Chapter 18 - Cure for Greyscale Preview

Storm Kingdom

Storm’s End

9 BAC

Ei watched as the child’s fever subsided, and her ragged breathing returned to normal, the infection gone from her face, not even leaving a scar.

The couple break down into a fresh wave of tears, hugging the child closer to their chests.

Unwilling to deal with the drama, the sole princess of the Storm Kingdom turned back to head to the castle, coming across the astonished faces of the guards, who let her pass without uttering a single word, too stunned to say anything at seeing the plague once said to be incurable, heal before their eyes.

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“She did what?” Argilac asked the Maester who was too giddy on his feet for the King’s taste.

“The Princess found a cure for Greyscale!” Maester Larry exclaimed, his eyes shining like stars in a clear night in reverence.

There were methods to treat Greyscale, but their effectiveness varied. Peeling the infected skin off and applying ointment was one of the more effective methods, but most people, even with the milk of the poppy, couldn’t stand the excruciating pain, and died during the treatment.

That the Princess had created an ointment that took the infected skin off without any pain while treating the fever and the other symptoms caused by Greyscale was nothing sort of a miracle.

“Hah! That’s my daughter!” Argilac shouted, slapping his hand on his throne in jubilation, and the nobles gathered in the room exploded into cheers, singing the praises of the Princess.

“Where is she now?” He continued after the crowd began to quiet down.

“She is instructing the servants on how to prepare the ointment now, Your Grace.”

“Good, good. Now, we need to get as much of the cure as possible out to every place with Greyscale, and someone find me that accursed ship.” Argilac ordered. No way in the seven hells did he believe the Greyscale outbreak to be an accident. Whoever did this, did it on purpose, but he couldn’t begin to guess why. 

One of the enemy kingdoms doing something like this was possible, but the Storm King didn’t think any of them could be unhinged enough to spread Greyscale, not even Mern, who had every reason to hate Argilac for killing his father, Garse.

The disease was known to be seen in the Iron Islands and Dragonstone, with some rumours claiming it was seen beyond the wall as well, and out of the three options, only the Iron Born were bastards enough to do this, but with how busy they were warring, Argilac doubted it was them.

No, whoever it was most likely came from the Free Cities, since Greyscale was more common there.

But who?

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