Overview
The plague — 'the great pestilence' — erupted two years ago, and as far as anyone knows it is still rampaging across much of Europe like wildfire.
Beyond its lethality, the sickness inflicts great misery. It starts as swollen lumps — buboes — surfacing in the groin or armpits; some swell to the size of an apple or an egg. Lanced, they bleed — and through them the disease invades every other part of the body. In time black spots emerge, then fever and vomiting. Most who catch it are dead within days.
People do whatever they can to escape infection. Some barricade themselves indoors and speak to no one; others crowd into churches, begging protection and atonement for the sins that — in some eyes — moved God to unleash the plague.
Yet a cure exists, as it happens. Vrakhiri blood can heal the afflicted and shield others from catching the pestilence — which is how Brencis cured the people of Vale Sangora. Coen doubts, however, that he means to share his blood with anyone beyond the valley.