The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two

by Charles Williamson

  After Michael’s goodbyes, he walked into the darkness and transformed into a Giant Ki Eagle and was back in his apartment in Southport in time for breakfast.

  Chapter 4

  For two extremely busy weeks, Michael oversaw the preparations for the forty wagons of supplies that would move north, and his partner Timothy saw to the purchase of everything that would be sent in those wagons. Diana was often with Timothy and his wife Carolyn assisting with the purchase of provisions. Michael was impressed with her immediate grasp of business. It was common for merchants in Southport to have their wives as full partners in all their business enterprises, and Michael usually deferred to Diana’s opinion on business matters.

  Diana and Michael discussed both the business and relief progress each evening before bed. The apartment sales had gone better than expected, and they added another thousand in gold crowns to their donation so that some luxury foods could be added to the provisions; Diana purchased palm sugar, dried mangos, nut-stuffed dates, pistachios, almonds, spices, and dried coconut to add to the shipment.

  One night before Michael’s departure, as they ate dinner Michael commented, “My love, you know that I can make more golden crowns using dwarfish magic, but I fear that if we donate too much and spend too much, it will raise questions about how we get all this money.”

  Diana explained, “There’s always heavy secrecy about business matters, but already people are talking about our wealth. Our apartment is one of the largest and most elegant in the city and our donations to the relief effort are widely known. Having this aura of success and wealth is actually good for our business efforts. Of course, Timothy and Carolyn think one of your Snowport ship captains discovered a chest of ancient gold coins on a wreck in the Southern Sea. The story you created last autumn seems to satisfy them, and the acceptance of the most important banker and merchant in town goes a long way to covering our tracks.”

  “I’ll defer to you about that. Just in case, I’ll make another five thousand gold crowns before I leave. You may need money for other relief supplies or business opportunities.”

  Since it was winter, wagons were not needed for the harvest, and many plantation owners had volunteered to send their wagons and drivers along for the trip north. The success of the apothecary shops in Southport had given the gentry confidence that their employees would not return with the plague. In addition, the year had provided a bumper crop, and the plantation owners were happy to have a large buyer to keep their prices up.

  The plan was to stop first at the makeshift settlement at the roadblock at Green Mountain Pass. The soldiers manning the pass reported that about five hundred people were camped in cold wet conditions hoping for a chance to enter Southport province. The two apothecary wagons would treat everyone before they were allowed to move down into the warmer conditions at the major refugee camp at Wellington Tea Plantation. After clearing the pass, the wagon train would move on to the crossroads at Marigold Meadows. After seeing to the needs of the locals, fifteen supply wagons plus one of the apothecary wagons would head east to Swamp Ford, and after making a delivery there and treating the sick, ten would move on to Oxbow Narrows and Azure Falls. After all fifteen were unloaded, the wagons would return to Southport for a second load of food and supplies.

  Twenty-five wagons and ninety guards, of the one hundred total guard detail, would move on to the much larger city of Broken Arrow where they would attempt to restore order, bury the dead, feed the population, and let the apothecary wagons treat the sick. Michael planned to travel with the Oxbow brothers on the route to Swamp Ford, Oxbow Narrows, and Azure Falls, but he had a project that he wanted to do before the wagons left.

  Michael had flown over Broken Arrow as a Giant Ki Eagle, and he knew that the knight protectors and priests had locked themselves inside the temple compound. They were killing, either by arrow or fireballs, any locals who approached the walls for aid. The last thing he wanted for the caravan of supplies was to arrive in Broken Arrow and have the church confiscate it, but the ninety soldiers that were traveling to Broken Arrow would be no match for the power of fire mages, be they either priests or armored knight protectors.

  Every Temple of Perry Ascendant had a golden Perry’s Hand symbol above the main ceremonial entrance. Before the plague, every citizen without a specific dispensation was required to attend the Holy Ceremony of Perry’s Fire each week. The appearance of Perry’s fire was promoted as a miracle and proof of Perry’s blessing of his church and those attending. The blue magical flame would illuminate the whole interior of the Temple no matter how vast. The flame would burn all night with no fuel except for the power of prayers of those who attended. It was the most important sacrament of the church, but Michael now knew that it was merely a fire magic spell. Michael had learned a counter to that spell from the Naiads of Black Sand Beach; the naiad spell was quench fire magic. Michael also knew how to use some types of spells to enchant golden objects in ways that would last for decades or centuries. He would make certain that the fire mages could not use their magic fireballs to kill the Southport soldiers guarding the wagons or hurt the local citizens. The spell would also make the church’s Perry’s Fire miracle disappear from Broken Arrow.

  Diana and Michael had spent hours talking about the deterioration of the living conditions of almost everyone in northern Glastamear. The last thing they wanted was anarchy and the loss of hope, especially if an invasion from the three kingdoms of the east was on its way. Destroying the religion of Perry Ascendant would be a disastrous idea if it were replaced with despair.

  The much older religion of Father God and his Holy Family was the first religion of the humans on the planet Home under the star Blue Haven. Most people still respected that tradition with small home shrines to Father God and his family, but the religion had no clergy, temples, or rituals. Michael hoped there was a way of offering a replacement religion to the vile control and greed of the direct male descendants of Perry the Bagger chieftain. His descendants were the only men on Glastamear with fire magic until Michael learned their secret spells. The healers would need to produce both a reformation of their religious beliefs and a revolution of political control if the kingdom was to be saved from repeated epidemics and the havoc of war.

  The night before the caravan was to leave for the provincial border at Green Mountain Pass, Michael flew to Broken Arrow. While still in his form as an eagle, he landed on the Perry’s Hand symbol above the temple entrance. After enchanting the gold covered hand with the spell to prevent fire magic, he flew above the city looking for signs of the white pneumonia and finding many who were infected. Order seemed to have broken down; even basic services like taking care of the bodies from the streets were not being performed. The situation looked bleak and the people demoralized. He noticed that his spell had extinguished all the lights coming from the Temple of Perry’s Final Victory. The perpetual light of Perry’s Final Victory in the center of the famous temple was now gone for the first time in two thousand years.

  He headed home to spend his final hours with Diana before he left to deliver supplies. He would be gone at least a month. They had a joyous time together, and as Michael was leaving their apartment, Diana said, “My love, my blood is now two weeks late. I don’t know for certain, but I may have good news for you when you return next month.”

  “My darling Diana, I’ll keep in contact through mage thought-talk every evening, and when I can, I’ll fly to you at night.”

  After a final kiss, Michael left with the four Oxbow brothers who wore their full sets of enchanted armor. The brothers had spent many hours each day, since they arrived in Southport aboard the Silver Trident, practicing the use of their two-handed swords and learning other fighting techniques from Jim Neville, a master swordsman as well as a healer. Jim had taught Michael swordsmanship while they were apprentices together at the home of the master healer William of Hearthshire Town, and during those years they studied together, Michael had helped Jim with his healer training
.

  Although Michael wore no armor, he proudly wore strapped across his back the bejeweled elf-sword he had found at Snow Troll Fiord. Its transparent stones sparkled in the morning sunlight and its rubies glowed with their wine-dark glow. Its hilt was the sort of showy sword a vain young merchant prince might carry, but inside the sheath was a true elf blade, a blade which would never grow dull and was sharper than any sword made by man.

  They walked to the stables of Timothy Son-of-Timothy’s. Michael mounted his large stallion Black Dash, and the Oxbow brothers mounted the fine warhorses, which Michael had recently purchased for them. They took Jim Neville’s horse along to deliver to Swamp Ford. They trotted their mounts across the causeway to the staging area for the caravan on the northbound road, and everyone got moving within an hour of the scheduled departure time.

  The main road north was the stone-paved Southport/Northport Royal Route, one of the best and most traveled roads in Glastamear. The Wagons made good time, but Michael and the brothers galloped ahead to exercise their horses and put some distance between themselves and the clatter of the wagon wheels on the stone highway. They were the first to reach the guards at the Green Mountain Pass.

  Michael presented the guards with the document from Governor Talton that permitted the transportation of the relief goods north to the towns of Broken Arrow, Marigold Meadows, Swamp Ford, Oxbow Narrows, and Azure Falls. Of course the guard had been expecting them for two weeks, but the senior guard examined the documents and gave the official permission to proceed.

  After the formalities, Michael asked the senior guard, “What are the conditions on the other side of the pass?”

  “At last official count there were four hundred seventy-seven living souls, but we lose a few every cold night and more arrive every afternoon. I estimate there are about four hundred and ninety. They hunt and gather food, but in winter, it’s scarce in these mountains and most have exhausted what food they began their journey with. There’s a lot of hunger, and all of us are glad you found a way to get them to a refugee camp without infecting the rest of the province, Perry be praised. I hate my assignment to keep them out. About half of them are children. They often cry from the cold and hunger.”

  Michael and the Oxbow brothers were a rather intimidating group. While Michael was in his ostentatious merchant finery with a jeweled sword on his back, the Oxbow Brothers were four large armored men on warhorses, a scary group. The refugees drew back in fear. Jacob and Robert were also healers, and all three casted fever search. At least ten of the nearby refugees showed the red glow of fever. Michael saw one feverish woman draw away in fear to hide behind a tree. It was that instant that he realized how foolish he’d been. He recognized her as a washwoman who had regularly come to William’s house to deliver robes she’d cleaned. How she got this far away from Hearthshire Town, he had no idea, but there might be other refugees who would know he was a healer in disguise. He was lucky this time since she had scurried away without getting a good look at him.

  Michael handed his sword to Peter Oxbow while he put on his hooded riding jacket. The hood was a temporary fix; he decided he needed armor with a helmet to cover his head until he had let his beard grow long enough to change his appearance. It wouldn’t fool a close friend, but most of those were now dead. He had already let his hair grow out from the shaved head common to apprentice healers. Now he had it bound together behind his head in the manner of southern merchants.

  He said, “My friends, let’s camp on the south side of the pass for tonight. There is someone in this crowd who would recognize I’m actually a healer rather than a merchant. I need to get some armor like you have so the helmet will hide my face.”

  Michael knew that Kevin the Massive, the finest armorer in Broken Arrow, had made the armor the Oxbow Brothers and Jim wore as part of a set for the late King Justin’s personal guards. He knew that, as recently as a few months ago, there had been four more in the same style at Kevin’s shop. He loaded his black traveling clothing, a heavy portion of salt pork, dried fruit, and salt cod as a gift, and a bag of gold crowns into his pouch. Out of sight of the approaching wagons, he transformed to a Great Ki Eagle and flew through the bright midday sunlight to Broken Arrow, landing on a roof in a back alley. There were two unburied bodies below where he perched. He quickly transformed, dressed, and made his way to the Street of Armorers. The shop was closed, but he climbed the stairs and knocked on the door of the apartment above the armorer’s store. Kevin answered and recognized him.

  “You bought five sets of the king’s guard armor. That extra money allowed my family to buy food, even at ridiculous prices, to make it this far into the winter. Come in good sir. Do you want more armor?”

  “Kevin, your armor has been excellent, and I would like another set for myself if you have any in the same style.”

  “You’re my first customer in three weeks. Thank Perry for your arrival. Yes, I have one in the perfect size to fit your slender frame. Let’s go downstairs, and I’ll show it to you.”

  “I brought a present; I thought food might be in short supply. It’s salt pork, dried fruit, and salt cod.”

  “Thank you good sir. Millie, here’s some fruit, pork, and cod from a friend. We’ll have a full meal tonight.”

  His wife Millie was only slightly smaller than Kevin the Massive. She hugged Michael as she thanked him for the generous gifts.

  Michael explained, “The governor and high priest of Southport have wagons of food on the way here. They should get here within ten days and this should help till then.”

  “Those damn priests seem to have plenty, but it is death to get anywhere near the temple walls. People in Broken Arrow would burn it down with them in it, if it had been constructed of wood. Curse them in Perry’s name. While they hide, we die.”

  The armor Kevin showed Michael was relatively lightweight, but it was made from well-hardened leather with a chainmail cuirass. Kevin adjusted it so that it fit perfectly and as with the other armor, he replaced the royal purple plume in the helmet with a black one. The helmet was a Ki Eagle design that would cover Michael’s face completely. Michael paid the armor’s asking price knowing that he had already discounted it by half when compared to his previous purchases.

  Carrying the armor in a leather bag, Michael climbed to a nearby rooftop, transformed into an eagle, and flew back to his camp before morning.

  Chapter 5

  Gertrude of Snowport was one of the healers that Michael had rescued at Snow Troll Fiord that past autumn, and she had volunteered to be one of the apothecary wagon drivers in order to secretly use her healing spells to cure refugees. She also planned to stay in Broken Arrow permanently and open an apothecary shop to provide cures. As each of the refugees from north of the roadblock entered the reception area, she handed them a dose of a harmless bitter concoction. If they actually needed a cure, she secretly cast clear lungs. By mid morning the whole group of nearly five hundred refugees had been processed and boarded passenger wagons to be transported to a refugee camp near Wellington Plantation.

  Rather than waiting at the pass, Michael had decided to ride to Marigold Meadows and see how the town fared. In general, the farther south a town, the later the white pneumonia reached it because the plague began in the extreme north of Glastamear.

  They had to pass through one of the King’s travel restriction roadblocks, but Michael showed the soldiers the governor’s letter and they were allowed to pass. The soldiers warned them that gangs of brigands had been actively robbing travelers in the area. Some were believed to be deserters from the Hearthshire garrison who wore guard armor and were well armed with crossbows and swords.

  Michael was hopeful that the pleasant town of Marigold Meadows where he had spent four days on his trip south would be in good shape. What they found when they reached the town was hundreds of refugees camped outside the stockade walls. The town gates were barred, and archers guarded the walls from catwalks at regular intervals.

  Michael rode
to the gates and called up to the guards. “A wagon caravan of supplies sent by the Southport governor and high priest will be here by tonight. Ask your mayor to come to the walls to discuss our entrance into town.”

  The guard made an obscene gesture and yelled, “This is some trick to let the plague into the city. Be gone or I’ll test the strength of your armor with my bow. Strangers are not welcome here, and no refugees are allowed inside.”

  “Get the mayor, or I’ll test the strength of your flimsy wooden gates with my sword.”

  The Oxbow brothers armed their crossbows, and that act seemed to get the townsman’s attention. After another even more obscene gesture and a shouted obscenity that would require impossible flexibility, the archer left and returned with a man with a familiar face. It was the innkeeper Ivan, proprietor of the nicest inn in the town, the Safehold Saga where Michael had stayed on his previous visit.

  “Hello, what do you want of us,” Ivan called down. “I’m the acting mayor since old Nicholas died last week.”

  “Ivan of the Safehold Inn, I’m Michael Son-of-William. I stayed four days with you in the wheat harvest month. The governor and high priest of Southport have sent a wagon caravan of food and supplies north to help the citizens of southern Briarton and Hearthshire Provinces. It will be here by nightfall. We have two apothecary wagons that carry a cure for the white pneumonia. I ask only that you open the gates.” Michael took off his helmet so Ivan would recognize him.

  “Well met, Michael Son-of-William. I believe you, but I will need to ask our priest. It was he who ordered the gates barred against the tide of refugees.”

  Ivan sent one of the archers to get the local priest. Marigold Meadows was so small that the local priest was not a fire mage since Michael could see no sign of manna among the inhabitants of the town.

  Soon the local priest in a rather threadbare brown robe stood above the gate and said, “High Priest Simon is known to be a virtuous and generous man. I believe he would send aid in our distress. We will open the gates.”