Blood in the Deser

by Sophia Schmidt

  When the man's anger peaked, and was about to hit Lith again, the captain stopped his hand.

  "That's enough, Colonel Varegrave. The boy has already answered to your questions. I will not allow any further harassment to our Queen esteemed guest!"

  Despite the captain's lean build, Varegrave was incapable of escaping his grasp.

  "Let me go immediately, Captain Kilian. This is a military operation, and this is my camp! I only answer to the King!"

  Kilian refused to back down, twisting Varegrave's arm and forcing to look at him in the eyes.

  "Make no mistake, you will answer to him. This is a violation of the protocol, and you are acting on groundless accusations!"

  Varegrave snorted.

  "Do you really want me to believe that a man like Velagros died, that his whole team was wiped out, and that traitorous runt managed to came out unscathed? Isn't it suspicious?" Anger twisted his visage, baring his teeth at every word.

  "I know that you and Velagros were blood brothers, but nothing you do can bring him back. Now listen to reason, and let the healer go."

  "Not until I have my answers!" Varegrave snarled.

  Seeing that reasoning was impossible, Kilian took out his communication amulet. Not even a second later, an unknown visage appeared from it, that made Varegrave turn pale.

  "Tell me you have good news, Kilian." Said the man from the amulet.

  "Sadly, no, my King. Yet there is a matter that requires your attention."

  Lith inwardly smiled, seeing Varegrave's face twitch as Kilian reported everything that had happened.

  The King turned towards Lith, that only then realized he could actually see him, and promptly kneeled.

  "No need for formalities, mage Lith. Stand up." By acknowledging his name and title of mage, despite Lith was just a student, the King was doing him a huge honour. Lith knew it, and kept kneeling for a couple of seconds before standing up.

  "Thanks, your Majesty."

  "Kilian, take mage Lith to the hospital. There is much to do, and you have already wasted too much of his time. Varegrave and I need to have a talk. Please, leave us alone."

  Kilian bowed, and untied Lith's hands. Then the two of them wore their mask and exited from the tent.

  "My King, please, forgive my rudeness. Why are you letting him go? He is nothing but a traitorous commoner that has caused the death of many loyal servants of the crown. And even if he didn't, what could he possibly do?

  He's just a kid, how can he succeed where the best healers of the Kingdom have failed? It's impossible. I would bet my life on it."

  The King silently stared at him for a second before replying.

  "I'll take that bet."

  Chapter 142 Plague

  Once out of Varegrave's tent, Lith introduced himself to Captain Kilian Aluria. He discovered that the ranks in the Queen's corps were different from the army. Being elite squads, each unit was allowed to act independently, and was composed by five soldiers and one Captain.

  Each Captain only answered to the Queen herself, so despite their low-key demeanour, both Kilian and Velagros were actually big shots. Kilian tried explaining to Lith how Varegrave had being grief stricken ever since he learned about Velagros' alleged death.

  The two of them had started their military career together, and been through thick and thin for years, before their paths had diverged. Lith politely nodded from time to time, grateful to the mask for hiding his uncaring expression.

  He knew a thing or two about grief and loss, yet he had never attacked someone based on a simple suspicion. In his mind, Varegrave's destiny was set in stone. He would use his success in the current task to ask for compensation as part of his reward.

  If that resulted impossible or too problematic in the short term, Lith would simply postpone. He had always considered revenge as something that was best served cold, there was no rush for it.

  After asking Lith to forgive Varegrave and Lith pretending to consider doing it, Kilian lead him toward the second block.

  "The first block is where soldiers and personnel live. The second, instead, is where the hospitals and the research labs are located. We have healers and alchemists trying to treat the victims of the plague that we managed to stabilise, or at least that was the plan.

  The truth is, that even after a month no one has yet understood what the plague really is. So far light magic is completely useless, while alchemy seems to work to some degree, but only as palliative care. It treats the symptoms, not the cause."

  The more Lith learned about the plague, the more it resembled one of his old medical cases. He was confident to be able to offer both a diagnosis and a cure, for a proper reward, of course.

  "Just out of curiosity¡" He asked.

  "¡in the first block, triangular flags mean a residential tent, right? Then what does the diamond and rectangular flags stand for?"

  "What do you think?" Despite having read his file, Kilian was still surprised that even in his earlier circumstances Lith had the presence of mind to notice small details.

  "Well, since in here dimensional items do not work, I'd say one is for the food supplies and the other is for the weaponry."

  "Correct. And in case you are wondering, the golden flag is for the commanding officer, silver for the officers, bronze for soldiers."

  Lith tried to take out his communication amulet, but to no avail. Space was tightly sealed inside the array, negating access to his pocket dimension. Then he tried to use first magic, discovering that even elemental magic didn't work.

  The array jammed the connection between pure mana and the world energy, leaving him almost powerless.

  "I also noticed earlier that magic and magical objects do not work in here. Yet the Colonel didn't have trouble smacking me around, and you were able to contact the King. How is it possible?"

  Kilian smirked at that na?ve question. He had almost forgot their esteemed guest was only a kid, with no knowledge about powerful artifacts.

  "The array surrounding Kandria is not a Warden spell. Otherwise it would make no distinction between friends and foes. It is created by one of the Crown's treasures, called Small World.

  As the name implies, it creates an extended space within which the one that holds its keystone can change the rules of magic at will. The Colonel controls the artifact, so he is immune to its effects and can grant privileges to others.

  But every time someone uses a privilege, he is immediately notified. That's how he knew something had happened the second the guards used Warp Steps to surround you."

  Lith was flabbergasted by the infinite uses and applications such an artifact could have.

  "That's the most overpowered thing I ever heard about. I really hope your tower form has something similar."

  "Me too." Solus replied. "But I bet is not as easy as he says. The affected area is too big and the effect too powerful. The Captain is probably just feeding us public information while avoiding to mention the costs and limitations of the artifact." ¨C

  Lith sighed. She may had burst his bubble, but was probably right. It was too good to be true. He decided to drop the matter and concentrate on his task.

  "Don't worry." Kilian added.

  "Light magic can be freely used inside this Small World. You don't need to ask the Colonel's permission."

  After they got past the security, Kilian brought him to block two's largest tent. It was big enough to easily accommodate a whole circus. It was a field hospital, the interior of which was completely white.

  Instead of walls, it had countless curtains, that had been arranged creating corridors and defining the space of each patient's room. The first thing that Lith noticed about it, was the silence.

  Aside from the conversations between the mages coming and going into the various rooms, the hospital was completely silent. One could hear the patients' moans and complains only when a curtain was opened.

  "All the field hospitals have curtains enchanted to be sound proof." Kilian explained.r />
  "It's needed for security and morale reasons. Despite being heavily sedated, some patients are in constant pain. Their screams would disturb the healers and stress the other residents. Avoiding escape attempts and mass hysteria is a priority."

  "All the field hospitals?" Lith echoed. "Do you mean there's more than one?"

  There had to be hundreds of patients in that tent alone. Lith had underestimated the scale of the plague.

  Suddenly, he felt his conscience stinging at him. It was Solus, of course.

  Kilian brought him to a patient, a middle-aged man whose right leg was split open like a watermelon. Despite the bandages and the attempts to stitch it, it was constantly bleeding.

  According to the chart, he hadn't much time left. There weren't enough Blood Potions and mages for everyone, without constantly replenishing his vitality, he had only a few days at most.

  In Lith's eyes, this was the easiest to solve among the plague's manifestations. It was identical to what had happened to Marchioness Distar's daughter. Lith even had a fake magic spell he had later created, in case it happened again and the Marchioness was willing to purchase it from him.

  "Selling it to the Kingdom will be much more lucrative." ¨C Lith thought.

  The man was pale as a ghost, his body covered in sweat. The prolonged pain had sapped his strength, he barely opened an eye when the two strangers entered.

  Lith pretended to chant a spell, and then placed his hand on the man's balding forehead, activating Invigoration. He didn't like at all what he saw, his confidence crumbled.

  "Captain, can I use darkness magic too?" Kilian nodded, noticing that Lith carefully wiped out the sweat with magic before moving forward.

  He rushed Kilian, visiting several patients with open wounds, but his findings were always the same. Then, he visited the survivors from the spontaneous combustion and freezing phenomenon, and despite the mask Kilian could tell that something was wrong.

  Lith was becoming increasingly nervous, like he had never seen him, not even during Varegrave's violent interrogation.

  Kilian stopped, grabbing Lith's shoulder, executing with only one hand a spell that created a small air dome around them.

  "Not only he can use air magic despite the array. Kilian even invented the Mage Knight version of my Hush spell." ¨C The idea of being plagiarized temporarily suppressed Lith's worry.

  "These people are the official reason you and us are here. Off the record, though, reality is far more cynical. If words spread that we have a disease capable of stripping a mage of his powers, our neighbours would join forces and burn the Griffon Kingdom to the ground.

  I believe that even most mages, nobles or not, would run away at any cost, to not lose years of painstaking work and dedication. That's why the final wing of the hospital officially does not exist. Is it clear?"

  Only after Lith nodded, Kilian brought him into an empty room. He then placed an open hand on the curtain, injecting mana into it. The surface became covered in runes, and after Kilian murmured an unintelligible word, he pulled it open.

  Lith discovered they weren't in the field hospital anymore, but in another much smaller tent without any exit.

  "Dimensional magic." Kilian explained.

  The tent had no curtains, except for the one they had come from. It was filled with beds, were men and women lied. Their faces were ashen, many were sobbing like they had recently lost their true love.

  They were all members of the Mage Association that had lost their powers.

  When they saw Lith using magic on them, some started crying uncontrollably, others tried to assault him in a fit of rage, forcing Kilian and the soldiers stationed inside to intervene to protect him from the angry mob.

  After they left the prison ward, Lith couldn't wait to get the heck out of there.

  "Thank you for your help Kilian. For a moment I thought they would rip me apart."

  "Don't mention it." His voice oozed over eagerness.

  "What do you think of the plague?" Kilian steeled himself preparing for his hopes to be crushed once again.

  "It's not a plague, it's much worse. To whom must I report to before going back to the academy?"

  "Are you saying you have already cracked it?"

  Chapter 143 Plague 2

  "Cracked is a big word. Understanding its nature is one thing, curing it is another entirely." Lith tried to curb Kilian's enthusiasm.

  Kilian seemed to not have listened to a word he said, dragging him away by the arm at full speed while frantically speaking to someone with his communicator amulet.

  For some reason, Lith's mind recalled all the times he had seen Manohar pulled around by Marth like a small child. Walking a mile in his shoes wasn't pleasant at all.

  Before he could realize what had happened, Lith found himself back in the Colonel's tent. Much to his surprise, Varegrave was kneeling at him.

  Lith sneered at that sight, thinking that maybe the Colonel wasn't such a bad man, if he was willing to humble himself to that point, after realizing how wrong he had been.

  "Your Majesty, Lith from Lustria is ready to report his discoveries." Kilian said after falling on his knee.

  It was only at that point that Lith turned around, discovering that on the floor behind him, lied a blue gemstone, that was projecting a life size hologram of the King, a woman, and several youths that only a blind man could not recognize as their offspring.

  Judging from the number of crowns in front of him, Lith was about to share his discoveries with the whole royal family.

  Thanks to the etiquette books stored in Soluspedia, he knew what to do. Lith backstepped until he was lined up with the other two men and kneeled, barely holding in a laughter.

  "To think that after almost triggering a civil war because of their incompetence in handling some power-hungry nobles, these royal idiots need the help of a twelve years old to clean their own mess. Pathetic." ¨C

  Wearing a mask had been liberating for Lith. With it he didn't need to hide his thoughts and emotions.

  Yet, even if behind thick crystals, his eyes were still almost visible. In them, the King didn't see awe, respect or nervousness, like he would have expected from a commoner child, but only contempt and amusement, like it was just a game.

  A game that he was winning.

  "Take off your mask and gloves, Mage Lith. I assure you that Colonel Varegrave's apartments are safe." The King ordered.

  Despite the King's tone was calm and his expression amiable, Lith seemed to perceive a tinge of anger in him.

  "Maybe is just my full-blown paranoia, maybe not. Better play safe." ¨C

  Lith obeyed, removing the protections.

  Looking at the kid's serious and brooding expression, the King realized that all the accumulated stress of those last few months was pushing him on edge, to the point of seeing things.

  "Please, share your findings with us."

  "What so far has been considered a plague, is actually something much worse." Lith started to explain.

  "Do you remember what happened to Marchioness Distar's daughter a few years ago? She fell victim to a magically laced poison, that disrupted the effects of light magic, turning any attempt to cure it into a new wound."

  "That's impossible." The Queen interrupted him.

  "We already noticed the similarities with that case. The antidote for that kind of poison has already be tested and proven useless."

  "That's because there isn't a plague that manifests itself in four different ways, there are actually four different plagues, and all of them are man-made. I believe that whoever created that poison years ago, has learned his lesson and stepped up his game.

  From what I could infer, the plagues are a miracle of alchemy. The weak point of the poison was its being static. Instead of spreading into the bloodstream, it was designed to remain in the place it was injected, to not lose its potency.

  Hence, once identified, it could be easily removed. But the plagues that are affecting this area aren
't that simple."

  Both the King and the Queen knitted their browns. From what they remembered, that poison had escaped the detection of many expert healers.

  The only reason it had been later discovered a method to identify and treat it, was because Lith had extracted the poison without degrading it. That had allowed to conduct long and extensive analysis to understand its nature.

  The fact that he earnestly used the word "simple" to describe such a nightmare, was the first silver lining in the brewing storm that threatened to sweep away the Griffon Kingdom.

  "Maybe he can become a leading figure in the field of poisons, just like Professor Duke Marth did when he had his age, but in the field of regeneration. Crazy or not, we cannot afford to lose such talent." ¨C

  The Queen's line of thought was shared with her spouse via a mind link, that allowed them to comment and discuss any matter. Even if they often quarrelled, no one could tell, since they would deliberate only after reaching an agreement.

  This time they were on the same page, yet the consequences of it burdened the King's mind. There would be much to talk about later.

  "The plagues¡" Lith continued.

  "are not static, nor act like any illness I have ever seen before. They all work the same way: once the host is infected, they spread to the whole body and remain dormant until magic is used.

  At that point, they alter the mana flow, making it chaotic. The effects are devastating, if not lethal."

  "If it's not a poison or a plague, then what is it?" The King asked.

  "It's a very small parasite, barely the size of a needle. As long as the host is alive, it keeps spawning. I found eggs in all the patients' bodily fluids, sweat included. I don't know if physical contact is enough or if it needs an open wound to be transmitted.

  The one thing I'm sure, is that it mustn't be allowed to spread."

  "A parasite?" The Queen was flabbergasted.

  "Then how come no one else managed to detect them?"

  "Because normally, diagnostic spells look for something wrong with the patient's body. A broken bone, a malfunctioning organ and so on. In this case, the patient is perfectly fine until he tries to use magic.