and allowed her to pass. She spotted other acolytes and Mothers moving around the temple, preparing for the day's ceremonies.

  The central room of the temple was not as spacious or large as many of the others. The Mother always preferred a more intimate and welcoming place of worship. The room was large, but the ceiling was not high, and instead of bare stone, the walls were painted with warm and welcoming colours.

  She passed through them and entered the back area. House Mother Hendricks stood there, her ceremonial robes on, her eyes closed. She was praying to the Mother as she prepared herself for the ceremony ahead.

  Acolyte Mandolin walked up and stood quietly next to her, awaiting the completion of her prayers. After a few moments, House Mother Hendricks cracked an eye open and spoke.

  "Is he here?"

  "No House Mother."

  "Very well. Explain to me later, we have work to do first."

  House Mother Hendricks motioned with another hand, and several acolytes and a pair of Mothers on the other side of the room stepped forth, and they began to prepare for the ceremony. Mandolin joined them as she was part of this procession.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Mandolin performed the rest of the action she was needed to partake in mechanically, as her mind was elsewhere. She had done it so many times that everything was accomplished by muscle memory.

  After House Mother Hendricks had finished the major blessings that ended the main ceremony dedicated to the Mother, she retired to the back of the temple and her office. Acolyte mandolin followed her. The other mothers would continue with the various minor blessings and confessions that the faithful wish to partake in.

  The two entered the office, and House Mother Hendricks closed the door quietly.

  "Explain his absence." She said as she began to remove her ceremonial robes and hung them in a small closet within the office. Her back was to Mandolin, but she knew the question was coming and had been preparing herself to answer. She still swallowed hard before speaking.

  "I went to bring him to the temple as you requested. When I got to his room, I found him suffering from black rat fever." She had been rehearsing what to say. "He looked terrible, and I offered to bring a healer to him, but he refused. He then said something very strange to me. He said that within eight hours, he would be fine and not to worry."

  "Eight hours?" House Mother Hendricks had entirely removed her ceremonial robe and put on her daily one. When she spoke, she had crossed from the closet to her desk, where Mandolin was standing before, and sat behind it. "Are you sure he said eight hours and he would be healed?"

  "He was very clear on this."

  House Mother Hendricks leaned back in a chair with the expression that spoke of deep thought.

  "I've heard stories of such things." She said after a few moments.

  "What things, House Mother?" Mandolin asked, wishing that what was hidden about the situation would be revealed to her.

  "Those sent to fight the abominations I gifted with unique bodies and access to the System. One of the benefits of these bodies is that they are informed of how long diseases will take to be purged from them and the time it would take to heal from injuries."

  "So, when he said eight hours..." Mandolin thought out loud.

  "If you go back tonight, he will be healed." House Mother Hendricks finished.

  Mandolin was amazed that Hector had such a body and access to the System to be told such things. She is a normal woman who must rely on her own body to fight off such infections when possible. Black rat fever would leave her bedridden for days at best or kill her at worst.

  "What do you wish me to do?"

  "Return to his tavern tonight. If he has healed, as he claimed, invite him to the temple and tell the truth that I wish to speak to him." House Mother Hendricks was firm.

  "Your will, House Mother." Mandolin inclined her head slightly as she spoke.

  The fever was gone, and I was hungry.

  As soon as the fever broke later in the day, I downed the remaining water in the jug. My stomach was growling like there was no tomorrow, but I held off from filling it straight away. I spoke to a passing staff member and had them fill the bath in my room.

  After I bathed, I looked at the time and found it to be late afternoon, the time when the evening meal would be served. Once I was dried and dressed, I quickly moved downstairs.

  I sat at the table when the waitress nodded to me. I was a regular here now, and they all knew me. Before long, a bowl of thick vegetable soup was placed before me with a large chunk of bread that had been baked this morning. A tankard of cider was also supplied. Usually, you would get beer, but I prefer cider over beer, and the staff knew this.

  I attacked the meal with a passion.

  I heard the waitress walking away, giggling as I savagely tore into the bread after being dipped into the soup. My hunger cared not for the embarrassment of my actions.

  "You look better." I heard Isabel Lodestone say. I looked up and found her standing before my table—a look of curiosity on her face.

  "I am, thank you for asking. Can I have some more, please?" She looked down at the bowl before me that would have filled nearly anyone and found it almost empty.

  "Normally, you would have to pay extra. But today I'm feeling generous." She motioned to one of the wait staff, and another bowl and a chunk of bread were delivered with a tankard.

  "Thank you." That was all I said before I started ripping into that, too. The hunger was finally beginning to let go of its grip on my mind.

  She, too, left me laughing at my actions. Before long, I'd finished even that second bowl with the bread. I was leaning back, feeling content, finally with a full stomach, nursing the tanker that I drank from it slowly. I had a little bit left at the bottom and was savouring it.

  I was looking around the room at the other patrons. Most of them were eating or talking in small groups. I noticed a few odd looks sent my way, but I chalked them up to how I had gone through two meals and possibly a record time. They quickly looked away when they saw me, noting their attention.

  Mandolin walked in towards the end of the mealtime. I remember she had come to the tavern earlier in the day to see me, but I was in no condition to speak. She noticed me quickly and came over. She sat across from me and studied my condition intently.

  Around this, the crowd was changing as those who had come to eat were either leaving or settling into drink. The nighttime crowd was starting to filter, and the room's ambient noise levels were increasing. The room was filling with mostly men who were all clearly workers, but there were several women amongst them. I quickly learned that the city's culture was deeply rooted in a strong tradition of drinking. I wondered if it was a mixture of the working and living conditions, combined with what they knew was lurking outside those walls.

  "How are you feeling?" Mandolin's voice dragged me back to her presence.

  "Fine now. I got over the fever." I was feeling pretty relaxed at the moment. I've eaten quite a lot and was not threatening to go into a food coma, but the full stomach combined with the alcohol was mellowing me out.

  "Black rat fever is not an easy disease to deal with." She was continuing to speak, but I was not paying one hundred per cent attention to her. "He should have been bedridden for several more days."

  "So, I had black rat fever?" That made sense, considering what I had been dealing with the day I contracted it. That big rat had bitten my hand and transferred the disease to me. Considering this also makes sense, this was why there were so few rat catchers in the city willing to take on the black rats now.

  "Yes, the fever has been affecting Low Town, especially quite badly. The local healers have been addressing the issue. The only good thing is that it could not be transferred between people but by bites from the rats."

  I nodded as she spoke. That made sense again. If it were passed any other way, such a fever would tear through the city like a wildfire in a drought. The local population was so densely packed, even in the city's best areas, that any disease would spread rapidly.

  "Why isn't the city's rulers doing more to tackle the rats then?" I asked the question that suddenly occurred to me.

  "They are getting adventures to fight the rats. No one else will take up the task."

  "That's odd. I would have expected a more proactive approach by the city rulers." As I spoke, I looked around at the waitresses moving through the floor thing about another tankard of cider. Today was technically my day off, and I had some spare funds available for the moment.

  "Few are willing to go into the under city and face them down there." Her words grab my attention.

  "Under city?"

  "That's what we call the ruins below the modern city. The old capital was destroyed by an attack by an abomination over two centuries ago. The modern city was built on the ruins of the old, and the new sewer system was merged into the old one. The only parts of the old city still in use are the cemetery district outside the main walls and the main wall itself, of course." She explained. As she spoke, I began sobering up and began to spiral a bit.

  "It's the under city being patrolled at all?"

  "There is part of the city watch dedicated to patrolling it, but it's mostly left alone. The city does what it can with the resources available." She had not noticed my growing concern.

  "That might be a problem." I looked up at the ceiling as I considered the potential problems that could arise from such a setup.

  "Why are you so concerned, Hector?" She has finally noticed my concern and was confused as to why.

  I took a few moments to consider my answer before speaking. Around us, the din of those in the room was increasing as the alcohol flowed and more people arrived.

  "From what you have told me. The old sewer system and ruins below the modern city are likely patrolled. I suspect there's not even an accurate map of the underground structures and tunnels. That leads to the question of what could be down there."

  The more I spoke, the paler she became; she realised what I was saying. The implications were quite terrifying when broken down calmly and logically.

  "I never thought about it that way." She said honestly. I wondered about her reaction and if the city's rulers were pushing an out-of-sight, out-of-mind policy. Please refrain from discussing the problem or letting the population become aware of it, and let it fade into the background.

  I could be wrong. I could be looking at the problem from an incorrect perspective due to the limited information supplied to me by Mandolin. I've only spent a week within the city and in this world. But some things never changed when people were involved, and I strongly suspect that this was one of them.

  Tomorrow I will have to take a good look at the job boards in the Adventurer's Guild again. I would look for anything that involved the underground to get an idea of what was going on down there. I could enquire more aggressively, but I didn't want to get sidetracked too much right now.

  I had realised that the silence had grown between us as Mandolin thought about what I had said. As soon as I realised what was happening, I decided to restart the conversation.

  "Thanks for checking in on me this morning."

  "Oh, that was nothing. I had been planning to come and see you anyway." She seemed happier to be back on firmer ground within the conversation.

  "Were you? Why was that?" I asked absentmindedly. I was still thinking about what I need to learn about the undercity.

  "Well, it's Worshipday. My House Mother had asked for you to come to the temple. She is hoping to meet you." She perked up when she said this, and I sobered up immediately.

  "She did. So, you have told about me then?" I asked carefully.

  "Yes. Everything said had been within the oath we made. She, too, made an oath to keep your presence hidden."

  That caused me to let out a small breath I've been holding. At least my knowledge and presence were restricted for the moment. I knew that it would not last forever, but every day, I could guarantee that my secret kept was a day to understand the culture surrounding me and its politics further.

  "That's most unfortunate due to my illness today."

  "Don't worry about that. She sent me here to check on you and ask you to come see her tonight."

  I felt like swearing, but I managed to hold it in.

  "You mean now?"

  "Yes, if you're up for it?"

  I could say no, using the excuse that I was not one hundred per cent recovered from the fever. I could use another reason to defer the meeting, suggesting that we reschedule it for another time.

  One thing I learned in my life before coming here was that procrastination and avoiding problems only make them worse in the long run. In life, you had to face off and deal with things when they appeared.

  "Let me finish this tankard, and will go." I didn't want to, but sometimes you have to do things to get them done.