The Humanarium.

Chapter 16. Racing Death

Only Karvac has seen them. He stormed round after I refused to pay the debt and broke the door down. I was setting up one of the tanks when he barged in. It was no use, I had to answer all his questions before he agreed to secrecy.

The gates to the town were sealed shut as Sonora and Harl crossed the long stone bridge that led up to it. Black smoke lingered above the houses from a recent fire. It felt like a grim shadow of the disease creeping the streets. A single thin-looking guard eyed them suspiciously as they stopped the squeaking cart in front of him.

'Why are the gates closed?' Sonora asked.

'Orders,' the young soldier said. He opened his mouth as if ready to recite a mantra.

'Well open them up,' she said, cutting him off. 'People inside will need healing.'

'I'll 'ave to speak with the 'igh ups and get permission to-'

Sonora took a quick pace forward, startling the man. He stumbled backwards, rattling the wooden gates when he collided with them.

'Open these doors,' she said standing over the him and poking a gloved finger against his chest. 'Or you and those closest to you will be last on the list for medicine should they be struck down.'

Her words had an instant effect on the man and he clasped the iron ring set in the door and tugged it open.

'S-sorry miss, it's just things 'ere 'ave been bad. I meant nothing by it.'

'Bad how?' Harl asked. He eased the hand cart down and rubbed his back.

The guard shook his head.

'Grim. I've not seen the like before. People are turning on each other or refusing to 'elp.'

'It can't be that bad, surely,' Sonora murmured. 'These people are friends and neighbours.'

The guard shook his head.

'Not acting like neighbours no more. Fear clouds the mind, miss. I've seen friends murder each other out of fear. I guess when a man's back is against the wall, there ain't no telling what 'e'll do.'

He turned to Harl and slashed a finger across his throat, then shrugged. 'But I've not seen it this bad. People is scared, miss. Scared. There's not much can fix that.'

'And the smoke?' Harl asked.

The guard shifted uneasily.

'Bodies,' he said, 'too many to bury. Glad I got outside duty. The smell don't travel through the wall.'

When they passed the gate, Harl was shocked at the quiet that had been cast over the streets. A few stalls were open for trade, displaying a meagre mix of supplies, but of the people he could see, most were wrapped in layers of clothing as if to hide their features underneath. The stench was as bad as the man had said, a rancid festering taint that assaulted the nostrils. He attempted to pull his coat collar up over his mouth and nose, but gave up, accepting the foul odour with a grimace. Carts stacked with bodies lay abandoned at the side of the road. Buried underneath heaps of bloody rags and flies were crawling over them in a black shifting mass. Some people were slumped against the sides of buildings as though their strength had left them, while their neighbours hurried past ignoring their pleas for help. One of the figures rose on unsteady legs and staggered her way towards them.

'Elaine?' Sonora asked as the ragged woman approached. The old lady's legs gave way and Sonora swept in to support her.

Harl almost pulled Sonora back when he saw the woman's headwrap slip. Dark shadowed lines streaked the craggy skin as if slowly engulfing her face.

She saw Harl's look of shock and grabbed at the dirty shawl, drawing it tight about her neck.

'Have you anything to help?' she asked, glancing hopefully at Sonora then at the satchel which usually carried Sonora's potions.

'I only have something to ease the pain,' Sonora said. Sonora waited as Elaine burst into a fit of phlegmy coughs. Her blackened fingers balled into a fist and a splatter of crimson flecked the dark skin.

'Can you wait until we come back?' Sonora said, once the hacking cough had passed. 'We won't be long. Meet us here on our way out.'

Elaine nodded and shuffled back towards the spot against the house wall where she slumped down once more onto a jumble of ragged cloth scraps.

'This is dreadful,' Sonora said as they headed across to one of the remaining market stalls. They passed two men arguing over a small sack of food. Harl saw that one of the men had drawn a knife, shielding it from view while he forced the other man to hand over the bag and kept an eye out for the guards. Harl touched a gloved finger to his belt, feeling for his own knife, glad that he had brought it with him. His bow was a visual deterrent on his shoulder but at close range it would be useless against a determined attacker.

'I don't think we should stop for long,' he said. 'These people are afraid and hungry.'

She nodded her agreement as they walked along glancing left and right searching for potential trouble.

Two guards flanked the small stall midway along market road. Both men toyed with the pommels of their sword as a reminder to anyone passing that the price of theft would be blood. They stilled as Harl and Sonora approached, wary of an armed man, but when the stall owner spotted Sonora he beamed at her and the soldiers' stares drifted back to passers-by.

'Sonora and Mr Eriksson,' the owner said, beckoning them over. 'Don't worry about the guards. 'It's just that people are a little unstable at the moment.'

The man hesitated on the last words and Harl wondered what had been happening in the town while they were safe up in the woods. The last time he'd seen the merchant, he'd been more than tubby, a bulky man richly appointed in the finest clothing, but now his fur coat was slack on thinning shoulders.

'What's been happening, Sanda?' Sonora asked.

The expression on Sanda's gaunt face dropped.

'Chaos. Things were fine ten turns ago but now...' He gestured with his hand at the empty stalls on either side of his own. 'It got real bad when the food stopped coming after the farmers started tending their sick families rather than their crops. Prices have been rising ever since. The few who are still healthy are protesting outside the council chambers as we speak. I guess I'm lucky in that I've no family of my own.' He looked down and patted his flattened belly. 'But I've seen better. Now tell me, what do you need from my scarce goods?'

'We have quite a list,' Sonora said as she handed a small piece of parchment over to the man.

'Looks like you're preparing to hole up for a while,' Sanda said, running his gaze down the scribbled list.

'We know you probably can't get everything on there,' Harl said, 'but anything you do have would be a big help.'

'Forgive my asking,' Sanda said, reddening 'but have you much for payment?'

'Here,' Sonora said, opening her satchel to reveal the gleaming contents inside.

Sanda peeked in and perked up, rubbing his hands together.

'I think I can get everything on the list,' he said. 'If you give me some time, I can speak to the other sellers for you and have everything ready for your return.'

'Thank you,' Sonora said. 'We'll head for the council tower and see if we can find out what the leaders plan to do about all of this. Then we'll return.'

'Be careful,' one of the heavies said. 'The guards have turned nasty since the protests started.'

Harl nodded his thanks and caught Sonora's look. Worry lines had appeared on her smooth complexion and he wondered about the toll things were having on her. Could he watch her degrade as the world around her broke down? He had already been outside and he knew first hand that it was possible to leave a world behind. If they couldn't fix things for themselves soon it would break both of them.

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