The Plague Doctor Chapter 5 part 2 (A shorter walk than expected)

(Authors note) Well hello everyone I hope you are ready for this next chapter of the story and if you enjoy it then you are more than welcome to leave a comment. And as always if any have some constructive criticisms about grammar and such then please share, so I can become a better writer.

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The view was fantastic. The trees stretched as far as the eye could see out to the mountains. Along the tree line, Kenneth could see the outpost or at least that place Nya had pointed to. Kenneth did his best trying to see as much as he could, but his best attempts only amounted to some shapes.

One of the shapes he thought was there was a circle or an outer ring which was most likely a wall of some sort to protect the outpost from attacks, and almost every other shape he could make out was either a square or triangle of some sort.

‘My plan was to use Nya as a way so they wouldn’t kill me on sight, but I do wonder if it will work. She could betray me in the last second of our journey and run to the village screaming about a monster, and they probably won't listen to me. Another way this could end could be with them seeing me as a monster that should be killed and Nya as a traitor or something similar like that.’

The thought sent a shiver down Kenneth’s spine, ’I haven't known her for long, and she has treated me with death more than a few times, but she doesn’t seem like a person deserving of death. But what does it even matter to think about this now? I knew from the beginning that this would be risky, and I don’t have that many other options besides this one.’ He then let out a sigh of annoyance, knowing everything he just thought was correct.

He then looked down the hill making sure there wasn’t anyone trying to sneak up on them, and once he was sure nothing was there, he went back to the horizon. His eyes again fell on the mountain, and the other thing he was sure was a structure of some sort.

His eyes tried to follow it up to the top, but whatever it was went above the clouds and was hidden further from view. ‘I do wonder if it is anything or it's just natural to this world. Perhaps I should ask her now that we are taking a break,’ Kenneth thought while looking back at Nya, who was feeding her children.

“Um, Nya,” he asked carefully, looking straight ahead.

“What?” she said, sounding startled as she looked behind her. “Enemies?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” he assured her, making her a little less tense, but she seemed a little angry that I disturbed her.

“Then what is it,” she said with a growl as she attended to her children again.

“I was just wondering what that structure-looking thing on the mountain that goes above the clouds was,” he asked carefully as he tried not to anger her.

“Oh, that thing,” she said in a casual tone. “It's just the tower of the gods.”

‘Tower of the gods,’ Kenneth thought. ‘Wait have I entered a world where there was proof that gods existed, and did they live in that tower.’

Kenneth wasn’t an extreme believer, but he did believe that God existed, at least his version, but now he was looking at a tower where this world's gods lived or something.

He then looked back at Nya, who was attending her children, “um, so are there more you can tell me about the tower since we have time.”

“What do you want to know?” She asked, sounding a little confused.

“Everything. Well, everything you can tell me about it.”

“What, don’t you know anything about the tower?” She asked, sounding more confused.

“Well, not really,” he answered, becoming a bit nervous that he might have opened a pandora's box of problems.

‘Okay, okay, relax. All I've told her is that I don’t know anything about the tower; while that might be a red flag for her, it could also be an opportunity for me to learn more about this world and its culture. Then again, if humans are anything to go by when religion is concerned, especially in a low-tech world, then this could be a dangerous area to be in.’

Nya then let out a sigh and sounded a little irritated about the question, but she didn’t refuse. “I can’t say I know too much myself about, only the stories that were told when I was young.”

Kenneth then let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, now certain he hadn’t just committed some grave mistake.

“It all started maybe a few centuries ago, long before my time. One day the tower descended from the sky and rooted itself in the mountain, and then not long thereafter, the three tribes tried to attack it, but they were stopped by the power of the gods.” Nya said, sounding a little bored.

“And what were those powers,” Kenneth asked cautiously

“When they attacked, the gods used a piercing light and deafening sound that could be heard by everyone. Once the gods had shown their power, no one tried to attack it again, and many ended up worshipping the gods and the tower,” she then stopped talking and went back to focusing on her children.

‘Umm, that’s interesting, but it does feel like a watered-down version lacking some details, but honestly, that doesn't matter. Now I at least know a little about their religion, but the way she was talking about it sounded weird somehow.’

“Um, Nya, when you told the story, you sounded a little weird,” he said.

Nya then went silent for a moment, not saying anything.

‘Dammit, did I make her angry again? Maybe I should just stop talking altogether around her,’ Kenneth thought, nervous as hell he was getting closer and closer to the point where she would get fed up with him and try and leave.

Then after what felt like hours but were probably more like a few seconds Nya spoke again, but unlike Kenneth had expected, she wasn’t angry; she sounded bored,” I know the stories, but nothing has happened for generations since then. Now all that is left of the new gods are the crazed followers at the towers foot.” She then let out a sigh of annoyance and turned her gaze on him.

“I’ve wanted to ask something of you for some time now,” she said, her tone getting all serious.

Kenneth met her gaze and answered, “sure, just ask away.”

She then breathed in and out heavily for a few seconds and asked,” how good of a healer are you?”

Kenneth blinked twice and processed the question,” umm, well, if you are asking me if I passed all of my tests or have a lot of experience in ‘healing’ as you call it, then yeah, sure. But why do you ask, if you don’t mind my asking.”

Nya then looked down at her children, who all now seemed to be full for now, and began getting dressed,” I ask,” she said in a sorrowful nervous tone. “Because when I was given birth to them, I heard them the second they came out, but the last one didn’t, and then I saw you do something. It was then I heard him cry.”

He then just stared out into empty space for a second, “are you asking me what I did or something else.”

She was now fully dressed and had her children in her arms, “my mother once told me that some of one's children could be born dead, and no healer, no matter how great have ever been able to overcome death.”

Kenneth then let out a sigh sounding somewhat sad, “the second someone's heart stops, I’m unable to do anything for them. The only reason why your son is still alive was that his heart was still beating, and the only problem was fluids in his lungs. I, like the others, cannot overcome permanent death.” He then stood up and offered Nya a hand again.

She looked at him for a second and got up on her own, and without either of them speaking, they began walking down the hill towards the outpost.

Surprisingly walking down, a hill can be harder than walking up a hill since, as Kenneth quickly learned, there is a higher chance of losing balance and or falling down. Although he didn’t fall, he was close a few times.

Once both of them had reached the bottom of the hill, Nya seemed to have difficulty breathing again as she was using her mouth rather than her nostrils. He then walked over to her, and as he did, she made a little jump the second she noticed him getting closer.

“You are not doing that again!” she screamed at him while showing him her teeth.

“So I wasn’t fast enough?” he asked, trying to sound all innocent as he took a step back.

Nya then relaxed her body a bit, “no… you were faster than I expected, so I’m fine with you carrying me, but don’t ever do what you did the first time. Understood,” she said with another of her murderous glares which at this point was losing its effectiveness as opposed to before.

This time Kenneth listened to her request, and instead of sweeping her off her feet, she somewhat reluctantly got in his arms. She then pointed in a direction, and he began walking towards their destination.

For some time, there was silence between the two, or perhaps more accurately, the five of them. Every now and again, Nya would point in a direction, and he would slightly alter the way he was walking to keep on track.

That continued for some time until a thought occurred to Kenneth, ‘I know where I’m heading to, but I didn't know how the people there will react, so maybe I should ask before I might offend someone.’

“Um, Nya, is there anything I should know before we arrive at the outpost?” Kenneth asked.

Nya then looks back at him instead of the way forward, “could you be more specific.” She responded, sounding a little confused.

Kenneth could then feel his heart start to beat faster, but he didn’t know if it was from the walking or for the fact, he was about to walk into what could be his death. He then let out a sigh more from the breath he was holding rather than anything. “When we first made this deal with me accompanying you to the outpost, you yourself said that you couldn’t make sure I survived.”

“What, getting cold feet?” she asked.

“No, as I said, then it’s a risk I will have to take, but I would like to better my chances with the first impression, so what I’m asking you is if you can tell me anything that might help with that and also things I might wanna avoid talking about.”

She then turned her gaze up towards the trees and the small about of light that was coming through them, seemingly to be deep in thought. “When you reached your hand out to me in the cave, you told me that id how you people greet, right;” she asked.

He responded with a nod, confirming what she was saying was right. “Then you should probably know how we greet one another.” Another nod was given,” First, you stand with your back straight, then you put your hand on your heart and wait until the one other one does the same as you.”

“And that’s all,” he asked, and as he did before, she nodded.

Before much more time had passed, Kenneth asked another question hoping Nya could answer, “so, is there anything you can tell me about those in the outpost we are heading to.”

“Yes, there should be,” she said, looking out through the tree line and pointing a little to the left, and Kenneth adjusted his course accordingly. “If I’m correct in which outpost we are heading to, then the one in charge should be Ulric.”

“One thing,” she said, then her gaze turned to Kenneth’s with such an intensity that for once wasn’t one of murder, but something else, something he wasn’t quite sure what was. “Always, and I mean always tell the truth to him,” she said in the most serious tone he had ever heard her say.

Kenneth, on reflex, stopped becoming a bit nervous and asking, “why?”

Nya then looked down at her sleeping babies, “He, like myself, is a follower of the old religion. Ulric, in particular, is a devout follower of Heka, the God of truth, which means he has sworn never to tell a lie or tolerate any who lie.”

“It sounds like you know him,” Kenneth asked.

“Yes, I do,” she said, looking back to the forest, “you could call him an old friend, but he is not the man I once knew,” she whispered, hoping he didn’t hear the last part.

Then again, there was silence between the two of them as they traveled further towards their destination. ‘We should almost be there, but I do wonder if this plan of mine will work or if I’m just going to die before the day is over, but as the old saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and since im here might as well try.”

As more time passed, Kenneth began to tire a little; he could still walk much more, but it was going to be a problem eventually, and when his body started to tire and he wasn’t working, his mind liked to wonder.

Eventually, he remembered something about Nya and her outpost he wanted to ask her about. He then cleared his throat, getting the attention of Nya. “Nya, I was just wondering about something that I hoped I could ask you about.”

She looked at him for a second into the mask and the two pieces of glass that covered his eyes and answered, “sure.”

“Okay, I was just wondering why your last name and your former outpost have the same name,” he asked.

At the mentation of the outpost, she seemed to sadden a bit, but she quickly changed her expression away from that and turned her gaze away from sight. “We have the same name because my forefathers built it a few generations ago.”

“Umm… okay… thanks,” he said as he marched forwards, speeding up and feeling bad about his question once again. ‘Dammit, you idiot, why did I have to bring up the outpost. Any idiot should be able to figure out why it was named that,’ he then let out a sigh of frustration at his own stupidity.

As Kenneth continued to walk in silence, nothing really more was said between the two of them, at least for now. But that silence was broken when Nya, out of nowhere, began to sniff the air like a dog.

He was about to ask her what she was doing when she, out of nowhere, asked to be put down. For a moment, he was a bit confused, but he did let her down anyways. Then she sniffed a little more, and again he was about to ask when she pipped up instead. “We are close to the outpost now.”

“What really,” he said, a little confused and excited. “That was a shorter walk than I had expected, “ he murmured to himself.

She then looked back at him, her expression extremely serious, “you know Kenneth, this is your last chance to back out and avoid your potential death.”

He looked at her for a second before he let out a little chuckle, “I hope you do remember what I said earlier about this choice; otherwise, I would have to add memory loss to your list, besides smoke inhalation and burns.”

Her expression softened a bit as she let out what seemed like a sad sigh and looked down at her children. “You said you have children. I myself have not been a mother for long, but I know that they don’t want me to die, so isn’t it better to return to them.”

At that moment, Kenneth was happy he was wearing the mask since it was hiding his now angry expression as he clutched the handle of the bag he was carrying. ‘Return yeah as if I could,’ he thought.

It took a moment, but he let out a sigh, letting himself calm down, “you know I’m happy that you seem to care about me, but I made my choices some time ago, and this… is what has to happen; at least for now.”

“I just thought I would ask, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t run,” she said

He then looked past her, towards the direction she was sniffing in, “so how long is left of this short journey.”

Nya then turned around and pointed further ahead to a denser part of the forest that was so thick you couldn’t see past it. “it’s just past there.”

He then walked to her side and asked, “so how are we going to this? Do we go together, or do you go first?”

“I think it is best I go first and try and explain the situation to Ulric or whoever is in charge of this outpost.”

Kenneth then put both hands on his hips and began stretching his back a little, “it sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t want a repeat of our first meeting.”

“You are wearing the color of a champion, and you look like nothing I have ever seen before in my life and my knife. Can you really blame me for attacking,” she said while touching the hilt of the knife that was in its holster.

“To be fair, the last one wasn’t my fault and happened after I kicked you. Ending your attempted murder of me.” He said, doing a few more stretches of making some of his joints go pop, satisfying him immensely.

“Oh, shut up, would you,” she growled.

“Fine, I won’t say more about it, but you can’t argue with the facts,” sounding completely calm and not scared of her doing her usual, I want to kill your sounds and facial routines.

“I’m going now, stay back and only come when I come for you or call you; otherwise, stay out of sight. I don’t want then to think you are an enemy,” she said while looking at him dead in his eyes until he nodded in agreement.

Then she went on her merry way deeper into the denser part of the forest until she dispersed from sight and left only Kenneth standing there alone.

As she left, Kenneth could begin to feel the first touches of doubt manifest in his gut. It began to grow much bigger the more time that passed as he waited.

‘What if she does end up betraying me in the end? Perhaps she won’t even tell them about me and only let me wait until I leave on my own accord or get spotted by a patrol or hunting party or something,” Kenneth said as he tried to bring his thumb up to his mouth and bite his nails but was stopped by the gloves and mask of the outfit.

‘I really hate when I get like this,’ he thought. ‘When I get nervous, I start to only think what could go wrong, not what could go right. But to be fair, unlike most of my former situations, this is a lot more dangerous.’ Kenneth then brought his hand up to his chin

‘I have only known her for a very short time, and in our first encounter, she did try and kill me and only went along with my proposal because I more or less forced her to accept the deal.’ He then let out a sigh letting his body relax a little and get less tense.

But before he could finish the sigh, he heard the rustling of branches and leaves, and without a second thought, he jumped in surprise behind a tree, remembering what Nya said about not being seen by anyone.

“Anyone out there!” a loud booming voice yelled that was distinctly male. Once it had spoken, nothing not a sound more was said or made from either side. ‘What the hell should I do now,’ Kenneth thought, his heart beating like a drum solo.

‘Could something have happened to Nya when she told them about him? Could this just be a guard that heard or perhaps smelled him since she did the same not long ago? Should I take a look?’ all of those thoughts occupied his mind as only moments passed by.

‘Did she betray me? No, no, no, if she did that, then the actions of this individual wouldn’t make sense if she told them that he was an enemy and he was here, then they wouldn't ask if I was here. The most likely event is that they must have heard or smelled something that made them suspicious of the area.’ With his train of thought coming to a logical conclusion, he breathed a little easier.

Then with his head cleared a little, he could hear the same voice talking but not as loud as before, “so did you lie to me,” the vice asked someone.

“As if I ever would,” came the reply from a voice Kenneth knew somewhat well. He then began to slowly peak his head out from behind the tree to see not only Nya but also a somewhat taller fox-person holding a spear with a few other fox-people standing right behind the both of them.

He then quickly pulled his head back around the tree, hiding before they hopefully could see him, but as soon as he did, Nya called out, saying, “Hey, it's fine, you can come out now.”

‘Okay, okay, this is it, now or never,” he thought as he slowly stepped out from behind the tree and got a good look at everyone. Most seemed to be staring at him either with surprised interest or a causes look.

Though the fox that was standing in front of everyone with a spear seemed to be eyeing him with much greater care than many of the others were. For a moment, there was silence until Kenneth remembered that first impressions were important, and so he lifted his free hand and did the greeting as Nya had told him.

The second he had started to move, some seemed to get their weapons ready but stopped as soon as they saw the gesture he was making. It took a little bit of time, but eventually, the fox with the spear made the gesture in return, and they both finished officially greeting each other.

The fox then stepped forward closer to Kenneth, looking him straight in the eye, “I hear from Nya that you are a healer from another land far away.”

Kenneth was a bit nervous but did manage to respond, “yes, that is correct.”

“What business do you have in at my outpost then,” he asked with his still booming voice and a glare that managed to send a shiver down his spine.

“Ahh, yes, I have simply come here to help anyone in need and to share my knowledge of healing, as you call it,” he said, trying not to be intimidated but his glare.

Then the fox spoke again, his voice still booming, “we already have healer, so get lost and don’t come anywhere near my outpost again, or I will personally kill.” Then he began to turn around, walking away.

‘Dammit, dammit, dammit, I have to think of something, or else I will be right back to square one again. He said they already had a healer, but any knowledge they possess should be rudimentary compared to mine,” Kenneth thought.

“Um, would you just stop for a moment,” he called out, making the fox stop but not turn around.

“I thought I told you to get lost, or are you just determined to die,” the fox said in a tone that made Kenneth sure he wasn’t kidding.

‘I have to be careful now; one wrong move will kill me.’ Then without pause, after the fox spoke, Kenneth spoke again, “I do not mean to offend, but the healer that is here, how good are they when it comes to knowledge of healing and their practice of it.”

The fox then let out a sigh of frustration, tightening the grip on his spear, “what is there to know? They place a hand on a wound, and if they can, then they heal it.”

“My people have had their hand in healing for a long time, and I do believe I might be able to advance you people’s knowledge a bit further than you have described.”

Now the fox seemed to be a bit more interested as he turned around and looked Kenneth dead in the eyes, “if you are lying to me, I will make sure you die in ways you couldn’t even imagine.”

Kenneth gulped at that but remained steadfastly, “I promise you, commander of this outpost, I am not knowingly lying to you about what I know and am capable of.”

Then the fox seemed to think it over; he once again spoke, “fine, we have some wounded; if you did tell me the truth, then show me, and we can talk more after, but if you lied, then I believe you know what will happen.”

The thinly veiled threat to his life did make him a bit scared, but he had to do this if he had any hope of actually sharing his knowledge.

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