The Plague Doctor Book 2 Chapter 42 Part 1 (Clear Water)

Book 1: (Desperate to save his son, Kenneth, a calm and nonviolent doctor accepts a deal offered to him by a strange creature. However, the price he must pay is to abandon everything he holds dear: his wife, children, and world as he attempts to share his knowledge of healing and medicine in a world entrenched by violence. Yet, in such a place, how long can his nonviolent nature remain if he wishes to survive?)

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“The heart stands as the hardest working organ... that the Nok body possesses... due to it constantly beating, it is difficult to perform any kind of surgery on it... with that in mind, any surgery currently will have to... be done on the tubes… or as they are more commonly known the valve… by grafting another tube from a donor... onto it... see drawing. And then just made those to quarter circles around where the number should be,” Kenneth said to Nokoovo, who diligently wrote down everything he’d just said.

Her penmanship was impeccable and easy to read, not that he could, properly spaced, and each letter was the same size.

“Plebo!” She hissed in clear frustration.

“Misspelled something?”

“Instead of writing ‘Drawing’, I wrote dawning. All that work and I have to rewrite it,” Nokoovo sighed.

Calmly, Kenenth looked over her shoulder and tapped on the eraser on the other end of the pencil, “Good thing we aren’t using ink now.”

“Oh... I keep forgetting about it. It’s such a handy tool...” She yawned, turning the pencil and erasing the mistake, carefully.

Enough torn pages had taught her not to put as much strength into it. But with how tired she looked, he was uncertain if she would remember.

He was getting tired himself, but didn't let it show as much. He was used to working long hours, and he had been spending a lot of time putting pen to paper, writing down more and more for Nokoovo to translate and eventually use her artistic talents.

“Kenneth, I’ve been wondering, how am I supposed to draw a heart if I’ve never seen one?” Nokoovo questioned. “If you tell me what it looks like, I can draw it, but it won’t be the same.”

“My descriptive abilities aren’t for off with what I’ve seen on the remains of a battlefield, but yes, you are right, that is a problem if you don’t know,” Kenneth agreed. “A medical book is of all places not somewhere mistakes like that should reside, my kind learned that the hard way after a bit over a millennium. And while I have a few drawings after having seen organs sprawled out on the ground, they are far from anything on your caliber. I guess we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Why not go through the water? It’s relaxing?” Nokoovo questioned her scales, flickering before getting back to work.

But before she could put pen to paper, the echoing footsteps outside the room signaled an arrival.

Kept cozy under her black cloak, this one, not the feathery one Batugta had taken from his corpse, but one with long soft fur that easily protected her from the chill in the air, Nokuji stepped inside her sight, focused on the four in the room. “I expected the bag to be returned to me.”

Kenneth was about to say something when Split quickly crossed the room and handed it to her.

She snatched it from her, “Remember your orders, you disgrace.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Kenneth interveened. “The fault lies with me, and I do apologize, Lord Commander. We have just been busy working and must have lost track of time.”

Her nostrils flared for a moment as she glanced at her daughter, who had erased and fixed her mistake. “Look at me when I speak, daughter.”

“Sorry, mother,” She said quickly, obliging. “I was working on this, helping Kenneth translate his knowledge.”

Nokuji stepped closer, only looking at the stack of papers as she quickly flipped through them, “Your ‘R’, ‘E’, and ‘HG’s’ are all sloppy. You’ve worked too much on this. We will speak later.”

For a brief second, Kenneth thought he recognized the feeling of concern, pride, or warmth in Nokuji’s voice, but he was mistaken. It was just cold.

‘She took my bag, good, now hopefully I have a chance,’ He thought, turning to Nokoovo, who had already taken another piece of paper, ready to continue. “Don’t you think you’ve earned a break, maybe get some water?”

“I want to...” She said, almost snapping, before calming herself. “I want to finish this. There are four more pages on the heart, wasn’t there?”

“Yes. If you are up to it, let’s keep going,” Kenneth said, taking his seat. “By the way, I think your penmanship is fantastic.”

“I... Thanks,” She replied, keeping her eyes down.

As he read the next four pages and the last on the heart, he couldn’t help but wonder, as he looked at her work after what her mother had said, if she was repeating the same mistakes as he was. Pushing down her emotions in favour of work.

But then again, not everyone was as dumb as he was.

With the final press of the pencil, Nokoovo and Kenneth had finally finished this part of the book.

“Feels good to be done with that. I’d offer you something to drink, but I only got salted meat and honey,” Kenneth said as he figured he might as well offer something. “Want some salted meat dipped in honey?”

“I finished those drawings with the blood vessels and red blood cells, but I still need to finish those showing your needle-work and thread, over, under, and that,” She said, standing and turning to leave. “They are back in my room. I’ll get them, and you can see if I've done the other drawing right.”

“An all-nighter, then, I will accompany you,” Kenneth said, walking over to grab Kolu.

Nokoovo stopped up, “It will only be a moment. You don’t need to.”

“What kind of man lets a young woman wander home at night all alone?” Kenneth replied, not easily deterred, as he took Kolu’s hand. “Besides, you are tired even if you don’t want to admit it. If you are going to suddenly fall asleep somewhere, it should be your home.”

“Do you mean we will continue there?”

“I hoped so.”

Nokoovo’s scales flickered for a moment before she turned around. “Then… let’s not waste time.”

She walked out of the room, and Kenneth was about to follow when Split quickly came up behind him. “You don’t listen to warnings, do you?”

“I listen, but I don’t understand why you give her such a bad reputation over the things she did as a child,” Kenneth replied, walking out of the room.

“I can’t protect you then.”

Kenneth shrugged her off and continued walking in silence beside Nokoovo as they stepped out into the chill, dark night.

Arriving at the Great Pyramid, they spotted a couple of people here and there, but they were mostly only guards on night patrol or here for a midnight snack. Hopefully, they weren’t caught by the cook. She was one mean and intense lady.

He could only wish them the best of luck as he made his way into Nokuji’s and Nokoovo’s home; however, Split stayed back. “You aren’t coming?”

“I told you.”

“You have some sense. That’s good.” Nokoovo said, continuing on.

Given that Kenneth had learned about how Split was held responsible for Nokoovo’s grandmother dying, it wasn’t all too big of a surprise that she wasn’t allowed to come inside here, or wanted to. It had been a bit of a gamble, but it paid off.

As they walked down the stairs, it was eerily quiet; however, some footprints and dragging marks from a tail in the sand, along with a certain lack of neon light, told them it wasn’t vacant. ‘Best not disturb the parents.’

However, that plan was not shared; it seemed as Nokoovo’s footsteps passed the closed door grew heavier. Though he doubted they would be heard, it still felt a bit strange of her to do so.

When around her mother, she always seemed so obedient.

He doubted it was something she wanted to talk about, and he wouldn’t press her on it. For now, his mind had to stay focused on the task at hand. After she opened the door, he went inside with Kolu.

As opposed to last time, the room was not as neatly kept, with scattered papers here and there, all amassing at her desk, where he spotted the drawing of veins and blood cells. “As impressive as always.”

She didn’t seem to notice the compliment, her mind focused on her task as she riffled through some of the drawings and found a couple with only the tools drawn.

In the meantime, Kolu went ahead and began looking at some of the papers on the ground, childhood curiosity, for now, fighting off his drowsiness.

“This is what I’ve made for now, but I have trouble with the thread on how to make it look right,” Nokoovo explained. “I’ve drawn it a thousand times, but it’s never clear enough in my head.”

“Shall I be your muse then?” Kenneth chuckled as he pulled the tools from his pocket and got some thread. “I don’t know which way you want me to stand or how you want this, but you just tell me and I think we can get this done.”

“Umm… keep holding it like that and I’ll draw.”

“You got it.”

She was quick to get to work drawing each step of the process for how to stitch and tie knots, her line work very precise, but slow going. She’d done about three drawings or three steps, having yawned six times and slowing ever so slightly.

By now, she was barely keeping her eyes open, working away at the drawings. Little by little, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until they finally closed. 

In silence, he stood over her, watching, listening to her breath; he wanted to be sure, no matter how long it took, that she was sleeping. With careful and quiet footsteps hushed by the sand, he walked out of the room and into the main hall. 

The door to the neon sex dungeon was still closed. ‘Well, they have a healthy and enduring sex life. Eh… good for them.’ 

Uncertain of when he was going to get a second chance, he pressed on ahead to the end of the hall and the three closed doors. Behind one of them, he hoped, was his bag. If he knew where Nokuji usually stacked it when he escaped, it would be far easier than having to search for it blindly. 

He began with the door on the right. Above all, he needed to be quiet, but when opening a stone door, that was easier said than done. He grabbed the iron handle and pulled as hard as he could, pressing against the wall with his other hand. 

The sides of the stone door rubbed against the stone frame and sand. Keeping it slow, he was able to lessen the sound, but to him it was just as loud, and he had no way of knowing if Nokoovo could hear it. 

Yet he pressed on, as he opened the door halfway, and inside there was nothing. No, not exactly nothing. It was more like a sandbox with the stone surrounding it, elevated and bare of sand. It kind of reminded Kenneth of the nest.

“What are you doing?” 

Caught off guard and scared half to death, Kenneth could only look back at Nokoovo, who stared at him with a troubled expression. Before he could even formulate a lie, she closed the door as quickly as she could. 

“Um… sorry, I saw you were resting and I didn’t want to wake you. I was only trying to find the toilet,” Kenneth tried to explain, immediately kicking himself over it. ‘The toilet, really?! Of all the lies I could say! They only have public toilets here!’ 

Turning around, he expected her to call him out on his bullshit, but instead, she walked over to the door adjacent to the one she’d closed and opened it.

Inside was a toilet or just the ground raised with the seats chiseled out for the running water connected to the rivers outside to carry the waste out, and with enough space for your tail. 

However, Kenneth felt no relief at his luck skyrocketing before inevitably plummeting down. Instead, he barely contained his frustration, ‘Really, I’ve been shitting in a public toilet with the blue Olympic swimmer who can’t take a hint sitting right in front of me staring me down, and this was an option! Rich people and what money can buy.’ 

 “Why, thank you,” he said, his anger hidden under a mask of thankful glee; however, Nokoovo didn’t listen as she stared at the door he’d briefly opened with a vacant stare. “Are you okay?” 

He walked up to her, calmly placed his hand on her shoulder. Finally, he got her attention, she only briefly acknowledged him as she turned away, “Shouldn’t you be in there?” 

“I can hold myself, but is something wrong?” Kenneth asked. “I’m sorry I opened the door—“

“Don’t…!” She sounded on edge, but quickly calmed herself. “Don’t talk about this door. Don’t talk to anyone about it. It has to stay closed. Let us… Let us continue.” 

It was clearly bothering her, but whatever this was, it wasn't something he was going to press her on, at least not now, when she was tired. For now, he simply followed her back to her room, certain that the last door had to be Nokuji’s bedroom, and most likely where his bag was. 

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(Author's note) Hello everybody, long time no write. Well, I just wanted to comment regarding this part of the stuff with chapter 42, which was done solely because of Reddit enforcing a character cap on the post. I've tried everything to make it fit, but it simply won't, so this is the only alternative, unfortunately; however, I do still hope all of you enjoy.

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