Chapter 116: Chapter 102 – A Race Against Time

"The plague later known under the moniker of "Death's Own Bane", the masterpiece of one vengeful dwarven rot mage named Aegon Rowliss, was one of the deadliest man made plague recorded in the history books. Its highly contagious nature and the way it rapidly multiplied and spread led to it causing the greatest loss of life from a single source in the past millennia." - Delvin Amble, Jötunbergian Historian, Circa 359 FP.

Near the Aqwass River

Western section

Shadow Forest / Ævietønavæel

6th day, 2nd week, 7th month, year 80 VA.

 

"Hold the line! Ensure that the wall remains up at all cost! Reinforcements will be here as soon as possible!" Aideen yelled even as the Ptolodeccan troops by the edge of the forest rearranged themselves. The elves who had volunteered for the diversionary attack had returned, one-eighth of their number sacrificed in the act, but when the rangers had chased them down to the forest, they were accosted by hordes of skeleton soldiers, and was eventually repelled.

 

Now however, said skeleton soldiers were all sitting down or lying prone on the ground, conserving the mana inside them so their necromancers could use all their efforts elsewhere.

 

Said efforts were directed at erecting a ridiculously wide wall - more a curtain really - of death magic that covered the entire west side of the forest, thin like gossamer yet so tall as to obscure the trees behind.

 

It was the handiwork of the necromancers of the present mage cadres, after a discussion with Aideen and the other agents about what they found in the fort. The possibility of an even more violent plague that did not target only elves had unnerved everyone, and they all agreed to play it safe.

 

Whereas they had found by now that the first two plagues were of magical nature, and were transmitted through mana itself, this new plague seems to at least rely on more traditional organisms for its spread, and those organisms… were perfectly killable with death magic.

 

Hence the massive curtain that obscured the entire western border of the forest and caused a line where no living thing existed. It was a makeshift measure, powered by the necromancers in shifts, while the other mages either helped to contribute their mana to said necromancers, or were on guard in case some larger things tried to go through anyway. They were resolved to allow nothing alive to pass through the curtain until the situation resolved itself.

 

It was a mere four hours after the vial had shattered that they had erected the curtain, and not a moment too soon, as not ten minutes later some of the necromancers reported the same odd feeling the death mage agent had felt when she cleansed Aideen in the fort, and they all doubled their vigilance. The ranger fort in the distance itself was eerily quiet after their retreat there.

 

A general report of the situation itself was sent to the Bone Lord in Tohrmutgent using one of their fastest undead couriers the moment the agents returned, and it would reach there within a day. Aideen herself had waited and fidgeted impatiently beside a larger flying undead, one constructed out of the bones of a wyvern and capable of ferrying a person.

 

The past hour, she had been forced to wait, as two death mages cleansed everything she brought out of the lab using death magic with utmost care not to damage the items themselves, because none of them wanted to risk the plague making its way to Ptolodecca.

 

They cleansed everything meticulously, leaving no page unturned, while Aideen took the time to change into a fresh set of clothes and instructed the mage cadres to set up the curtain of death magic. On the day she had set out for this mission, the most knowledgeable healers had also been recalled to Tohrmutgent to pool their efforts there, replacing them with more less-skilled healers.

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Once the mages tiredly gave her to all clear, Aideen packed every last item into her storage, leapt atop the undead wyvern, and it took off with her on its back, making a beeline for Tohrmutgent. The larger construct was not as fast as the smaller couriers, but it would still allow her to reach there within two days of unceasing flight.

 

The flight itself went by quickly. At the last few hours of it, she noticed several express carriages pulled by undead mounts headed to the shadow forest, likely carrying more mage cadres to bolster the line, if grandpa Aarin heeded her missive.

 

She landed right before the Palace of Bones itself, and rushed inside, quickly finding the gathered researchers and healers - grandpa Aarin amongst them - who were trading hypotheses about the plague, and gave them every item in her storage for them to inspect and pore over, which they did animatedly. Similarly, she spent the next hour elaborating every single detail she could remember about her experience of being in contact with the new plague itself.

 

After her recounting of the experience was over, she rushed away, to where the patients were quarantined. There she quickly found her destination, as her elder brother Diarmuid was there, seated between two sickbeds, and looking every bit of his seventy one years.

 

Aideen did not waste time greeting her brother, and instead immediately went to work, having her magic course through Kestera, then Éirynn and Mimia, fixing the damage the plague had caused to their bodies. It was only a temporary measure, she knew, but at the very least it would help lighten their suffering and help them hold on until the day a cure was found.

 

The following weeks passed by in a blur. Aideen did not leave the quarantine area. Neither did she rest, other than to recover her mana faster. Every half an hour or so, she would reapply her magic to her relatives, keeping the worst off them with all she could.

 

When two weeks had passed and no cure had yet been found, Kestera and Éirynn's condition took a turn for the worse, and Aideen's care for them became near constant. Mimia fortunately needed less help, as her own magic allowed her to fight the plague to an extent, and in the rare moments of consciousness she had begged Aideen to help Éirynn first.

 

It was yet another week before Mallard had rushed in excitedly to the quarantine room, the assembled healer having finally discovered a cure to the plague. Those who were worse off were immediately fed the cure, and their conditions soon improved, which sparked rejoicing. Éirynn and Mimia were amongst those who received the first batch, and their conditions improved considerably.

 

Yet neither girl, nor Aideen or Diarmuid, were in a mood to rejoice one bit at the moment.

 

For the plague had taken Kestera from them a scant three days before, despite their best efforts.

 

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