Chapter 9 Part 1

(narrator) It seems that Engilram has everything under control in the capital. I'm heading back to Dungannon right now. I'll skip a few days so Engilram will be there within a day or sooner.

A few days later, while Engilram is on his journey back, we return to the church of Dungannon. We see Heddwyn sat at the front door, sat on the only step, hands over his face. The twins are with him, trying their best to comfort him on what I assume to be bad news.

"from now on, you two are banned from that room." Heddwyn said.

The twins nod in agreement as Heddwyn continues. "I can't believe this is happening. We need to quarantine the entire church, as well as sanitise everything" Heddwyn lifts his head, and he is wearing some sort of face covering. It's kinda like he took a shirt and put it over his face.

(narrator) what the hell is happening? And where is Christopher?

"to be safe, ill set up a small emergency living space outside for you two. We can't risk it." Heddwyn said.

"is Christopher gonna be ok?" Haider asks.

"it's too early to tell yet." Heddwyn said.

"how come we haven't got sick dad?" Heather asks.

"hmm, first I need to tell you how Tuberculosis spreads. The disease itself isn't effective at spreading itself. It's an invisible little insect, in a sense. But it doesn't have a brain or anything like you and I. And it's so small that not many things are smaller. It uses a thin layer of fat to protect itself, which is very strong. It gets into little holes in your body and infects it by multiplying. It works that way for most disease, but TB has a nasty trick and makes sure you don't know your sick until it wants to hurt you and spread to other people. That is why we haven't got sick. It's the secret weapon but also its greatest weakness." Heddwyn Explains.

"so, is that why when we use soap, it kills the bacteria?" Haider asks.

"exactly right! When we use soap, it dissolves the fatty shell. Without that, it's essentially dead." Heddwyn said.

Heddwyn pats Haider's head. "how did you know that?" He asks.

"brother told us, isn't that right sis!" Haider states.

Heather nods and says. "He teaches us lots of things. He's very smart."

"I've seen. He's a remarkable boy!" Heddwyn said. He had distracted the kids from the situation with little effort.

Heddwyn gives them a project. "why don't you two have a go at building a tent? I have the leather skin and wood."

Heddwyn hands Heather a few pieces of paper. "that's a step-by-step guide to build one. If you manage to build one successfully, you will have something Christopher can't do." Heddwyn winks at the kids and points them off to the back of the church, where he put the materials and tools earlier in the day. The twins rush off, leaving Heddwyn to himself.

Heddwyn takes in a deep sigh and stands up, brushing off the wrinkles and dirt from his clothes. He grabs the top of his cloth face covering and pulls it over his nose. Heddwyn prepares himself before entering the church and made sure the notice is nailed to the door, to prevent the spread of Tuberculosis as much as he could.

"my top priority right now is to reduce their suffering as much as I can, and hope the gods give us a miracle." Heddwyn said.

Heddwyn opens the door and closes it behind him. A wave of negative mana particles emanates from inside.

(narrator) as if we didn't need any more signs of bad vibes. The air inside looks revolting. You can just feel the death from within.

Nothing seems to have changed in the church except Hilda's room. It has been converted into a makeshift ward. There are now two beds in there, separated by a curtain that was nailed to the roof of the room. Heddwyn is probably hoping to reduce the infection to the highest degree.

In the beds we obviously see Hilda. In the other, most regrettably Christopher. His condition isn't as bad as Hilda's. He's still mostly conscious. Which, now that I think about it, may not be a good thing.

Our famous Nekojin sits down on a stool besides Christopher and says, "now then my cub, lets change your rag." He takes off the wet rag from the youngster's head and puts it into a bowl of warm soapy water to kill the bacteria. Heddwyn grabs a freshly cleaned rag, wets it and places it upon Christopher's forehead. "there we are, nice and clean."

Heddwyn readjusts the blanket to make Christopher more comfortable. Taking a single deep breath, Heddwyn gets up, walks around the curtain and sits onto another stool next to Hilda. "not looking the best now are we."

Hilda has lost a few pounds of weight. It may not sound like much, but she doesn't look well. She is pale, withered and covered in bruises. "this is attacking you like hell now, isn't it my dear?" Heddwyn gently brushes hair from her face and picks up the rag on her forehead.

After putting the dirty rag into the soapy water, Heddwyn wets a new one and places it on Hilda's head. "why did you hide this? Hmm? We could have treated you much easier you know." Heddwyn sighs.

Heddwyn readjusts his gloves and face covering. He pulled a small tub of cream out of his bag and rubbed it over Hilda's arms and chest, soothing the rashes, bruising and ache in her muscles.

(narrator) don't ask me what cream that was. I don't have a fecking clue.

Heddwyn puts the cream back into his bag and walks back out of the church, casting a minor spell of cleansing onto his clothes, blowing off any residual TB on them with soap. He lowers his facial covering and takes in a deep breath.

"let's see how the cubs are doing with the build project I gave them. Shall we? We shall." Heddwyn said.

(narrator) did this bitch just talk to himself? I heard it's a sign of genius but I'm not too sure about that, just sounds like he's insane to me... ok I get the irony in that statement but come on.

Alright, Heddwyn walks to the back of the church expecting to see Heather and Haider beaten and defeated, not being able to build the tent. But much to his surprise, the tent was standing stable and tall. Heddwyn sees the mana of the kids inside the tent. He walks over and opens the tarp covering. Heather leaps up and starts talking in a high-pitched, excited yell.

"look dad! We did it!" Heather said.

Haider was visibly less ecstatic than heather. "you mean, you did it sis. All I did was read out the instructions." Haider said.

"hay now, you both did a fantastic job! Just because you read out how to do it. Doesn't mean you didn't contribute." Heddwyn said.

"see! I told you he would say that. I couldn't make any sense of the instructions. Haider has always been better at reading than me." Heather said.

"in any case, you both did fantastic. This tent looks almost perfect. I'm proud of you two!" Heddwyn praised.

Heather smiles with glee as she jumps with joy while Haider perks up with a shy smile. Heddwyn claps his hands together and asks the cubs, "want to help me furnish this place?"

Haider and Heather yell, "yeah!" at the same time. Heddwyn gets on his knees and pulls out his pocket dimension bag and asks, "what do you think we should put in here?"

Haider instantly started listing off furniture. Beds, stools, rugs, and a stone oven. "ok, we will have to go with portable essentials. So, three bedrolls" Heddwyn pulls out three thick bedrolls from the bag and lays them down in front of them. "next are stools, which was a good idea indeed. We don't need rugs or an oven. While we are out here, we will just use my EFS." Heddwyn pulls out the stools and asked Heather if she had any ideas.

Heather takes a moment to think before answering Heddwyn. "some oil lamps?"

"that's a great idea Heather, well done. anything else you can think of?" Heddwyn says with a smile.

"maybe something to hold the thingy open during the day?" Heather said.

"that's a great idea, but we can just use a long stick for that. Anything else?" Heddwyn asks.

Heather shakes her head. "that's ok. Why don't I get a few books out of the church? You'll be able to read them after I sterilise them." Heddwyn asks.

The twins look at one another and Haider said, "I think we'd like that."

"I'll go get a few of them next time I go in. let's organise our furniture." Heddwyn said.