Tower Of Doom.html by Tower of Doom

Author:Tower of Doom
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ELEUEN

The dying man's screams echoed eerily down the corridors of Nartok Keep.

"This way, milady. Please—we must hurry. 1 don't… I don't think he can hold out much longer."

Mika strode swiftly after a rag-clad serving boy with tousled red hair. In a white-knuckled hand she gripped her satchel of doctor's tools. The screams grew louder, rising and falling.

"Can you tell me what is wrong with your uncle?" she asked the boy gravely.

He cast a white-faced look at her over his shoulder. "You'll see, milady."

Mika clutched the hem of her dark dress up above her ankles, breaking into a trot to keep up. A quarter of an hour before, the boy had burst into the Black Boar, explaining breathlessly that his uncle, a manservant at the keep, was ill. Mika had grabbed her black satchel and rushed outside to the carriage Baron Caidin had sent in which to take her up the tor. Whatever she thought of the baron, it seemed he took an admirable interest in his servants.

"In here, milady!"

The boy led the way through a squalid warren of servants' quarters to a dingy room. A cloying odor hung on the air, so thick it was almost palpable. On a rude cot, a gray-haired man writhed beneath a blanket, shivering despite the fire roaring in a stone fireplace only a few feet away. Several servants clustered around the cot, staring with frightened eyes.

Mika entered with an air of authority. "All right everyone, step back," she said briskly. "Somebody bring candles—I'll need more light." The servants scurried to obey her requests. "How long has the patient been like this?"

"Since he was bitten this morning, milady," a young maidservant replied nervously.

"Bitten?"

The red-haired boy nodded. "It was an insect, milady."

"I see." Mika approached the cot. The man gazed up at her, agony contorting his pallid face.

"Please," he gasped. "Please help me."

"Don't be afraid," Mika said reassuringly. "It will be all right. I promise."

She pulled down the threadbare blanket, then clamped a hand to her mouth to keep from gagging. The man's right arm was bloated to hideous proportions and covered with purple-black splotches. Even as she watched, the dark splotches inched their way onto his shoulder and chest. Mika steeled her will. This was not the first time she had faced a terrifying illness, nor would it be the last.

She began by making notes to herself about his condition. "The patient's right arm appears to be in an advanced stage of gangrene. Infection is spreading rapidly. Immediate amputation is the only—"

All at once, the manservant's arm dissolved into a puddle of thick slime. Letting out a bubbling cry, he arched his back, raising his body off the cot. Blood gushed from his mouth in a hot, dark fountain, splattering Mika's dress. He slumped back down, his eyes glazed with terror.

"Please…" His words gurgled wetly in his throat. "I don't want to die…"

Choking back fear, Mika turned to the others who stared in horror. "What sort of insect stung him?" she demanded.

"I… I don't know," the red-haired boy gulped.

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