The deciduous forest for which Mitestone was famous gave way to an open grassland on the third night. There were no villages, but there were small huts scattered in the countryside, connected to large fields of farming land.
People were uneasy when they saw Hadrian, no matter how charming he was. Rural folk still considered vampires to be hunters in the night, and they preferred not to give shelter to one of them.
Fortunately, Hadrian had nothing against sneaking into barns in the middle of the night. Edwin had plenty against, and so he made the vampire leave coins in the hay for the farmers to find in the morning.
Just after sunset on the fifth night after their meeting, they came by a barred barn. The house next to it had a gray flag waving over its chimney. The people inside were sick and contagious.
"We have to help them," Edwin said to Hadrian, not allowing for any arguments. "Perhaps there is something I can do."
"Without herbs? Without the possibility of a mana transfusion? Eddy, your head is in the clouds," Hadrian said with a shake of the head.
Edwin pinched the fabric of his healer robe, his trainee one that no one had bothered to take from him, and looked Hadrian straight in the eyes.
"Do you see this? It means I am responsible for those around me. Wearing this robe comes with a duty more honorable than most," Edwin said as he began to march towards the door of the hut. Smoke came out of the chimney in lazy puffs. Good, then the sick could still move.
Edwin knocked, and an old lady showed herself in the window. When she saw a healer, for those robes were unmistakable, she smiled brightly and opened the door wide.
"Come in, come in. My old man doesn't have long," the woman said as she led the two men to a sickbed where a man was laying and looking pale. There was blood around his lips.
Edwin paled. Could it be that the plague from Myrna had spread so far already? Wasn't there any damage control being done? Quarantines? Road control? What were the officials thinking?
"Does he have trouble breathing?" Edwin asked the old lady. She nodded.
"He has been like this since last week. Coughs blood and complains he feels like he can't breathe."
"Come on, sir. Get up," Edwin said to the barely conscious man. A slight light flashed in his sunken eyes, and he lifted himself a little.
"What? Who are you?" Then the old man began coughing.
"Oh, Bern, my prayers have been answered. A healer has come," the old lady said.
"Truly Leila? I…" Whatever Bern might have said was interrupted by more coughing.
Textbook solutions for clearing mucus from the lungs swam in Edwin's brain. He doubted that these people had the herbs he needed for an inhalation. He wanted to avoid risking a mana transfusion, even though there were rumors that one-minute ones were possible even for necromancers. That left only physical therapy.
"Ok, sir. You need to move from the bed and into a chair. It is important," Edwin said, and he helped Bern stand up and get in a nice velvet chair.
"Now wrap your hands around your stomach and inhale deeply," Edwin said, his voice soft and coaching.
Bern clutched at his stomach and hunched over. Edwin righted his posture, so he was straight again, and his bare feed were touching the ground.
"Now, begin coughing forcefully," Edwin said. Bern sent him a dirty look.
"Ha-ha, very funny. When I was your age, we respected our elders! Now tell me the next step!" Bern demanded. Edwin sighed.
"That is the next step. I know it sounds silly, but it will make you feel better. It won't heal you, but you will have at least an hour of rest afterward."
Bern mumbled something about tanning Edwin's hide if this was a prank, and then began to cough. His coughs were hoarse at first but became less so with time.
"You can stop now," Edwin said as five minutes passed.
"Well, I'd be damned. I do feel better," Bern said with a grateful look.
"Here, take this," Edwin said as he handed Bern a blood root, dried and safe to eat. "Chew it for a little while and then swallow."
Bern looked at the little root from every which way, and then he shrugged and plopped it in his mouth. He made a face, but he began to chew. When he swallowed it, he spoke.
"So, I cough in a chair and eat this root every day, and I am cured?" Bern asked, suspicious.
"No, this is just to stabilize you. When ingested long term, blood root causes low blood pressure, shock, coma, and glaucoma," Edwin listed in his best impression of Professor Nari. For a moment, forgetting he was not in class.
"Gla what now?" asked Bern, worried.
"An eye sickness," Edwin explained. Then he looked for water and when he found a pitcher, he handed it to Leila.
"Boil this and make sure he drinks it, warm, to restore all the blood he has lost," Leila nodded and went to the stove to get a pot.
"Now, for the hard part. Hadrian, come here," Edwin said. Hadrian stepped forward and looked at Edwin for instructions.
"You will push mana into him, and I will make it vibrate to get rid of the mucus. It will be a half hour process. Do you think you have enough mana for that?" Edwin asked.
"Half an hour is nothing, Eddy. Once, I breathed underwater for a day using mana," Hadrian said proudly.
"Got blacklisted and couldn't find a cave, eh?" Edwin teased.
Bern looked between them, his brows furrowed.
"Why would he need a cave? Is he an outlaw? You better not get up to any trouble here, young man. I have a black belt in air sorcery!"
Hadrian just flashed the old man a winning smile and pressed his hand on his chest as Edwin pressed his on Bern's back. And so, the healing process began.