Infinite 01 - Infinite Sacrifice

know how to purge those vermin.”
    “How so?” I ask as he takes off his vest and rolls up the large sleeves of his shirt, exposing a large scar stretching from his wrist to his elbow. He leaves and comes back in an hour. He instructs me to make two large circles for him by moving the patients farther to the sides. He carries in stones and builds two high fireplaces into which he throws juniper and ash with sprigs of rosemary from Emeline’s herb garden. As soon as he sets them ablaze, the putrid smell disappears and is replaced by a comforting sweet smell. From then on Daniel keeps the fires lit, day and night. He also fumigates over the sick, purging the scourge. That alone improves the spirits of all who enter and languish there. It also cures us of the unrelenting fleas; the heat seems to keep them safely at bay.

Chapter 7
    “—seven… eight… nine… ten—” I hear Oliver counting loudly as I creak the short door to the hayshed open enough to squeeze inside.
    I find a seat behind a wall of bales and try to keeping from coughing on the hay dust I stirred up in the dark. Light filters in and disappears just as promptly, and I still my breathing to listen for footsteps approaching. Someone much taller than I expect yanks my braid and I turn to see Simon, half in shadow, with his finger to his lips. He sits down right beside me on my bale and fills the air between us with the sweet smell from gathering honey all morning. He points to the outside of the shed, and I deduce Rowan and Oliver are close. We both look down at our hands, in the strange quiet moment we’re caught in. Our breaths are the only sound in the dark, but I become increasingly aware of how swift and loud my heart’s becoming. Can he hear it?
    The door swings open, chasing away the shadows, and Simon puts his warm arm around me, ducking us from their view. I’m there under Simon’s wing for only a moment before Oliver pounces out and screams, “Ah ha!”
    Rowan runs out from behind him, beaming to find Simon there with me.
    Oliver yells, “No fair! You can’t hide together!”
    “How did you know where Elizabeth was hiding?” Rowan asks as Simon pulls me up.
    Simon leads the way out and calls back behind him, “I was watching her from up on that hill.”
    “If you don’t play by the rules, then you can’t play with us.” Oliver crosses his arms.
    Simon says in a high voice, “Not even if I brought you both a present?”
    Rowan coos immediately, and Oliver quickly forgives him.
    “Is it an apple?” Oliver hopes.
    “Some figs?” Rowan guesses.
    Simon smiles and pulls out a small grey puffball of a kitten with golden eyes from his satchel.
    I couldn’t believe he had concealed that the whole time in the shed.
    They put their hands on him at once, and Rowan says, “His name is Mousie, because he looks just like a mouse.”
    Oliver laughs. “That’s a terrible name for a cat!”
    Simon bends down to Rowan. “Mousie is a fine name.”
    The children take the kitten away to play, and Simon says, “That’s to help with the rat problem.”
    The rats had been getting into the chapel in great numbers. Every morning I would find at least one dead in the corners of the chapel or out in our stock house.
    “Thank you, that will most definitely help and keep the children occupied.”
    We walk back together through Emeline’s garden. The trace of mint aroma hangs in the air. Simon ducks his height under the bended willow arch covered in lush rose-hipped branches, and opens the small wooden gate. Forsythia grows high all around the small boxwood-edged place, naturally enclosing the garden away from the world. We walk along the narrow graveled path toward the tall stone sundial in the very center. As in a dance, we both part round the dial and come back together as a swarm of birds returns to roost in a massive oak in the foreground, making a ruckus in the quiet peace of the moment. Simon strips a boxwood branch and sprinkles the tiny leaves over my head. I laugh and grab up a handful of dried leaves and throw them over his head as he tries to turn away. I dart out the opposite gated arch as soon as I see him grabbing up an even greater pile and make it into the abbey right before he releases them, catching Malkyn on her way out. Simon immediately apologizes straight-faced, as I hide my laughter behind the door. Malkyn can care less about the leaves and invites Simon to eat with us. I hear him walk off to assist Malkyn with