By the time Wolfe and Mary made it back to the Den, there were already a group of locals gathered outside, getting healed by the witches who were on patrol today.


    "Oh good, you''ve taken care of them. I would like you to meet Mary. She''s the one riding the big white ball of fluff known as Pup. She''s one of my Witches and just reached the Second Rank at the same time as the others, so I do hope that you all will make her feel wee." Wolfe introduced them.


    "And who might be on the sled? More volunteers for the Den''s independent lifestyle?" One of the patrol witchesughed, earning herself an annoyed look from the Mutants, who only heard shrill screechinging from her.


    "We rescued them from a retreating army unit. Unfortunately, a new tactic left us with no supplies to recover, but thesedies came from Myrrh Coven and were captured by traitors to be brought back to the Human Nations." Wolfe exined.


    "That''s the same thing, isn''t it? How many whoe here want to leave, other than those weirdos who came from Morgana? I doubt even they wouldn''t want toe back. I got the impression that they were backing the wrong faction in the power struggle they have going on." The patrol witchmented.


    Herpanions finished the healing just as a truck pulling arge sled covered in people pulled up, stopping fifty meters away and waving toward the group, making a spell-casting gesture with a stick as a wand.


    "It looks like we have an epidemic in one of the viges. Mary, how is your healing? If not, the patrol group can take care of them before we go over." Wolfe asked.


    Mary giggled and made the sameical spell-casting gesture before activating a healing array using a heavy draw of mana from Wolfe. The air around the vehicle glowed green for a while, and the people on the wagon began to look noticeably better in an instant.


    "You should make a ce where they cane for healing, as well as the weekly visits," Mary suggested, as she noticed the wide variety of secondary ailments that the locals were afflicted with.


    "We have one. The shack there by the cliff has a healing room in it. It shelters the main entrance to the Den, but it''s also the primary trade point between us and the locals. We even made a sheet they could point to because they couldn''t talk to the witch on duty.


    We trade a lot of minor healing potion vials, but there is so much to heal that it just doesn''t keep up. As the witches get stronger, the problem is fading, though. The stronger witches can heal more deeply, and some have a real talent for it.


    I''m not sure what vige these ones came from, but most of them have had the majority of their issues dealt with already."


    Mary frowned. These people certainly hadn''t seen a healer any time in the recent past.


    "They had everything from a lingering flu to half-healed broken bones. They aren''t from your group of viges that see a weekly healer." She whispered to Wolfe.


    Wolfe shrugged. "We heal anyone who needs it. It''s good for our reputation, and I would like to get along with the neighbours. I will go talk to them now that they''re not contagious."


    The driver of the truck hopped down to talk to Wolfe as he approached. There were happy tears flowing down the man''s face, but it was clear that he still had some important business to ry.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It''s the supplies. The humans are diseased, and they have deliberately infected all their supplies. Everyone who has taken supplies from a convoytely is seeing their whole vige fall ill, and we don''t know how far back it started, plus we can''t afford to destroy all those supplies." He hurried to exin once Wolfe got close enough.


    "Is this your whole vige, then?" Wolfe asked.


    "Everyone who is left is here. We weren''t one of the biggest viges, and we''re quite a ways from you, southeast toward the ocean shore. We came because we needed help, but we also knew when we were infected. Our hunters only encountered one group of humans in thest month, ten days ago.


    That''s the only time we could have caught anything, and we wereing for help before we realized that everyone else was falling sick as well." He added with relief on his face turning to sorrow.


    "I should get all the witches together to send out teams. We will do what we can to save the viges. Just tell everyone that youe across to go to one of the viges that we visit ore here directly. I will figure something out to get them healed and back at their daily lives."


    How exactly he would do that, other than keeping a number of powerful witches on duty and sending even more of them out to heal, was a problem he would have to solve right away, so Mary''s homing wouldn''t be as fancy as he had hoped.


    The little witch had already found Cassie and E, who had felt the pair approach and had only waited until Wolfe was finished with the locals nearby so that their conversation didn''t interrupt the important business.


    "Witches spread the word to the others. There has been an epidemic caused by the suppliesing from humans in thest few weeks. Cast a cleansing and healing spell over our storage rooms, and then gather and heal everyone in the Den before we have anyone showing symptoms.


    Then I will need teams to go out to all the viges and do the same thing. Not just the closest ten who we do weekly visits to since they might be fine already, but the ones further out, as long as we get confirmation that they''re not hostile."


    The witches rushed to sanitize their living space, but one of the rescued witches looked thoughtful.


    "I was the team medic, a trained nurse and Alchemist. I have a gift for healing, like some of the witches you have here, and from what I can tell, that whole convoy was infected with a version of the Pox. It only survives on hard surfaces for a day or two and on cloth for a little longer than that.


    Most of the supplies should already be safe for use, so if it''s a problem to cleanse the whole store room, just tell them not to go near it for a week, and they should be safe enough. It''s not a disease that will have infected the food, even if it wasn''t in sealed packages."


    Wolfe smiled at her and gestured to the Witch''s hut that hid the entrance to the Den. "Let''s get you all inside, and we can work out a proper n."


    There might be an emergency, but that didn''t mean he had to miss the response when they first saw the inside of the Den.