Weevil showed me a few other thrushweed leaves. "This is all that's left of the plant I found, and I haven't seen any others here. Even if you're right, there's not enough for everyone. We should tell Della, but for now, no one else."
I took the leaves and shoved them into the pocket of my skirt. Maybe they'd be enough to start helping Della, but what about Marjorie, and Clement, and that woman too sick to leave her bed in the old prison? What about everyone here?
"If Della improves after taking the thrushweed, th
en we must tell everyone," I said.
"Agreed." Weevil set the bowl of water on the ground. "How are you feeling now?"
My eyes were heavy. I took his hand and pulled him to lie down beside me. "You're as tired as I am."
"No, I'm not," he whispered. Then, with a chuckle he couldn't keep back, he added, "You've been sleeping for hours. My tiredness is much worse."
I elbowed him, and then did it a second time as a penalty for making me laugh. I fell asleep with Weevil beside me and a smile on my face.
By morning meal, I still felt the effects of the poison, making the idea of food seem strangely similar to a medieval torture. Yet I forced myself to go to the food tent, partially because I hadn't eaten enough in the last few days and hunger was starting to take its toll on me. But mostly because I was desperate to try out the thrushweed on Della.
We found her already in line, barely able to stand and clutching her flask of medicine while she waited. She appeared to be counting the minutes until she dared take more of it. Unless she had stolen again, I wondered how she could have any medicine left.
Weevil signaled for her to join us once she had gotten her food. She looked so wobbly on her feet that I doubted whether she'd be able to carry a spoon, much less the rest of her meal.
While the line edged forward, Warden Gossel walked past the people, stopping every now and then to say something to someone. He stopped and spoke to Della too, and when he did, her eyes widened. She shook her head and replied to him, but he spoke again to her and she only lowered her head and nodded.
"What do you think he said?" I asked Weevil.
"Nothing good." Weevil pointed down the line. "Look at everyone Gossel is speaking to. They all have that same expression."
As soon as Della was through the line, Weevil jumped up from our place on the ground and hurried over to her, offering one arm to help balance her and carrying her food in his other arm. Della was such a pretty girl, or had been up until a few days ago. I wondered if she was the kind of girl Weevil could ever like. Not just in a friendly way, as he thought of me, but more than that, the way Jonas seemed to like Della.
When she was seated, Weevil asked, "What did the warden say to you?"
Della wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm going to the infirmary after morning meal. He said I'm too sick to contribute. I told him that I would be fine, but he said they have better medicines in there. Ones that can help me."
"Nobody comes out of the infirmary," I said. "You can't let them take you."
"What choice do I have?" Della wiped more tears away. "I'm not strong enough to fight them. If they want to take me, then I'll have to go."
I held out my hand to her. "Give me your medicine flask."
Della gripped it again. "Why?"
"I want to smell it."
She eyed me suspiciously. "Smell it?"
"Please, Della, trust me."
She removed the flask and placed it in my hands. I unscrewed the cap and sniffed it. I had hoped to detect a whiff of spindlewill in the medicine, but whatever gave the medicine its sweetness overpowered the spindlewill's scent. That was unfortunate, though I was still positive that my suspicions were right.
Nearly positive.
What if I was wrong, and this medicine was the only thing keeping Della and the other Colonists alive? I'd had no medicine in over two days and certainly felt plenty sick last night.
If I was wrong, I would doom the entire Colony to suffer the full effects of this disease. It would be cruel. Even if I was right, I still couldn't save them from the Scourge. There was no way to win.
"Well?" Della asked.
I looked at her. "When I was younger, my mama used to make this char bean soup. Have you ever had char beans?"