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"I said it was the flux. Their bowels run blood and they vomit up everything
they're given to eat. Both children have lost teeth, and their skin is covered
in a dreadful rash."
Ryan had seen enough examples of rad poisoning around flaring hot spots to
recognize the unmistakable symptoms. "Can "
His words were interrupted by a tremor in the ground. From far off came a deep
rumbling sound, like a convoy of laden wags grinding below their feet. Dogs
barked and the burning logs on the main village fire toppled noisily in a
fountain of exploding sparks. Ryan looked beyond the beach and saw that the
surface of the lake was covered in fine ripples, as though a bowl of soup had
been shaken by a careless hand.
A black-backed gull that had been perching on top of the longhouse flew
squawking into the air, circled the ville once then vanished toward the far
west.
"What!" Jak exclaimed. "Fucking earthquake!"
"The hammer of Thor strikes at Earth Mother," Erik said. "It happens four or
five times every year. A few months ago there was a bad trembling and some
huts fell.
This was small."
There was a brief aftershock, and then the earth was still again. The dogs
stopped howling and Markland slipped quickly back to normal except for the
thin
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screams of the sick children.
Ryan recalled what he'd been about to say when the small quake had interrupted
him. "Can we help the sick?" he asked.
"No. The wisewoman is with them and will do what can be done."
"Burn a few chicken feathers and rub some pig fat on them." Doc snorted
contemptuously. "At least let Mildred see them. She's a qualified doctor, you
know."
"Leave it, Doc," Ryan cautioned.
"But if we can do some good, Ryan, my dear fellow, then surely& "
"No. Mildred looks and then they die, like rad-sick kids most likely will. Who
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gets the blame, Doc?"
"Ah. Point taken."
"And she won't have much in the way of medicine," J.B. added.
Erik looked from face to face, carefully avoiding Jak's ruby eyes. "What is
this
Mildred? The black nonman?"
"You could call her that," Ryan said. "But it's best your wisewoman cares for
the kids."
Something happened then to the volume and pitch of the screaming, but Ryan
couldn't immediately identify what it was. Jak's hearing was sharp and he
picked it up first. "One dead," he announced. "Other's sinking. Go soon."
Jorund Thoraldson came out of the hut where the sick children were being
tended and looked quickly around his steading. He spotted Ryan and the others,
and took a few steps in their direction. He hesitated, then continued on.
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"The older boy has gone to the gods," he said, "and his brother treads fast
upon his heels."
"I'm sorry," Ryan said.
"Will the young whitehead look at the living boy?" the karl asked. "He can
touch him and bring his own blessing, as the chosen one. Will he help our sick
skraelings?
"What's say?" Jak asked.
"He wants you to go and cure the sick and raise the dead," Doc replied
angrily.
"Just a normal morning for a god."
"Doc!" Ryan warned. "Keep that mouth under control or, better still, keep it
shut."
Erik Stonebiter turned away, staring across the lake, the water now placid and
mirror calm after the brief quake.
"Things go ill here, outlander," he said to Ryan. "I am not one who will lay
blame at your door. But I tell you this " he looked around to make sure nobody
was close enough to overhear " I fear that there are others who will. Many who
will."
Seconds later the screaming died away in a drawn-out bubbling moan.
A NOON MEAL WASN'T BROUGHT to Ryan and his companions. They kept to their hut,
making sure their weapons were primed and ready. Through the open door they
saw that the ville was almost deserted. There had been an outburst of keening
from the women shortly after the death of the second child. Since then the
steading had been quiet. Everyone seemed to have retreated to their own homes.
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