Heroes of the Final Frontier (Book #2):

The World of Waldyra LitRPG Cycle

Dem Mikhailov
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The World of Waldyra LitRPG Cycle

Heroes of the Final Frontier :

by Dem Mikhailov

Book #2

Published by Magic Dome Books

in collaboration with
1C-Publishing
Heroes of the Final Frontier: The World of Waldyra Cycle
Book #2
Copyright © Dem Mikhailov 2022
Cover Art © Ivan Khivrenko 2022
Cover Designer: Vladimir Manyukhin 2022
English translation copyright © Mikhail Yagupov 2022
Editor: Neil P. Woodhead
Published by Magic Dome Books in collaboration with 1C-Publishing, 2022
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-7619-575-2
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This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real

people or events is coincidental.
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Table of Contents:
Chapter One
A Peaceful Part of Zar’Graad
Chapter Two
Routine
Chapter Three
Enemies and Friends
Chapter Four
Garbage. The First Recruits. Kohgwald’s Wastelands. The Cache
of Grym the Insane.
Chapter Five
In Hot Pursuit
Chapter Six
Rumors of Gold
Chapter Seven
Strange Conversation
Chapter Eight
Tranqueville at Night
Chapter Nine
Somebody Else’s Fight
Chapter Ten
Lessons Learned from the Black Baroness
Chapter Eleven
The Prison Island
Chapter Twelve
Time to Recap—and Go for a Walk
Chapter Thirteen
A Day of Silence and Momentous News
About The Author
Chapter One
 A Peaceful Part of Zar’Graad

“AND THEN THE FISH started biting like mad!” Roskie was so
exhilarated she could not stay put, sputtering and gesturing wildly.
“There were so many! Me and Uncle Orbit were barely managing to
keep up! Others were fishing, too, but our catch was the biggest!
And then, whammo! All the fish went somewhere deep! So there we
were sitting on the shore, waiting, getting our gear ready, breaking
bones, and building a bone tower. And then the guy next to us
decided to dive and take a look at where the fish was—and
disappeared! Imagine that!”

“Wow!” I said, reclining lazily on Tyrant, who’d been growling

contentedly as I listened to my daughter, sitting right next to me.

Kyre leaned over to me from the other side and whispered

softly,

“That diver came up in the ocean about a hundred miles to the

southeast. An underwater geyser spat him out at a depth of over a
hundred feet, right into the maw of a local baby shark some fifty feet
long. Also, they were fishing in a sweetwater pond, but catching
saltwater fish.”

“Saltwater!” Roskie overheard us. “Those were sea fish all

right! Big ones, too! I wonder if I should use a longer line this time
and cast it right where I saw that fisherman flounder last.”

“There’s some teleportation wormhole there,” Kyre continued.

“A lot of things happen differently in these lands in general. The clan
eggheads are trying to understand what causes the earthquakes and
where the center of the seismic waves might be, but they find
nothing. Sometimes rain begins before clouds appear in the sky.
There may be teleportation “holes” there as well.”
 “Is Roskie really safe here?”

“She is, for as long as she stays on the coast.”

“Where could I get a line so long?” My daughter grew even

more pensive. “I’d need sinkers, too—I have none of the really good
ones left.”

“Oh, by the way!” I remembered something, rummaging in my

pack. I handed a large cloth bundle to Roskie. “I paid the fishermen’s
shop a visit and bought a whole load of stuff there.”

“That’s so cool! You’re the best, dad!”

Roskie dug into the pack. Orbit was sitting nearby, leafing
through three thick volumes that seemed old as dirt and, to me, at
least, as unbelievably dull. However, he was poring over them very
thoughtfully. The books came from one of Algora’s largest
secondhand bookstores, and had cost me a pretty penny. The elf
seemed to be really interested in their content. That was the
equivalent of a box of chocolates I’d just given him, and I’d prepared
a birthday cake, too—straight from the Angora Mystery Bakery.

“Has Roskie’s teleport charged?” I remembered the thing

working on divine mana that the Sleepless Ones had given to us. My
daughter wasn’t a goddess yet, but regular teleportation couldn’t
drag her away. A different kind of magic was needed here.

“It should be enough for a few jumps. Listen up, Ros. All the
creatures over here are different—the evolutionary chains are of a
completely different sort. Sometimes their disguise is ideal—
immaculate, in fact. Just to give you an example. The Arches had
started building a fort of large rocks in a small but long grove near
the First Camp—there was a rock outcropping there they had used
as a quarry. So they’d built a portion of the walls, started to chop
down trees, scared away animals, and fish in a nearby lake. Then
the entire forest raised a racket, flapped its leaves, and flew to the
south, carrying with it the enormous rock as well as the lake,
supporting both by cocoons woven out of roots. The animals went
with the grove. The Arches remained in the middle of a flat field with
nothing there but an unfinished fort and a few logs. They swore so
loud you could hear them from miles away…”

“Are you pulling my leg?” I was snorting like a tickled seal

thinking of the looks on the flabbergasted Arches’ faces.

“I’m not! But I’m telling you, they’ve checked absolutely

everything around them, and there was nothing to tell them that the
entire grove was an enormous living organism. And what about the
local hares? Some are large as donkeys! Three clans ran into a
snake pit in heat during a reconnoitering—every snake was over five
hundred feet long! And what about the birds you see here? And the
local earthworms and wood lice? They’re all giants. Not to mention
the ferns—some have leaves with room enough for a basketball
field! You could live under a leaf like that! And all of it is just the tip of
the iceberg. Have you ever heard of insular gigantism?”

“I haven’t,” I confessed to my ignorance.

“Well, roughly, continent species already known to science are

often much smaller than their insular counterparts. The island critters
are much larger. I wonder if the designers of this world had been
using that trope here. An old continent mouse is nothing special, and
a local one will make you think twice before you tackle it. A simple
quest to kill mice in a barn would be tantamount to an epic feat here.
And bear in mind that this is a continent, too—not an island.”

“Insular gigantism,” I sighed, recollecting the horrendous sight

of the gigantic guardian star pinned down by the continent’s entire
mass. Countless tons of earth and stone kept holding it down under
an enormous weight, but the colossal creature fought back the best it
could. Insular gigantism indeed.

There had been no earthquakes or any anomalies before.

Everything had started yesterday, and it was either related to my use
of a unique teleportation spell or some action on the part of the
Sleepless Ones—something related to their stationary portal, which
took a lot of effort on their part, to the best of my knowledge. I
wanted to have no part of it—living on a continent with an enormous
guardian star underneath would be like living on a bomb. And what
was I supposed to do about Roskie? All I wanted to do was to visit
friends and get back to the Old Continent, where a lot of progress
had been made in a few important affairs. I used to think Roskie
would be safer here, since there was no war between gods going on.
Now I had no idea just where was really safe anymore. Take her
back to Tranqueville? But peace had only just been established
there—and a very shaky peace, at that. It would need a lot more
time.

“Urgh…” I grunted. Seeing that Roskie was engrossed in

examining and arranging the fishing gear I had bought for her, I got
up and waved to Kyre and Orbit. I took them a few steps away and
leaned against the rough side of a tall boulder half-buried in the
ground. I saw the interrogative look on my companions’ faces and
played them a video. A really short one—some seven seconds
altogether. I didn’t start the recording soon enough, but the thing I’d
wanted to show them was present in the video, anyway. The
Brobdingnagian guardian star whose grave we were standing on, still
alive. And it wasn’t just us standing there—thousands of players
were running all over it this way and that, solving short-term
problems and making long-term plans. But any long-term plan made
here was in jeopardy because of that thing buried underneath the
continent. If it set itself free, even by teleportation rather than
upending the entire mass of land, Zar’Graad would be done for. It
would collapse and sink like the Atlantis.
 But would it really happen, I wondered?

Why would one organize the entire arduous Great Expedition

and promise incredible rewards if the plan had been to destroy the
place all along? This entire scenario seemed too unfair—as soon as
we’d get here and have lived there for a while, everything would blow
up and we would row back home sadly. Such a fun event courtesy of
the administration! Now why don’t we give them a round of
applause?

Things just didn’t happen that way. If the star was capable of
destroying the entire continent, there must have been a means of
avoiding it, too. And I knew that every single clan would do their
utmost to keep Zar’Graad. Another thing I realized was that I’d never
seen a living creature that big in my entire life as a gamer. A whole
continent! So all of this must have been part of a plan. The
administration had several long years to come up with something to
make the digital blood course faster through the veins of every
player, including jaded veterans who had seen it all already.

Another thought that visited me was that what I had seen was a
glitch. It was too early for anyone to discover the main secret behind
the scenes. Why was I the one to see it? I didn’t know. It might have
just been a regular glitch—after all, I was the only person to be able
to use intercontinental teleportation. Some bug may have revealed
the Leviathan to me. Alternatively, it could have been caused by the
Living Blood of the Ancients.

Another thing that came to mind was that this might be

Zar’Graad’s main antagonist. It must have had some incredible
legend and be enormously powerful. And as for its sheer size, it
could hardly be any bigger. And it was this gigantic star causing the
regular earthquakes that interfered with the construction of forts,
fortresses, and small fortifications all along. The star must also have
been responsible for making the maddened animals from all over the
place attack the players and the old continent locals.
 The insular gigantism mentioned by Kyre earlier must have
been a direct reference to the giant underneath our feet. Players
should be aware that it wasn’t just the mice that were oversized here
—or the earthworms, or the snakes. There was a creature must
bigger and much scarier than anything they could imagine. So the
old continent visitors could dig, build, and get cozy here. And the
instant they would start thinking of this place as home they’d be
informed in no uncertain terms that they weren’t welcome.

I had already played the short video about five times in a row,
but Kyre and Orbit were still gazing at the screen in silent tension. I
couldn’t help barking,

“Are you waiting for the scene at the end of the credits? Got
anything to say? Or shall we grab Roskie and skedaddle, giving the
unfortunates who’ll stay here a snarky grin before we go?”

“I…” Kyre said in a soft brooding voice as she slumped down to

the grass. “I’ll… keep silent for a while.”

“I sa-a-a-a-a-ay…” The elf flashed a smile to bright and happy

you could have thought the star he’d just seen was a huge chocolate
birthday cake. I felt like snarling and saying something like, “Fire and
brimstone take your old man’s kicked butt!” But I managed to restrain
myself. I just asked him,

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Not ye-e-e-e-e-et…”

“That’s better,” I perked up. “So, do you have any ideas about
what we do next? Will you stay here, or shall we head back to the
Old Continent together?”
 “Which option is the most i-i-i-i-i-i-interesting?” He pierced me
with his inquisitive eyes.

“You might as well ask about where we’re likely to run into
more problems.”

“So whe-e-e-e-e-ere?”

“Well… I ran into your old man back there on the old continent
and kicked him in the ass. He incinerated me about five times, and I
promised him to show him the way to Angora. In a nutshell. I might
have also failed to mind my own business and told him he was a
crap parent.”

“Ro-o-o-o-o-os…” The elf rolled his eyes and fell flat on his
back.

“All in a day’s work,” I spread my hands looking at Kyrea the

Protectress who looked absolutely stunned.

“Ros! What the hell?! I only let you run free for a single day!
Why, I’ll…”

“I’ve also saved everyone in the Shrinelands and brought them

to Tranqueville through a portal.”

“Let me kiss you, my hero!” Kyre’s face was radiant as the

morning sun.

As she kissed me, I couldn’t help thinking of how women’s

moods could change.

“I also have a lead on Angora. There’s a certain distinguished

dwarfish lady with a weary heart that’s been looking for a path
leading there for a while now. She’s sitting on a whole bunch of
related information, but she hasn’t managed to sort it out just yet.
I’ve managed to establish a good relationship with her; I’ve provided
her with some pink diamonds that she had been after and helped her
take back possession of her Spirit Mask. So, her glasses, the
diamonds, and the mask enable her to see things in Angora—and,
presumably, even hear the dead speak when she has the mask on. I
didn’t go that deep into the details. But inasmuch as I understood,
the diamonds are like charges used for opening the channel. And
some of them burn out each time the artifacts are used.”

That was when Orbit plopped down on his behind. Then he got
up like a marionette—without so much as bending his waist. He
stared at me with unseeing eyes, slapped himself on the chest,
waved his hands above his head, and jabbed a sleepy ghost that
had crawled from underneath his clothes with his black knife. The
ghost howled while Orbit flapped his arms as if they were wings and
as if he was about to fly towards the boundless ocean whose waves
lapped barely audibly from behind the trees by the shore.

“So you’ve lost your voice, too?” I said in a disappointed tone.

“Now that’s overkill.”

However, Orbit came out of his stupor, much to my delight. He

started to scratch his scarred head with such intensity you could
have thought he was going to add new ones to his collection. He
was clearly deep in thought.

“That sure is something!” Kyre declared. “Ros, I’ll participate!”

“Sure thing. How could I descend into inferno without the

woman I love by my side? Real men don’t do that,” I grunted. “Well,
not quite inferno, but close enough.”

“We’ll go together,” Kyre decided. Then she looked at Roskie

and said, “We might even take our kids along.”

“Kids?”
 “Daughter.”

“Oh. Think so?”

“I can’t think of what the safest place would be for Roskie,”

Kyre admitted. “I’ve thought of every place.”

“Have you thought about the Ring of Peace?” I asked.

“Uh…”

“Yeah. A happy tropical paradise. Lots of excellent places for

fishing. And there aren’t any gods there yet. They know and love
Roskie there. There are few players there, and virtually no clans.
What do you say? Why don’t you, Roskie, and others who wish to
join you hop onto the nearest ship to the Ring of Peace? Things are
getting closer—you won’t need as many days as before to get there.”

“That’s a good idea,” Kyrea said pensively. “You can’t reach it

by teleport from either continent—for the time being, at any rate. And
I don’t think anyone’s likely to invest a small fortune into constructing
a stationary teleport there. The approach of hostile ships is
something you can notice from a distance. So you could build a
fortress right on the Ring of Peace. A small caravan of cargo ships
with military escort is leaving tomorrow. It’s a good idea, Ros! It really
is! But only if the crews of the ships don’t decide to play a game of
drown-the-goddess-to-be-in-the-ocean on their way.”

“Damn!”

“Yeah. We’re only nominally a clan. How many of us are

there?”

“As many as before, plus Braver.”

 “And minus Callen and Kray.”

“What’s that? Is Callen abandoning us?”

“She isn’t. They’re with us, but also on their own.”

“Could you explain that, please, dear? I’m confused.”

The elf who’d been sitting at our feet moved a little, changed
his position, and froze, looking lost in thought again, clearly doing an
inventory of the formidable information repositories he had in his
mind. I wished the gods of devious slyness would help him. Tyrant
turned onto his other side and carried on sleeping soundly. Roskie
took out her fishing rod and started to replace the line on it. But
before she grabbed a large piece of chicken from our makeshift table
and threw it towards the bushes. A large pitch black wolf jumped out,
grabbed the treat with a loud crunch, and returned to his hiding place
at once. I gave a start, interrupting Kyre, who’d been about to explain
something.

“It’s Krumm,” my daughter said casually, seeing my confusion.

“He’s gotten used to these treats. Don’t worry, daddy. He’s perfectly
tame. There’s also Krushie, a girl, Tushie the snorter, and Foss the
growler. Foss likes Krushie, and she has a soft spot for Tyrant.
They’re our pack now. Tyrant’s the leader.”

“Well done, daughter!” I said, and then whispered to Kyre, “I

appear to have missed out on a lot.”

“I won’t argue with that. Roskie is gathering her coterie, and

this is no joke. She isn’t a goddess yet, but she has powers. These
wolves are getting stronger day by day. And there are two more
shaggy beasts running around—I think they’ll join the pack, too,
before too long.”
 “I have indeed missed out on lots of stuff,” I repeated. “And it
isn’t like I’d been gone for too long.”

“Roskie doesn’t only fish. She’s also an avid reader. And she
tames wolves. They’ll tear anyone apart for her. Do you remember
me telling you about Tarnius being careless enough to express his
criticism of our daughter’s behavior?”

“I do. So?”

“When Roskie gave him the hairy eye, so did all the wolves that
were resting by the pond. And, trust me, Ros, there was murder in
their eyes.”

“I’m proud of my daughter—and worried about her at the same

time. A strange feeling.”

“That the feeling every single parent gets on a daily basis for as
long as they’re alive. As for Roskie… It was you who’d put wolves,
books, and fishing in her head. Now you’re responsible for it.”

“Right. So, what about Callen and Kray? Are they with us or are
they not?”

“Well, they are, and they aren’t.”

“Kyre!”

“Let me explain. You do know that Callen works for the IWH,
right?”

“The Intercontinental Waldyra’s Herald. I am.”

“And she’s a real star. She is. It isn’t just that her articles
concern the hottest topics that interest everyone—she’s also praised
for her eloquence and ability to fill her text with detail and emotion.
And it isn’t something I came up with. I heard it from some grunting
guy with a beard who was sitting on the shore, relishing the
newspaper, licking his fingers as he turned the pages and singing
syrupy panegyrics to Callen’s quill and to Callen herself.”

“Yew!”

“I agree.”

“Someone should have unleashed Kray upon him!”

“Well, at any rate, Callen is a newspaper superstar, and she

appears to be their number one asset on this continent. So now
she’s the WHZ Editor-in-Chief.”

“Come again?”

“Waldyra’s Herald Zar’Graad, what is it that you don’t

understand? She’s their editor-in-chief. Got appointed yesterday.
Officially, like. With a contract and everything. The salary’s big
enough for anyone to get jealous. I’ve been asked not to reveal the
exact sum, but, trust me, it’s more than ample. Callen’s assistant
uses magic to produce the Zar’Graad version of Waldyra’s Herald
that contains local news and a selection of the most important ones
from the old continent. He makes them out of tree leaves. They can’t
make more than a run of two hundred copies in the meantime. The
old continent gets a real-world copy and uses it as the source of a
much bigger print run. They sell like hot pies over there. The next
time you jump here, they’ll need a few artifacts brought over for their
miniature magical printing press. A paid service, of course. Besides,
we’ll get on good terms with the IWH, and that’s something that will
really come in handy for us as a young clan. Also, maintaining good
relations with one of their editors will be useful in lots of other ways.
After all, she’s the first one to get all the news from the old continent.
Pretty neat, huh? And Callen’s one of our clan members besides
being their editor-in-chief on this continent—don’t forget that!”
 “I get it. It’s just that you’ve surprised me quite a bit. OK, so you
mean Callen is busy from morning till evening?”

“Till late at night, daily. Working for any newspaper is utter hell
with constant deadlines, hysterics, sleepless nights, and other
delights associated with such existence. From the morning until the
afternoon she collects the information about all of Zar’Graad’s latest
quirks and battles, then works on the cover story, then observes and
writes some more. Her assistant takes care of the business ads and
the classifieds—buying, selling, renting, leasing, and so on. And
Kray works as their bodyguard around the clock. After all, they’re
constantly in some warzone. And all of this is likely to stay this way
for a long time—if not forever.”

“Right… So we do and we don’t have fellow clan members at

the same time. And what if we hire someone other than Kray as a
bodyguard?”

“Yeah, right.”

“Eh?”

“I told you—Callen’s assistant follows her everywhere.

“So?”

“He’s a very spry and upbeat elf, young and good-looking. He

might be someone like that in the real world, too. So he keeps
hanging out around Callen, bringing her tea and crumpets, excels at
small talk, tells jokes all the time, and never forgets to compliment
Callen. Compared to him, Kray is a bumbling ape with his tail torn
off, afflicted by dementia and exhibiting occasional clumsy outbursts
of emotion such as a bunch of flowers picked at a nearby meadow or
a scary grin of encouragement. Besides, Kray is protecting them, so
he fights constantly, with his square dwarfish derriere turned towards
them, whereas the elf smiles radiantly all the time, and the tips of his
ears twitch with excitement whenever Callen says anything.”

“Right on,” I said slowly.

“Right on,” echoed Orbit and Roskie, who had snuck up on us,
listening raptly all along.

“Why the hell are you just sitting there?” Bom roared from the
direction of the First Camp. “Who’s gonna carry these crates? All
right, the boss is having a rest, and Orbit is a spindly weakling. But
Kyre! You’re a young woman! How can you just sit there in the
flowers on the shore? You’re a strong young lady with mighty hairy
biceps! Help me with the crates!”

“Who’s got hairy biceps now?!” Kyre squealed in indignation.

“We’ll be with you in a moment,” I yelled, chuckling at the same

time. “Relax, Kyre. If Bom’s joking, our finances are in tip-top shape.
I’d rather the treasurer was in a good mood. Have we got the next
batch of wares in place?”

“Sure. We’ve been following the list—the items that hadn’t

survived teleportation were removed from the pile and sold to the
trade fleet, which is about to head for the Ring of Peace. And the
information about perishables has been shared with all the clans for
remuneration. I have the money—a dowry worthy of any bride.”

“A bride,” I chuckled. “Sure. You’re the spitting image of one.

Dowry and all.”

“I’m telling you! Stick to me, and we’ll go places! Tee hee…”

“So what about Kray and his square dwarfish derriere?”

 “Callen is the gravity center of his gravity center. You can’t
separate them. Besides, Kray is jealous and angry as a raging bull.
I’m expecting him to blow at any instant. Judging by his frequent
huffing and puffing, it’s likely to happen any time soon.”

“I’m reading you loud and clear. So, two fellow clan members
are lost to us. Callen is busy with the paper, Kray is with Callen, and
the shadow of the fresh-faced elf with his ears aflutter in excitement
is looming over them. Bom will handle the auction, so we can’t
engage him. You’re with Roskie, so you’re out of circulation as well.
So where does that leave us?”

“Doc is with the newspaper team. But he’s sick of it already and
is waiting for you to give orders to march forth.”

“He won’t have to wait long. So the active members are myself,
Orbit, Doc, and Braver.”

“Why don’t I and Roskie join you?” Kyre said, calculating

something contemplatively. “Your teleportation is unique, after all.
Will it carry all of us?”

“I don’t know. We shouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t know

about Roskie. And the Ring of Peace plan? Are we axing it?”

“A tiny tropical paradise… Ros, you can’t escape fate.

Therefore, go without us and keep on preparing. But the next time
we’re coming with you.”

“What if teleportation fails?”

“Do you have any other options?”

“Well…”
 “We won’t be able to sit it out in a tropical paradise, Ros. If
someone will come looking for Roskie, they’ll come to the islands,
too.”

“I know. But they’d be unlikely to come anytime soon, and there

wouldn’t be many of them. There’s a chance of fighting them back.”

We were talking with Roskie present. She had grown into an

intelligent and mischievous teenager. So it was up to her to listen
and decide.

“Fight them back? I’m not so sure. What if the world becomes
whole once again? I’m referring to the pantheon of Waldyra’s gods.
Right now they only rule over the old lands and seas. But they’ll
surely try to expand their influence and gain more followers. It’s in
their blood.”

“Well, that much is true,” I agreed. “Any god wants more

followers.”

“Right you are.”

“So there you go,” Roskie chimed in.

“The Ri-i-i-i-ing won’t wo-o-o-o-ork,” Orbit said.

“Orbit objects to it, too,” Kyre pointed at the elf.

“Well, that argument carries a lot of weight,” I admitted. We all

knew about Orbit’s wisdom and wouldn’t disregard his opinion.
However, I was sometimes irked by the fact that Orbit didn’t bother to
explain why things “wouldn’t wo-o-o-o-ork” immediately. It wouldn’t,
and that was that. We would just have to take him on his word.

It took me some effort to part with my dream of a safe tropical

island at the center of the ocean populated by friendly locals. There
was everything you could
fishing, and adventure. But
now. Many ships preferred
set up bases there. Time’s
have waned.
need there, including guilds, followers,
no one knew what was happening there
to stay on the Ring and the Wings and
passed by, and Roskie’s popularity may

“We are staying far behind the frontline for the time being. And
this means Zar’Graad,” Kyre said.

“With that thing underground? And what about the earthquakes

and tsunamis?”

“They only affect the ocean depths and inland areas. The
coastline is peaceful—provided you keep away from the places that
all the other players are eager to explore. The Sleepless Ones are
building a gigantic teleport about fifteen miles away from here. I’m
planning to relocate in that direction—there are many forests, lakes,
and four rivers that flow into one. The Sleepless Ones are building
the portal at the confluence. Judging by their actions, that’s also
where they plan to found the city and build their fortress.”

“Not bad.”

“As usual, they are acting on a grand scale. Seventy percent of

their clan are at the construction site fighting back attacks, helping
the masters, and not finding any drudgery beneath them. Callen has
already published a picture of Malice and Whisper with a pickax and
a shovel. The elite killers were digging a ditch and smiling for the
camera, although their smiles betrayed what they actually thought of
shovels and pickaxes. There’s a rotation—they spend some time
exploring, and some more time helping with the construction. A
couple of clans have set up their bases nearby. This is easy enough
to understand—the closer to the future portal, the better. Some of the
alliances have split because of quarrels. Their remnants joined the
larger clans, including the Sleepless Ones.”
 “Not bad,” I nodded, not really surprised that much. I had
studied the Sleepless Ones well and managed to pick up a lot from
them. One could safely say that their clan had left a deep and
constantly tingling scar on my brain, which would never be the same
again. “Oh, by the way, we have a house there!”

“Where?”

“Next to the portal. Three or four stories high. Me and Bom got
the plot of land from Baroness for delivering a number of
suspiciously large crates there.”

“That’s cool! In the center of the city?”

“Yup. Real estate. Only a project so far, though—but you could

erect a tent there right now. All we need to do is find out just where
the plot in question is.”

“I will!” Kyre promised. “Today! You can’t find a safer place—the

Sleepless Ones won’t let anyone near the place where they’re
building their portal. This is great to know. Have you signed the
contract? That fox…”

“We have,” I smiled unwittingly. “Bom roared and there was

spittle flying everywhere, and BB ended up signing the papers. The
territory is ours. And I want another adjacent plot if we have to
deliver the parts of the portal Baroness needs again.”

“This is really great by every account. Callen will most likely set
up her mobile publishing facility and office there.”

“So let her. It’s perfectly safe.”

“Have you read the last two WH issues yet?”

“No. What’s in them?”

 “A big piece on how just two Heroes of the Final Frontier aided
by some of the locals inflicted a crushing defeat on a PK clan known
as the Evil Flame, not only winning the war, but also confiscating all
their loot and chasing them away from a peaceful town on the shore
of Lake Naikal. The same piece condemns the destruction of an
ancient clock tower by the perfidious PKs. Basically, it’s hurrah to the
heroes, serve the PKs right, and so on. Oh, and they’re also
wondering whether the legendary Rosgard, formerly the Great
Navigator and one of the new continent’s discoverers, had really
come back home to bring peace to the lands ravaged by war.”

“Oh, why don’t they stick their ‘wondering’ up their…”

“Up their what?” Roskie asked.

“Nothing, dear. Damn! Well, sure, it does feel flattering. And it’s
true, too. Besides, the clock tower was a really beautiful structure.
But the last thing we want now is extra publicity.”

“You can’t avoid it, anyway. Start recruiting, Rosgard. Right

now.”

“And who’s gonna deal with the recruits, if I may ask?”

“Well, it’s a problem. I advise you to split it into parts and

delegate. You’re the leader, after all.”

“Delegate,” Roskie echoed in a whisper.

“Delega-a-a-a-a-ate,” Orbit said, also in a whispering.

“You two! Go and fish!” The paladin barked, and the two merry
pranksters scurried towards the shore at once. Kyre had surely
taught them discipline.
 “Could you explain?” I asked.

“Start by finding a few alchemist players, for example. They

most often hang out around alchemy stores that buy ingredients from
players and scrounge scraps of skin, slime, eyeballs, and herbs from
those who harvest them. They can’t obtain the ingredients on their
own, so they’re forced to beg, eager to develop their alchemy skills.
Take them to Braver—he can be their mentor, and you’ll provide
them with the ingredients they’ll need to learn. Let them get used to
being in the clan and make themselves at home there. If we’re lucky,
they’ll like it, become friends of ours, and stay. But there are no
guarantees. Once you find the alchemists, start looking for doctors.
You’re taking Doc with you, aren’t you?”

“Him and Orbit. And I’d like you to take care of Roskie for a day
or two.”

“I’ll manage. So, find two doctors. The kinds that will evolve in
different ways and choose different classes. Put them under Doc’s
command—let him be their sensei. He can start with theory and tell
them what they are to expect, what surprises life has in store for a
field doctor, what spells and auras they are to study first and
foremost, and so on. Whenever Braver and Doc won’t have the time
to deal with them—for example, if they join you on some campaign—
let them read. Any newbie of their profession should read a lot. I’ll
give you a list of books they’ll need to begin with. Buy them and
place them in the clan library. Every clan has one and does
everything to stock the library up to the best of their ability, sparing
no effort or money to expand it. Once you get back from your
mission, you can keep the newcomers from getting bored by taking
them with you to a fight, somewhere near Algora, and make sure
they have adrenalin coming out of their ears and noses. They should
also see you help them and protect them—standing at the ready,
warning them of danger, and controlling the situation in general.”

“I can’t process it all at once, Kyre.”

 “That’s what you need to know, Ros! A clan should provide
something players can’t get from solo leveling-up! Otherwise, why
would they join a clan in the first place? You’d bring them in, they’d
spend a few days learning, and then they’d get bored and leave.”

“What about the salary?”

“Of course there should be a salary. But what’s the point of

offering a salary to someone who doesn’t yet contribute to the clan’s
prosperity and safety? You might as well pay kids at a kindergarten.”

“What if we recruit more experienced players?”

“You have to hatch fellow clan members from eggs!” Kyre

declared sententiously. “And rear them since they’re fledglings!
You’ve got to be the one who cracks their shells, since a newly-
hatched chick’s mother is whomever they see first!”

“My teeth feel strange, and I have sniffles. Can I skip school
today?”

“But, Ros, what did you expect?”

“We have a new war. With the Darkest Force clan.”

“You’ve mentioned as much. So what?”

“Why don’t we wait with recruiting for a bit?”

“There’ll always be some war with someone somewhere. And

there’ll be sieges, too. I’ll take care of some of these issues once I
get back. There’s also Bom.”

“But he’s always busy at the auction.”

 “So? He can just announce the lots, start trading, and get back
to the clan hall. We need defenders. Every single fighter counts.
You’ve accepted a declaration of war—which you shouldn’t have—
and we don’t even have any fighters.”

“I have already solved this problem, albeit partially.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yeah. The Mercenaries’ Guild is waiting for me. I’ll take ten.”

“Whom?”

“Six melee fighters. All of them with lots of HP. Two archers. A
bard. And a healer. I provide the battle magic, and Braver takes care
of explosions. Doc will complement it by healing magic. Then there’s
also Strictus with his assistants.”

“That’s something, at least. Our clan hall is in a town. If the

enemy clan doesn’t want any problems with irate locals, they won’t
use any area spells capable of doing splash damage to someone
near us. They’ll just use the clan war right, will break in, and will try
to slaughter everyone en masse.”

“It’s Dorth Viderrr. Trust me, he’s perfectly capable of using

area spells. And the city still lies in ruins.”

“The locals are quick builders, and they rebuild even quicker.
All they need is time and construction materials, so you might
provide some assistance with that. You can’t give them time, but you
can surely give them as many bricks as they need.”

“That’s what I was going to do, anyway. We’ve got to rebuild

Tranqueville. We’ll rebuild the clock tower ourselves. No matter what
Callen has written, I was the one who’d destroyed it while PKs were
inside. There was a lot of howling and whining, not to mention
dust…”

“All’s fair in love and war,” I said in a mock baritone as I got up.
“I’ll go help Bom.”

“Ros! We haven’t discussed things properly! I haven’t even

started!”

“It’s time,” I sighed, spreading my arms. “It’s time to hop back.

I’ll do as you’ve said, and add anything I can myself. Then I’ll wait for
you to deal with all of it. By the way… Will you help us with the
crates? I’m but a weak mage. And you’ve got mighty hairy biceps the
size of my head.”

“Ros! Would you lean closer? I’ll give you a very loving and
gentle fist in the face!”

“I’m joking! I know you don’t have any hairy biceps!” I hurried to
correct myself. “I do know, after all. But, really, can you help with the
bales and the crates? I need to let Doc know, and Orbit, too. I’ll come
over in about another day to get you and Roskie.”

“It’s a good plan. And a bad one at the same time. I mean
Roskie.”

“Why’s that?”

“If she sits it out here for two more weeks, she’ll stay a simple
girl—or become the next best thing to one. The War of Gods will be
over soon. New gods will ascend to their thrones, and the old ones
will fall. No one from their pantheon is even looking in this direction
at the moment. After all, there are no believers here—giant hares
don’t count. The players and the locals worship their own old
continent gods and aren’t likely to change faith anytime soon. It’s
quiet here. Will we be able to protect Roskie over there?”
 “But what does she herself want?” I asked after a brief pause.

“Who knows? But she often looks at the stars in the sky at
night. And often comes up to stand on the tallest hills, looking at the
sky and the faraway horizon. Also, I think Orbit has already poisoned
her with his sweet poison. I’m talking about dreams, Ros. Dreams of
what’s high above. Of what’s momentous. Of what’s nearly out of
reach. So I’m just doing my obligatory worry ritual. Roskie has made
her choice already—she wants to be among the stars. Even though
you could make her keep her eyes on the ground in front of her and
not raise her head. She’ll listen to you—you’re a father, after all.”

“I am,” I agreed. “And this is why I’ll never make Roskie do

anything against her will. Never.”

“It’s decided, then. And predestined.”

“Yes. I’ll prepare our base and beef up its defenses a little. I’ll
make sure it’s manned properly. And then we’ll come back to get you
and our daughter. Then there’ll be another great mission before us,
but we’ll manage.”

“We’ll manage,” Trouble smiled as she squeezed her iron fist.

“We’ll definitely manage. So get going. And if we’ve started with
Roskie’s ascension, we’ll have to think of a temple.”

“It’s the second building in Tranqueville that we shall rebuild by

ourselves,” I nodded. “They’ll start clearing up the rubble as early as
today. It’s a promise.”

“She also isn’t going to leave her wolves here. There’ll be two
more of them tomorrow—at least.”

“We’ll take them with us, too. We’ll just push a few crates and
passengers around.”
 “Excellent. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow, and at home
today. And you’ll have to crawl out of the cocoon a little earlier than
usual—there’ll be a family dinner. And the security detail guys will be
present, too.”

“In a couple of hours I’ll get the rest of my Navigator’s fee.”

“Another reason to celebrate. See you in the evening.”

“See you.”

We bumped our fists; this cost me a few HP. Then I hurried

uphill, homing in on Bom’s raspy roar, locked as he was in a fierce
battle against the cargo. Amazingly, a large number of players were
helping the half-orc. They were arranging crates in a careful pyramid,
and securing everything with ropes and chains. Cages with live
animals went on top. Tarnius stood nearby with a short list in his
hand, looking regal. Behind the mighty mage’s back there were a
few metal cages and crates with narrow slots. They kept shaking,
and there was hissing, roaring, loud meowing, and fierce grunts
coming from the inside. Stinky sulfurous smoke was coming from
two of the crates.

The players helping Bom were far from mere mortals—the

ones I knew, at least. There were two deputy clan leaders carrying a
large trunk, and a warlord loaded with a bale. And there were
technicians and naval specialists holding bundles of tree branches
on their shoulders. They almost had an aura of eagerness about
them. But I don’t let any of that steal my attention away from the
character who was the most open about his wishes—namely,
Tarnius. He was clearly waiting for me—looking unruffled and ready
to negotiate. The rest were waiting, too, but their smiles were just a
little too sly. Something would begin any moment—unwanted helpers
would jump through hoops to wheedle something out of me—two
new passengers, a small discount in exchange for a promise of help
if such help is needed, or a box or two requiring urgent transportation
and allegedly containing no items from the new continent. I already
knew I’d agree to passengers and a discount, but I wouldn’t allow
boxes unless their contents were shown to me, which they would
refuse to do. I felt like a seasoned customs officer, willing to
accommodate, but with his conscience and sense of measure still
intact.

Before I started negotiating, I nodded to Bom, and then

approached Tarnius. He managed to surprise me by scrutinizing me
and then saying,

“I can see that you’re keeping an eye on your magic,

endeavoring to keep your spells and skills up to snuff.”

“I do what I can,” I accepted the compliment modestly.

“There’s just one spell from overseas that languishes. The Red
Wasp.”

“They could do nothing about this magic in Algora’s Mages’

Guild.”

“That’s temporary. I’ll give you a few papers and small boxes.
I’d like them delivered to the Mages’ Guild. Some of the spells will
become available to study and upgrade.”

“Consider it done,” I didn’t hesitate to answer. “I want nothing in

return. The growth and prosperity of the Mages’ Guild benefits us,
too.”

“Your wisdom grows along with your power, Rosgard. Verily! It

isn’t enough to know magic—you need to develop it day and night,
reaching new heights. You need to reach for the sky! And who but
the Mages’ Guild will provide you all the help you’d need on your
way?”
 “Your words ring true,” I agreed solemnly, copying the
archmage’s lofty style.

“Accept this as a token of my gratitude,” the archmage waved

his hand briefly, and I received the system message that the Red
Wasp spell transformed into Three Red Wasps.”

“Thank you!”

“There are these cages here, too. The beasts inside them are
extremely dangerous—yesterday they killed many of you outlanders
with their venom, their fiery saliva, and their living spikes that
penetrate your skin. There is still no antidote or any other means of
countering it. It’s a great oversight! The creatures must be delivered
to the Mages’ Guild at once for a proper study.”

“This, too, shall be done without delay—and free of charge.”

“We at the Mages’ Guild are beginning to view you as our dear
friend, Rosgard. We are ever so grateful to you! However, your
daughter is very willful, and she’s coming into her power! You do
realize who your child may be destined to become?”

“You can see it?”

“Oh yes. I do have this gift of seeing the concealed. And your
daughter is… Your joy and a heavy load to carry at the same time.
Both. For all eternity.”

“It is known to me. So be it. I am ready.”

“Are you sure, Rosgard? Vanquishing a silver werewolf is a lot

easier than raising a daughter. Trust me! You’ll be able to see the
truth of my words for yourself, anyway. Good luck, Rosgard. Have a
safe voyage.”
 “Thank you, Archmage Tarnius. I also wholeheartedly wish you
success in your every endeavor.”

The stern old man departed, and I relaxed, watching his back
straight as any flagpole. The archmage may have indeed been
considering me a friend, but he still made me nervous. He was the
ideal head of the First Camp on the new continent. He was the very
kind of leader who would beat every plowshare into a sword, raze
the first native villages he’d encounter to the ground, burn fields of
crops, destroy every artifact of the old culture, expand borders, and
build new temples to replace the old ones. After his departure, other
leaders would try to establish a peaceful relationship with what few
natives would still be alive and show their surviving children the glory
of education in a school named after Tarnius, with a monument to
him in the front yard. And should the natives rebel, Tarnius would
return to punish them and then depart again. I felt strange—not like a
native, perhaps, but like an important gilded axle in an enormous
and incredibly sophisticated machine whose power is directed right
at Zar’Graad. Or, perhaps, a gilded cogwheel. But whatever you
might call me, it would still be some part that was constantly in
motion while Tarnius pulled the levers.

What conclusion could I draw as a result? A really simple one.

If there were any natives that we hadn’t yet met on the new
continent, it wouldn’t be expedient for me to get to know them and
develop a fondness for the poor folks. If a cogwheel stopped turning,
it would get thrown away, and if it jammed the mechanism, it would
be pulled out by force and destroyed. So I decided not to bother with
hypothetical natives and leave Zar’Graad at once. I wouldn’t want to
cross Tarnius and discover what it was like to bear the brunt of his
anger.

As soon as the archmage left, a couple of high-ranking players

approached me and started talking all at once, their voices joining in
a resonating roar with overtones of a plaintive howl about the
incredibly urgent and important needs of their poor clans who can
only be saved from destitution by immediate intercontinental cargo
delivery. Also, when would we finally agree on a substantial
discount? The price was too high; besides, there was a persistent
rumor that teleportation was far from safe, and the lives of the
passengers were in some serious danger. It would be fair to be given
guarantees of safety for the passengers and the cargo for such a
price.

There was some truth in the latter statement, but nothing of

what they said was enough for me to become more sympathetic to
their woes. I had a limit on jumps, and I’d already used up two. I
didn’t know how much progress the Sleepless Ones had made with
their gigantic portal, but they were unlikely to finish it within the next
couple of days.

Bom, the massive half-orc, came to my rescue, stepping

heavily. Together we managed to push a little, convince a little, take
their views into account and agree to some leeway, and then give
them our counter-argumentation and cite the unique nature of the
services we offered. As a result, we agreed upon a smaller sum in
gold, accepting in return other material goods such as alchemical
ingredients, quality provisions, and high-quality standard weapons
and armor, all of which was to be delivered within an hour of our
arrival to the old continent by cargo teleport to the city of
Tranqueville.

I wasn’t really too keen on divulging the location of our funnily-

named clan hall. But how much time would it take for them to find out
for themselves? After all, I didn’t do anything to keep this information
secret, and chatty locals were spreading information about the
glorious HFF clan based in a small town on the shores of Lake
Naikal all across Waldyra. And what the locals chatted about by the
fire at night wasn’t only heard by other locals—intelligent players
would listen in, too.
 Once we were nearly ready for departure, Orbit appeared,
followed by Doc who was mirthful and sad at once. His sadness was
easy to explain—he had already been intending to take part in a
small campaign together with a close-knit party of about fifteen
players. But then he got word from me and hurried to answer the
clan leader’s hall. That adventure went south, hence the sadness.
But he was happy to see us, and the fact that we had turned up
implied a new adventure.

I brought my fellow clan members aside and made a few

gestures, forming a party, starting video recording well in advance,
and urged them to do the same and to look out, since this would be
our third time. We should be prepared for anything—death at takeoff,
or falling down to earth from a great height. We’d need to bring
teleportation scrolls along, as well as health and mana potions and
an active magic map that could be linked to an area. We might land
anywhere, including the unexplored part of the continent, and, if so,
we might have to fight our way back. It would be like making a
landing far behind enemy lines. The stories about strange monsters
and plants hostile towards the invaders of their habitat had caused
me some concern. Finally, I warned them not to share anything they
might see or experience with anyone but their fellow clan members,
since none of the other clans would share with us. I realized we were
already engrossed in clan politics without even knowing how we got
there.

Neither the Baroness, nor any other Sleepless Ones were

among the passages. However, Doc had given me a thick sealed
package—BB had asked him to hand it to one of the five members of
their clan that she’d named to him, but by no means allow it to fall
into the hands of any other clan member. That was some serious
paranoia there.

Once the conversation was over, I addressed the passengers,

telling them an expurgated version of my earlier warning—anything
could happen during takeoff and the rest of the voyage, including
getting lost and dying. One had to be ready for surviving on one’s
own in enemy-controlled territory, or a lone swim to the shore that
would be a dozen nautical mile away and need to be reached in the
company of friendly smiling sharks. There was no emotion in my
voice—I just warned them of possible dangers calmly and truthfully,
without trying to scare anyone and just expressing my hope they
were all ready for unpleasant surprises. I kept the nebulous image of
the enormous guardian star in my mind’s eye all the time—the
prisoner underneath the continent’s tremendous weight. That prison
could be worse than the divine inferno, come to think of it.

To give my passengers their due, they didn’t just feign interest

in my words. After my brief address the passengers started checking
the contents of their inventories, their maps, and their potions. They
were true veterans who left nothing to chance. I wondered since
when I’d started to notice things like that. Then I remembered my
previous character—the class I’d chosen did not forgive any errors
about one’s equipment, and I had always been very pedantic about
preparing for every new campaign.

In about another five minutes, we took off. As I stood there with

my hand reaching out to the sky, I felt nothing but fear—it was like
pulling the pin out of a grenade I had clenched between my buttocks
and hoping it wouldn’t detonate.

There was a flash.

The effects of the turbulence were felt from the very start—the
madness started right after the flash. We bounced and got knocked
about like cowboys in a rodeo. A short moment of reprieve only
came once we’d risen above the clouds—not as high as the previous
time, fortunately. Far ahead of my I saw forbidding mountains and
valleys between them covered in a haze and becoming
semitransparent, revealing a grim dark weight underneath holding
the writhing colossus pinned down. I also saw other guardian stars
there—they were hanging inside the caves and using all their
weapons to hit at the heavy black object holding their sibling captive.
The deadly rays were hitting the black monolith, but causing no
effect. They would become dispelled and reflected. It was nothing
but fireworks.

Next came the long plaintive roar of a sick and weary beast. A
lazy shadow formed on the horizon and rushed towards us as a
sinister black shroud across the meadows and the forests. Purple
bolts of pure energy inside the shadows pulsated angrily.

There was another flash.

“We made it this time,” I said, my lips suddenly numb.

“But where’s Vitto?” One of the passenger dwarves couldn’t

help exclaiming in a gravelly baritone as he looked around himself
and failed to find his partner.

“Vitto had to get off,” Bom spread his hands. “It was his right,
and who are we to judge him? But I’m afraid I’ll have to charge you
for causing cabin decompression!”

“I’m not joking! Where’s Vitto?!”

“He got swept overboard,” someone else answered. “I saw it

myself. As if an enormous hand had slapped him and thrown him
away. He fell all the way to the ground, sobbing loudly.”

“The Knights of Fear don’t sob!” The dwarf barked, clenching

his fists. “Have you forgotten us sinking your ships and laughing at
your cries? Have you forgotten how our Mary Poppins had given
your Fiery Doe such a trashing that it had skipped across the waves
like a cracked tub all the way to the nearest reefs, where it got
smashed into kindling? Who was sobbing then?”
 “Oh yeah? You seem to forget that right before it our Doe made
short work of your escort ships together with the Titan’s Hand,
sinking six of them at once! There were lots of bubbles where you
sank! Shark feed!”

“You bony-assed elf scum! Do you intend to end our truce right
here? Reclaiming your old lands must have poured some balm on
your wounded pride. We can get a legion of our fighters right to your
citadel, which is a lot worse for the wear now! And we know the
address!”

“You stubby-legged blabbermouths would have to reach us

first! You call that a threat? Who will you use to mount an attack?
Recruits with jetpacks tied to their bare asses? Led by you
personally, wielding a secret weapon—a firecracker stuffed where
the monkey hides his nuts? Don’t trip as you rush into battle lest you
arrive in time for your own funeral! The Red Grove fears no threats!”

“I’ll lead them all right! I’ll chop off your immortality organ right
now for what you said about Vitto, you mangy elf!” The dwarf roared
as he grabbed a spiked mace from his belt with electric charges
hissing between the spikes menacingly.

“You must have been hit on your head by a spade as a kid, you
coal-faced dwarf,” the elf replied, taking out his red dwarf that started
to hum like a huge dynamo.

“Guys, put on your pants first,” I butted in, pulling Orbit closer.
“You’re making everybody laugh.”

“Huh?!” The two warriors said in unison as they looked at their

legs and discovered they were indeed wearing no pants—or shoes,
for that matter. They had disappeared during teleportation.

“Chop up the Red Grove for firewood! Where are my pants?!”

 “Sobbing Knights of Fear! Where are my leggings?”

“They’d gotten torn off by turbulence during cabin

decompression,” a huffing and puffing Bom informed them, carrying
a huge crate, visibly straining, and simultaneously overseeing five
burly guards tasked with looking after the precious cargo. “We’ll be in
touch, boss!”

“Sure thing! Make sure you don’t linger too long, Bomster! I’ll
have need of you. Doc will help you, too. Hurry up.”

“All right!” Doc nodded.

“Consider it done.”

The dwarf and the elf stopped quarreling, covered themselves

the best they could, and hurried for the nearest inn. There was
nothing shameful in it per se—you often saw recently-deceased and
just-revived players walking proudly in nothing but their diapers or
bikinis, but these two were in full-blown high drama mode, making
the whole scene look like a bad play with an expensive set design.

However, there was no time for pondering—my life felt like an

endless business trip as of late, with me being constantly short of
time. I had to hurry to Tranqueville.

“Will you stay here for the time being?” I asked Orbit, who was
eyeing good old Algora with nothing but tedium in his eyes.
“Tranqueville is peaceful again, but there’s a lot of routine work to
take care of.” The words “routine work” made the elf wince and grab
his cheek as if he had a toothache. “I get it, say no more. I can
introduce you to a very nice dwarfish lady. The very one who’s sitting
on a bunch of unsolved puzzles, all of them incredibly i-i-i-i-i-
interesting. You just have to behave and look presentable.
 The words “i-i-i-i-interesting” and “puzzles” made Orbit look
radiant. He squared his shoulders, polished his head with a cloth,
beat the dust off his shirt covered in motley patches, pulled up his
harem pants, which miraculously hadn’t fallen apart yet, sniffed, hid
a squeaking ghost underneath his shirt, and nodded to me
solemnly.”

“Si-i-i-i-i-ir.”

“Doesn’t look convincing to me,” I mumbled suspiciously,

grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him behind me across a
labyrinth of narrow side streets.

“Si-i-i-i-i-ir,” he tried again.

“Try to show off your better facets, will you?”

“Si-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about! I just have a huge request
for you! She has to see you as a wise and educated young man. So
try to impress her when you meet her, but not in your usual fashion!”

“Uh… ‘There rose a king in Scotland, a fell man to his foes, he

smote the Picts in battle, he hunted them like roes…”

“I like the way it sounds! Even though I have no idea what it

means—just like her, most likely! Orbit, try something simpler! Just
try it!”

“Si-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i…”

“That’s it. I surely won’t be offered any coffee this time,” I said
in a doomed voice, tumbling out onto a wide avenue and throwing a
sideways glance at the dark alley we’d just left.
 There was definitely something hiding behind the storm drain. I
thought I saw two malicious beady eyes glowing green, heard a
high-pitched squeal, and saw a piece of filthy fur. If anyone asked
me what creature I suspected it to be, I’d have said it was a necrorat
—a rather unpleasant undead species, fast and sharp-toothed. But
what would necrorats be doing right underneath Algora’s streets? I
wouldn’t be surprised to find them a lot deeper, on the lower levels of
the catacombs. This far up, though? That was highly unlikely.

However, the thoughts of the zombie rat I may or may not have
seen evaporated from my head at once when I saw the familiar
monolith of Mistraille Mythrell the dwarf. I hastily adjusted my clothes
and looked at the elf, whose best attempt at a modest and pleasant
smile was a hideous grimace of infernal agony. We’d definitely get a
boot in the rear, I thought to myself.
Another random document with
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 INTESTINAL INDIGESTION AND
OBSTRUCTION IN BIRDS.

Causes: Age, debility, atony, matting of feathers, dry or indigestible food, lack of
water, diseased oviducts, sand or gravel, lack of pebbles or power in gizzard.
Lesions: masses of egg, uric acid, or fæces in cloaca, implicating colon and cæca.
Symptoms: dullness, stupor, vertigo, staggering, erect plumage, trailing wings and
tail, bulging anus, covered with matted feathers, impaction felt by finger.
Treatment: extract mass, castor oil, laudanum, chalk, bismuth, pepper,
demulcents, phenol, exercise, silage, green food, pebbles.

Causes. These resemble those already noted for the dog. Old age,
debility, and atony of the bowel, the matting together of feathers
across the anus, dry feeding, indigestible food, scarcity of water, and
lack of exercise are especially to be noted. Malformations or other
changes lead to obstruction of the cloaca, and of defecation. Sand
and gravel passing from an atonic gizzard accumulate in the small
intestine or in the cæca distending them to great excess. Imperfect
trituration in the gizzard, from lack of pebbles, may prove a factor in
stoneless prairies.
Lesions. The most common seat of obstruction is at the cloaca, and
the impacted matter may be yellow partaking of the nature of yolk of
egg, or it may consist of feculent matters and uric acid in various
proportions, white, hard and fœtid. As in the dog this distension may
be continued forward blocking the colon and cæca as well. Lucet
mentions a case in which the impacted mass measured seven inches
long, and eight in circumference at its posterior and larger end.
Symptoms. The bird is dull, sluggish, stupid, giddy or unsteady on
its limbs, with feathers erect, wings, tail and head pendent and loses
flesh rapidly. Often a felted mass of feathers and fæces cover the
anus. In its absence there appears the rounded swelling or on
manipulation the impacted cloaca or rectum can be felt firm and
resistant.
Treatment. Soften and remove the external mass of fæces by the
aid of tepid water, clip off the feathers, which would tend to restore
it, then by the oiled finger and warm water injections break up and
extract the contents of cloaca and rectum. If impaction remains
farther forward give a teaspoonful of castor oil. If diarrhœa has
already set in, give 5 drops laudanum, and mix chalk or bismuth and
pepper in a mush to be fed to the patient. Injections of slippery elm
containing a teaspoonful of carbolic acid in the pint will prove useful.
The bird should be allowed plenty of exercise, its grain being fed
on a floor covered lightly with straw to encourage scratching, and
silage or green food should be allowed. On the prairies where pebbles
cannot be secured, imported gravel or vitrified brick broken into
small pieces should be allowed.
 COLIC IN SOLIPEDS FROM VERMINOUS
EMBOLISM. INTESTINAL CONGESTION.
Definition. Causes: presence of sclerostoma in arteries, form, habit, nature,
immature, biology, life in bowel, in submucosa, in arteries, outside the mammal,
pathogenesis, blood-sucking, verminous cysts, verminous aneurisms, seats of
latter, coagula, embolism, stagnation of blood, œdema and thickening of intestine,
mesentery, fermentations, tympany, infective inflammations, blood extravasations,
infection of liver and spleen. Symptoms: sudden attack, violent colics, reckless
movements, frequent defecation followed by its arrest, palsy of peristaltic
movement, of pain, prostration. Course: two to twenty-four hours, death from
indigestion, tympany, obstruction, hemorrhage, poisoning, recovery, sequelæ,
laminitis, intestinal catarrh or atony, debility. Treatment: aneurism worms beyond
reach, treat lesions, venesection, anodynes, stimulants of peristalsis, antiseptics,
compresses, sinapisms. Prevention: expel intestinal worms, exclude embryos,
tartar emetic, iron sulphate, arsenic, phenol, pure water, occasional vermifuges.
Definition. Congestion and spasms of the intestines in connection
with blocking (thrombus or embolism) of the mesenteric arteries,
and verminous aneurism.
Causes. The essential cause is the migration of the sclerostoma
equinum (strongylus armatus, Rud.) into the mesenteric arteries in
its agamous condition. It seems appropriate therefore to here notice
the life history of this parasite.
The sclerostoma equinum (strongylus armatus) is one of the
common pin worms of the horse. It is distinguished by its dull gray
or reddish brown body, thickest at the cephalic end and tapering off
toward the caudal, but ending in a blunt point; by the round, open
mouth furnished with several firm chitinous rings, of which the outer
bears six short symmetrically arranged papillæ, an intermediate row
of rounded blunt tooth-like projections, and the innermost a row of
fine, closely aggregated and very sharply pointed teeth for
penetration of the mucosa. Male ¾ to 1½ inches long, with caudal
membranous alæ in two lateral lobes, joined by a rudimentary
central lobe: two delicate spicula. Female ¾ to 2 inches long, blunt
pointed tail, vulva in posterior half of the body. Eggs ovoid with
slightly raised ring around the centre: oviparous.
 Habitats. They are found in solipeds in two stages of existence, the
mature worms in the cæcum and colon, and the immature in the
same organs encapsuled in little pellets of manure, and in cysts in the
mucosa but also apart in the arterial system especially in the anterior
mesenteric artery and other gastric or intestinal trunks.
The mature sclerostomata are found attached to the mucosa of
the large intestine into which the head is sunk for the purpose of
sucking the blood, and they may be gray, brown or red according to
the quantity of blood which they have imbibed. The author has found
them in little hernial sacs of the mucosa hanging from the peritoneal
surface.
The sexually immature sclerostomata are found in little pill-
like masses of ingesta in the large intestines and from which they
project part of the body through a narrow opening. Another habitat
is in cysts of the mucosa of the cæcum and colon and less frequently
of the small intestine, individual cysts varying in size from a pin’s
head to a hazel nut, and containing the young worm rolled upon
itself, and varying in size but always less than the intestinal worm
and always asexual. In some cases the cyst is found empty but with a
small opening toward the lumen of the bowel showing the means of
escape of the parasite. A third habitat of the immature worm is in the
blood-vessels, especially the posterior aorta and its divisions, and
still more constantly the anterior and other mesenteric arteries.
Biology. The ova of the sclerostoma are segmented in the oviduct
but are hatched out after they have been laid. The hatching may be
effected in the intestine or in manure or water external to the body.
When hatched out in the intestine they may pass out at once with the
manure or they may envelop themselves in pellets of the finer ingesta
and remain for a time in the bowel and finally pass out in this
condition. Baillet has traced their development out of the body. In a
watery or damp medium they are hatched out in a few days as a
cylindroid worm ¼ to ⅓ mm. long, thick in front and with a filiform
tail. In moist environment but especially in damp manure they grow
to 1 mm. or 1.5 mm. and continue for months in this condition, but
remain small and asexual, until taken in, in the drink or green food
of the soliped. Reaching the intestine and especially the cæcum and
colon they bore their way into the mucosa and encyst themselves, or
if they happen to perforate a blood-vessel they make a habitat of that.
In the cyst, development proceeds and when it has reached a certain
stage the worm once more bores its way through the mucosa and
reaching the intestine becomes sexually mature.
In this last migration the young worm is liable to perforate a
blood-vessel in which case it is destined to a period of existence in
the blood. It may, however, have blundered upon a blood-vessel at an
earlier stage when seeking a temporary home in the mucous
membrane, so that the sclerostomata of aneurisms may be derived
from two separate sources. In the blood-vessels the parasite attains a
length of 1 to 8 lines, whereas in the mucous cysts it does not exceed
3½ lines. Yet Neumann holds that after leaving the blood-vessels
they may again encyst themselves in the mucosa before escaping into
the intestine.
Several moultings take place in the asexual condition.
Other views have been advanced as to the development of the
sclerostomata. Colin believed that the ova deposited in the ducts of
the mucous glands and in the perforations made by the parasite in
blood-sucking, hatched in this situation and the embryo at once
encysted itself in the mucosa.
Leuckart imagines that the embryo found in the fæces or in water
outside the body of the soliped, should pass through an intermediate
host before it can return to gain sexual maturity in the horse. But no
evidence of the existence of such intermediate host is furnished, and
the encysted intestinal worms show no indication of a special
development which would have been accomplished in such host.
Willach holds to a hermaphrodite stage passed in the intestine of
the soliped. He found in the bowel small worms apparently related to
the sclerostomata by the appearance of the head and the caudal
membrane, but not exceeding three to five lines in length. Some were
evidently females and contained not only eggs with soft shells, but in
one case embryos. Others had the caudal membrane of the male, yet
contained also a few eggs. There is no vulva and the embryos escape
by rupture of the oviducts. These embryos he supposes are developed
in the same host into the familiar mature sclerostomata.
Whatever may be said of those alleged modes, the first described
series of changes and migrations may be taken as the usual and
regular method of development.
 Pathogenesis. Lesions. These embrace perforations of the
mucosa, cysts, aneurisms, embolisms and congestions.
Irritation of the mucosa. The adult worms, like so many
leeches are continually biting and sucking blood from the mucosa
and when present in large numbers, hundreds, thousands, or a
million create an aggregate of irritation which may determine violent
indigestions and congestions.
Verminous Cysts. These are like a pin’s head, a pea or hazel nut,
containing the asexual worm in a mass of purulent debris, or if
empty, presenting a small orifice where it made its exit.
Verminous Aneurisms. These are perhaps the most important
lesions caused by the sclerostome as they are the steppingstone to
the dangerous embolisms, and too often fatal colics and congestions
of the intestines. They are very common in some localities, and rare
in others following the distribution of the sclerostomata. Bollinger
found them in 90 to 94 per cent. of adult horses, and Ellenberger in
84 out of 85 horses dissected. They are found in all ages from six
months up, and are nearly always in the short, stubby trunk of the
anterior mesenteric artery. Often two or three exist in the same
animal, the whole length of the posterior aorta showing patches of
disease, exudations, neoplastic elevations alternating with
depressions, and aneurisms and thrombosis in its different branches.
In 100 horses Bollinger found 168 aneurisms, 153 in the anterior
mesenteric, and its divisions, 4 in the cœliac axis and its divisions, 3
in the hepatic artery, 3 in the posterior mesenteric artery, 3 in the
renal arteries and 2 in the posterior aorta.
The special predisposition of the anterior mesenteric artery is
variously accounted for: 1st. There is the obvious fact that its
branches are distributed to the cæcum and double colon, the home of
the mature parasite, and to the small intestines which are first
reached by the young parasites that are taken in with the water and
the food. These are therefore most likely to get into the branches of
this vessel and to follow them up toward its origin. 2nd. The anterior
mesenteric artery distributes its branches to the small intestines the
most motile portion of the intestinal tract, and the cæcum and colon
the most heavily loaded with solid ingesta, it is therefore the most
subject to traction, and distensions, and the more so that the parent
trunk is extremely short and the divisions pass in all directions and
to a large extent at right angles, so that there is a dragging of the
walls apart as well as an obstruction to the blood flow and an
increase of internal tension. The distension, laceration, inflammation
and softening of the internal coat have accordingly been regarded as
the starting point of an endarteritis upon which the parasites have
been implanted as a further cause of trouble. We must not forget,
however, that the sharp circle of teeth of the parasite, by which it
fixes itself on the intima of the vessel are quite enough to produce
initial endarteritis, without any assistance from distension, traction
or laceration.
The irritation of the intima from whatever cause determines here
as elsewhere exudation, and coagulation, and the inflamed walls
losing their tone yield more and more readily to the internal tension.
Sometimes the coagulum lines the aneurism or vessel all round,
leaving a narrow central passage through which the blood still flows;
in other cases the clot extends into the adjacent smaller vessels,
completely blocking them and disturbing circulation and innervation
in the parts which they supply. As a rule the parasites are found in
galleries hollowed out in the clot, and heads or tails may be seen to
project into the circulating blood. Sometimes they are found
imbedded in the arterial coat, or in an adjacent small abscess. The
formation of aneurisms in the other arterial trunks may follow the
same method.
Embolisms. These come very naturally from the formation of
thrombi in the various arteries. The coagulum determined by the
presence of the worms, tends to undergo retrogressive changes
notably fatty degeneration, to which germs brought on the worms or
in their alimentary canals contribute. This together with the
movements of the parasites tends to break up the mass, and minute
portions are washed on into the different smaller vessels. Soon these
reach divisions which are too small to admit them, which are
accordingly occluded and the circulation through them abolished.
The presence of microbes as well as fibrine contributes to cause
further coagulation, more absolute embolism and arrest of the
circulation.
It is further alleged that the sexual instinct in the summer months
(May to August) leads the worms to leave the aneurisms, to pass
through the smaller divisions to the cæcum or colon where alone full
sexual evolution is possible. In these migrations they cause the
thrombosis of the smaller trunks and determine the verminous
congestions of the bowels which are especially common in these
months.
Disturbances of the Intestinal Circulation. As these usually
occur in the lines of distribution of the anterior mesenteric artery a
knowledge of its divisions and their destination and anastomosis, is
essential to an intelligent understanding of the pathogenesis and
lesions. As first pointed out by Lecoq the anterior mesenteric artery
is divided into three primary bundles: (a) a left of 15 to 20 trunks
which are destined to the small intestine; (b) a right which gives off
cæcal branches, one to the double colon, and one to the ilium to
anastomose with the last trunk of the left bundle; and (c) an anterior
which gives one branch to the second division of the double colon
and anastomosis with the colic branch of the right bundle at the
pelvic flexure; and a second branch to the floating colon to
anastomose with the posterior mesenteric artery.
The divisions of the left bundle anastomose so freely with each
other in the mesentery and immediately above the intestine that the
blocking of any one branch cannot entirely arrest the circulation in
the corresponding part of the intestine. It may however produce a
partial local stagnation in the vessels of a short loop of intestine,
resulting in œdematous infiltration and thickening with resulting
induration and stricture of the gut. Chronic and permanent lesions
are produced by such blocking, but only rarely acutely fatal ones.
Acute and fatal congestive lesions of the small intestine from
verminous embolism, occur only when several adjacent divisions of
the artery are blocked at once, and this is a rare occurrence.
The right bundle of branches furnishes the only two arteries which
are supplied to the cæcum and the only artery furnished to the first
half of the double colon. The ileo-cæcal branch is less involved, first,
because being less dependent and smaller, it is less likely to receive
an embolus, and, second, because any lack of blood supply is
counterbalanced by the free anastomosis with the last iliac division
of the left bundle. When the embolus blocks the undivided trunk of
the right bundle this same principle comes into play, the free supply
of blood from the posterior branch of the left bundle supplying blood
through its anastomosis with the iliac and cæcal branches of the
right.
But when the emboli are lower down, in the cæcal branches of the
right bundle, or in these and the colic branch, arrest of the
circulation in the intestinal walls ensues, followed by paresis, passive
congestion and hemorrhage. The cæcum and double colon thus
become the seats of the grave and fatal lesions of verminous
embolism.
The resulting lesions are to be variously accounted for. The
stagnation of blood in the vessels below the embolus, determines a
speedy exhaustion of its oxygen and increase of its carbon dioxide, so
that it is rendered unfit to maintain the normal nutrition and
functions of the part, and the capillary and intestinal walls are alike
struck with atony or paresis. The blood filters into the stagnant
vessels slowly from adjacent anastomosing trunks, and the liquor
sauguinis exudes into the substance of the tissues and lumen of the
intestine, leaving behind the greater part of the blood globules so
that the stagnant blood is rendered more and more abnormal in
composition. The walls of the capillaries soon lose their cohesion as
well as their contractility, and giving way at different points, allow
the escape of blood into the tissues, bowels and peritoneal cavity. It
has been further claimed that the emboli already infected and in
process of degeneration communicate this to the walls of the vessels
and to the stagnant blood, hastening the process of degeneration and
rupture.
Another series of circulatory disorders are liable to take place. The
blocking of the vessels of the right bundle, tends to increase the
blood pressure in the left bundle and the anterior one, and thus to
determine congestions, paresis and inflammations in the small
intestines, the second division of the double colon and the floating
colon. The resulting inflammation and increased vascular tension
may lead indirectly to implications of the brain and lung.
Extravasations so extensive as to appear like blood clots may be
present between the layers of the mesentery or in the mucosa and
submucosa, and blood, liquid or coagulated, may have accumulated
in the abdominal cavity. Blood effusion into the intestine gives a dark
red coloration to the contents which are further mixed with distinct
clots.
 The atonic bowels are always the seat of extensive fermentations
and tympany. The microbes engaged in these fermentations and
their toxins, are accountable for toxic changes occurring in the locally
diseased parts and in distant organs. To this may be attributed the
congestion and softening of the liver and the engorgements and
hemorrhagic centres in the spleen.
Symptoms. An animal, perhaps known to harbor the sclerostoma
equinum, is suddenly attacked with violent and persistent colic. He
trembles, paws, moves his hind feet uneasily, kicks the abdomen,
throws anxious looks at the flanks, crouches, lies down, rolls, gets up,
and at once gets down again. The intensity of the suffering rapidly
increases, the face is drawn and pinched, the eye is extremely
anxious, the patient no longer lies down, but throws himself down
reckless of consequences, when down he is not quiet for an instant,
but now on his breast, then on his side, then on his back, the limbs
struggling and jerked violently, the head turned first to one side and
then to the other, he is a picture of extreme agony. If made to walk
the same indications continue; he walks with head down and limbs
semiflexed ready to drop at any moment, and often he will drop
suddenly in spite of every effort to keep him on his feet. The pulse is
at first strong and full, but as extensive effusion takes place into the
bowels or abdomen, or as the animal is poisoned by toxins, it
becomes small, weak, and it may be imperceptible. Breathing is
quick and catching, and the mucous membranes are dark red.
Sweating which shows first about the elbows or flanks or back of the
ears finally becomes general, the surface cold and the limbs
especially so. Fæces may be passed at first, a few dry balls at a time
from the floating colon or rectum, but soon they are suppressed
entirely. Some patients strain frequently to micturate but pass little
at a time.
In some instances the acute pain seems to suddenly cease, but
there is no general improvement, the patient stands with head
depressed, eyes sunken and expressionless, ears lopped, cold
perspiration, chilly limbs, unsteady gait and imperceptible pulse. It
implies merely a paralysis of the affected bowels in connection with
the extensive congestion and extravasation.
Course. Duration. The more acute cases reach their acme with
great rapidity, death may occur after two hours illness, and in other
cases it may be delayed ten or even twenty-four hours. It may be
caused by indigestion and tympany, by volvulus or invagination, by
excessive hemorrhage, or by poisoning with toxic matters.
Recovery occurs when the vessel blocked is an unimportant one as
a branch of the left bundle so that circulation may be reëstablished
from collateral trunks; or when a more important trunk has been but
partially blocked, and after a time it either clears itself, or collateral
circulation comes in with sufficient compensation. There is a more or
less rapid disappearance of the colics and other symptoms, a free
passage of urine, the rejection of fæces, it may be in a liquid, semi-
liquid or sanguineous condition, yet enough to indicate the
restoration of intestinal tone. The patient begins to pick morsels of
food and soon acquires his former appetite.
In some instances, however, the recovery is not complete. Trasbot
has noted a case of laminitis occurring within fifteen hours after the
improvement, and in other cases there remain chronic debility and
catarrh of the intestines. The appetite remains poor, there are
occasional colics, the bowels are irregular, loose or costive, and the
fæces are dry, glossy and covered with mucus. The back is arched,
the belly tucked up, strength and vigor are both lacking, and the
patient spends much time in the recumbent position.
Complications of various kinds may follow as in other diseases of
the intestines. After even the best recoveries, a relapse is always to be
apprehended as the original cause remains and the animal is liable to
be cut off at any time.
Treatment. This is very unsatisfactory as the original source of
trouble, the worms, being in the blood-vessels, cannot be reached by
vermifuges that would be harmless to the host, and clots blocking the
smaller intestinal vessels, cannot be dissolved and removed.
Moreover, although we could compass the death of the worms in the
aneurisms, we would leave their dead bodies as sources of septic
change, blood coagulation and embolism.
A certain number of cases, however, are not necessarily fatal, and
the worms of the blood-vessels have not an indefinite period of life,
so that there is some encouragement for both therapeutic and
preventive treatment. During the attack we must be content to treat
symptoms. French veterinarians still trust largely to general
bleeding, adopted at the very outset and to the extent of 6 to 10
quarts. It will temporarily lessen the vascular tension, more
permanently dilute the blood, and calm nervous excitement, and in
the most violent cases, as a kind of forlorn hope, it might be tried
with the view of tiding over the acute stage until a freer collateral
circulation could be established.
The use of anodynes will be more generally acceptable to American
practitioners. Two to four grains of sulphate of morphia or codeine
may be given hypodermically in combination with 1½ gr. eserin, 7
grs. barium chloride, or 2 grs. pilocarpin, to secure a speedy
movement of the bowels.
To counteract intestinal fermentation perhaps no better agent can
be got than chloral hydrate, ½ oz. of which may be given by the
mouth in water, and ½ oz. more by the rectum.
Wet compresses to the abdomen, or fomentations with water
rather hotter than the hand can bear or even the application of
mustard is sometimes useful as a soothing or derivative agent.
In the absence of morphia or chloral, laudanum, ether,
chloroform, camphor or assafœtida have been recommended.
It is important to keep the patient on a soft, littered floor to
prevent injury from his throwing himself down, and walking him
around may be resorted to for the same purpose.
Prevention. After a non-fatal attack and in every case in which a
horse is found to harbor the sclerostoma equinum in quantity,
measures should be taken to expel those present in the bowels and to
prevent the entry of embryos. The infested horse may be purged and
put on two drachms each of tartar emetic and sulphate of iron every
morning in a handful of feed half an hour before the first meal. After
six doses he may take a second active purgative. In case of need the
addition of 6 grains arsenious acid and a drachm of carbolic acid to
each dose will render them much more effective. All water must be
withheld that comes from streams running by farm-yards, from
ponds or open wells in barn-yards, from uncovered cisterns and from
any source which receives drainage or leaching from land occupied
by solipeds or spread with their manure.
A course of vermifuge medicine should be given at intervals of two
or three months to get rid of the worms which have passed in the
interval from the cysts of the colon, into the intestine.
 NON-VERMINOUS INTESTINAL
CONGESTION IN SOLIPEDS.
Causes: sudden changes to green food, or leguminous fodder, newly harvested
fodder, frosted food, iced water, microbian infection, toxin poisoning, intestinal
fermentations, experiments, volvulus, invagination, strangulation, compression,
atony. Symptoms: as in verminous aneurisms. Diagnosis: absence of worms,
presence of other causes. Treatment.
Causes. Acute intestinal congestion apart from verminous
aneurisms is ascribed to a variety of causes. Sudden changes of food
especially to green food, in spring, or to some of the leguminous
fodder plants (alfalfa, cowpea, clover, tares, vetches), newly
harvested grain or hay, fodders covered with hoarfrost, iced water,
and microbian infection or poisoning with toxins or other irritant
products of intestinal fermentations. Experimentally the injection
into the circulation of pyogenic toxins and putrid matters has
determined intestinal congestion and hemorrhage. In the same way
musty hay or grain have proved the occasion of these attacks. Finally
mechanical blocking of the circulation of the intestine as by volvulus,
invagination, strangulated hernia, or even compression by bulky
food has seemed to operate in this way.
It ought to be borne in mind that the habitual microbes of the
healthy bowel may become pathogenic when brought in contact with
a mucosa which is the seat of irritation, atony or any condition of
debility.
Symptoms and Lesions. The verminous aneurisms and thrombosis
aside, the symptoms and lesions of this form of congestion so closely
resemble those of the verminous affection that it seems needless to
repeat them.
Diagnosis is difficult but the absence of worms in the affected
animals and their fellows, and the presence of some one of the other
recognized causes may lead to a fair conclusion.
Treatment of the affection is more hopeful than in the verminous
affection, and may be conducted on the same general lines.
 PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS)
ENTERITIS IN SOLIPEDS.
Definition. Causes: As in ordinary enteritis, with added infections or toxins.
Symptoms: As in enteritis, nervous symptoms, diarrhœa. Lesions: Congested
mucosa, whitish or grayish false membranes, in patches or tubular casts, granular,
mucous, albuminoid, fibrinous. Diagnosis: False membranes in stools. Treatment:
Glauber salts, calomel, alkaline carbonates or tartrates, oils, antiferments,
demulcents, careful diet, bitters.
Definition. An inflammatory affection of the bowels characterized
by the ejection with the fæces of false membranes.
Causes. It has been long attributed to the causes which produce
other forms of enteritis and indigestions, as youth, rich stimulating
feeding, sudden change to green food in spring, sudden chills, over-
fatigue, confinement indoors, and prolonged costiveness. In man it is
found as a sequel of infectious diseases (pneumonia, pyæmia), in
Bright’s disease, cirrhosis of the liver and cancer, and in poisoning by
lead, mercury or arsenic (Osler). Cadeac, who found great numbers
of streptococci in the false membranes in animals, is certain it is a
microbian disease, and this is doubtless true, if qualified by the
statement that the microbe as is so often the case with other
intestinal affections, requires an occasion in the form of a diseased or
debilitated condition of the mucosa to enable it to become
pathogenic. The disease is not known to propagate itself indefinitely
or without such a predisposing occasion.
Symptoms. There are dullness, prostration, langor, hyperthermia,
accelerated pulse, and colics which may be slight or very severe. In
some cases nervous symptoms have been observed, such as
irritability or stupor and somnolence with icterus and fœtid stools.
The fæces are usually semi-liquid, implying an excessive liquid
secretion as well as the exudation of the membranous matter.
Lesions. There is a pink congestion of the intestinal mucosa more
or less generally distributed. Whitish false membranes cover patches
chiefly on the terminal portion of the small intestine, but frequently
also on the cæcum and colon, covering an especially red and angry
mucosa. They may occur as simple patches, as ribbon shaped pieces,
or as hollow cylinders lining the entire circumference of the
intestine. They appear as if fibrillated, but contain abundance of
granular matter and seem to be composed mainly of mucus with
albuminoid matter and probably a little fibrine. The deeper layers, in
contact with the inflamed surface are soft and gelatinoid. It is alleged
that coexisting wounds on other parts of the body become covered by
a soft pultaceous false membrane.
Diagnosis is based on the presence of the false membranes of a
considerable thickness, so that they can be distinguished from the
film of mucus which covers the fæcal balls in constipation or enteric
catarrh.
Treatment. Facilitate the secretion from the mucosa, and the
separation of the false membrane by giving 1 lb. Glauber salts, or give
this agent in doses of 5 or 6 ozs. per day. Calomel 1 dr. may be used
instead and has the additional advantage of acting as a disinfectant.
The alkaline carbonates or tartrates or even olive or castor oil may be
used as substitutes. Antiferments like salol, naphthol, salicylic acid,
and salicylate of soda have been prescribed to check the
multiplication of the germ. Flaxseed tea, elm bark, and other
mucilaginous agents may also be given. An easily digestible and
laxative diet and a course of bitters may follow.
 PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS)
ENTERITIS IN CATTLE.

Causes: as in solipeds, youth, overfeeding, plethora, dietetic blunders,

temperament, over-exertion, chill when heated, gestation, foul water, irritants,
drastics, infections. Symptoms: as in enteritis with false membranes,
complications. Duration. Lesions: false membranes, extent, color, structure,
composition, congested mucosa. Treatment: Glauber and other salts, pilocarpin,
potassium iodide, antiseptics, sulphites, sulphides, borax, bismuth, naphthol,
creolin, muriatic acid, bitters.

Causes. The same causes are quoted as in solipeds, youth, extra

high condition, rich feeding, sudden change to the green food of
spring, climatic vicissitudes of the same season, a sanguineous
(Reynal) or lymphatic (Friedberger and Fröhner) temperament,
overwork, exhausting travel, suppressed perspiration, gestation,
plethora, foul drinking water, special irritant plants (chicory,
Huzard), and drastic purgatives. Cadeac suggests bacteria, quoting
instances of a fifth or a fourth of a herd suffering at once. The same
would come from any other cause acting on the whole herd and it
seems probable that a microbian factor is present but can find
occasion for its pathogenesis only in given morbid conditions of the
mucous membrane. This would explain the failure of the affection to
propagate itself like a plague, and at the same time its tendency to
manifest itself extensively in given herds with a common
predisposing condition.
Symptoms. There are indications of enteric inflammation and
fever, rigors, slight hyperthermia, drying up of the milk secretion,
impaired or suspended appetite and rumination, constipation, colicy
pains, increasing dullness and prostration. As the disease advances
the excrements become soft, pultaceous or watery, with floating hard
baked pieces, dark and even glistening on the surface and more or
less false membranes. These are sometimes stained with blood,
which may also be mingled with the liquid debris. As in solipeds
these membranes constitute the only true diagnostic symptom. They
may appear as shreds, bands or complete cylindroid casts of the
intestine.
Other complications, like pseudomembranous exudate on wounds,
abortions and profound weakness are sometimes noted. The disease
may last eight days before ending in recovery. When death takes
place it is about the fourth or sixth day.
Lesions. The false membranes are found on the ilium and colon, in
thin films or in thick masses, or tubular casts. In extreme cases the
membrane has covered an extent of 24 feet in length, and if recent it
is soft and friable. If older it may be firm, consistent and yellow or
stained by the blood or ingesta. As in solipeds it shows a reticulated
network and a fine granular structure, and is composed mainly of
inspissated mucus with albuminoids and fibrine. The exudate covers
a surface of extreme redness, with points of darker blood-staining
and even abrasion or ulceration. The surrounding mucosa is also
congested, the villi hypertrophied, the mucous follicles swollen.
Treatment. In the early stages a laxative of soda sulphate is of
especial value in depleting from the inflamed mucosa, liquefying the
secretions and dissolving and loosening the false membranes. Epsom
salts, cream of tartar, Rochelle salts, calomel, and pilocarpin are
more or less valuable substitutes. Iodide of potassium is most
valuable in dissolving the exudate and acting as a microbicide (dose
3–4 drs.).
Other alkaline salts may be substituted or as antiseptics the
sulphites, hyposulphites, or sulphides of potash or soda. Borax,
bismuth, naphthol and creolin have also been recommended.
Enemata of warm water are desirable.
In very adynamic conditions, muriatic acid (½ dr. doses) may be
given with vegetable bitters and the same may be allowed during
convalescence.
 PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS)
ENTERITIS IN SHEEP.
Causes: As in cattle, draughts in folds, overfeeding. Symptoms: fever,
inappetence, weakness of hind parts, diarrhœa, tenesmus, false membranes, blood
in stools, tympany. Treatment: change diet of dam, exercise, Glauber salts,
potassium iodide, bismuth, flaxseed, elm bark, mallow, gum, carminatives, bitters,
antiseptics.
Causes. The same causes are claimed as for cattle. Clavel
attributed it to too rich milk, and exposure to cold draughts, in
folded lambs.
Symptoms. To the general symptoms of fever are added refusal of
the teat, weakness or paresis of the hind limbs, looseness of the
bowels and the ejection of false membranes with an unusual amount
of straining. The dejections may be watery and mixed with blood. In
some cases defecation is suppressed, the intestines being blocked by
the membranes, and then acute indigestion and fatal tympany may
follow.
The pathological anatomy and lesions resemble those seen in the
ox.
Treatment. Change the diet of the ewe, and allow more outdoor
exercise. Give the lamb Glauber salts (½ to 1 oz.) with potassium
iodide (10 grs.), and bismuth (1 dr.). Decoctions of flaxseed, or
solutions of elm bark, mallow or gum arabic are desirable, and
infusions of aromatic plants or oils of peppermint, anise, or fennel
may be added with quinia. As in the other animals such antiseptics
as salol, naphthol, naphthalin, boric acid, or salicylate of soda may be
administered.
 PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS)
ENTERITIS IN DOGS.
Complication of other diseases like distemper. Symptoms: fever, retching,
vomiting, tense, tender, tympanitic abdomen, irregular bowels, false membranes.
Lesions: stomach empty, congested, croupous exudate, extravasations. Treatment:
sodium sulphate, boric acid, sodium salicylate, salol, bismuth, by mouth or enema,
strychnia, vermifuges.
In dogs the formation of false membranes on the intestinal mucosa
seems to have less of an individual character, and is found associated
with other affections, like canine distemper and parasitism. In the
absence, however, of accurate knowledge of the specific cause of
croupous enteritis in other animals it seems permissible for the
present, to arrange the whole in one class characterized by the
presence of false membranes.
Symptoms. Along with the general symptoms of fever and the
special ones of the existing specific disease there is more or less
disturbance of the digestive organs, anorexia, vomiting, tense,
tender, perhaps tympanitic abdomen, irregularity of the bowels and
the passage of the false membranes. A morose disposition and
tendency to snap has been noticed by Röll.
Lesions. The stomach is empty with red or dark mottled mucosa,
the intestinal mucosa is congested covered with a layer of
mucopurulent exudate, and at intervals patches of false membranes
which are also found in shreds floating in the glairy contents. The
exudates are of a yellowish gray color, more or less streaked with
blood, and the mucosa infiltrated, swollen, highly congested and with
spots of extravasation of blood.
Treatment. Small doses (1 to 2 drachms) of sulphate of soda may
be given by the mouth, or boric acid (1 scruple), salicylate of soda (10
grains), salol (5 grains), or bismuth nitrate (½ drachm). Injections of
boric acid, borax, sodium hyposulphite, or even Glauber salts prove
useful, and powdered nux vomica (1 grain twice daily) may be added.
In case of intestinal parasites vermifuges must be resorted to.
 PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS)
ENTERITIS IN BIRDS.
In pigeons: Ærobic, non-motile bacillus, in lesions, membrane and internal
organs, pathogenesis, in chickens pathogenesis differs, also in man, parts attacked,
exudate, other symptoms, mortality early and late in outbreak, American form,
pathogenesis to rabbits and Guinea-pigs. Prevention: Avoidance of infection,
quarantine of birds, separation of sick, disinfection, accidental bearers of infection,
pigeons, buzzards, carrion crows, dogs, men, cleanliness. Treatment: Locally
antiseptics, phenol, boric acid, generally, phenol.
This has been especially seen in pigeons in which it has been
studied by Löffler, Cornil and Megnin, and Babes and Puscarin.
Löffler found an ærobic, non-motile, non-liquefying bacillus in the
false membranes, inflamed tissues, liver, lungs and blood, even in
the leucocytes. It formed irregular masses, and grew in nutrient
gelatine, blood serum and potato. It proved pathogenic to pigeons,
linnets, rabbits and mice, but not to hens, Guinea-pigs, rats or dogs.
Chickens, however, suffer from an acute diphtheritic affection caused
by a nearly allied bacillus, and it remains to be seen whether the
varying pathogenesis may not be due to the habit of long continued
growth in a particular genus and an acquired unfitness for growing
in the other. The pathogenesis is also different from the bacillus of
diphtheria of man, and the two diseases are not usually inter-
communicable, in spite of the fact that in rare instances infection has
appeared to have taken place from man to birds.
In pigeons and fowls the upper parts of the air passages and
digestive tract are mainly involved, the tongue, fauces, corners of the
mouth, nares, larynx, and conjunctiva. The bowels suffer less
frequently and mostly concurrently with the mouth, nose and throat.
The mucosa is deeply congested and in part covered by a yellowish
exudate which may accumulate in masses, and dry into a firm
substance. The disease affects particularly high bred birds, kept in
close warm houses, and is often imported by prize animals returned
from a show. There may be dullness, listlessness, sunken head,
trailing wings and tail, erect plumage, diarrhœa, and, if the nose and
throat are affected, a modification of the voice as in roup. Death may