Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 29 (Patreon)

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 29

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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Time cares little for the plans of mice and men. Changes occur unbeholden to anyone’s whims and fantasies. Immutable and irrevocable, all that is true is that nothing will stay the same forever, and everything will change during the passage of time. Nothing lasts forever and so it is necessary to act in accordance to what one finds. The true test of a man never occurs in times of peace and stability and clarity, but when violence is on the horizon, nothing is assured, and everything is muddled and unknown.

Will a man compromise and abandon his values for the sake of survival?

Should I work with those who abandoned so many, who cast aside tens of thousands of lives and extracted as much as they could from them, to prevent a dire, living disease from spreading across the entire world?

As a physician, I believed that the answer was yes. I should do my utmost to protect all life, regardless of their loyalty and cause, because all lives are sacred. Joining hands with the ones who have hold over the tree of light, doing everything in my power to assist them and ensure that the rot can be burned out, will save the most lives. Therefore, I should commit myself entirely to their cause.

As a man who saw the wickedness of war, my answer was no. Though I aspired to do good, the act of joining hands with those who would exploit and cast away those they swore to protect on such a massive scale was unconscionable. The cost of the virtuous act was something I could not pay.

Would I not be validating their choices?

Would I not be giving my silent agreement that they did what they had to do to protect as many as they could?

Would I say to the tens of thousands abandoned to die on the fringes, who had their skilled labor and treasures and animals taken from them at their moment of need, that they had no choice but to die and be stolen from?

Neither answer appealed to me, but there was another voice in my head.

A faraway and ancient voice carried by the budding fear in my heart at the knowledge that I now possessed. Cradled by the sight of innumerable bodies clawing at the gates, of children and adults and elderly bleeding from every orifice, and of monsters wearing the skin of humans, I heard another voice within myself. Why should I care about virtue and philosophy in the face of such monstrosity? What good shall they do me when the world becomes subsumed by a malign disease that either kills horrifically or creates monsters? How can I ask myself such questions when the right answer is simply to do my utmost to survive and care for those that I care for above all else?

Should I not simply act for my own safety and self?

All these questions and more burned within me as we made our stop in another abandoned village, the last of our stops before reaching the capital.

…

Gale, as I’d expected, sought me out once we disembarked and chose a shelter from the night. The town had been abandoned with the fall of the fortified city. Everything worth taking had been taken along, as well as all the people. Gale’s glare was cold and furious as she walked towards me. This town’s treatment should’ve been how her own was treated.

“What do you mean to do after giving that knowledge away to the royals?” No honor and spoken like a forbidden word. Like many others in the village that I had helped grow, the leaders of this land were looked upon with distrust at best and hatred at the very worst. Gale was a moderate of the faction and she espoused indepdence and a strong defense against any attempt to take the village under the crown. That strong defense would include raids, if necessary, to destroy places that could shelter foes before an assault. “Do you intend to work with the people who left so many to die?”

I appreciated the fact that she addressed the matter directly, and I answered her with the same directness.

“I do not know yet. I am torn between ensuring many survive as possible, and staying true to my beliefs that they lost their right to rule the moment they abandoned their people.”

I admitted the truth with a sigh, but as I thought Gale only frowned at my words. She did no decry me for my decision, because she saw the same horrors.

“It feels wrong to join hands with them. You know what they did. I know you do. You abandoned the very reason you came here the moment you decided to help us.” Gale sighed and took a seat next to me, while I tended to fire. I was setting up our meal for the night. We were still well-stocked with dried meat and fish and foraging provided us with roots and some wild vegetables. The spices we had on hand would make everything taste the same. “After seeing what I did, I wonder the same. Despite everything that they did, what we’re fighting now is something that can kill us all.”

The creature that we encountered was something out of a nightmare. A creature that invaded bodies to either kill or transform creatures into monsters. Something that destroyed a whole fortress city in a brief moment that the tree of light flickered. What can it do to lesser towns? Larger cities? The few measures I knew concocted that could overcome the enemy remained hidden away in the scrolls between our group members.

“At the very least, I am sure that I will give the means to protect themselves against the infection. Such a death is not something I would wish on anyone.” It was a purely humanitarian action. I could not simply stand by and allow even the worst offenders and criminals be inflicted with such a terrible disease. If judged by their former citizenry, I am sure that the rulers of this place will be guilty of many sins and be set to receive many punishments, but the punishment of disease was cruel and unusual. “To abstain from giving it to them would be to risk the lives of many others, too. I know that you hold the royal bloodline at fault, and perhaps the nobility, but the common folk?”

“No. If they stayed, they’d be called criminals and irons would come next. Not that many would, especially as their families would be taken with them. It was never a choice for them. They had to go, or they were punished.” Gale explained with a shake of her head. Seated and watching the meal cook, she looked morose, but in her eyes there was a dullness and darkness that denoted that her thoughts were not in the present. Her contemplations were not being aired in full, but I listened to what she was willing to share. “Some people think that they abandoned us too. That everyone beneath the tree of light should perish, or at least be forced to live as they did without its providence.”

“Vengeance and justice are split by a very fine line.” I stated my thoughts on the matter quite simply. The leaders should certainly be judged. Perhaps, even the military commanders of the army, too. The ones who made the policy and those who enacted it. However, what about the citizenry and the common soldiery? Were they to be judged when they had no voice in who ruled them? My answer to that was no. Things were not that simple, of course. Every ruler held power through others. I did not know how the nobility of this place functioned, but there could be factions amongst them, too. “Take care not to force punishments upon those who had no choice in the matter.”

Gale was quiet for a moment, before looking my way with a faraway gaze.

“The princess from the desert was right. You really don’t understand how much power you have. How much freedom you have when you have all the intellect and strength that you do?” I paused in preparing the meal for the evening, while the hunter’s daughter stared at me. My gaze brought her to explain, as she sat and hugged her legs close. “You try to understand. You give excuses for the common folk and regular people, but you don’t get that even the nobility and royalty aren’t as free as you. They have vows to uphold, plans to bring to fruit, and enemies to fight. The reasons why we have kings and nobles in the first place.”

“…I know not the reason why your kingdom exists, but in the Great Desert those who ruled exist to ensure that people survive Great Desert.” This was a matter of mandate. How did the rulers justify their existence? Usually, it was because of foreign opponents. The ‘other’ can be anything from another race, another culture, and another idea. As long as it was unknown, it can be turned into an enemy that people must rally behind the strong to oppose. “In the Great Desert, I opposed the As’Kari war because we could have simply continued to grow and suborn the others through diplomacy. Not war. That is why I left them when they chose war.”

“Were the As’Kari not attacked before your time by other tribes? Were there not old grudges and old rivalries between the peoples of the Great Desert, as there are here?” Gale’s answer gave me pause. That was enough of an answer for her, as well as me. “Do you see why they would’ve chosen to fight? You know their history, right? Why do you blame them for the As’Kari’s leaders for being selfish when they act for their people’s support, too?”

I tried to come up with a quick answer but stopped myself with a sigh.

“I wanted them to rise above it. To be different, especially after all that I gave them and shared with them.” I admitted the truth of the matter. Much of the As’Kari’s current growth and power was due to Kan’Is’s intellect, power, and sheer charisma, but the tip of their progress and much of the reinforcing struts were born of what I shared. They had many children growing quickly and becoming strong with my teachings, many mothers who survived one childbirth after another, and innate knowledge of the human body and many monsters and different methods to treat wounds and disease. Basic arithmetic, simple sciences, and medicine in my time, but advantages without compare now. Not only that, but I exposed the secrets of consuming monsters and revealed its truths to them. In the next generation, the common As’Kari will be as mighty as this generation’s warrior elite. “I suppose that you’re right. If I were a leader and gave them all that I did, I would’ve had to do as they wished. I’m glad that I wasn’t.”

The leaders were beholden to the people, as the people were to the leaders. Though the As’Kari practiced a form of hereditary leadership, the Shu’Ann was elected by the leaders of other clans, who were in turn elected by a council within their own clans. These people influenced Kan’Is’ decisions, and made it so that he did not rule solely through sheer power and might alone, but with the backing and support of all the As’Kari. If he neglected their favor, if he chose to ignore them, then slowly the As’Kari would fracture and split apart as clans and their assets went on separate ways.

The As’Kari people wanted to conquer the Great Desert through force.

Not just Kan’Is.

But what was the case for the people of this land?

Before I could ask Gale, a shrill whistle resounded through the air of the camp.

The signal we agreed upon.

Thrice did it sound, telling us both that we found someone who needed help.

…

Averi and Djet’Is were both present at the sight, and a young man stood before the two of them holding a bleeding wound with one hand and a knife in the other.

Before he could utter a warning or threat, I restrained him and took away his weapon.

“W-wha—augh!” I took the measure of his wound and applied water from my skein to it, while brushing at it. It was not as deep as I feared, barely going past muscle. With its proximity to his liver and stomach, I’d feared only sheer adrenaline was keeping him upright. So, I held out my hand and began to heal him. His eyes widened. “H-how?”

“Later. First, explain how you got hurt. Are there enemies nearby?” Djet’Is addressed the young man in her mother tongue. She frowned when he gawped at her height and speech. She looked to me. “Ask him. We need to know if there are threats nearby.”

I nodded and did.

“I… I was part of the caravan leaving here. We were a day away when we were attacked by people. We were split in the middle and I ran.” The young man spluttered, his eyes widening as I removed my hands from his sides, his skin was stitched together and the small gap was already forming a scab. Such rapid healing was intense even for me, but it was better than having an open wound with the threats that now exist. “I came back here, because it’s where we were meant to return. Is… is there anyone else here?”

“No.” Averi spoke, and his eyes widened even more at the sight of her. She knelt by his side clad in her armor and family crest. Upon removing her helmet, she revealed her features and he was in awe instantly. “Tell me. What attacked your people?”

He struggled, but composed himself after a moment.

“They… they seemed like people at first. We thought they were another caravan from Hildale. They even had people with them that we… we thought we recognized.” The young man recounted the story with a grimace. The frown that split his features slowly turned to horror. The information made me frown and that was enough for Djet’Is to grow wary, too. Gale listened, and her hands clenched. “Then, when they were with us, they just started biting, clawing, and taking people away into the forest. We tried to fight them, but they were strong and fast and for some reason those they attacked started fighting against us too.”

“Was there a black bile on their lips and eyes. A sludge? Something that smelled like corpses?” I made the query in order to verify. I already knew the answer. My heart sank as he nodded. “This Hildale… is closer to the capital than this town?”

The young man blinked before nodding.

“The capital is just a day’s ride away from Hildale. That’s where everyone’s supposed to go. We thought they came to help us go there, since they should’ve received the message to pack and go first.”

My stomach sank.

A town of intelligent infected, intelligent enough to use subterfuge, left to the base of the Tree of Light and its protectors days ago.

We needed to quicken our pace.