Favoured Ones

Chapter V

I briefly allowed myself to admire the rising sun, having awoken as the first warm rays began to lighten the sky; I watched as the mountains became bordered by soft oranges and pinks before I stretched and dusted my clothes of the loose pebbles I had slept on.

No one had awoken as of yet, so I made sure to keep my steps dainty as I weaved between people and towards the central, lowly smouldering, fire. I fed it some timber then surveyed our food supply. There was not much. Feeding, essentially, an army of people was taxing. Today it would be barley porridge with a scarce handful of grapes thrown in for breakfast.

Being a chef by no means, I tried my damnedest to cook up a decent meal, struggling with the many pots we had commissioned, running around the fire to make sure none of it burned, for we couldn't afford to let any go to waste.

"They'll start calling you Hestia, dancing around the fire like that." a young woman smiled and budged my hip to the side, taking over stirring a few of the pots. For a second I gawked at her; just the evening before she had been bedbound, with a deathlike pallor, not even able to lift her arms as I'd fed her.

"Hestia? Try Isao, or Hygiena." drawled an approaching man, his legs had been littered in sores, he shouldn't be able to walk yet...

"No, Asclepius." The young voice of a small boy called vehemently behind the man's leg, peeking over at me, catching my eyes and starting with a blush before hiding behind the limb again. "This is his temple..." he mumbled.

They continued arguing, but I for one had no idea what they were talking about, so I politely smiled and laughed good naturedly as they continued whilst I was internally stumbling over explanations as to how these people had recovered so quickly. I excused myself not long after, with request that they distribute the food soon, whilst I went to check over my patients.

Many people were still asleep, a mixture of exhaustion and the day being in the very young hours of the morning keeping them in slumber, still they fared better than yesterday- what a difference sleep, food and basic hygiene could make. I felt like Mary Seacole, or Florence Nightingale.

The day continued, I frequented everyone's resting place, rebinding sores, checking pulses and making sure they drank enough water; I prioritized the sickest, unfortunately this was mainly children, I held their hands and did my best to reassure them, grimly noticing that most did not have parents to sit at their sides.

I took my breaks with patients also, eating at their side and trying to converse, enjoying the steady incline of humour pouring from even the illest as the sun rose higher. A constant grin lifted my features at finding that many people had made leaps in recovery in just a day; my optimism grew as did the morale of our whole camp.

The whole camp, much to my embarrassment, had taken to pinning names of Greek deities on me, many of the more outspoken people began to dramatically swoon and kneel in my path in mock worship to elicit a laugh from the crowd. My thoughts travelled back to my experience before coming here, they didn't know how right they were it seemed. 

Later I found the brazen gang was actually a group of travelling performers and came back from gathering water to see them acting out a play that had our entire horde in hysterical fits of laughter. Flamboyantly leaping around the fire, throwing a handfuls of dust into the flames to make them swell and roar- the children screamed in delight at the show they put on. Even I accidently let a scoffing giggle lose when one of the masked performers tripped dramatically and rolled across the floor.

In just twenty-four hours we had become an organised team of efficient workers. For the flood of people who arrived that evening it must have been an exceedingly more pleasant environment to be greeted with than those prior had. Hot food, clean bedding, and clean water with treatment, my mock hospital thrived.

The next day followed the previous, if anything it only proved slightly more eventful.

In the morning, a small group decided to depart, against my attempts to dissuade them- in my opinion to stay one more day under observation would be ideal. Alas in compromise, I got them to agree to leave after washing all of their belongings and themselves thoroughly before they could leave.

After their departure, post-lunch, there was a commotion at the temple front. Two men were harshly thrown onto the white steps, their bodies tumbling down in such a crude way that I feared them already corpses. I cringed at the sound their bodies made, thudding against the solid marble before rushing over with a pack behind me.

I quickly kneeled and braced ones neck, giving instruction to my companions to do the same to the other and prepare a horse to haul them back to our area. The man beneath me groaned as a line of blood trickled from his lips and down his cheek, not good, considering his face was already forming blue bruising, it made my skin prickle and stomach burn with anger.

"You monsters." I growled upwards, a cloud moved over the sun shrouding the temple in temporary darkness, I hoped the event caste some depth into my glare. Both guards paled and flinched a step back, retreating to their constant post behind a pillar where seated a small table with wine and bread.

The squall of two bickering crows brought me back; I turned the man to his side and inspected him. Luck be on his side, nothing had broken and the blood had come from him biting his cheek on the decent, for any head injuries I would have to watch and wait- but I had a feeling he was salvageable.

Once the other man had been carted away and the horse returned to retrieve the next, I jogged back, holding my skirt, and saw to the other- who was better off with only a bumped up elbow and lip.

These two men turned out to be asclepiads- the priests of the Ascepion- and told me of the Head Priests fear of being infected with the plague, hence why he had sealed off the temple. To save himself. I felt like retching at the information. Some people lack the decency to have other people treated like people in favour of their own selfishness.

By dawn, the camp was ready to revolt, burning torches and all. The asclepiads quickly shut that down, speaking of the many armed guards the High Priest had commissioned inside. With tension high, I managed to get everyone to reason and settle. Barely.

The morning of the next day, more people left. The farmers had their crops to tend and lively hoods to rebuild. I allowed it, after all they should now be immune to the flu virus after having miraculously recovered in such a short period. Our numbers had halved. I swayed between being pleased and feeling a daunting depression fall over my chest, like a siren was blaring in the distance warning me of a future predicament.

The next afternoon was when it happened.

I was inspecting the food store with anxious eyes, biting my lip as I worried over the fact we didn't have much left, maybe not even another days worth.

Then, there were armed men flooding out of the temple. Swords drawn as they marched in formation across the separating boundary between us and the temple steps. I hurried to the front and demanded the reason for their presence.

"The High Priest requests your presence!" the, presumably, leader barked to me.

The chorus of, essentially, Screw You! surprised me. As everyone banded together behind me, shouting a chorus of insults to the armored men. Through the chaos, I pondered, brain quickly formulating a plan that was at least semi plausible.

"I'll go." my voice cut through the crowd like a sharpened knife, silencing everyone. They looked at me with mixed emotions, my eyes found the performers, I beckoned them over.

I planted a smile on my face, "Throw a show whilst I'm gone and I'll be back quicker." my back was conveniently turned away from the soldiers as I motioned to the pouch of powder on ones hip, curling my fist until it was handed over silently, albiet with curious eyes. I emptied the powder into both of my side pockets before I moved towards the armed men unassumingly, they surrounded me in a flock as soon as I was close enough. "I'll be back soon." I called over my shoulder.

Hopefully I'll be back, at all.

AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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xXJoulesXx