Light

Chapter Eleven

The old woman sat down on one of the cots laid down, shaking her head. "Y-You mean..." She looked forlornly at the other cots. Lined in two rows of four cots each, a child lay sleeping under a thin cover. Their ages ranged from about four to mid-teens, with various skin tones and hair colors, but one thing was the same: they were all sleeping soundly. "You mean... Miss Serra did this?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Priam sighed, looking at all eight children. "At least, we think so. Do you run an orphanage or something?"

The old lady nodded. "Just a small service I started when I found the church, alone and for wear. Six of them were already living here, fending off rats and living off of moldy apples. I gave them medicine, fresh food, and blankets. But I couldn't just leave them..." She sighed. "None of the children have any desire to find their real parents, so I just started living here."

"And the other two..? There's eight here."

"One I found in front of the church doorsteps, wrapped in swaddling clothes. The other wandered here by accident," she clarified.

As the two talked, Nino and Lina walked among the sleeping children. Nino crouched in front of a cot supporting a preteen boy, hugging his pillow and mumbling phrases like, "Ellie, give back..." "Too hot..." "Na... Na... Where..." "S-Stop..." Concerned, Nino gently placed a hand on his forehead and flinched at how warm he was.

"Lina, come here," Nino whispered. "The poor boy has a fever."

"What?" Lina picked up her skirts and carefully stepped over children to the boy. Crouching down to Nino's level, she laid a hand on his cheek to confirm the fever. She then suddenly hissed in surprise as she cursed. "The boy's got a bloody fever, that's for sure. And a horrible one, to boot."

Priam and the old lady stopped talking to overhear the commotion, and the old lady gasped. "Thomas!" She walked with urgency as she was fervently whispering, "No no no no no, Thomas, please no..." The other two girls gave room to the old lady as she carefully detached the pillow from his arms and made him lay on his back, his skin seeming paler in the midmorning sun streaming through the windows. Being the third to confirm Thomas's fever and making sure that he was still alive, she rushed into a separate room. Gushing water was soon heard.

The other three stood in silence, watching the poor boy frown in his sleep and "look" for the pillow by tossing slightly. The other children, unaware of their friend's predicament, continued to sleep soundly and silently.

"There's one thing that confuses me about this sleeping curse," Nino muttered. "Everywhere we go, there's people sleeping on the streets and floor, as if they were suddenly struck with it. But... How come we're not affected by it?"

Priam nodded, as if he already acknowledged the fact. "I find that odd too. I thought it was simply a matter of us being used to this, as we're fighters, but..." He looked at the washing room. "She's not affected either."

"Suppose it's magic that's protecting us? After all, we've got magic and the old miss is a Cleric."

Lina snorted, smacking Priam on the arm. "Right. Because Priam here is an overflowing fount of magic."

"Oh, you don't know," Priam snarkily replied. "Maybe if I believe in myself, I can become a Mage or a Priest."

"I'm looking in your soul right now, and you have no ounce of magic in you," Lina countered, smirking while crossing her arms. "But why not, maybe you can pick up a tome and pull philosophy out of it."

"Maybe I should, and figure out the secrets of magic and all that--"

Their argument was cut short when the old lady trudged in, holding a large metal tub filled with water with both hands and washcloths draping from both arms. She had little difficulty carrying the tub over children and cots, as if she had done it before, or she was naturally limber. With a heavy CLUNK, she set the tub and started soaking the washcloths.

"Do you need help, ma'am?" Nino asked, walking cautiously around cots toward the old woman.

"N-No," she stuttered, placing a wet cloth on Thomas's forehead. "I'm fine."