BONE-CHILLING SCREAMS of terror and despair arose from the dimly lit streets of Grittlesburg. The looming figures took up positions at the main gates, cutting off all means of escape as Edith rushed from the town hall. She took in the scene with swift, calculating efficiency. The townsfolk reacted in animal fear to the sight; panicked people streaming all about her out of the main doors, jostling against her as they dashed desperately for their homes. The chill of the winter air lashed as she coughed, dabbing a handkerchief against her mouth and stuffing it back into her bodice. With grim determination, Edith gazed upwards to behold the new arrivals.
It was hard to make out many of the figures directly; the lights of Grittlesburg's burning torches barely illuminated the hem of the great, black robes hanging down about the feet of the giants. Their scuffed black boots were planted firmly in such a manner as to make it clear that no-one would be leaving the town by any of the main exits. However, even if Edith had been unable to see one of them fully she would have known precisely who, or rather 'what', they were.
As it so happened however, she could indeed make out one of the figures properly, if only by virtue of the full moon glowing behind them. The broad brimmed hat draped in black cloth was unmistakable.
The long, pointed shape of the beak-mask was even more so.
Edith's breath caught in her chest, her face growing pale as she stormed forwards into the town square, raising her voice and shouting over the din of panic.
"Calm yourselves! I SAID CALM YOURSELVES! Everyone return to your homes at once and remain there until this is settled!"
Dozens of pairs of fearful eyes turned her way, families clutching each-other in desperation as forlorn expressions glanced warily between Edith and the plague doctors.
"But ma'am, you've 'eard the stories; you know why they're 'ere.
"Indeed, and that is why I am sure there is a simple solution." Edith said, not entirely believing the words herself. "It is known," she said, her voice raised a little, clearly meant to be heard by the looming ring of masked giants peering down into the town, "that the noble profession of the plague doctor is practiced only in those communities which have called for it, that are afflicted by the black death."
"You speak true." A woman's voice rumbled, slightly muted. Edith's head turned sharply towards the main street of Grittlesburg, her gaze falling upon a woman garbed in a similar manner to the ring of plague doctors surrounding the township. Though she was far smaller than the rest of her companions, she was by no means the scale of an ordinary person. While the looming figures blocking the exits stretched so high that a single boot-step could have reduced a cottage to splinters, the approaching doctor had to settle for merely being as big as a cottage herself; twice the height of a normal man with the brawny physique of an ox.
Her feet crunched in the dirt as the citizens of Grittlesburg parted to make way for her, the bone-white beak mask focused intently on Edith. She strode nearer, and it took all of Edith's self-control not to take an involuntary step back as the fires around the town square cast the doctor's shadow before her, engulfing Edith entirely in the murk.
"We were called. The coin has been paid, and so we have come. The black death is cruel, it is swift, and it is without mercy."
Edith cursed inwardly; who had called them here? Which damned fool had paid the blood coin to seek aid from the likes of them? "It can also travel only by foot, so I have heard, by man or by vermin. Our rat-catchers allow no such filth within the city, and our only trade with the world beyond our walls is with Obermark."
"We come from Obermark." Rumbled the woman in an ominous rebuke, arriving before Edith. The pale young woman barely reached up to the doctor's belt, pinpricks of flickering fire reflected in the lenses of the beak mask's hollow eyes. Her neck craned back a little to look up at the doctor, her jaw clenching at the news. Silence hung in the air, the implication all too clear to Edith as her fists pressed close to her sides.
"I see. I welcome you to keep the coin, and apologize for wasting your time, but-"
"No time is wasted that is spent in stamping out this disease." The doctor replied, one hand raising to reveal a long, smooth staff in its grip. With casual force, the doctor held the far tip of the cane to Edith's chest, resting it a hair's breadth from her collarbone. "I trust, of course, you will not object to a thorough inspection?"
Edith gritted her teeth, eyes glancing to the cowering, terrified form of the townspeople - those that had been too hypnotized by the scene to return home. Her people had suffered enough without having their homes turned upside-down by these women; when Edith figured out who had paid them to come here...
"Of course." She replied. "Do as you must, won't you please?"
Without a word the immense plague doctor gave a nod and raised her staff into the air like the banner of an advancing army. All around the edges of Grittlesburg, the assembled plague doctors began to step over the walls and into the streets, leaving behind only those who were watching the exits to ensure no-one fled.
Great gloved hands reached down, pulling free the rooves of house, stable and cottage alike. Masks bigger than the town hall filled the sky, nightmarish birds of prey lit from below by flickering flames as the citizens of Grittlesburg cowered before the intrusion. Poked, prodded, stripped and examined, the doctors did little to shield their charges from the chill bite of winter air. Once done with a home, they simply pressed the roof back into place and moved on to the next building.
Earth and cobblestone quaked beneath their steps, the booming thunder of the inspection drowning out the moaning despair of the cowering citizens.
"Is it necessary to wreak such destruction? Such dismay?" Edith spat, her voice as cold as the breeze as she looked up at the plague doctor before her. The woman's back was facing Edith, her gaze observing the movements of her colleagues, but as Edith spoke she made a half turn to look back over her shoulder. The beak-mask couldn't actually form an expression, but Edith could feel the cynical smile beneath.
"You have not seen what the black death can do, little woman. Our methods are gentle by comparison."
"Is this what you are paid to do then? Destroying homes? Damaging livelihoods and years of hard work?"
The vast form of the doctor turned to stare down at Edith in silence for a time, her gaze fixed on her as the town was pulled slowly apart over her shoulders.
"Twenty million." The doctor said finally.
Edith stared in silence, the tone of the woman's voice had become positively glacial, and Edith could practically feel herself withering beneath the force of that unseen glare.
"W-what?" She managed finally.
"Twenty million dead so far. And that's just the ones we know about." Edith blanched. The doctor took a step towards her, and Edith took a step back. "Our little corner of the world is at the edge of that creeping horror, that black despair, and if you think that the whining prattle of some obstinate little fawn who thinks that being mildly inconvenienced holds any weight against the threat of a slow, rotting death will hold any power over me? You will find that you are sorely mistaken."
Edith shook like a leaf, the fight having gone out of her as she grimaced, eyes wide and staring. She felt very small all of a sudden, like that doctor could have simply reached down and squashed her like a rodent herself, had she so desired. Nausea squirmed in her belly at the thought and she had to suppress a retching sensation.
The doctor observed her steadily. Almost mercifully, an interruption came in the form of one of the much larger doctors. Their voice boomed like muted thunder, the woman behind the mask gazing over at the pair in the town square.
"All clear, mistress." She spoke, the others observing like mighty, silent sentinels.
Edith's eyes closed, a wave of relief rolling over her as she placed a hand to her forehead, steadying herself. Droplets of sweat beaded on her forehead, despite the biting cold. Before her, the plague doctor turned and nodded over her shoulder.
"There you are." Edith said weakly, not wanting to meet the woman's gaze as she turned away. "Keep your coin, but your business here is concluded." She spun on her heel towards the town hall, plucking her handkerchief from her bodice and raising it to mop at her brow, nerves well and truly rattled.
Thwap!
Polished wood struck down decisively on Edith's shoulder, not hard enough to harm her, but with sufficient force to make her halt. She froze, heart thumping as the staff flicked to one side, neatly snaring the handkerchief on its tip and lifting it into the dim light of the fire.
In the faint red glow, the droplets of scarlet blood looked almost black.
"... Signed off on any shipments from Obermark recently, little lady?" The doctor rumbled. Edith turned slowly, not willing to meet the mortified eyes of the townspeople as she gathered the will to look up at her accuser.
Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, thoughts and words racing in her mind as sentences battled in her throat. At long last she managed to speak, her whispered reply sounding deafeningly loud in the silence.
"Listen, you can just... take me. I am the only one that's sick, I'll go with you and you can leave the rest of these folks in peace."
"I'm afraid not." The woman replied, turning away from Edith as she started to walk away, the blood-spattered fabric drifting to the ground as she went. "Your hall was crowded when we arrived, and those from within made frequent contact with you as they departed. By now, the pestilence has infected every last corner of this woe begotten burg. I am sorry, little lady, but our course is now clear."
Edith tried to rush after the doctor, but found that her legs had grown deeply weary, and she made it only a few steps before she stumbled and crashed to her knees. She stared in undisguised horror as the doctor passed by the boots of one of her much, much larger colleagues.
"Please! These are good people, you can't just-"
"The contract is sealed." The voice floated back on the wind. "The coin has been paid, the pestilence will be halted. Stop the spread."
"Stop the spread." Repeated the towering ring of plague doctors in unison. Before Edith had a chance to comprehend what was happening, black boots were crashing down on home, hall and human alike. Cottages crushed underfoot as easily as their inhabitants, the assembly of doctors enacting a brutal cleanse. Bone chilling screams of terror and despair arose from the dimly lit streets of Grittlesburg.
Edith didn't move. She didn't try to run. She just stared after the doctor as she walked away, her gaze not even so much as twitching upwards as the rubble-dusted, blood-stained boot-sole descended on her.
* * *
Grittlesburg burned as the doctors departed, their quaking footsteps vanishing into darkness, leaving behind only their leader. She watched silently as purifying flame consumed the remains, light glinting off the dozen gold pieces in her palm.
She closed her fist around the coins, raising it to her mouth to suppress a dry cough, before she turned and stalked away into the night.