1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,519 Speaker 1: Hollo, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,439 Let's get into it. The summer was deep and heavy, 3 00:00:12,519 --> 00:00:15,599 sticky and miserable. The whirr of cicadeas so constant that 4 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,280 when they finally quieted at sundown, the doctor's ears would 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,839 ring for IROs. They could smell the village of Black 6 00:00:20,839 --> 00:00:24,440 Hollow for miles before they actually arrived, though that wasn't strange. 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,079 With no river running through the village to carry away waste, 8 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,280 the residents of the small apusts could only bury or 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:31,879 burn their refuse, and the humid air of summer would 10 00:00:31,879 --> 00:00:34,560 suck in the scentse holding on to them like something precious. 11 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:37,640 So the doctors expected some of the scents, the rightness 12 00:00:37,679 --> 00:00:40,039 of unwashed bodies, the rereak of waste, both animal and 13 00:00:40,119 --> 00:00:43,119 human alike, and the acrid burn of many fires. Even 14 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,159 a note of rock wouldn't be odd. People die, lives 15 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,960 stuck are butritard. That smell of death was simply a 16 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,759 side effect of living. But the doctors didn't smell a 17 00:00:51,759 --> 00:00:54,280 note of death. They smelled a choking wave of it, 18 00:00:54,399 --> 00:00:56,679 rolling over and nearly suffocating them before they could even 19 00:00:56,719 --> 00:00:59,320 see a hint of human civilization. It was the scent 20 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:03,479 of the unbalanced, the scent of plague. Aldrich had smelled 21 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,120 it many times before. It was the same scent that 22 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:08,000 clung to him in the months after a battle, where 23 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,040 the ground ranslick with blood and the moans of dying 24 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,760 men drowned out even the squawk of ravens. The scent 25 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,120 would fill his nose, coating his tongue with its bitterness, 26 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:16,760 and he would have to fight the urge to gag 27 00:01:16,799 --> 00:01:18,799 as he tended to his patience, most of whom would 28 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:20,920 be daid by the next day. He knew it would 29 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,280 cling to his clothes. When he returned home. He would 30 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,480 peel off his stained robe, let it fall to the floor, 31 00:01:25,599 --> 00:01:27,879 and leave it there to be burned. But this scent 32 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000 was different. This time, the death clung not just to him, 33 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,840 but to everything. It seemed to soak the land, permeating 34 00:01:33,879 --> 00:01:37,040 the air. Aldre glanced at his apprentice, who rode beside him, 35 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,319 her face hidden by the hood of her robe. She 36 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,480 was silent, as she tended to be, failed in many 37 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,599 layers to hide the shape of her frain, no doubts, 38 00:01:43,599 --> 00:01:45,480 wadding out every ance of water he'd forced on her. 39 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,319 Throughout the journey, his apprentice tended to get lost in 40 00:01:48,359 --> 00:01:51,120 her own mind. Her body and its needs are an 41 00:01:51,159 --> 00:01:53,439 inconvenience that kept her from the haven of her thoughts. 42 00:01:54,079 --> 00:01:56,640 They rode two enormous pack horses, cheap but sturdy, each 43 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,159 carrying supplies they might need, and a small fortune of 44 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,560 coins and gems into their saddles, for they had no 45 00:02:01,599 --> 00:02:05,000 idea what they would find. Black Hollow, according to the rumors, 46 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,799 was a small village, remote and isolated by its position, 47 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,840 the mountains on one side, the forest on another, and 48 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:13,599 a river a day's journey from its main entrance. It 49 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:15,919 was perhaps no wonder that it had been afflicted, cut 50 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:17,479 off from the world, and thus from news of the 51 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,360 strange malady spreading through the country. He had heard of 52 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,319 a town on the other side of the country where 53 00:02:22,439 --> 00:02:24,879 within the space of a fortnight, over half the population 54 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,120 had perished. They had suffered from a coughing sickness, the 55 00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:30,159 air filling with their body spittle, and yet no one 56 00:02:30,199 --> 00:02:32,960 who caught the sickness was immune to it. They all died. 57 00:02:33,599 --> 00:02:36,520 It was the way of these things. People caught diseases, 58 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,360 and they died. But the reports Aldrich had heard from 59 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,919 Bacallo was strange. Indeed, for one, the sickness didn't spread 60 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,599 from person to person. Aldrich had spent time in his 61 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:47,919 youth the military hospital, tending to the men injured in 62 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,840 the wars. There he'd witnessed how quickly a fever could 63 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,159 sweep through the ranks, and he'd seen men cough and bleed, 64 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,199 vomiting until their stomachs were emptied. They alleged, cracked and bleeding. 65 00:02:56,719 --> 00:02:59,479 No one was safe, the young, thol, the weak, and 66 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,879 the strong. It didn't matter. Influenza didn't care. This sickness 67 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,319 was not like influenza, at least if the scant information 68 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:09,080 they were given was any indication. He'd been summoned by 69 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,199 a desperate letter from the tam barber, who wrote to 70 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,719 him of a disease that both death enjoy an equal measures. 71 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,599 Those who fell or died in the most horrific of ways, 72 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,960 while the survivors were specially sunny and optimistic, despite their 73 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,960 neighbors and loved ones perishing one after the other. He 74 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,159 had expected, at worst fever, a wasting disease, perhaps something 75 00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:28,039 that might spread from person to person, that might be 76 00:03:28,039 --> 00:03:31,520 stopped by quarantiningly afflicted the barber had insisted that the 77 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,120 method of transmission between the sick made no sense. Proximity 78 00:03:35,159 --> 00:03:39,159 didn't matter, nor did touch. The spread was random, or 79 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,599 so the barber said. Aldridge wasn't so sure that was nonsensical, 80 00:03:44,199 --> 00:03:45,680 but he had arrived and would soon get to the 81 00:03:45,719 --> 00:03:48,639 bottom of the mystery. Just as the letter had said, 82 00:03:48,759 --> 00:03:50,759 the village was still alive and bustling. As they rode 83 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,439 into town, aldridg frown. There were no signs of panic 84 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,479 or fear, no NTI market stalls. In fact, he was 85 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,199 surprised to see people out and about. Had the barber 86 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,280 misinformed him. There were calls of greeting, but Aldrich didn't 87 00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:07,240 dare stop. A flame of annoyance was starting to burn 88 00:04:07,319 --> 00:04:09,719 in his belly. If he had come all this way 89 00:04:09,719 --> 00:04:12,759 for nothing, he'd ring the barber's neck himself. They found 90 00:04:12,759 --> 00:04:15,120 the man's shop marked with the typical pole of intertwined 91 00:04:15,159 --> 00:04:17,199 red and white, and Aldrich was surprised to see the 92 00:04:17,199 --> 00:04:20,040 shutters open and a light shining with him. He dismounted 93 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:22,439 and tied his horse to the post, glancing at his apprentice, 94 00:04:22,439 --> 00:04:25,160 who remained seating in the saddle. Her posture was stiff 95 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:27,720 and widget, but her eyes were on him. Come then, 96 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,759 he sighed, waving her down. Let's see what mess we're 97 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,279 in for His apprentice s lived from the saddle, her 98 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,160 robe pulling around her. Her hood was still up, hiding 99 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,240 her face in shadow, but he thought her too paranoid. 100 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,480 He conceded that it would do them no good to 101 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,120 have it revealed that Master aldre Fane noted Lone Wolf 102 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:45,439 had taken a woman as an apprentice after refusing to 103 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,360 take any students for decades. But Aldrich also knew that 104 00:04:48,399 --> 00:04:50,759 when faced with death, the identity of the savior was 105 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,199 of little note to Eel. His apprentice could be an 106 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,040 enormous frog in robes, and if said frog offered a cure, 107 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,279 most would accept it if their need was great enough. 108 00:04:58,879 --> 00:05:01,399 The man's side the shop was short and bolding, wearing 109 00:05:01,439 --> 00:05:03,399 an apron over his clothes and clutching a cloth in 110 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,600 one hand as he hurried around his shop wiping off 111 00:05:05,639 --> 00:05:08,519 the dust. A half dozen lantons hung from the ceiling, 112 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,639 filling the room with one light, and the walls were 113 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:12,839 lined with shelves holding bottles and jaws and other tools 114 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:15,360 of the barber's trade. The barber looked up at them 115 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,040 and froze, his eyes widening. Then he seemed to force 116 00:05:18,079 --> 00:05:21,399 himself to relax, smoothing out his expression into one appolike concern. 117 00:05:22,079 --> 00:05:24,800 Master Fane, he said, with a brief bough. Oh, I'm 118 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,519 believed you have come. He looked around the shop and 119 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,360 then glanced towards the door. When he had ascertained that 120 00:05:30,399 --> 00:05:32,839 they were alone, his cheery expression fell, and he implored 121 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,000 Oldrich close the shutters and locked the door, if you will, 122 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,399 we have much heaviness to discuss. Aldrich hesitated. He had 123 00:05:40,439 --> 00:05:42,319 no great desire to be shut up inside this dark 124 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,079 place with this nervous little man. But the barber was 125 00:05:45,079 --> 00:05:47,920 clearly spooked, and if Oolgerge wanted to understand what was 126 00:05:47,959 --> 00:05:50,959 going on, he needed information. He stepped to the door 127 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,120 and through the lock while his apprentice closed the shutters. 128 00:05:53,759 --> 00:05:55,439 Then they made their way to the back of the shop, 129 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,639 where a cattle had just begun to iron Master barber Juels, 130 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,480 this is my apprentice, Blackward, who wi assist me? Older said, 131 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,360 as the Prinici pulled up three cups and placed them 132 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,079 on the table. He's quite skilled in the art of medicine, 133 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,680 so you can speak really with him. Jewels poured the 134 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:11,759 meat a cup of tea, then settled cross from them. 135 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,240 With a sigh. He wrapped his hands around the cup 136 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:15,879 of it to warm them, though the room was stuffy 137 00:06:15,959 --> 00:06:18,720 on its own. I apologize for the horrid nature of 138 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,319 my letter, the barber said, but I thought it best 139 00:06:21,319 --> 00:06:24,759 to escape with the formalities. Indeed, I would like to 140 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,040 know why you summon me here, Aldrich said, For surely 141 00:06:28,079 --> 00:06:32,040 your skills are sufficient for most maladies. Jewele shook his head. 142 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,079 I feel the sickness is beyond my ability. If I 143 00:06:35,079 --> 00:06:37,279 had known what was happening sooner, I could have done more. 144 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,519 He took a deep breath, his fingers tightening around his cup. 145 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,040 But as it is, I fear the town will be 146 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,560 wiped out if no one intervenes. Aldrich leaned forward, intrigued 147 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:51,519 despite himself. Are you certain? Yes, I'm sure the villagers 148 00:06:51,519 --> 00:06:54,560 are falling ill with no discernible pattern. But only some 149 00:06:54,639 --> 00:06:57,319 of them. The others, no matter how close they get, 150 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,439 no matter how much involvement they are with the sick, 151 00:06:59,519 --> 00:07:03,480 never fall. In fact, they almost shine with vitality. And 152 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,279 yet they have a look in their eyes something not 153 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:10,160 quite right. They laughed too much. It's unnatural Aldridg glanced 154 00:07:10,199 --> 00:07:12,639 at his apprentice, who had said nothing so far. She 155 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,079 gave a subzle nod. It wasn't anything they didn't know 156 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,000 from the latter. Needed to see the disease. If there 157 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:18,839 was to be any hope, though, there are any currently 158 00:07:18,879 --> 00:07:23,120 suffering from the illness, we need to observe it, Jill swallowed. 159 00:07:23,439 --> 00:07:26,160 Not many, yes, but the closest is someone at the tavern. 160 00:07:26,639 --> 00:07:28,560 I doubt he'll survive the night, but will have better 161 00:07:28,639 --> 00:07:30,839 luck seeing him than being allowed entrants into a private home. 162 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,759 Aldridg stood and his apprentice followed suit. Then let's go, 163 00:07:34,879 --> 00:07:37,639 he said. They walked to the tavern, Jewels leading the 164 00:07:37,639 --> 00:07:40,319 way through the bright streets. It was just midday, but 165 00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:42,920 the air was already damp, the sun hazy behind the clouds. 166 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,240 People bustled through their business, the town as alive as ever, 167 00:07:46,439 --> 00:07:49,439 but Aldridge noticed something off about them. Their eyes were 168 00:07:49,439 --> 00:07:51,639 a little too bright, their laughter a little too loud. 169 00:07:52,279 --> 00:07:55,519 He'd seen him before, of course, in times of crisis, 170 00:07:55,639 --> 00:07:58,959 people sometimes retreated into false joy, pretending everything was well 171 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:03,279 until reality crashed down upon them. But this felt different. Somehow, 172 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,120 they seemed manic in their positivity. The tavern wasn't empty 173 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,839 when they arrived, but only two men haunted its corners. 174 00:08:10,519 --> 00:08:13,000 It was the largest building in town, a three story 175 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,680 wood and stone structure with a thatched roof and many windows. 176 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,800 The first floor was dominated by bar and tables, while 177 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,319 the second and third floors housed rooms for travelers to rent. 178 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,160 He's upstairs, Jewels explained, I still try to keep them 179 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,199 separated when I can, even if it isn't needed. All 180 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,040 habits and all that. He led them to the second floor, 181 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,320 and Aldrich could immediately hear the deluted ramblings of a 182 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,480 madman before they even made it to the door. The 183 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,320 voice was slow, but oddly jubilant, currying of feverish, unnatural mirth. 184 00:08:39,879 --> 00:08:42,480 Aldrich glanced at a Liz and with a small nod, 185 00:08:42,639 --> 00:08:44,759 both doctors reached for the point of masks hanging on 186 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,840 their hips. Made of well old leather. The mask resembled 187 00:08:47,879 --> 00:08:50,039 the skull of a raven, the lawns looaving beak filled 188 00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:53,399 with romatic herbs. Aldriches was older, well worn, but O 189 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,440 Lizzes was still stiff, and new Jewels looked uneasy as 190 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:58,919 they placed the masks on their faces, but didn't argue. 191 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,279 Both doctors knew how uneasy they made patience, but uneasiness 192 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,080 was better than death. Once their faces were covered, they 193 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:07,120 pushed open the door to face whatever terror was on 194 00:09:07,159 --> 00:09:10,919 the other side. The moon. The man gasped, followed by 195 00:09:10,919 --> 00:09:13,600 a fit of wet coughing. The moon has silver hands, 196 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:15,840 and she is reaching for me. Do you see her? 197 00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:19,639 Do you see Aldrich exchange a glance with the layers. 198 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,399 The stench of rot was thick in the small room. 199 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,320 A single flickering candle illuminated the patient, if he could 200 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,559 still be called that. Aldrich stepped closer, tilting his head 201 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:30,879 down to view the man. He had seen bodies in 202 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,879 various states of decay, men rotting a lie from gangerous wounds. 203 00:09:34,039 --> 00:09:37,080 But something about this, this was wrong. The man was dying, 204 00:09:37,159 --> 00:09:38,919 that much was certain, but he did not seem to 205 00:09:38,919 --> 00:09:42,600 know it. Alaise, ever silent, knelt beside the bed, cold 206 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,320 fingers pressing to the man's throat. The patient moaned at 207 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,480 the touch, gickling in that fever mad way. Your colds, 208 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:53,240 the man murmured, cold cold, Not like the others. They 209 00:09:53,279 --> 00:09:56,440 burn you now, they burn, But I am in the water. 210 00:09:56,639 --> 00:09:59,919 I think it is pulling me under his eyes, foot 211 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,279 between them. You should come men, crow men. The water 212 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,759 is fine. The Liaise withdrew her hand and stood. His 213 00:10:06,879 --> 00:10:09,879 pulse is erratic, she said softly. But he shouldn't be 214 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:13,720 lucid enough to speak, let alone laugh. Aldrick nodded. The 215 00:10:13,759 --> 00:10:17,840 blackened fingers fever, but no sweats. The talk of burning 216 00:10:18,399 --> 00:10:22,039 he broke off, his mind whirring. And the others, the 217 00:10:22,039 --> 00:10:26,080 ones who don't fall. Jeule swallowed hard, his eyes darting 218 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,279 nervously toward the door, as if afraid some one might 219 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:32,639 be listening. Well, they they change, he admitted. It's as 220 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:36,120 if the sickness kills some but transforms others into what 221 00:10:36,919 --> 00:10:40,919 the Liaise asked. Jeules hesitated, his voice dropped into a whisper. 222 00:10:41,519 --> 00:10:43,759 I wish I could say, good doctor, but I cannot. 223 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,720 It is unlike anything I've ever seen. The candle sputtered, 224 00:10:47,759 --> 00:10:50,440 casting eery shadows across the walls, and Oldrick felt the 225 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,399 cold creeper dread settle into his bones. They had come 226 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,360 to Black Hollow to frite a plague, but he couldn't 227 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:57,799 shake the feeling that something deeper, something far stranger, had 228 00:10:57,799 --> 00:11:02,679 taken root in this village. What's his name? Aldrich asked Luca. 229 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,519 Aldric's apprentice hovered nearby, silent watching the old doctor's sied 230 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:09,919 and opened his back, pulling out the tools of his trade. 231 00:11:10,519 --> 00:11:12,480 If this was truly a plague, then they would begin 232 00:11:12,519 --> 00:11:14,679 with what had always been done. He set a ball 233 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,399 aside and took out his lancet. We will bleed him, 234 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,600 he announced. Shules flinched. Master, Ay, would you rather he 235 00:11:21,639 --> 00:11:25,799 convulse until his heart fails? Aldrick snapped, the body must 236 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:30,120 be rebalanced. Shules paled and nodded. Aldrich turned back to Luca, 237 00:11:30,399 --> 00:11:32,679 grouping the man's arm and pressing his blade to the skin. 238 00:11:33,279 --> 00:11:35,799 The cut, with shallow, precise meant only to release the 239 00:11:35,799 --> 00:11:38,559 excess humors that, if left and checked, confessed her. Within 240 00:11:39,159 --> 00:11:41,559 duck blood welled up, and for a moment all was normal. 241 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,799 Then the apprentice moved first, pinning Luca down with surprising strength. 242 00:11:46,399 --> 00:11:49,200 Aldrich helped, struggling against the spasms that racked the young 243 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,759 man's body. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, 244 00:11:52,879 --> 00:11:56,399 the fit ended. Lucas lumped chest, heaving, swept pouring from 245 00:11:56,399 --> 00:11:59,279 his skin. His blood still trickled from the wound, but 246 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,799 it was wrong. Aldridge fran taking a closer look. It 247 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,240 should have clawded quickly, but it didn't. It just used sluggishly, 248 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,960 as if reluctant to leave the body. The apprentice met 249 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,720 his gaze. Even in the dim candlelight through the eye 250 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:13,639 holes of the mask, aldridg could see the unease and 251 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,879 no shadowed eyes. Still they continued. They tried tinctures of 252 00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:20,840 wormwood and fennel, horrible compressive of crushed mint and sage, 253 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,039 even fevigating the room with smold ring juniper. None of 254 00:12:24,039 --> 00:12:27,720 it made a difference. The sickness did not yield. It 255 00:12:27,759 --> 00:12:30,799 was not a fever, it was not a wasting illness. 256 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,360 It was not anything Aldrich had seen before, and Luca 257 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:36,919 was just one of many. He felt no guilt for 258 00:12:37,039 --> 00:12:39,120 using the young man as a test subject of sorts, 259 00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:41,200 but it did weigh on him that they had tried 260 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,240 so many things only for it to make no difference. 261 00:12:43,879 --> 00:12:46,000 By this time, the sun was beginning to set, and 262 00:12:46,039 --> 00:12:48,960 they packed up their things. The room reeked of illness, 263 00:12:49,039 --> 00:12:52,600 herbs and smoke. Luca's breathing had gone agonal, rattling in 264 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,399 his chest, and Aldrich knew the end was near. There 265 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,200 was no saving the man, and he felt they had 266 00:12:57,279 --> 00:12:59,919 learned very little about what they were facing. It was 267 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,679 all things considered a waste of the day, for he 268 00:13:02,759 --> 00:13:06,039 supposed they had to start somewhere. Silently, they followed Joe's 269 00:13:06,039 --> 00:13:07,840 back up to the shop, slipping their masks off as 270 00:13:07,879 --> 00:13:10,399 they exited it into the cooler evening. Ere They had 271 00:13:10,399 --> 00:13:12,399 been given the room above the shop as their quarters, 272 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:14,159 and he was relieved they wouldn't have to stay at 273 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,879 the same tavern in Azuka. Peace and quiet would be 274 00:13:16,919 --> 00:13:19,000 needed if they were to discover the cause of the plaque. 275 00:13:19,519 --> 00:13:22,000 Jewels bid them farewell, letting them know that his housekeeper 276 00:13:22,039 --> 00:13:24,080 would leave two basins of water and a meal outside 277 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,639 the door within the iro for the two of them. 278 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:27,360 It was all he could do to stay a week 279 00:13:27,399 --> 00:13:29,399 long enough to eat, and the Liz was the same, 280 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:31,840 washing before eating with her fingers and falling into a 281 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,759 heavy sleep. The air would shake low and ominous as 282 00:13:34,759 --> 00:13:37,720 they slept, but they were none the wiser. The next morning, 283 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,159 Aldrich and his apprentice took to the streets, determined to 284 00:13:40,159 --> 00:13:42,879 find some pattern to the disease. The people of Black 285 00:13:42,919 --> 00:13:45,879 Hollow greeted them warmly, smiling too wide, their hands lingering 286 00:13:45,919 --> 00:13:48,320 too long when they coughed is in welcome. There was 287 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,960 something about the feeling of the skin, something papery, that 288 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,679 hat Aldridge pulling his leather gloves on. They left the 289 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,559 masks off unless they were at a sufferer's bedside. They 290 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:01,039 asked questions. No one had answers. Sickness struck without rhyme 291 00:14:01,159 --> 00:14:04,080 or reason. The butcher's eldest son had fallen ill, while 292 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,200 his wife, who shared his bed, remained and touched. The 293 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,039 innkeeper's sister had died within days, but her children played 294 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,080 outside as if nothing had happened. It made no sense. 295 00:14:13,759 --> 00:14:17,200 Aldrich looked for familiar patterns and found none. And the 296 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,639 ones who were in touch, those with the unnatural brightness 297 00:14:19,639 --> 00:14:22,679 in their eyes, they were worse when asked about the ill. 298 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,279 It was as if they could not understand what he 299 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,919 was saying. When they did speak, it was simply to 300 00:14:26,919 --> 00:14:28,639 bless the beauty of the sunny day with the simple 301 00:14:28,639 --> 00:14:32,720 pleasures of their lives. What simple pleasures, I Liz muttered 302 00:14:32,759 --> 00:14:36,360 at one point, for a scratcher from disuse. Half of 303 00:14:36,399 --> 00:14:39,320 the town is dying. Aldrich didn't respond, but he didn't 304 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,879 disagree either. It was just past noon when they reached 305 00:14:41,879 --> 00:14:44,120 the center of town, where the distinction between the immune 306 00:14:44,159 --> 00:14:46,480 and those who simply hadn't fallen ill was clearer than ever. 307 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,480 Those like Jewels, who were trying to live their lives 308 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:51,679 as normally as possible as their village fell to pieces, 309 00:14:51,759 --> 00:14:54,519 went through the motions with hollow eyes. Those who were 310 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,000 immune warped the line of rapture, their faces flushed and 311 00:14:57,039 --> 00:14:59,960 their eyes nearly glowing. At the butcher's shop, Aldrich was 312 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,759 wach does the man scold? His daily cut list on 313 00:15:01,759 --> 00:15:03,679 a stone board with a piece of white chalk, his 314 00:15:03,759 --> 00:15:08,159 gripped blocky and clear Martin venison pork. The butcher's hand 315 00:15:08,159 --> 00:15:13,120 paws chalk, hestating midstroke. Then, in sharp, erratic letters, he wrote, 316 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,720 help the woe. It was stark, standing out against the neatless, 317 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,600 like a wound, splitting the stone board. It shook Aldrich, 318 00:15:19,679 --> 00:15:22,679 the words almost tangibly, violent in their unexpected presence, and 319 00:15:22,759 --> 00:15:24,440 he fell frozen to the spot as he read them 320 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,799 over and over again. Oldritch's apprentice stepped closer, Master Butcher, 321 00:15:28,919 --> 00:15:31,519 What does this mean? The butcher blinked a stair ring 322 00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:33,320 at the word, as if seeing it for the first time. 323 00:15:33,759 --> 00:15:35,759 His coarse features fell, and while the corners of his 324 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:37,360 mouth tried to pull up in a grin. There were 325 00:15:37,399 --> 00:15:40,840 scared confusion in his voice. When he spoke I, his 326 00:15:40,919 --> 00:15:45,519 brow furrowed. I didn't write that. His hand trembled. Shark 327 00:15:45,559 --> 00:15:48,480 slipped from his fingers, shattering as it hit the cobblestone ground. 328 00:15:49,159 --> 00:15:50,720 Out of the corner of his eye, he could see 329 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,120 Iliz slipping her mask into place, and mirrored the gesture. 330 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:55,679 For a moment, he was sure the butcher was going 331 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,799 to ask for their help, but before the words could form, 332 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,759 a shiver seemed to run through him, and his face 333 00:15:59,799 --> 00:16:02,639 Bega came bright and cheery. The butcher eraised the plea, 334 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:05,159 picking up his broken chalk and continued writing the list 335 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,240 as if nothing had happened. Aldridg should not press further. 336 00:16:08,799 --> 00:16:11,919 He only nodded in left. Later that day, a woman's 337 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,039 scream shattered the relative stillness of the village. They rushed 338 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,519 into the street, joining a small cluster of villagers outside 339 00:16:17,559 --> 00:16:20,039 a modest home. The woman stood in the doorway, her 340 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,960 face pale, her breath coming fast. It was the weaver 341 00:16:23,039 --> 00:16:25,519 assured of her were clutched to her chest with shaking hands. 342 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,960 Her pulse was so fast and hard that he could 343 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,919 see the flutter of under her skin, at her throat. 344 00:16:30,559 --> 00:16:34,759 Madame Aldridge stepped forward. What happened? She stared at him, 345 00:16:34,759 --> 00:16:38,840 blank faced. What do you mean the scream? His apprentice said, 346 00:16:38,879 --> 00:16:43,440 frustration creeping into her voice. The woman's brosinated together. There 347 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,039 was no scream. The Oldridge stopped himself. He could see 348 00:16:47,039 --> 00:16:49,279 the lack of confusion on her face, the blank certainty 349 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,480 in her eyes. There was no point in arguing. He 350 00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:56,120 turned to leave, but not before noticing something, something small, 351 00:16:56,799 --> 00:16:59,399 something easy to miss in the dim light. The woman's 352 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,200 knuckles were black, odded and ragged. He wanted to press, 353 00:17:02,279 --> 00:17:04,079 but he felt the li's gloved fingers on his cloak, 354 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:06,640 and he let himself be pulled away. There were many 355 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,720 moral to see, even if he was sure those bright 356 00:17:08,759 --> 00:17:11,119 ones were the true threat. The room above the barber 357 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,440 shop was comped, the low ceilings slanting just enough to 358 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,359 make a Liz feel like the walls were closing in. 359 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,839 The lantern between them flickered weakly, throwing restless shadows against 360 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,079 the timber beans outside. The miscoiled thick over the village, 361 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:25,200 swallowing the street below. Aldridge sat across from her, his 362 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:28,000 hands clasped his shoulders, sat in that tied unshakable way 363 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,400 of his. He had not spoken in some time, never 364 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,839 had she. There was too much to say, too little 365 00:17:34,839 --> 00:17:38,079 that would matter. From outside, low and distant came a sound, 366 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,680 a rumbling, deepest thunder, but rolling slowly beneath the earth. 367 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,960 The lace stiffened, hering stained fingers tidening around the parchment 368 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,519 before her. Aldrich did not react. He did not even 369 00:17:48,559 --> 00:17:52,000 look up. The barber warm me about that. His voice 370 00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:54,759 was as level as ever, some oddity of the land. 371 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,839 The people here have grown us to it. The Lays 372 00:17:57,839 --> 00:17:59,480 had lived too long among the sick to believe in 373 00:17:59,519 --> 00:18:02,279 harmless things, And there was something so off about this 374 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,039 village that she wasn't able to let anything go. It 375 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:09,079 sounds it is nothing, he said too easily. She quickly 376 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:13,640 put it from your mind. Eliz did not. Instead, she 377 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,440 exhaled sharply and turned back to the notes called before her. 378 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,000 None of it makes sense, she muttered. I've seen sickness 379 00:18:20,039 --> 00:18:23,599 spread like fire through dry fields, But this this moves differently, 380 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,279 not through air, not through blood. No pattern. Aldrich nodded, 381 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,960 slow and heavy. No swellings like the great death, no 382 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:36,079 rast like the sweating sickness. No vomiting, no wasting, And 383 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,799 yet Aldric said, his fingers pressing into the warm wood 384 00:18:38,839 --> 00:18:42,480 of the table, They die all the same. Elleure swallowed. 385 00:18:43,079 --> 00:18:47,160 The lantern burned low between them, casting hollows beneath Aldrich's eyes. 386 00:18:47,799 --> 00:18:50,119 She looked away, not liking how old it made him look. 387 00:18:50,759 --> 00:18:53,240 Running a hand through her short, dark hair, she spoke, 388 00:18:53,279 --> 00:18:56,759 without thinking, I wish I could ask my father. Aldredch 389 00:18:56,799 --> 00:18:59,799 glanced up at her expression. Unreadable. Elie shook her head, 390 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,079 bitter laugh catching in her throat. Not that it would matter. 391 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:05,480 He would tell me I was wasting my time here 392 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:07,799 in a village that will soon be nothing but shallow graves. 393 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,240 It was always about the science, not the people. Aldrich 394 00:19:11,279 --> 00:19:13,960 did not speak at first. Then evenly he would be 395 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,079 proud of you, Aleira Liz, she huffed. Then a disgraced 396 00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:20,640 physician would be proud of me, a man who lost 397 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,480 everything chasing ghosts of disease. Aldrich met her gaze, steady 398 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,680 as ever, a man who did not stop searching, just 399 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,440 as you have not stopped. Eliz said nothing. The lantern 400 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:35,160 burned lower, the room seemed smaller. She tapped her fingers 401 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,559 against the parchment, forcing her mind back to the work. 402 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,880 It's not the pox, no pustles. Aldrich's voice is quiet, 403 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,359 like he was reluctant to return to the task at hand. 404 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:50,279 Not consumption, no blooded cough, not plague. Liliz's throat felt tight, 405 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:55,240 No beebos. Aldrich exhaled. For a long moment. The only 406 00:19:55,279 --> 00:19:57,279 sound was the scraping of her cull against the paper. 407 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:03,119 Then from outside, the rumbling came again, lo distant beneath 408 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,839 the earth. This time, Elise saw it the way Aldrich's 409 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,720 hands tense, how his gaze flickered, just for a moment, 410 00:20:09,759 --> 00:20:12,920 toward the door, and how he forced himself not to react. 411 00:20:13,559 --> 00:20:16,160 The Liz let out a slow breath, setting her quill aside. 412 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,759 The ink was nearly dry in its well, and her 413 00:20:18,759 --> 00:20:21,759 hand ached from gripping the feather too tightly. The cross 414 00:20:21,759 --> 00:20:24,359 from her older crubbed his temples. Fatigue written deep in 415 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:26,839 the lines of his face. We should sleep, he said, 416 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,359 at last. Elise wanted to argue, but what was the point. 417 00:20:30,799 --> 00:20:33,359 The notes before them held no answers, only more questions, 418 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,359 more dead ends. She pushed aside her things, capping the 419 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,640 vial of inknrolling up the parchment. You're right, Aldrich, stood, 420 00:20:40,799 --> 00:20:43,480 moving to turn down the lantern. The wick flickered as 421 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,519 the flame receedd. The darkness pressed in, thick and heavy, 422 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,880 smothering the edges of the room. Then from outside, a scream. 423 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:52,680 It was the same sound they had heard from the 424 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,759 weaver before, raw panick, twisting through the night like a 425 00:20:55,799 --> 00:20:59,119 thing alive. Liliz jolted upright, her heart beat hammering against 426 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,680 her ribs. She turned toward the window, toward the street below, 427 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,200 where only mist and shadow walked. Aldridge's hand was firm 428 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,920 on her shoulder before she could rise. No, his voice 429 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:14,640 was iron else swallowed. Some one is already lost. You 430 00:21:14,759 --> 00:21:16,920 pulled me away this afternoon, but now I am doing 431 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,480 the same sleep. The finality of his words sent a 432 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,960 shiver down her spine. He did not let go of 433 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,119 her shoulder. She did not try to move again. The 434 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,720 scream faded, swallowed by the dock. Thelais forced herself to 435 00:21:29,759 --> 00:21:31,839 turn back to the table, though her hands were trembling. 436 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,519 Aldrich released her only when she did not move to 437 00:21:34,599 --> 00:21:37,759 rise a second time. Then, in silence, he lowered the 438 00:21:37,839 --> 00:21:40,759 lanterns flint to a dying ember. The dartess settled in 439 00:21:40,799 --> 00:21:43,200 full as they found their cots, searching for sleep in 440 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,880 the dying village, the end of the world creeping in 441 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,640 for so many others in their own beds. The next 442 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,160 three days passed in a slow, suffocating haze. The sick 443 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,079 lay in their homes, Their bodies fevered and rack were tremors, 444 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,559 their breathing wet and thick, as if something unseen press 445 00:21:58,599 --> 00:22:02,240 against their lungs. When they could draw enough breath, they raved, 446 00:22:02,519 --> 00:22:04,720 But when they couldn't, the silence of their suffering was 447 00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:07,720 louder than anything else she'd ever heard. Las and Aldrich 448 00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:09,559 moved from bed to bed, their mouths stamped with the 449 00:22:09,599 --> 00:22:12,880 scent of herbs. Their glove slick was sweat. Nothing helped. 450 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,440 They bled the sick. They burned herbs in their rooms. 451 00:22:18,039 --> 00:22:21,000 They rubbed them down with vinegar and crushed roots. Some 452 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,559 villages clung to their remedies like lifelines, whispering desperate prayers 453 00:22:24,599 --> 00:22:27,880 with every swallow tonic. Others had already resigned themselves to 454 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,880 their graves. And then there were the others, the bright ones, 455 00:22:32,519 --> 00:22:35,240 the ones who should have fallen ill but hadn't, the 456 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,920 ones who stood too still in doorways, watching their smiles 457 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,039 too cheery, their eyes too sharp, the butcher who had 458 00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:42,799 written help in the middle of his list of cuts 459 00:22:42,799 --> 00:22:45,640 and then refused to acknowledge it. The weaver who moved 460 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,119 through the square with feverish joy, though her hands trembled 461 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,240 at her sides. Belise and Oldrick avoided them when they could. 462 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,880 The grave pit at the edge of town swallowed more 463 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,079 bodies each day. The bodies lay in heaps, some twisted 464 00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,359 mid spasm, and a still curled as if in sleep. 465 00:23:00,039 --> 00:23:02,279 The barber stood beside them. One evening, is as hollow 466 00:23:02,319 --> 00:23:04,240 as they bore, witnessed to the ever growing mountain of 467 00:23:04,279 --> 00:23:07,000 the dead. Villagers had been bringing loved ones to the 468 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,000 edge and rolling them when they had to strength, but 469 00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:11,640 the others remained in their beds, no one left to 470 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,480 bring them to their final rest. The diggers didn't tell 471 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,759 anyone they were sick. The barber, moment as he joined them, 472 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,359 more to himself than anyone else, kept working until they dropped. Tiggered. 473 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,160 If they admitted it, they'd lose their pay. A less 474 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,680 swallowed back bile. The pit stretched wide before them, yawning 475 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,599 and unfinished. It would never be finished, she thought. The 476 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,240 number of people in the village had tipped. They were 477 00:23:34,279 --> 00:23:35,720 more ill than well, and it was only going to 478 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,039 get worse if they couldn't find a cure. The dead 479 00:23:38,039 --> 00:23:40,839 would continue to grow, the living too overwhelmed to bury them, 480 00:23:41,079 --> 00:23:43,960 and through it all the children were left behind. It 481 00:23:44,039 --> 00:23:46,200 took some time to notice, and at first Delays had 482 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,519 considered it a blessing. The fever took men and women first, 483 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,880 the elderly, the weak, the ones with the deepest coughs, 484 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,480 in the hollowest ties, but never the children. But she 485 00:23:54,599 --> 00:23:56,880 soon came to understand that the children being spared was 486 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,440 no blessing but a curse. It would have been a 487 00:23:59,519 --> 00:24:01,359 kind of fate for the youngest among them to die 488 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,400 alongside their families. Instead, the towns, often young, roamed and tethered, 489 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,400 small wild shapes, darting between houses, huddled in corners of 490 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,640 homes where their parents still lay stiff in their beds. 491 00:24:11,319 --> 00:24:13,799 After a few days. They did not weep, They did 492 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:18,039 not ask for help. They watched empty, bellard and wide eyed. 493 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,160 They gathered in packs, clinging to one another with a 494 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,680 sharp edged desperation of creatures that did not know how 495 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,119 to survive, only that they must. It broke something in her, 496 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,119 the echo of some maternal feeling that she had burned 497 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,640 out of herself years ago, and at night, when the 498 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,000 screams rose again, it was impossible to tell if they 499 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,200 belonged to the dying or to the ones they left behind. 500 00:24:35,799 --> 00:24:37,799 They couldn't help the children, but they could help the earl. 501 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,559 Though the decision did not come easily, it was Oldrich 502 00:24:40,599 --> 00:24:42,839 who resisted the longest, though Olise had known from the 503 00:24:42,839 --> 00:24:44,559 moment they first whispered of it that there was no 504 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,920 other way. They could not cure the sick. They could 505 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,960 not ease their suffering, but they could make the dying gentle. 506 00:24:51,559 --> 00:24:54,200 The first dose had been the hardest. The Las had 507 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,640 done it herself, pressing the laudanum laced wine to the 508 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,440 lips of a man whose breath rattled in its chest 509 00:24:58,519 --> 00:25:01,480 like stones in a jar. His hands trembled, but he drank. 510 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,799 He trusted her, and when she and Aldrick returned an 511 00:25:04,839 --> 00:25:07,880 hour later, he was gone, his face slack. They covered 512 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,920 him with his blanket and moved on to the next, 513 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,079 and the next, and the next. By the following day, 514 00:25:13,319 --> 00:25:17,200 there was no need for coaxing. The villagers understood. Some 515 00:25:17,319 --> 00:25:20,240 reached for the cup with their own hands, Others only 516 00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:23,240 nodded glassy eyed lids, parting to accept the bitter gift. 517 00:25:23,839 --> 00:25:26,039 Aldred carried the weight of it in his shoulders, in 518 00:25:26,079 --> 00:25:28,759 the way he hesitated before handing over each cup. He 519 00:25:28,799 --> 00:25:31,519 had never been a man who surrendered easily, but this, 520 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,400 this was the worst sort of surrender. Eliz found him 521 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,839 by the open grave pit that evening, staring into his 522 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,720 steps through the eye holes of his one mask. He 523 00:25:40,759 --> 00:25:43,319 did not flinch when she stepped beside him. We had 524 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,200 no other choice, she murmured. His sigh was heavy and 525 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,920 so so tired, I know, child. Eliz didn't rebuke the term. 526 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,880 It's half stubborn. Aldrich had earned himself an endearment or 527 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,640 two after everything he'd done for her. It was why 528 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,400 she has stated before speaking again, because she knew her 529 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,920 thoughts were any that he wished to hear. At best, 530 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,599 he would brush her off. At worst, he would think 531 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,960 less of her as a physician. But all she could 532 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,880 do was hope to plant the questions inside of his 533 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:12,599 brilliant old mind. What if it isn't sickness? What if 534 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,319 it's something beyond our comprehension? Master, he cannot deny that 535 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,440 has defied all logic that we hold Aldrich turned his head, 536 00:26:19,559 --> 00:26:22,960 eyes sharp under the mask. Don't start. You've seen them, 537 00:26:23,279 --> 00:26:25,200 she kept her voice. Even the ones who should be 538 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,079 ill but aren't, the children who don't cry, the butcher, 539 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:33,039 the weaver, The way they watch us, the way she swallowed, 540 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,119 the way their eyes are so bright. No sickness can 541 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,160 do something like that. It's fever, he snapped, survivor's guilt, 542 00:26:38,839 --> 00:26:41,559 madness from grief. Do not tell me you believe in 543 00:26:41,599 --> 00:26:44,680 ghosts and curses and parries, I Liz. She did, and 544 00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:47,240 not exactly, but her mind was open to the possibility. 545 00:26:47,319 --> 00:26:49,680 Something ignoble was almost easier to accept than a sickness 546 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,680 so cruel and odd that not even Master Aldrich could 547 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,799 immvel it. I shouldn't have brought it up, she sighed. 548 00:26:53,799 --> 00:26:56,519 I am just lost for understanding Oldrich. It may make 549 00:26:56,559 --> 00:26:58,519 me a bad physician, but I deeply wish that we 550 00:26:58,519 --> 00:27:00,440 had never come here. Oldrich turned away from the pit, 551 00:27:00,559 --> 00:27:02,960 rubbing a hand down his face before he set his shoulders. 552 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,039 Fear not wrong about that. At least I've come to 553 00:27:05,079 --> 00:27:07,480 a decision. We leave at dawn weaker for help. The 554 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,559 Lilaise led out a slow breath, the smell of herbs 555 00:27:09,559 --> 00:27:11,519 in her mass blowing back to her. Yes. As they 556 00:27:11,559 --> 00:27:13,799 reached the barber shop for their final night in the village, 557 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,039 they spotted the barber waiting for them. She didn't notice 558 00:27:16,039 --> 00:27:18,079 it at first, but when she looked closer, it seemed 559 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:19,759 as if his skin was just a touched two pale, 560 00:27:19,799 --> 00:27:21,759 his eyes naturally white in the dim evening. Do you 561 00:27:21,799 --> 00:27:24,480 sleep well, doctors? They waited until he stepped aside, and 562 00:27:24,519 --> 00:27:26,480 half way up the stairs to the second floor, she 563 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,319 heard older to speak, yes, I saw it to if 564 00:27:28,319 --> 00:27:30,079 the rumble came once more, deep in the night. It 565 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,799 started as it had before, a low obrigant through the floorboards, 566 00:27:32,839 --> 00:27:35,079 a pulse in the earth itself, but now it was stronger, 567 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,920 more insistent. Olais wok at once, the sound cowling into 568 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,920 her chest like a warning. Aldrich was already sitting up listening. 569 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,519 His face was lined in flickering lampire, his expression cove 570 00:27:43,599 --> 00:27:46,599 from stone. Then another sound, a high, keening wheel risey 571 00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:48,839 above the rumble. Olais swung her legs over the side 572 00:27:48,839 --> 00:27:51,000 of the cot, pulse hammering. She reached the window just 573 00:27:51,039 --> 00:27:53,240 in time to see the movement below. Their horses, dark 574 00:27:53,319 --> 00:27:56,000 frantic shapes in the moonlight, lashing against their stalls, the 575 00:27:56,039 --> 00:27:58,359 screen's terror, and through the stillness, one after the other, 576 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:00,759 their hooves connected with the stable dogs again and again. 577 00:28:00,799 --> 00:28:02,880 Finally they broke free, fleeing into the night. At a 578 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,200 desperate attempt to escape, the rumble of the stable doors 579 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,160 burst open Who's pandit against the earth, and the beasts fled, 580 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,359 galloping wildly into the fog, into the trees, furnishing into 581 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,720 the night like Phantom's chase by something unseen. A Liz 582 00:28:13,759 --> 00:28:16,160 pressed a hand to her mouth. Drid settled into a stomach, 583 00:28:16,319 --> 00:28:19,519 alongward a feeling of inevitability. Aldrich moved beside her, staring 584 00:28:19,559 --> 00:28:22,160 after them. He exhaled, slowly, evenly. We were trapped for 585 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,759 a long moment. Neither of them spoke, the sounds still 586 00:28:24,759 --> 00:28:27,200 thrown beneath them, deep and slow, like breath drawn from 587 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,200 the lungs of the earth itself. Then list turned away 588 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,119 from the window, gripping the edge of the table. Her 589 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,200 throw felt tight while washing up into the back of 590 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,400 her mouth. They couldn't stay there, they simply couldn't. We 591 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,720 can still go on. Aldred shook his head. It's half 592 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,680 a day's right to the next tent. That's three, maybe 593 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,880 even four times as long walking, we'd never make it 594 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,240 before nightfall. I'm an old man, Liz. Then we'll go, 595 00:28:44,359 --> 00:28:46,519 so staying is not an option. We must leave at 596 00:28:46,519 --> 00:28:49,039 first light. The Liz's voice was from steadying. If we stay, 597 00:28:49,119 --> 00:28:51,000 we die. We both know it, and with no help 598 00:28:51,039 --> 00:28:54,079 to the survivors of Radad aldrichsjaw clench. He looked toward 599 00:28:54,079 --> 00:28:56,720 the lantern as glow, soft and wavering, casting long, thin 600 00:28:56,759 --> 00:28:59,559 shadows against the walls. For a long time, he didn't answer, 601 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:01,759 then fire. Finally he gave a slow nod. First light. 602 00:29:01,799 --> 00:29:03,839 A lays its tail shakily, but the relief was bitter 603 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,160 and then satisfying. First light, Let's try to get some rest. 604 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,599 They turned to their cots in silence, waiting, listening. The 605 00:29:08,599 --> 00:29:10,680 sound beneath them did not fade until sunlight began to 606 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,559 kiss the horizon, but the doctors wouldn't know it. The 607 00:29:12,559 --> 00:29:14,519 clouds had already crept in by then. The rain began 608 00:29:14,519 --> 00:29:17,119 as a whisper, a soft patter against the roof, barely 609 00:29:17,119 --> 00:29:19,000 allowed enough to stir or A lays from where she sat, 610 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,200 curled against the cat wooden frame. She had not slept, 611 00:29:21,279 --> 00:29:23,519 not truly, Nita had Aldrich. They had only drifted an 612 00:29:23,559 --> 00:29:26,319 end out of restlessness, half conscious states the breath madgiced, 613 00:29:26,359 --> 00:29:28,240 the bodies poised a rund. She paid little mind to 614 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,640 the rain at first, except tilamented how much harder it 615 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,599 would make their journey to the next town. Maybe they'd 616 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,759 find their horses along the way, some kind travelers that 617 00:29:34,839 --> 00:29:36,480 might take pity on them. She dreaded the thought of 618 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,000 trudging through the muddy forest pass, but anything was better 619 00:29:39,039 --> 00:29:40,960 than the many in the village. But then came the lightning, 620 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,440 followed by the thunder, and the gentle drizzle became a delage. 621 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,839 Water last the streets in violent slunting sheets. The wind 622 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,480 held against the buildings, ratland shadows, pulling at the low 623 00:29:48,519 --> 00:29:50,440 shingles of the barber shop and forcing its way through 624 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,079 the cracks in the windows. For the London between them 625 00:29:52,119 --> 00:29:54,720 flickered wildly. Aldrich, still peering through the walk glass, that 626 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,119 it weren't let up. Soon a lays moved beside him. Below, 627 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,279 the streets pulled with water, streams of it gushing through 628 00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:01,440 the muddy rots of the the road, carrying away Debrison 629 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,680 full for the storm churned with a fury, a natural 630 00:30:03,759 --> 00:30:06,480 for the season, its force almost punishing, hammering the village 631 00:30:06,519 --> 00:30:08,960 like a relentless tide. We should wait a day, he suggested, 632 00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:11,759 and Lais felt her teeth grind together. She wanted to argue, 633 00:30:11,799 --> 00:30:13,720 but also understood that she had reached the end of 634 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,960 her arguing allotment with her master, so instead she suggested, 635 00:30:17,079 --> 00:30:20,000 let's hurry next door and get some breakfast. We'll talk 636 00:30:20,079 --> 00:30:22,359 it over. Then was at the sun to mar at 637 00:30:22,359 --> 00:30:24,720 the time. They couldn't be sure exactly how early it was, 638 00:30:25,319 --> 00:30:28,039 but the rain kept the streets empty anyway. At first, 639 00:30:28,079 --> 00:30:30,960 the villagers did what was expected in a rainstorm. They 640 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,319 stayed inside. The immune ones, the ones who had been watching, 641 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,079 smiling too brightly, the skin fever flush, but not fever. 642 00:30:37,119 --> 00:30:40,480 It seemed uncertain. There, Lais glimpsed them through open doorways, 643 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,039 peering from windows, hovering at the edges of shutter, as 644 00:30:43,039 --> 00:30:46,759 if testing some invisible boundary. Then slowly they began to move. 645 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,440 One by one, they stepped from doorways into the street. 646 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:54,039 Some hesitated, shaking, fingers twitching at their sides. Others went 647 00:30:54,079 --> 00:30:56,880 all at once, striding into the deluge, like prisoners marching 648 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,000 to the scaffold, their heads stepped upward, their mouths opened it, 649 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,759 as if in silent rapture, the rain struck their skin 650 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,799 and melted it. At first, she thought it was an illusion, 651 00:31:05,799 --> 00:31:08,200 the way the water ran from them in thick, dark streaks, 652 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,400 whirling down into the guttows. But the streaks did not fade. 653 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:16,119 They widened, They deepened. Skin sloth from bun like wax 654 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,160 before an open flame. A man collapsed, his body hollow, 655 00:31:19,799 --> 00:31:21,960 not a man at all, but a thin papery husk. 656 00:31:22,519 --> 00:31:25,599 A woman fell next, and another, and then another. The 657 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,720 liars reached blundly for Aldric, her nails digging into his arm. 658 00:31:29,319 --> 00:31:32,000 He did not pull away, He did not move at all. 659 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:36,319 What is this? Her voice was barely a breath. Aldrich 660 00:31:36,359 --> 00:31:40,039 did not answer, mas sir, She cried, uncaring if the 661 00:31:40,039 --> 00:31:43,000 timber of her voice gave her identity away. What is this? 662 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,519 You know? I have no answer, he sapped, but he 663 00:31:46,559 --> 00:31:50,119 did not sound angry. Instead, his voice was full of desolation. 664 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,240 What would you have me say that? It's a devil, 665 00:31:53,799 --> 00:31:56,559 that's the end of all things, A sign of our sins? 666 00:31:56,599 --> 00:31:59,720 A lyar. Slowly she let go of his robe, prying 667 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,119 her face years off of him, as if they were 668 00:32:01,119 --> 00:32:04,000 frozen solid. I just may be part of me, hoped 669 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,599 that he'd seen it before. I haven't, he breathed, closing 670 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,319 his eyes. I don't think that anyone be the in heaven, 671 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,759 hell or on earth. I've seen this before? Are we leaving? 672 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,960 Master Fane? No child? His words were final, the words 673 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000 of a dead man determined to see his last mission 674 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,640 through her. I thought not Elyra unclipped her mask from 675 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,880 her belt with surprisingly steady hands and slid it over 676 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,400 her face. I will follow. The rain had ceased by 677 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,240 the time the doctors found the courage to step outside. 678 00:32:32,279 --> 00:32:33,960 The air was stick, with the scent of wet earth, 679 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,359 of decay, of something deeper, richer that curled, and the 680 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,799 lungs like the clawing, horrible sweetest of a wound left 681 00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:42,680 to fest. The village was silent, not merely emptied, not 682 00:32:42,759 --> 00:32:46,119 merely abandoned, but gutted. The hump stood still and lifeless, 683 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,640 their doors yawning open, the streets strewn with the collapsed 684 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,440 tusks of those who had once walked there. Aldrich did 685 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,799 not speak. He did not need to. The Lyra was 686 00:32:54,799 --> 00:32:56,680 the only one left to listen, and she knew his 687 00:32:56,759 --> 00:32:59,519 silences just as well as his words. There could have 688 00:32:59,519 --> 00:33:01,799 been somevers left in their homes, but it was no 689 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,079 wonder that once they saw what had become of their peers, 690 00:33:04,119 --> 00:33:07,079 they refused to leave. The rain had melted away so 691 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,160 much flesh and sinew on the bodies of the bright 692 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,759 Ones that they were nearly unrecognizable as humans. They were deflated, 693 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,240 their scalps of hair and the stark whiteness of the skeletons, 694 00:33:15,279 --> 00:33:18,480 the only signifiers of person had left. Aldrich pulled up 695 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,960 his hot heading into the forest, following the tracks of 696 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,519 the monstrous parasites. The lays followed close behind him, their 697 00:33:24,519 --> 00:33:26,799 boots sinking into the sodden ground, their breath the only 698 00:33:26,839 --> 00:33:30,000 sound between them. He knew they should have fled, They 699 00:33:30,039 --> 00:33:32,640 should have run far away the second they could. There 700 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:34,920 was no sense in what they were doing. He was 701 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,480 a seasoned professional, and he was supposed to be intelligent, 702 00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:40,599 careful in the choices he made. But Aldrich found himself 703 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,839 leading his apprentice into the unknown danger. Something deep and 704 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:48,440 insidious had taken root inside them, a compulsion, an unspoken pull, 705 00:33:49,079 --> 00:33:51,920 the same perhaps that had dragged the villagers into the storm. 706 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,440 Into the rain. The creatures had left a path in 707 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,240 the undergrowth or writhing, churning scar of crushed leaves and 708 00:33:57,279 --> 00:33:59,759 torn roots, a tunnel of movement leading into the dense, 709 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,839 waiting darkness of the trees. The deeper they went, the 710 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,839 worse the air became. It thickened, caught it in their throats, 711 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,880 pressed against their temples with a weight that was neither 712 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,440 heat nor humidity, but something else entirely. The lantern's glow 713 00:34:11,519 --> 00:34:13,960 barely reached past its glass, swallowed by the oppressive black 714 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,119 between the trees. Finally they reached the end of the path, 715 00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:20,239 where the earth fell away before them. A crater, vast 716 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,199 and yawning, had caved in the ground in front of them. 717 00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:25,280 Trees tilted inwards, brutes unable to keep their hold in 718 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,719 the rain sliped mud. It was a wind in the world, 719 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,079 and when Alder stepped as close as he dared, holding 720 00:34:30,079 --> 00:34:32,079 the lantern up to banish the darkness, he could see 721 00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:34,920 the beating heart in the center. Aldrich's breath hitched as 722 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,000 a list stepped closer, had breathing fast and frightened like 723 00:34:38,039 --> 00:34:40,719 a cornered rabbit. They could both see what was there, 724 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,039 but the mines refused to grasp on to it. A 725 00:34:43,079 --> 00:34:46,440 thing filled the crater. It pulls slow and measured its 726 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:50,360 fore glistening wrong and impossibly large. At first, it seemed 727 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,079 only a mass of morphus, shifting endless. But then it stirred, 728 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:56,440 and the light caught the sheen of its limbs. It 729 00:34:56,559 --> 00:34:58,320 wasn't the gray of fire ash, but the gray of 730 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,000 deer drowned flesh. They were not quite tentacles, not quite roots, 731 00:35:02,039 --> 00:35:05,360 but something between. They slithered through the earth, thick and undulating, 732 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,239 plunging deep into the soil beneath the village. All the 733 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,199 pieces in his mind claked together. The rumbling in the 734 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,239 night hadn't been the wind through the trees, or the 735 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:15,280 settling of the earth, but instead it had been this. 736 00:35:16,159 --> 00:35:19,039 Eliz clutched Oldridge's arm, her fingers trembling against his sleeve. 737 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,840 It's underneath us, she whispered, It's everywhere. She was right. 738 00:35:24,599 --> 00:35:27,599 The last staggering parasites gurried toward it in a frantic swarm, 739 00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:30,559 disappearing into the mass, burrowing into its oily surface. Once 740 00:35:30,559 --> 00:35:33,840 they made contact, they gave themselves to it without testation, 741 00:35:34,119 --> 00:35:37,559 feeding themselves to something greater. Aldridg couldn't see a change, 742 00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:39,239 but he knew in his bones that it was growing 743 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,199 It isn't a disease, he rasped. It was never a disease. 744 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,320 They both had the minds of scientists, but the wills 745 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,239 of warrors. It's what sets heel is apart from the rest. 746 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,920 But no matter how much will they had, older kennel 747 00:35:52,039 --> 00:35:54,519 is were not viders, And even if they had been, 748 00:35:54,639 --> 00:35:56,760 how could they possibly do battle with the thing below them? 749 00:35:57,159 --> 00:36:00,119 The bodies in the streets, the hollowed out husks. They 750 00:36:00,159 --> 00:36:02,480 had not wasted away or succumbed fever or flux of 751 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,840 some unseen pistilence. They had been emptied. They had been incubators, 752 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,360 and it was still feeding. But what of the disease. 753 00:36:10,039 --> 00:36:13,320 Maybe the parasites had failed to take Aldrich couldn't be sure, 754 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,800 but he was both infinitely glad and furious with himself 755 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,599 that he hadn't attempted a dissection. Maybe he could have 756 00:36:18,599 --> 00:36:21,280 found the answer sooner, or maybe he would have become 757 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,320 infected himself. Olaie's grip on his arm tightened. We have 758 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,199 to go. The living mass roiled in its earthen cocun 759 00:36:28,559 --> 00:36:32,920 somehow shifting, and then it was staring. One enormous, gelatinous 760 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,320 I rolled to gaze at them. Aldrich felt something he 761 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,239 had never experienced before, a primordal fear, the promise of 762 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:41,679 a death to complete that even his memory would be consumed. 763 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,440 Alaise didn't need to ask again. He didn't even remember 764 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,440 the decision. But before he could breathe in another of breath, 765 00:36:48,559 --> 00:36:51,239 the two of them were running. They stumbled back through 766 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,400 the trees, sucking in panicked, blungfuls of air. The rain 767 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,920 had slowed to a misty drizzle, leaving the ground slick 768 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,599 and treacherous beneath their feet. Thelaise nearly fell boots gidding 769 00:37:00,599 --> 00:37:02,400 in mud, dockned by things they did not dare look 770 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,599 too closely at Alda, caught her by the arm yanking 771 00:37:05,639 --> 00:37:09,280 her upright. Neither of them spoke, neither of them could. 772 00:37:10,039 --> 00:37:12,639 The only sound was the whispering scutch of parasites rippling 773 00:37:12,639 --> 00:37:15,400 through the underbrush, their bodies glistening with the remnants of 774 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,119 the human husks they once inhabited. They moved with unsettling purpose, 775 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,519 a swarm of writhing filaments, slithering away from the village. 776 00:37:22,559 --> 00:37:25,239 The town emerged from the thinning trees, like skeletal fingers 777 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,519 rising from shallow water. The lanterns in the windows flickered 778 00:37:28,519 --> 00:37:30,320 weakly at the warm welcome of just a handful of 779 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,480 days ago, a distant memory. They passed the butcher's shop, 780 00:37:33,559 --> 00:37:36,719 the sign board with its blocky letters. The apothecased or 781 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,880 yawned idly in the wind. Shelves of herbs and vials 782 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,920 had been overturned, their contents crushed on to foot. The 783 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,519 scent of lavender and camphor were strong, but beneath it 784 00:37:45,559 --> 00:37:50,159 was something spoiled. We'll steal someone else's horses. Alise panted, 785 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:52,159 looking wildly about the town square for a sign of 786 00:37:52,159 --> 00:37:55,800 his stable. No one is left anyway, They stumbled as 787 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,119 the ground shook, not an earthquake, but something far closer. 788 00:37:59,679 --> 00:38:01,679 It was the movement of the earth right below their feet. 789 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:04,800 As something vast awakened. A low grown rolled through the air, 790 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,320 a sound so all encompassing it seemed to come from everywhere. 791 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:11,440 At once. Aldrich stopped dead in his tracks, his heart clenched, 792 00:38:12,159 --> 00:38:15,760 his lungs ceased. The sound was familiar. It is the 793 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,719 same rumbling they heard before, the same low moment that 794 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,840 had terrified the horses into fleeing. But now it was louder. 795 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,559 Now it was closer. The streets trembled. The gobblestone shifted, 796 00:38:27,159 --> 00:38:30,280 tilted unevenly. A crack splinted down the mi in road, 797 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,519 and from its eat something thick, black and pulsing. The 798 00:38:33,519 --> 00:38:37,119 barber's shop collapsed inward with a sudden, violent snap. Wood 799 00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:39,400 and stone sucked into the earth like water down a drain. 800 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,960 The tremor deepened, growing into a deafening roar. Olase was 801 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,400 gripping Aldrich's arm again, and while he couldn't hear her, 802 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,239 he felt a terrible guilt, knowing that she trusted him. Implicitly, 803 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,800 she trusted him, and he had led her here to 804 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,840 her doom. Her lips moved, forming words, but he could 805 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,320 not hear her. Over the noise, he could not hear 806 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,000 anything but the sound of the world breaking open. It 807 00:38:59,039 --> 00:39:01,800 reminded him fittingly of the snapping of bones, specifically the 808 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,159 femur at, the longest, strongest bone in the body, that, 809 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,440 when broken, came apart with a deep, resounding snap. The 810 00:39:07,559 --> 00:39:09,800 chasm reripped through the center of the village, split in 811 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:12,719 the land apart like flesh potty under a blade. It 812 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,920 was not empty darkness that lay beneath, It was movement. 813 00:39:16,519 --> 00:39:19,880 The crater they saw in the forest was only the beginning. This. 814 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,960 This was as true form a vast, writhing mass heaved 815 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,559 itself up from the depths, its limbs slithering free from 816 00:39:25,559 --> 00:39:28,039 the tunnels that had cradled them during its spread. The 817 00:39:28,119 --> 00:39:30,800 tendrils were massive, thick as tree trunks, glistening with viske 818 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,440 machine then coiled slowly, deliberately, as if tasting the air. 819 00:39:35,119 --> 00:39:37,599 Most horrifying of all, maybe because it could have been him, 820 00:39:37,679 --> 00:39:39,880 had his choices been different, were the movements of the 821 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,559 parasite ridden husks. The villagers, who had once been so bright, 822 00:39:43,639 --> 00:39:47,000 so feverishly eager, dragged themselves to the age of the abyss. 823 00:39:47,599 --> 00:39:50,159 Their faces, or what was left of them, lifted in silent, 824 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,519 rapturous devotion. They did not scream as the tendrils wrapped 825 00:39:53,519 --> 00:39:56,119 around them. They did not resist as they were lifted 826 00:39:56,199 --> 00:39:59,079 one by one into the rolling mass. He knew they 827 00:39:59,119 --> 00:40:02,400 were returning home. Aldrich couldn't move, couldn't breathe, but could 828 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,079 only watch the liz Wrench's sleeve, screaming, now pulling at 829 00:40:06,119 --> 00:40:09,039 him with frantic desperation. But he was rooted to the spot, 830 00:40:09,119 --> 00:40:11,320 transfixed by the thing that has slumbered beneath them all 831 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,920 this time. The thing that has hollowed up the bodies, 832 00:40:14,039 --> 00:40:16,159 the mines, the very souls of those they had come 833 00:40:16,199 --> 00:40:19,320 to heal. He had failed them, failed all of them. 834 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,079 Eleier screamed his name an then the world was swallowed 835 00:40:23,119 --> 00:40:28,760 hull shoe, stifferjesty five hundred one. And that is the end. 836 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:31,039 Thank you for listening, and I will see you in 837 00:40:31,039 --> 00:40:35,079 the next one.