Chp.28: Using the situation

Misune led the three inside a building, probably the one she was heading to moments before. It was impossible to tell whether this building had been a house or something else, because it had been completely emptied and filled only with beds, mattresses or even carpets; any surface on which the sick could lie down was fine. Between the beds were sheets, made of practically any type of fabric stitched together, and which were covered in bloodstains; they clearly served to keep sufferers from defiling each other… and probably also to keep them from looking at each other and being frightened to see others like them rapidly deteriorating. On each bed there was one person and generally the beds were folded slightly upwards to promote a posture that allowed coughing, vomiting and sneezing better. The sick had a basin that they could use to vomit or to relieve themselves, and a bell with which they could immediately attract the attention of the healers if they felt really bad.

Most of those precautions were planned by Haku. For the dragon it was important, at least until he had the cure, that the population remained calm, and above all that the sick didn't cause disasters. If the blood death had been a disease that completely debilitated the body, forcing the person to stay in bed, there would have been no problem... but since only the last stages of the disease were particularly violent, during most of their stay there the sick would be able to get up, walk and, of course, do harm. Unfortunately, the newcomers were easily susceptible: if they had seen the last stages of the disease in person, they would almost certainly have gone mad with fear. They knew what it was, of course, but there was a big difference between knowing and seeing. Haku didn't struggle to imagine that, if the sick people could see the truth, within a few days some of them could go crazy, destroy something, hurt the healers and maybe even commit a murder; therefore it was necessary to ensure that this didn't happen. Zamor too had agreed with his vision, and so he had listened to what the dragon was proposing. The best choice for Haku would have been to administer a daily dose of some narcotic toxin to the sick, so as to debilitate them instead of the disease, but the lizardman had obviously refused, considering this gesture amoral and inhuman; so the dragon, albeit reluctantly, had simply suggested that the sick shouldn't have contact with each other. Thus it was established that no sick person could get out of bed until the healers would allow it (meaning when he was healed) and that all beds were separated, at least visually, by cloths. It was a very botched method but… it worked.

"When this story is over, we should build a building that can meet medical needs, as a forecast for a new epidemic" Haku said as he looked around. "So when it happens, if it happens, we'll be ready to deal with it"

Zamor nodded. Having a large building capable of accommodating numerous sick people and ready to welcome them with all the necessary precautions would certainly have been much better than seizing a neighborhood, fencing it off and using every house available. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to start such construction at the time, given the shortage of manpower, and moreover it could never have been completed in time; but when the epidemic stopped, that wouldn't be a bad idea. "I can't be the one to decide this. We'll have to talk about it with the Council"

"After what happened, they'd be fools to object. I really think we'll get a unanimous vote for once" Tzegorn said. When the epidemic ceased, Zamor's position as provisional leader would also cease, and therefore every decision would have had to be submitted to the Council again, but after experiencing the difficult situation they were going through, surely no one would have voted against taking precautions against further new emergencies.

Misune ignored their comments; after all, she didn't understand much about politics, so it didn't make sense for her to intervene in their conversation. Rather, he took a basin full of water and walked over to one of the most feverish people, and started dabbing his forehead with a cloth full of water and cleaning the bloodstains on the sheets. Haku noticed that the sick man's (a large lionman) movements were very erratic and that his hands and feet were tied to the edges of the bed. "Why this?" he asked pointing to that.

"Because some of my comrades have already been injured by feverish patients, so now we prevent ourselves from that" Misune replied as she rinsed off the cloth. "In the final stage of the disease, people start to have fever, spasms, hallucinations and lose control of their body. Many times someone has been hit, scratched or bitten by one of them, and this is a problem since there is possibility of contagion in this way... so we have made a habit of tying up patients when they reach the final stage of the disease. And then, it is advisable that they remain still for this too" and saying this she lifted the sheet revealing strange cylindrical objects planted in the chest of the lionman. They were the tools Isaac used to decrease the pressure in the lungs. "Because of these, people often don't need to spit out large amounts of blood. But for them to work, the body has to stay in this position all the time. as he wishes, but it would also be dangerous since the splinters could penetrate the skin and flesh and break the blood vessels from the inside"

Zamor and Tzegorn uttered a cry of disgust and pity towards the poor sick man, but they didn't protest: they knew very well that this was necessary. Drastic moments required drastic measures, even depriving a person of his freedom of movement. "You are doing well" the lizardman said, causing Misune to smile slightly.

However Haku wasn't of the same opinion. "You're doing your best, I'll give you that, but that's not what we came here for. The reason we're here is first and foremost to show our solidarity with patients... but above all to find out about any issues we still don't know" he said. "Misune, I trust you much more than the others. Have you noticed if any improvements are needed somewhere?"

The half-elf raised an eyebrow. "Why ask me? Isaac could give you a better account, he's the boss here"

"Exactly, he's the boss. And as such, often certain details escape him" Haku replied. "A boss can see the big picture, but often miss the small details. We have already questioned Isaac several times in the last few days and he has provided us with a lot of information, but it mainly concerns the production of the remedies and the need for manpower. I am sure that there are other problems that he doesn't notice. So, you who instead don't see the full picture but only the small part where you work, what do you think? Even the tiniest improvement could be fundamental"

Zamor was surprised by Haku's words. He had come here only to comfort patients, not to question healers. After all, she thought Isaac knew all there was to know. He didn't expect Haku to start questioning people casually. Tzegorn was even more doubtful: if there were problems, almost certainly Haku had noticed them immediately as soon as he entered, that dragon was too intelligent. It was likely that he just wanted to use Misune to bring the issues to light and sound more convincing. And in fact, that was exactly what Haku was aiming for: he immediately understood what to do, but he didn't want to be the first to throw accusations, so he passed the task to Misune.

The half-elf thought about it for a moment. "Well... the main problem I think is the water" he said pointing to the basin with which he was rinsing the cloth he used to refresh the patients' foreheads. "Here we need a lot of water: the patients must drink a lot since they sweat a lot, and they must be washed regularly, and also the curtains and the sheets and the floor must be continuously cleaned, and we too must wash ourselves before leaving these walls to avoid any type of contagion... in short, we really need a lot of it. And often it's not enough. We are far from the lake and this prevents us from obtaining water in a short time. Currently the only method we have is to wait for the guards they carry barrels outside the walls and draw from them... but that's not enough. I once heard of a healer who passed out because to make sure his patients had enough water he stopped drinking..."

Zamor dropped his mouth at hearing this. "I…didn't know. Isaac had never mentioned that…"

"Isaac doesn't know. He's too busy treating the sickest patients and making sure everyone gets medical attention" Misune replied. "If we had more staff, maybe he could notice... but at the moment it's already enough if he can stop to sleep, let alone talk to his employees and find out certain things"

"She's right. We can't blame Isaac. We are the ones who have been careless and have avoided noticing certain details" Haku said. "Indeed, an efficient water system should have been on our first thoughts. Fortunately, there is a very efficient method to fix the situation immediately"

Tzegorn narrowed his lids slightly. He didn't like those words. "And that would be?"

"Building a canal"

Tzegorn stiffened at those words. Now he understood perfectly what the dragon was aiming for. 'What a son of a bitch... so that's what you had in mind...' he thought furiously, but without giving vent to such thoughts.

"Any other type of water transportation would be time-consuming and inefficient" Haku continued. "Hauling water by hand would require legions of workers and a lot of time. We could build a system of pipes and valves, but it would take time for the blacksmiths to produce them, as well as a large amount of metal. A canal, on the other hand, can be built in a few days. it will have to be deep or wide, it will just have to carry enough water from the lake to this neighborhood. With just a few hundred workers we could finish it in a week. A thousand? We can finish it in less than three days. Thanks to this canal, the water problem will be solved... and maybe later we could build structures to make it easier to access and purify the water, such as drinking fountains on the canal bank"

"Well… it would actually be very useful to us" Misune murmured. "Having an infinite source of water would make our work much easier..."

Tzegorn was seething inside: he understood exactly what Haku wanted to do. With that excuse, he could give Zamor the chance to build the channel he wanted from the start, because it would be a disease issue and therefore under the lizardman's jurisdiction. Once completed, the existence of that canal could have been used by Haku to enhance his food production project: if a canal already existed that carried water throughout the village, why not use it for farming too? It would have been much easier to bring other Council members to his side until the necessary votes were obtained.

And in fact Haku had thought of just that. Inside he was grinning: the existence of the canal, combined with his soon-to-be-revealed secret farm, would inexorably cause the Council to do exactly as he wanted. How could he not use the situation to his advantage? He reproached himself for not having thought of it sooner. A tour of the sick camp would have been enough to notice it: when he arrived, in fact, he had immediately noticed the evident lack of water given the location of the neighborhood and the careful way in which the healers carried it, as if they didn't want to lose even a drop. He should have come there earlier and exploited the situation sooner… but it was never too late for that. He could do it very well now.

Zamor had understood the dragon's plan too, but unlike Tzegorn he was radiant: after all, this would only benefit the community. And if it benefited the dragons… he didn't care. "That's a great idea. I'm going to outsource this job to the best architects we have and recruit every person who knows how to use a spade. In a matter of days this place will have all the water it needs"

The dragon nodded satisfied, aware that he had won another victory. However, that wasn't the only victory he wanted to score that day. "Tell me, Misune, are there any other problems?" he asked, even though he knew exactly the answer.

Misune shook her head. "Well… not occupationally. I don't think we lack anything else. The only other problem is that sometimes patients miss family and friends and have a psychological breakdown… but I don't think that can be fixed..."

But Haku smiled. "Who said that? Everything can be fixed" he said in a soft voice, but at the same time with a note of malice in it. After all, as Tzegorn often thought, he was really a motherfucking bastard.