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“You’ll be better off hearing the details from them. I admit I didn’t absorb the finer points of it all. But the important thing is that the three of them have already recruited all those in the town with a healing affinity—however weak—and together they’ve made it to every household and completed a triage.”
“That’s incredible!” I hesitated. “How many are in immediate danger?”
She grimaced. “I don’t know exact numbers, but since the situation is already so advanced, it’s more than is ideal. And unfortunately a few have already died.”
I paled. The townsfolk had started dying on my watch, and I hadn’t even realized.
“The first deaths have only just happened,” Amara said quickly, correctly reading my emotions. “It seems the real danger doesn’t start until the third week of illness.”
“That’s something to be grateful for, at least,” I muttered.
“At this point, we’ll take any advantage, however small,” she said. “Hayes and Clay spent the night doing limited healings on the most severely ill patients. Unfortunately, given how far the epidemic has already progressed, they can’t do anything to get ahead of it—not yet at least. It will take everything they have just to help those in the most danger.”
“Exactly!” I gave her a piercing look. “And that’s why I should be out there helping!”
She ignored my words. “Thankfully, since the illness develops over weeks rather than just days, Hayes thinks that better management will eventually be possible. If the four of you can work through the worst cases quickly enough, you should eventually reach the point where you can start treating less advanced patients before they reach the danger period. That’s going to take a while, and it will be much longer again until we can truly get on top of the epidemic, but time is the one thing we have.”
My ears pricked up at her mention of the four of us. “You are going to let me go and help, then?”
“Tomorrow. As I said, this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
“Not for those in immediate danger it isn’t,” I fired back. “How can you expect me to sit around at the manor doing nothing all day while people in the town might be dying?”
She surveyed me in silence for several moments.
“That does seem a bit much to ask,” said a friendly voice from the doorway.
I looked up to see Costas leaning against the doorframe, his eyes on Amara. How long had he been standing there?
“Shall we bring her with us?” he asked.
“That’s an excellent suggestion.” Amara stood, her manner turning brisk. “Some fresh air and exercise will no doubt be of value.” She looked at me. “How quickly can you be ready to go?”
“Immediately.” I jumped to my feet. “Where are we going?”
“Did you get as far as typhoid in those medical texts of yours?” Amara asked.
I shook my head. “I might have skimmed past it, but I don’t remember if I did. I’ve been focusing mainly on the anatomy books and those illnesses I encountered in the Caltoran hospital. But I haven’t even been able to do that for a while since my books are all back on the mainland.”
“While typhoid is infectious, it’s largely spread through contaminated food and water. Hayes and Clay are in agreement that this new illness is likely the same.”
“How can they tell?” I asked, fascinated.
“I can’t give you all the details,” she warned. “You’d have to ask one of them to get the technical reply. But I gather it’s a combination of factors. The nature of the illness and its close relation to typhoid is a clue. But also the way it has spread so evenly across the town. That suggests a communal source rather than a gradual spread from an initial infected patient. If it was spreading person to person, the most advanced cases would be grouped together in clumps of close associates.”
“That makes sense.” I frowned, considering her words. “So you’re going to search for the source of the infection?” I looked back and forth between them. “You must suspect it’s in a water source if the two of you are going?”
“We’re not making any assumptions,” Amara said. “I’ll be leading the investigation since I’ve helped in epidemic situations before, but we’re keeping open minds.”
“Which is why I’m coming along,” Nik said from behind Costas.
Costas came all the way into the room to make way for Nik who took his place in the doorway, his eyes on me.
“I’ll help in case the issue is coming from stored food, the soil, or a wild plant,” he said.
“And if you come along, Delphine, you can keep an eye out for an animal host as well.” Costas sounded pleased.
I guessed he felt similarly to me. If we couldn’t be in the town healing people, it was a relief to at least have something constructive to do. And he didn’t even have the assurance I did that I would soon resume work among the infected. It had to be difficult not to have a healing affinity in situations like an epidemic.
