Harm’s head pounded. He had sat in the kitchen until the early hours of the morning after finishing his usual tankard of ale that he had every evening. He had then opened the dwarven brandy that they had for special occasions. The half-empty bottle stood on the kitchen table where he had woken in a pool of drool after succumbing to the alcohol.

After putting the cork back into the brandy, he stood. Every movement made his blood dare to move in his head, making it throb uncontrollably. Harm couldn’t remember the last time he had drunk so much, especially the brandy. He walked back to the cupboard and placed it back again. 

The sun was beginning to rise, and the first rays of light were breaking the darkness. He moved to the door, unlocked it, grabbed his jacket from where it hung, and pulled it on. He walked to the water barrel, rested his hands on the edge, and plunged his head into the icy cold water. After waiting several seconds, he lifted his head, took a deep breath of air, and repeated the process. The cold seeped into his head and lessened his throbbing temples.

A recollection from yesterday’s events started creeping back into his mind, and he looked over at the pasture where the four herd members had died so violently. There had been no warning. None of them had made any sound as though they were in pain or injured. They had all just collapsed before their remains had exploded. He looked over at the barn, hesitating about going to check. The fear of what he might find this morning sent a shiver down his spine. 

“Come on, Harm. Don’t be so weak,” he said as he walked over.

He reached the barn and opened the door. The sun rose in the east, but the early morning light didn’t light the inside. A lantern hung on a bracket by the door, and he lifted it down before lighting it. With the lantern held high, he entered the barn. He couldn’t hear any sound from the stalls at the end, where he would usually hear the cows moving. It was the sickly-sweet smell that filled the barn that solidified Harm’s fears.

As he reached the end of the barn, the devastation of the exploding remains was visible. Although most of their remains had been kept inside their stalls, not all had, and blood and gore were splattered as high as the roof’s underside. Harm didn’t even reach the first stall before he fell to his knees. The lantern clattered on the floor, thankfully not breaking, its spluttering light casting eerie shadows in the dark.

He held his head in his hands, rocking as he sobbed. Their livelihood had been lost in under a day. All the remaining cows had suffered the same fate. It took him a while before he gathered himself enough to stand. He couldn’t let Marius and especially Yonda see the mess that had been caused in the barn. He walked back to the barn door, pulled it closed and dropped a locking strut across it. Then he moved to the back and opened the single door that led outside. It was closer to the fire pit, and he needed to move the remains. He then stopped and looked up. There was no way he could clean the remains from the beams.

“What are you doing?” he said as he stopped, staring around at the devastation. The barn was ruined. The stench inside from the exploding corpses would mean the smell was impregnated into the wood. Harm screamed in anger and frustration, repeatedly hitting the wooden stall nearest to him. Not stopping until his fist throbbed from the pain, and looking at it, he had split his knuckles, blood running into his palms. In a dazed state, not sure what he should really do, he walked back out of the barn, closed the door behind him, and returned to the farmhouse.

It was still quiet inside, and he didn’t want to wake them. It wasn’t as though he needed a hand milking this morning. He sat heavily on the porch steps, staring out across the pasture, wondering what on Amathera he should do. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting on the steps before he saw Wes’s cart on the path leading to the farm. He forced himself to stand and wait for Wes to arrive. 

Wes took one look at Harm as he approached and knew that something else had happened. His face was streaked with tear marks, and he hadn’t realised he had been sitting there crying again.

“More?” The single-word question from Wes was more than enough to emphasise the dire state.

“All of them,” Harm said, sucking in a rasping breath full of emotion, as he stood.

“The barn?” 

Harm just nodded. Wes jumped from his cart and ran over. It was several moments before he returned, his face as white as a sheet, his shoulders dropped, shaking his head in disbelief. On reaching Harm, he looked up. “I am so sorry.”

Harm was numb and stood there, nodding.

“What are you going to do?”

Harm shrugged. He was deflated and defeated. He had the extra money from selling Florence and would have to consider buying a new herd.

“I know you aren’t friendly with Dasir, but I am going to have to make him aware. If this disease or whatever it is that they have caught is in the area, his herd could also be in danger.”

Harm again nodded in agreement. He didn’t like Dasir because of the damage he had done to his trade and produce, but he would never wish to see another lose their livelihood like he had.

“Where’s Dahlia and the kids?”

“Inside still.”

Wes frowned. “At this time of day?”

Harm did not know what time it was, having lost all concept of it. He must have been sitting on the porch for longer than he thought. He looked at the sky and saw that it was probably mid-morning. By the time they settled, it had been very late the previous evening. He wasn’t surprised they weren’t up yet. The farmhouse was still quiet as he entered and walked over to their bedroom. The door was closed, and when it was opened, the drapes were still drawn. Dahlia was still cuddled under the blankets, with her back to him. He walked to the bed and put his hand on her covered shoulder.

“Dahlia, dear. I have some terrible news.”

There was no response.

“Dahlia?”

“Dahlia?” 

Harm shook her gently. Still nothing. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around. Her body flopped as she lay on her back. Her eyes stared blankly, and there were signs she had been drooling, a damp patch visible in the dim light on the bedsheet. Harm jumped off the bed and ran to the drapes, pulling them open. He turned, looking back in horror at the still form of his wife. The patch of blood from her mouth had soaked into the bedsheet where she had been lying.

Harm screamed.

The error-induced scream brought Wes sprinting into the house. “What’s wrong?” he called as he entered the bedroom. His eyes opened wide in shock as he saw Dahlia lying there, her eyes cloudy white, staring into space.

“The kids,” Harm said, running past Wes, almost knocking him over in his hurry to reach their room.

Wes stood frozen on the spot, unable to move his legs. Dahlia’s look was haunting, as though she had a half smile. He forced himself to walk forward and reach out. His hand shook as he slid it down over her eyes to close them. That was when a second wail that would have woken the dead erupted from the room next door.

It was early evening by the time the local guard and cleric from town had left the farmstead. Harm had been put to sleep by the cleric to ease his suffering. He was currently lying in the back of Wes’s cart, and Wes was taking him back to stay with him. There was no way he could be left at the farmstead alone after what he had suffered in the past 24 hours. The worst thing was that Wes felt as though he had suffered the same as Harm, and he struggled to focus mentally. Harm had lost everything.

As Wes reached the town, several of the townsfolk came out, and he could hear them muttering as he drove his cart past. In all his years, of which there had been many. He had never known a disease to strike a herd so drastically. The suffering of Dahlia and the kids... a cold dread settled in his stomach. The warm milk. Dahlia had given them warm milk the night before. It was the only thing that connected them to the herd, rather than to Harm. He had never known a disease to transfer through their milk before, and it had not only been himself but many others in the town who were worried after the news had returned. Harm had been selling his milk for years, and only two days previously, a fresh batch had been delivered, along with some cheeses.

This had caused a panic, and every bottle, jug, and urn of milk and wedge of cheese in the town had been poured out or thrown away. Dasir had heard the news mid-afternoon and promised to get a fresh supply to the township the following morning. He had not had any problems with his herd and was confident that they were fine and healthy, but he had been grateful for the news to keep an eye on any of the signs Harm’s herd had suffered. His cows were producing milk as expected and hadn’t reduced their supply at all.

It was a mild relief to Wes that the disease hadn’t spread. The frustration in the scenario was that he hadn’t been able to heal the herd. He had tried everything he knew, even casting his spells, for which he usually charged significant coin. Nothing had worked. Wes would need to contact his old mentor and even the guilds to see if anyone knew or had heard of the symptoms shown by the herd.

He arrived at his home. Tanya stood at the garden gate as he pulled the cart around towards the barn. 

“Tan, give us a hand, love,” Wes said.

Tanya frowned and walked over to the cart.

“What do you need a hand with?”

“I have Harm with me. I couldn’t leave him at the farm after today.”

Wes climbed out of the cart and walked to the back, where the unnaturally sleeping form of Harm lay. The cleric who had put Harm to sleep said it should last a few hours, so he knew Harm wouldn’t be awake for a while yet. Carefully, they moved Harm’s unconscious form and, between them, carried him into their home. Wes didn’t want to chance leaving him alone to awaken in a strange house, and they set his inert form on the sofa.

“Poor dear,” Tanya said as they both stood looking at his sleeping form.

“It’s horrendous. In all my years, I have never known or seen anything like it before. Whatever this disease is that has affected Dahlia and the kids as well is unheard of.”

“Rioker called in earlier, saying that Satil wanted to see you when you were back.”

“That pompous idiot can wait until later. I am not running around to see him. He can easily come and see me if he wants to. Not that there is anything I can tell him.”

“I’ll make tea,” Tanya said.

“That would be great.”

Wes sat in an armchair facing Harm. How could he even consider consoling the man? His livelihood and family were gone in an instant. Wes didn’t know Harm very well, but he had always been an honest and caring man. The love and affection he had shown his kids and sticking up for his daughter the way he did when Satil’s son bullied her had resonated with Wes. He couldn’t abide bullies, and there was no bigger bully in the territory than Satil.

Life in the territory was hard enough for many, as it was without problems caused by others. In recent years, it has become even more challenging to maintain a balance in the territory, with the increase in activity from others outside of the townships. The goblins that frequently raided across the territory never seemed to lessen, even after significant effort was made to hunt them down and clear their clans when their new locations were discovered.

Tanya walked back in with tea, handing one to Wes. 

“Thanks,” Wes said.

“I will go and prepare the spare room for Harm to stay in,” Tanya said.

“That would be great. I really don’t want him by himself for the next couple of days.”

“I still can’t understand where the disease has come from. It seems more like a poison from a plant than anything usually associated with animals.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The way you described the remains. I was looking through my old herbology books and found some rather dramatic effects caused by some of the more nefarious plants. None grows in this territory, so I wouldn’t know how it could be.”

Tanya had always been a gardener and had specialised in herbology. 

“Maybe it is something caused by the goblins? They had tried to raid his farmstead not too long ago.”

“Possibly. But that would be a little strange. Why would they poison the livestock? They have been known to kill them or steal them before, but poison would be strange.”

“Aye, you’re right. None of it makes sense, though.”

“I don’t suppose Harm said what he was going to do?”

“No, he was so distraught. I have never seen a man so broken before. I thought he might drop dead with grief when he found the kids the same as Dahlia had been.”

Tanya shuddered involuntarily. “Imagine if that had been our Poppy.”

“No thanks,” Wes replied. Poppy was their daughter, who had left the town several years ago and moved to a nearby territory. She hadn’t followed in either of their footsteps and instead had broken into the mage scene. She currently worked for a large town, providing water magic for various areas of the town. The territory was quite arid and had little rainfall, meaning that there had been a good opening for mages specialised in water magic.

Harm groaned, and they looked at him as tears fell from his eyes while he slept. Neither could grasp the depth of his emotional turmoil.