They carried Agnus to the healer's house on a stretcher of wool blankets and wooden handles. Each step sent fresh waves of pain, but Agnus bit down on his screams.
When they arrived at the healers' lounge, the healer named Emilia met them at her door. The healer's face was tight with concern as she directed them to lay the patient on the examination table. The room smelled of dried herbs and woodsmoke, walls lined with clay jars and hanging bundles of plants.
Emilia commanded. "Yuri, I need hot water and clean cloth. The rest of you, go. You're in my way." Yuri worked as the assistant to the healer, so he was the only one who was allowed to stay.
Even while in pain, Agnus caught a glimpse of Heron's face in the doorway. It was pale, streaked with tears.
Martina, who also arrived at the scene, pulled their son back.
"Let Emilia work," she said softly, though her voice trembled.
The door closed, and Agnus remained with Emilia and Yuri.
Emilia cut away what remained of his shirt, exposing the wound fully to the lamplight.
"This looks bad. What kinda of creature was this Yuri?"
"It was a larger serpent. I'd say nothing unusual about it, but then I haven't seen such an effect from a byte. Must be a new species."
"You are right, I also never saw such an effect from a byte," she said quietly, leaning closer. The two puncture marks wept that black blood, and the black veins had spread across his ribs, reaching toward his heart.
"This isn't normal," Emilia finished. She'd seen enough wounds in her cycles of practice to recognize when something was off.
She moved quickly, pulling jars from shelves with practiced efficiency. First, she cleaned the wound with water so hot it made Agnus hiss, washing away the dark blood. But more welled up to replace it, thick and sluggish.
"Hold still," she murmured, applying a paste that smelled of garlic and mountain herbs. The application stopped the blood from pouring out.
Next came bandages as she worked in silence, wrapping his torso with sure hands, muttering prayers under her breath to the Creators.
Then she pulled out a small vial.
"We need to make him drink this," she said, turning over to Yuri. "You force open his mouth, so I can pour the liquid. Let's pray he can swallow it."
Yuri moved to Agnus's head, his strong hands gripping Agnus's jaw with surprising gentleness. "I'm sorry, friend," he muttered, then forced Agnus's mouth open.
Emilia tilted the vial, and bitter liquid flooded Agnus's tongue. He tried to gag, to spit it out, but Yuri held firm, tilting his head back.
"Swallow," Emilia commanded. "Fight me and you'll choke."
Agnus swallowed. The liquid burned all the way down, coating his throat with the taste of earth and rot.
Yuri released him, and Agnus gasped for air.
"What was that?" Yuri asked.
"Everything I have for poison and pain," Emilia said, watching him closely. "Valerian to dull the nerves, willow bark for fever, bloomshards in careful measure to slow the spread."
Agnus was starting to breathe normally.
"It's working," Yuri said, relief evident in his voice.
Emilia said nothing, but her expression remained guarded as she checked his pulse, examined the wound again. "Let's not celebrate just yet."
"Maybe let his family in? He seems to have been stabilized."
"Fine, but instruct them not to agitate the patient. Any movement now may make the condition deteriorate."
They let Martina and Heron in. Martina took Agnus's hand, squeezing it with desperate hope. Heron stood at the foot of the table. "Papa?" The boy's voice was small, uncertain.
"I'll be fine, just a bit of rest," Agnus managed, forcing a weak smile.
Heron nodded, but didn't move, didn't speak again. He just stood there, watching, knowing that making his father talk would bring him more pain.
Agnus drifted in and out of consciousness as evening darkened to night. Martina refused to leave. Heron dozed in a chair someone had brought, curled up with his head on his arms. The healer's house was quiet except for the crackling of the fire and Agnus's labored breathing.
Then, in the deep hours of night, the pain returned.
It hit like a thunderbolt. Agnus's scream tore from his throat before he could stop it, his body arching off the table.
"AGNUS!" Martina was at his side instantly. Heron jerked awake, eyes wide with terror.
Emilia rushed from the back room where she'd been resting, Yuri close behind. She tore away the bandages with shaking hands.
The wound had darkened to almost black. The flesh around it had turned gray, the edges necrotic. And the veins surged forward while he slept, spreading across his chest like roots, reaching up his neck and down toward his belly.
"No," Emilia breathed. "No, no, no."
"More medicine," Martina said desperately. "Please give him something."
"I can't." Emilia's voice cracked. "I already gave him the maximum dose. Any more and the cure will kill him faster than the poison. This isn't a normal venom. This is something else. Something wrong."
Emilia had no answers. No remedies. No hope. He was dying, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Emilia stepped back from the table, her hands trembling as she looked down at Agnus. The silence in the room was suffocating.
"Emilia?" Martina's voice was barely a whisper as she pleaded with the healer. "There must be something else. Another remedy. Something we haven't tried."
The healer shook her head slowly. "That vile is the most powerful cure we have at our disposal." She met Martina's eyes, and tears streaked down her weathered face. "I don't think we have the knowledge to heal him."
"How long?" Martina asked, though part of her didn't want to know.
Emilia glanced at Agnus, at the black veins that had spread like a web across his chest and up his neck. "I may only prolong his life for two or three days at the best. But it would be wasting the remaining medicine. I'm sorry."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Heron made a small, broken sound from his chair, pressing his fists against his mouth.
"No," Martina said, but there was no strength behind it. Just the empty denial of someone watching their world crumble. She looked down at Agnus's face. It was pale and slack. The man she loved was slipping away with each shallow breath.
Then, through the fog of despair, a thought emerged.
Haran.
There was a chance he'd be able to help them. He had access to most modern technologies. Even though the village was against it, in her mind, she didn't care. She wanted to save her love. Even if it meant using cursed contraptions of the cities.
She looked up at Yuri, who stood silent near the door, his face drawn with grief. "Yuri," she said, her voice steadier now. "How fast can you reach Jamtara?"
Yuri blinked, surprised. "On horseback? A day and a half, maybe less if I push hard. Why?"
"I need you to go there. Find the city guard. Tell them..." She swallowed hard, the words feeling like stones in her throat. "Tell them to summon Haran Baratti. Tell him Agnus is dying from a serpent's bite and we need his help."
"Martina—" Emilia started.
"No." Martina's voice was firm now, cutting through any objection. "I don't care what the village thinks. I don't care if city magic is wrong or if asking for help makes us weak."
She looked down at Agnus, tears streaming freely now. "I love this man. He saved our son, Haran's son. If there's even a chance the city has knowledge or medicine that can save him, I'll beg for it on my knees."
Yuri straightened, his warrior's discipline taking over. "I'll leave immediately. I'll ride through the night if I have to."
"Thank you," Martina whispered.
Yuri nodded once, then was gone, his footsteps echoing away into the night.
Martina sank back into her chair. Across from her, Heron had stood up, his small face streaked with tears.
"Will he come?" Heron asked quietly. "My... will Father Haran come?"
Martina looked at her son and couldn't lie to him. "I don't know, sweetling. I don't know if Yuri will find him, or if he'll be able to help even if he does. But we have to try."
Heron nodded and returned to his chair. He will come, I know he will. He kept thinking of all he heard of Haran, and to him this stranger had at least that one quality. He has been there when the village needed him.
Outside, hoofbeats faded into the distance as Yuri rode hard toward Jamtara, carrying their desperate plea into the night.