Page 11 of Triadic

"Lead the way, Corbi," Marit ordered. "Hurry—he's blue."

Holy gods.

We rushed back the way we had come, but we had to go slowly with the snow and the bumpy trail, Marit trying his best to not stumble and send this poor person flying.

"I got lost in the forest," the man explained, his voice sounding young even though his face looked haggard. "I must have eaten something bad. I became so ill I couldn't move."

"We live nearby, you're safe," I told him. Then I switched into doctor mode. "Tell me what you ate. You might have accidentally poisoned yourself."

"Fish from the river, but it smelled fresh. I swear it was fine," the young man said on a whine. "And my stash of herbs and berries. It was all things I'd been eating for a while; I don't know what happened. If not for an angel that dropped me here, I'd be dead."

Marit shot me a look that I echoed. Seeing an angel plain as day was certainly strange, though if it were to happen then it would make sense when one was on the verge of death. If he survived, we could question him about it later.

He might still be on his way to the afterlife, but I didn't tell him that. Many times I had witnessed patients having one last resurgence, a desperate power-up in order to do something important like say goodbye to their loved ones before moving beyond the veil.

The monastery shone through the trees, and I breathed a sigh of relief. A part of me had still been worried that we'd been entrapped somehow.

"What is your name?" Marit asked.

"P-peter," he murmured through chattering teeth.

"Peter, my name is Marit, and this is my partner, Corbi—he's a doctor," he explained. "You're safe now. We'll get you inside and warmed up, then we'll see about medicine."

"Tell me what herbs and berries you were eating," I ordered. "List each one."

If indeed the fish had been fine, I would need to isolate what had poisoned him and get it out of his body.

"M-mint, peppermint leaves," he said. "Lingonberries, some sage I found…"

Finally we got him indoors. I called for Ceridor, who rushed out and helped clear the second bed in the temporary room where he was staying. I rattled off orders for hot water and clean towels, blankets, a fresh change of clothes, my medicine bag, and paper so I could write down medicines I needed from the clinic.

Peter's head lolled on the pillow as soon as Marit laid him down, and I barked at him to stay awake. If he drifted under right now, we might lose him.

Marit and Ceridor dashed out to get my supplies while I pulled Peter up to a sitting position so I could strip him. He helped me with trembling hands, his knuckles swollen, and not much meat on his bones.

"How long were you lost in the forest?" I asked, confused at how he'd survived this long, looking like this.

So close to him now, I could see that his eyes were soft green, the poor things bloodshot.

He hesitated, looking at me and then down at his hands, trying to get his shirt off. "I-I don't know; several months at least."

"Good heavens," I exclaimed.

"I got stuck in a magical pocket," he explained, those soft green eyes fearful. "Do you believe me? Every time I triedto leave, I ended up in a loop back at the river. All those fairy tales growing up must've had more truth than I ever thought."

"The Danube?" I asked, "or a stream?"

"The Danube, yes," he confirmed.

I smiled. "Then at least the blessed goddess helped keep you alive while you were lost. And yes, I believe you. We are monks; this is Diana Monastery in Helvetica. We train our minds to be able to sense the Unseen."

"The people who helped me…one of them was an angel, with mottled-gray wings. The other two told me they had been humans until recently, that they were now no longer in need of physical bodies, but they looked exactly like humans still, once they became visible. They said there was a monastery nearby; it's why the angel left me there."

That he could string so many words together fluently was a good sign for his mental health despite everything his body had been through. "They were right. Who knows, maybe those former humans were monks here in a past life. We train ourselves to turn inward and learn what lessons our souls long for us to learn about physical life in human bodies."

He seemed to follow my explanation—another good sign. "I see."

Ceridor came in with water and a chamber pot, then left again to grab more supplies.