Fox's Glade to help a family that's been replacing me

AW

the rattling infection that had taken hold of caiaphas' bones had been slow to abate; the inflammation it left behind even slower. her neck was a swollen mess, a weeping sore which had at first snarled open in red and yellow tissue, and then slowly knitted together in raw proud-flesh. the skin was tenuous and angry, and a large hematoma brewed miserably under her skin. the discomfort was otherworldly -- caiaphas had always been thin, but she was a bone-thin hag as she rose from the glade and slowly picked her way towards water.

her thirst in the simmering heat was unbearable; with a heavy plop caiaphas slid down the bank and collapsed in the cool water, lapping gingerly and simultaneously inhaling in pain as the cold water seeped into her open and disfiguring wounds.