The Enterprise of Death - Jesse Bullington [73]
The spirit of the malady thrived in the man like maggots in a dead boar’s belly, Awa could see, the invader pulsing and wriggling through its victim, gobbling up spirit, flesh, and mind alike. She had never encountered so virulent and terrible a creature, and leaned ever closer, staring with wide eyes as it worked. She wondered if the little stowaway spirit she had picked up from Omorose their first night together would have grown into something so powerful if she had not caught and destroyed it early on. No, she decided, this was much worse.
“Of course, there’s not much to do for them at this point but hope they die quickly, the doomed wretches,” said Paracelsus. The patient’s eyes grew wide at this and he tried to speak, a gurgling rasp escaping his blistered lips. Paracelsus frowned. “You are Swiss, aren’t you? Do you happen to speak any other languages, sister?”
“A few,” said Awa in Spanish, and, lapsing back into German, whispered to the patient, “Would you like to die?”
The man jerked away, shaking his head, and Awa withdrew her hand from his moist shoulder. Paracelsus was watching her curiously as she turned back around, and, also in Spanish, he said, “This isn’t that sort of clinic.”
“Oh? And what sort of clinic is this?” Awa followed him out into the hall.
“More than just hospice, if that’s what you’re driving at,” said Paracelsus. “Your task is to see the patients remain hydrated, fed, and as comfortable as their loathsome condition allows. The administering of any cures is the sole province of myself.”
“So there’s a cure?” said Awa.
“There’s a plant in New Spain that’s said to be effective, but I haven’t been able to lay hands on it. This leaves us with the traditional remedy, though I’ve yet to hit on a wholly effective method of administering the hydrargyrum.”
“What’s hydrargyrum? A plant?”
“Quicksilver,” said Paracelsus. “Tell me, Sister Gloria, would you spend a night in the arms of Venus if you knew it led to a life of mercury?”
“What?”
“Nor I, though I’ve pioneered some new delivery methods for the treatment, certainly more credible means than the fumigation those charlatans taught.”
“The charlatans of the Schwarzwald?” Awa asked, his use of the term nearly identical in context to that of her old tutor’s.
“Who?” Paracelsus blinked. “No, Ferrara, though the piss-gazers weren’t much better at Vienna. So-called universities, both as riddled with ignorance and superstition as these lost souls are riddled with pox, and with the same result—infection, proliferation, death.”
“Oh,” said Awa. “Can I see this quicksilver?”
“Certainly,” said Paracelsus. “I needed to refill my flask anyway.”
Back in the storeroom, Paracelsus lit a lamp and set it on his cluttered table. Then he took a small metal pail with a wooden lid from a low shelf and heaved it onto the desk with a sloshing sound. Then he took two flasks from his pocket, one clay and one steel, and a small metal funnel. First he removed the stopper from the clay flask and knocked it back to make sure it was empty, then inserted the funnel and poured an amber liquid from a bottle on the table into the container, his lips counting off several seconds and then stopping the pour at the brink of overfilling his flask. Capping and pocketing it, he took a sip from the open bottle and passed it to Awa before placing the funnel in the steel container.
Awa coughed on the liquor, prompting Paracelsus to snatch it back. “Careful, little sister, this is the real stuff. Now hold the beaker straight, over the bucket.”
She obliged, savoring the heat the liquor had brought to her gasping breath. Then she saw a stranger marvel still as Paracelsus removed the lid from the pail and turned to retrieve a ladle. The iron bucket, which appeared to be lined with some sort of stone or wood, was full of molten metal, its surface rippling, yet it emitted no heat. Spooning up the liquid, he beamed at Awa and motioned for her to hold the flask and funnel over the surface. She did so and he slowly filled it to the brim with the quicksilver. It was beautiful and alive with