The Desolation

Chapter 3

If there was one thing Ollinatsa loved, it was gossip. It was a side effect of living in a community this small. They would find the tiniest thing to latch onto, so when something interesting actually happened, it was all anyone could talk about.

I was having lunch with Lorcan when I first found out.

Usually lunch with the clan was a loud affair. Laughter and voices filled the air, with enough different threads of conversation that they always merged into one bubbling cacophony. Today was different. As I took my seat across from Lorcan, I noticed the murmur of hushed whispers filling the space instead.

I double checked to make sure the story of Cara's fight hadn't morphed into something wild, like me leading an undercover fight club with the young ones. No, no one seemed to even notice my presence. They were much too invested in something else.

"What's going on?" I asked Lorcan. "Did something happen?"

His face curled into a sour expression, leaving him with lines that made him look tired and much older than twenty.

"Peadar went to the healers' cabin," he said. "Apparently something is wrong. No one knows what the problem is, though."

I scoffed. The gossip in this place was getting out of hand. "Well, it's not their business anyway."

"No, I mean the healers. I guess they've never seen anything like it before. They've put my hunting squad on hold until they know more. They think he must have picked it up out in the wastes. We've been fielding questions all morning."

That held me up. Lorcan wasn't a gossip, this was first hand information.

"So he really is sick, then?" I asked.

"Apparently so."

We fell into silence while we ate, but I couldn't enjoy my meal. What if this was something serious? Peadar worked so closely with Lorcan. What if he got sick too?

I decided the only thing that would ease my worries would be to learn more about the situation first hand.

After lunch, I stopped by the healers' cabin. I tried to be subtle as I entered. I knew that I would be sent straight home with a lecture if they caught me lurking around. It turned out I had no reason to worry, however. All the healers were busy in the back, fussing over who I assumed to be Peadar.

As silently as I could, I parted the curtain separating the front from the beds in the back. I peaked in to see if I could make anything out, and what I saw was unlike anything I had seen before.

Peadar was just inside, sitting on one of the examination beds with his shirt off. His back was to me, but that didn't pose much of an issue. There on his back, creeping up from his arm, was a large swath of scabs. His skin was irritated and red, openly weeping in some spots. Judging by the way a healer dabbed at his chest, his back wasn't the only problem.

Lorcan had mentioned a rash on his arm. This was far worse than that.

That conversation after his first hunting trip was a week ago, if even that. How fast did this disease move, to get so severe in such a small amount of time.

I let the curtain fall shut, and silently made my way out of the healers' cabin in a state of shock. I hurried home, not stopping to talk to anyone along the way.

I hoped that, whatever this was, it wasn't as contagious as the rumors that were spreading

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