Of Swords and Needles

Chapter 2: A Prayer in Silver

Alex's eyes were blurry, both due to the mask and his tiredness, yet despite it all he continued on forward. Towards the settlement with the man's body on his back, flower and book in pocket, and the sun shining down on him. He almost felt like the sun was praising him. He pressed on and saw the settlement, the two guards brought him in the settlement and took the body. Tyrian, Alex's boss, ran up to him.

"Alex. Where have you been?" His voice was breathless. "I've been looking all over town, I was starting to get worried."

Alex bowed his head and quickly looked back up to see his boss "I'm sorry sir. The guards asked me to bring one of our settlers back. He ventured past the walls." "I see. Well, as long as you're alright lad." Tyrian said.

"Come" he motioned towards a small shop "we have a line of people. Arthur thinks he's found a way to cure the plague. But he's missing a certain~" "Flower?" Alex perked up, presenting the flower to Tyrian. He examined it closely and looked at Alex "How did you~" "The man I went to retrieve was looking for it. He was probably an Alchemist."

Tyrian rushed himself and Alex inside the shop to see Arthur, their lead Alchemist. The line of people was long, there were so many people that the footsteps were overshadowed by coughing. The two slipped by all of the people and managed to make it to the back of the shop to see Arthur, toiling away with plants, beakers, and vials. Tyrian quickly gave Arthur the flower.

"Tyrian I~" Arthur looked at the flower. "How did you get this?" "I didn't, Alex did." Tyrian said motioning towards Alex who was cleaning off his trenchcoat. Arthur was about to get up, but didn't and went back to his work. "However you got this flower, I thank you. You might have just helped cure this rotten plague once and for all."

A few days after Arthur got to work on the cure, it was complete. There was just enough to go around to the people, however not enough for the doctors and guards. Despite their malcontent towards that, Alex knew what the flower looked like and wished to venture out to find another. But doing so would risk someone or something else getting infected, so Alex sat and waited. He helped the locals and his co-workers for about two to three days, then something unexpected happened.

Upon the front gates, the guards stopped a knight at the door. "Who are you?" "My name is Abraham Orvus, squire to the King." said the young man.

The two guards looked at eachother, then back to the squire. The guard with the thin plague beak walked away while the other guard, one who wore a feather cape and had a pointed hat on, watched the knight. After a few minutes, the other guard returned with a clean plague mask.

"What is this for?" Asked the squire. "For your protection." "But the plague is gone yes?" The squire asked again, confused. The guard handed him the mask and sternly said "The only ones that are infected are the guards and the doctors. You wear it so you don't catch it." Abraham cautiously grabbed the mask and put it on over his head. The guards let him through, his armor rattling with every step he took.

He perused through the town and, despite everyone wearing plague masks, the town seemed peaceful. But the squire was here to see the town doctors, of which only four were left according to his record. He walked into the clinic and saw a man at the counter, he was slim yet chubby, had short curly red hair, and had a white plague mask decorated with buttons on.

He gasped "A knight? Or are you a new guard?" he asked stepping forward a small bit. "I'm a squire. Abraham Orvus. And you are?" "Alex Corvus. I would shake your hand but~" "I understand. Are you one of the doctors here?" Abraham asked. "One of them. There are two others here. Tyrian and Arthur Aldis. Brothers." Alex spoke, his tone somewhat higher pitched yet still masculine.

The squire nods his head "We're hoping to bring this settlement back into the kingdom. And since the plague is somewhat cured, I was going to talk to the doctors here on some matters of the king." Alex sat down on a nearby chair "I see. Well, unfortunately despite my license, I don't have proper practices on medicinal alchemy. The Aldis brothers do however, they're in the back. I'll bring you to them." Abraham and Alex walked to the back to see Tyrian and Arthur writing notes and crushing lavender in a mortar and pestle respectively. Alex was about to knock on the door frame, but Tyrian heard the squire's footsteps and looked at them. "Brother. We have a knight in our presence." Tyrian spoke as he kneeled down, but Arthur kept working. "Tell him I'm busy, I'll bow to him later." He spoke, not looking at the knight.

"Forgive my brother, he's always more intrigued in the work." He looked at his brother and back to Abraham "How may I be of assistance to you?" "There's a matter I need to discuss with both you and the other official doctor here." Abraham spoke. Tyrian sat down and sighed "If you are referring to Hanzo Mushi, he sadly passed away a few days ago. He and Alex were the one who helped find a cure for the plague." "Speaking of~" Alex interjected. "We talked about this, we can't risk-" "Let him do it." Arthur spoke up while mixing two crushed plants together. Tyrian, dumbfounded, looked at him "Are you mad?" "We have a knight here don't we? We're now in technicality allowed to walk through the gates. And" he looks at Alex "tell the guards the squire and the doctors allowed you to exit." Alex bowed and thanked them, leaving the tent as the squire sat down. "So, what matters do you wish to discuss?" "It's involving the King's daughter."

Alex exited the clinic, book in hand and with a few vials in his pocket. He walked past the gate no problem and headed out into the forest that he went through a few days ago. No animals were around except for one cocoon housing a butterfly. Alex walked past and headed towards the area that the man, Hanzo, went to in the hopes of finding another flower. When he arrived, he looked around and saw no flower similar to the one in the book. As he wandered around looking for the flower, he sifted through the pages of the book. Reading the studies of alchemy that Hanzo Mushi wrote down. He was a travelling doctor who had been known to cure many diseases, at least before he got stuck in the settlement. He wrote down everything he learned from his travels, and Alex was infatuated. All the knowledge he could have wanted, in the palm of his hands.

The setting sun beamed down on him as he continued to look for the flower, only coming close once but wasn't the same. Alex was about to head back to the village, but he spotted something in the distance: a strange altar. He approached it and saw a strange symbol representing a bright sun with an odd face inside a cracked moon. Alex was never one to believe in miracles, or even God, but on impulse he kneeled down in front of the altar and started to pray. He remained silent for a few minutes before uttering the words "Please rid our village of this wretched plague. I will give whatever it takes to cure it." He looked around, nothing seemed to change. Sighing, he rose and walked back to the village, cursing to himself that he couldn't find a flower. Unbeknownst to him however, two bright blue eyes were watching him return to the village.