Page 18 of Restoring the Ngozii

I continue to run more tests, moving the vials around as we work through each one. She and Jeff bounce ideas and diseases back and forth, but nothing seems to fit the entirety of the criteria. I’m leaning more on Jeff’s theory of poisoning, but who’s doing it? Why? If it were something in the caves, like the flower he noted before, wouldn’t they know to stay away from it?

“If it is environmental, I won’t be able to prove my theory without samples from the caves. I’d need to get my hands on the culprit to test the theory.” Jeff mutters as he paces, and Vyleera lifts her head, eyeing him carefully.

“I don’t think they’re being poisoned. With how long they’ve been living in those caves, it just doesn’t make sense for them to be poisoned. They would have learned long ago which plants and foods were harmful and stayed away. They’re bleeding out. It’s some sort of hemorrhagic fever. Has to be.”

“Then why isn’t everyone affected? Hemorrhagic fevers spread like wildfire in a colony like that.” Jeff counters, turning to stare at her.

My comm rings loudly in the room, silencing their debate as panic overwhelms me. Kari’s name pops up on the screen, and I flick it open, seeing her holographic face before me. She looks panicked, a hand in her hair as she rushes through the caves.

“Vahru, you’ve got to get back here, quick. Someone is dying, it’s not good. Tavionna’s in a panic! Hurry!”

I slam the comm closed, grab a travel med kit from Vyleera’s shelf, and slap the watch, activating the portal. Vyleera gasps and jumps from her stool as I step forward, pausing to whirl back and say, “We’ll be back,” before stepping through with Jeff at my side.

We enter the main cave chamber to find it nearly empty, Xenshay standing alone in the center, waiting for us. “This way.” He nods to us and whirls around, rushing through the hall as we race to keep up. When he stops beside an opening, the people stepping aside to let him and us through, we rush through the entry to find Tavionna and Kari on their knees beside a young man in the back of the cave. Tavionna soothes him, holding him close, as Kari stares in shock, Kosiiba close by her side, a hand on her shoulder.

I rush forward with Jeff on my heels. Pulling out the stethoscope and a wad of gauze to clean up the blood leaking from his face, I quickly lean in and listen to his racing heart. His breaths are ragged, shallow, his lungs filling with fluid. He won’t make it. There’s nothing I can do this late. I don’t have the proper equipment.

“Do something!” Tavionna screams at me as his heart stops, his body going limp. I sigh and sit up, bowing my head to the poor man. She stares at me incredulously as fat tears pour from her purple eyes.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too late. There’s nothing I could have done to save him.”

The woman near the man’s head begins to wail, leaning over to hug his face and brush his hair. Tavionna’s Ngozii mate rushes in and grabs her in his arms, a small vial in his hands, but she pushes it away, no longer needing it.

I slowly put away the stethoscope as Tavionna and the woman cry, Kari clinging to Jeff for comfort as they watch on silently with Kosiiba as their shadow. Jeff’s eyes roam the room, taking in the amount of sick, and I’m assuming noting all the foliage he can around us.

“May I see that?” I ask the warrior behind Tavi, pointing to the vial in his hand. Tavionna looks up, sniffling as she nods to him before watching me open the bottle and sniff at it, trying to determine what it is.

“It’s a tonic I made to help slow the progression of the disease. It essentially suspends them in time while I find the solution, but it’s no longer working.” Her cries pick back up as she looks back down at the man in her arms.

“May I take this? I’d like to study it, if that’s okay?” My gaze bounces between her and her mate before he finally nods, her sniffles slowing.

Once Tavionna and the woman’s cries have calmed a bit, I clear my throat. “This might be rude, but I’m going to ask to take his body with me for more tests.”

The woman beside us wails, begging me not to take her mate, and I cringe, hating to hurt her like this. “I apologize for the pain this causes you, but, please, let me explain. An autopsy could give us more definitive answers than the blood tests are. We’ll be able to see exactly how this illness is affecting your people and solve it. I will treat him with the utmost respect.”

The woman hiccups, her purple hair clinging to her tear-soaked cheeks as she stares at me. “What about his pyre? His sending off to the goddess?” Her lip wobbles, her fingers still brushing through his hair gently.

“I’ll bring him back when we’re done. He’ll have a scar, but he’ll be in one piece, I assure you. His sacrifice will save you all, and once he’s done that, you can send him off a hero.” I say the only thing I can think that will soothe her. She deserves to remember him that way rather than drowning in his own blood.

She nods slowly, and Tavionna gently releases him into my arms. I carefully stand, and Jeff disentangles from Kari, grabbing my pack on the way. We march purposefully out to the main cave once more, a trail of people following us as Kari steps up and activates the portal for me. She kisses my shoulder before stepping back.I trust you. You’ve got this.Her words echo through my mind, and I smile at her before stepping towards the portal, leaving her with Kosiiba as my heart cracks open all over again.

Jeff turns, and I pause, making sure I don’t lose him if the portal closes behind me. “Could you tell me, have you had any new plants or algae or anything growing in the caves recently? Anything you haven’t seen before?”

Tavionna’s brows draw down in confusion, but she answers politely enough. “No… I haven’t noticed anything, and no one else has said anything to me. If there were new things in the caves, we’d all know pretty quickly.”

“So, you all know what’s poisonous and what isn’t, what to avoid?”

“Yes, we have for a long time. I’ve ruled out poisoning as we all know not to eat certain things in the caves.”

Jeff’s lips pinch as he nods. “Okay, thank you.” He turns and steps up beside me as we walk through the portal together, exiting into Vyleera’s lab.

“Okay, you have GOT to explain that! Wait, what the hell, Vahru! Who is that!?” She scrambles up and clears the autopsy table in the back of the lab for me as I lower the man down. “Oh, my stars, he’s a real Ngozii!”

“He didn’t make it. I couldn’t have saved him without a hospital. We need to perform an autopsy to find out what’s going on. We have permission, but he’s going back to his people after for his send off to their goddess. Total respect. Can you handle that?”

“Absolutely. His sacrifice will be honored.” Vyleera nods, bows to the body, and turns to suit up.

Chapter 12

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