They entered the town using the fever search spell to determine how widespread the coughing sickness was in the town. Ivan and the priest Edward both had fevers indicating they were in the earliest stages of the pneumonia. Michael secretly healed both and Ivan led them to his inn.
“I fear my wife and son are both infected. They have terrible coughs.”
Michael replied, “I have several samples of a drug that has worked in Southport. I believe we can heal them. Once you come down with the fever and survive, you don’t ever catch it again.”
The priest said, “Michael, I’d like to come along and see if this cure works. We’ve buried fourteen in town already, and at least a dozen others are infected. What is this cure?” His brown robe indicated that Edward was the lowest rank of priest, addressed as Goodman.
“I’m sorry Goodman Edward, I don’t know the formula. I just bought a few doses from Gertrude the apothecary. She should be here before nightfall. It seems to always work. There have been very few deaths in the whole of Southport Province.”
Ivan led them to his private quarters on the first floor of the spacious but empty inn. Michael saw that both Ivan’s wife and son were in the final stages of the disease and would probably not have lived more than a day or two. After he administered the cure, both felt much better immediately.
Goodman Edward explained, “Since the healers are gone, Blessed Perry has sent us a cure to prove that we don’t need those murdering healers. Thank you Michael, you have given us hope and renewed our faith in the power of prayer.”
Michael was annoyed, but he couldn’t say too much without getting a very negative reaction. He also realized that Goodman Edward was probably a sincere believer who had no idea that senior priests were all fire mages. They were the direct descendants of the Bagger chieftain who had been given fire magic by Firebreath the Red Dragon two thousand years earlier. Goodman Edward had swallowed the whole ridiculous claim that the Healers’ Guild had conspired to murder Great King Justin and his family, the excuse given by King Richard the Vengeful for the condemnation of all healer mages in Glastamear. Michael had to wonder how many otherwise good men still believed that canard.
Goodman Edward could never rise from the level of small town Perry’s shrine attendant because he would never be able to perform the supposed miracle of Bringing Forth Perry’s Fire done weekly at every Temple. There needed to be a way of keeping the good and tossing out the bad as Glastamear underwent change, but true revolutions were not a thing anyone could really control. Like the ambush lions of the Great North Forest, revolution was a dangerous and frenzied beast that no one had ever successfully tamed.
“Maybe that is true Goodman Edward, but herbalists and apothecaries have always been in Glastamear. It’s not a miracle when their potions work.”
“Ah always the merchant. It’s money and not faith that direct you my son, but we thank you all the same. May Sacred Perry bless you, good sir.” The priest followed with the holy sign of Perry, and Michael was forced to respond with the expected “Thank you Goodman Edward.”
Ivan had been attending to his son Peter. He stood and hugged Michael. “His lungs are better already. I think you cured him. Please stay in the best room in the inn while you’re here. We’ve had no overnight customers because of the gates being closed, but you and your friends from Southport may take any rooms you like for free.”
“I would prefer to pay the same as on my last visit. I will not take advantage of a fellow merchant in these dire times.”
Michael and the Oxbow brothers tended to their own horses and moved their gear into two adjoining rooms on the top floor. Since Ivan’s wife had been sick, the inn offered no food. They ate a meal of dried cod and raw turnips and then walked about the town looking for others with fevers. Jacob, Roger, and Michael performed many secret cures, while Peter and Gregory stayed on guard checking to make certain that no one noticed their spells.
Since their public execution attempt was made in the largest nearby town, the Oxbow brothers might be easily recognized by anyone who attended the failed execution that Michael had foiled in front of over a thousand witnesses. At the time Michael had cast the naiad spell transparency and was not himself visible, but all of them stayed in full armor with their helmets on to avoid recognition.
By the time they finished walking around the town, no one who was out in public was untreated. Michael spoke with several villagers about the news that wagons of food would be there by nightfall. Several people had kind things to say about Goodman Edward who had tended the sick and buried the dead. He had also convinced villagers to donate food to those who had none, and to keep order in the town.
Late that afternoon, the first of the wagons arrived, and almost every villager came out to see them. Those who had been camping outside the stockade were allowed in, and there was a general celebration because the two apothecary wagons had come with a cure. Michael saw that control of the food supplies was given to Goodman Edward and acting Mayor Ivan. The caravan planned to stay only two nights before moving on to the much larger problems of the city of Broken Arrow. Michael planned to take the fifteen wagons intended for the eastern part of the province and leave for Swamp Ford the following morning.
Michael saw a number of familiar faces in the crowd of refugees, and asked one stranger from Hearthshire Town, who was with his wife and four kids, what had happened in that city to cause so many to flee south. The man he questioned was an innkeeper from the poorest neighborhood of the city that had once had about forty thousand residences inside the walls and a similar number in the province that surrounded it.
Howard the innkeeper explained what depopulated Hearthshire Town. “The mayor and high priest thought the way to prevent the plague was for everyone to stay in their own home, to not even go to the market to shop. They barred the city gates after buying all the grain they could from the surrounding countryside. A measure was delivered to every household with the number of barrels based on the number of residents. All of us thought what an excellent idea our leaders had. May Perry curse their souls to never be reincarnated!”
“It was a bad idea?” Michael asked.
“Several of the carters who delivered the free grain were already infected, and they spread the sickness as they traveled every street to every home in the city. Within a week, two in ten of the city’s population were coughing and hacking in their homes. There were no healers to help and more than half of those infected died.”
Michael could guess the answer, but he asked anyway. “What happened to the priests and knight protectors? Did they help the citizens?”
“They locked themselves into the walled temple compound. Of course, there were so many of them, that all of the carters delivered at least one load to the temple. When my family and I fled, the priests and knight protectors were still in the temple compound, but so many had died that they dropped the bodies over the walls hoping the locals would take the corpses to the cemetery outside of the city. They would not have done that unless things inside were horrible. Rumor was that one of the bodies was the High Priest of the Great Temple of Hearthshire himself. If true, that is just. He hired the sick carters who killed so many of us. Sometime during the worst of times before we fled, a crowd broke into the governor’s compound and hung him from the town water tower, but I swear that I have no direct knowledge of that.”
“So what of Hearthshire Town now?” Michael asked.
“Not every carter had the white pneumonia, so some houses are still healthy but shut off from the outside world. They probably have food for another month. Maybe your kind governor would send food there next.”
“It’s possible. I’ll ask him after this trip is over.” Michael considered the suffering provincial capital his home province. He had to do something to help them.
Michael and the Oxbow brothers returned to the inn where Michael saw the cohort commander in charge of the military escort sitting in the common room. The commander was a stern experienced m
ilitary man of middle age, but he had shown great respect to the much younger Michael as the governor’s appointed representative on the mission.
Michael explained his desire to leave the following morning, and the Commander commented, “We have rumors of gangs of brigands in the swamps. I wish I could send more than ten men with you, but restoring order in Broken Arrow might be a difficult task from what the refugees have told us. You and your four well-armed and armored guards plus ten ordinary soldiers should be enough to keep you and the food shipments safe. Go with Father God’s blessing. I’ll see you off tomorrow morning an hour after sunrise, and I’ll let the drivers and soldiers know that you have a schedule to keep.”
Michael was a newlywed, and that afternoon he cast the spell to become an eagle and flew home to spend time with Diana. It was a romantic evening but a very short visit. After their intimate time together, they had a brief chance to talk before he needed to return to Marigold Meadows. He provided all the details of his trip, and asked her to begin purchasing additional supplies that he could take to Hearthshire Town on a second wagon caravan.
Diana commented, “They know that you’re a healer in Hearthshire Town. It is sensible that you send someone else with those supplies.”
“Of course you’re correct, but it’s something that I feel is my duty to do personally. I lived with those townspeople for years and want to help. I promise that I’ll be careful and keep my face covered all the time I’m in the city. There is a wonderful library in the house of my mentor, William. I want to take many of those books to Rock Point to use in training apprentice healers. It will take the pressure from my own hand on the ancient lock to enter the house and someone with knowledge of healing to choose those books.”
Diana knew he was correct about the ancient magic locks that could be attuned to a specific hand, but she thought that Michael had too many of the traits of an adventurer for comfort. “You’re important to the future of Glastamear. Please be cautious.” She kissed him and said, “I want you back here in one piece. Promise me.”
It was difficult to hurry off well before midnight, but Michael had arranged for a very early start for the caravan to Swamp Ford. After a lingering kiss, he flew back to the Safehold Saga Inn.
Chapter 6
The caravan left for Swamp Ford early that morning. They would need to camp for at least one night on the way, and Michael preferred that it be in the forested area before they entered the Great Swamp because of the bite-flies and snakes that were common in that quagmire. The group had fifteen wagon drivers, ten professional soldiers, the Oxbow brothers, and Michael. He assumed that was too many for any band of brigands to attack, but to be safe, they would post five guards around their camp at night.
They made good time as they traveled east along a stone-paved road, and made camp an hour before dark, forming their wagons into a circle. The camp was in the middle of a clearing below the first ranks of the Blacksmith Hills. A pine forest surrounded the clearing and gave the air a pleasant aroma. A small stream flowed over black granite pebbles through the clearing, and there was plenty of dried grass for the horses. They built a large fire to roast a deer one of the soldiers had killed along the way while they sat around the campfire and enjoyed a colorful crimson sunset and a pleasantly cool evening.
Both Father Moon and Cousin Moon would illuminate that winter night so they couldn’t be taken easily by surprise in the darkness. It was a jovial camp with soldiers and drivers telling stories of their past and joking about their lives. They sung the old songs including the oldest epic of all, The Journey of the Elves. It told the ancient story of the journey of the restless elves through the great star cloud until they reached the planet Home under the star Blue Haven. It was part of the shared culture of all the men of the seven kingdoms of the planet Home and sung around hearths and campfires by all.
Michael had made a point of getting to know each of the soldiers and drivers by name, and he joined in the joke telling. They sang several old travelers’ ballads and finally turned in for the night about three hours after sunset with full stomachs and pleasant memories.
Michael heard the sound that he thought was from a dream of his terrifying flight through the Great Black Thicket. Four knight protectors in full armor and casting fireballs had pursued him through the deadly swamp. He heard the sound again and smelled burning. Screams pierced the night. He suddenly roused, realizing this was no dream. The Oxbow brothers were already putting on their armor, and he did the same. More blinding fireballs struck the camp, and he saw guards and wagon drivers on fire and heard their screams. Chaos and death flowed through the night as three steel-plate armored knight protectors let a rabble of thirty deserters and brigands into the camp.
Michael quickly cast his most powerful version of quench fire magic and the fireballs stopped immediately but not the attack. Michael drew his elf-sword and stood back to back with the Oxbow brothers. All five of them swung their two handed swords at any attacker who approached. Most of the guards and wagon drivers were already down and out of the fight.
When Michael noticed that two of the knight protectors were moving from man to man killing the injured, he attacked in a fury. He cast dwarfish strength and charged. In an explosion of blood, his first strike clove a knight protector in two at the waist before the villain could cut the throat of a wounded guard. Michael parried the blow from a second knight. They fought, blow for blow, Perry for Perry, until one of Michael’s strikes got past the knight’s Perry and decapitated him cutting right through his steel plate helmet. It was something only an elf-sword driven with the magical strength of a dwarf could have done.
He turned and charged a third who was standing over a wagon driver to deliver a killing blow, but the Oxbow brothers were already there. Even with steel plate armor, the knight protector, without his fire magic, was not able to overpower four armored and well-armed men. He turned to run, but Peter Oxbow’s long sword found the opening between the back of his helmet and his cuirass, driving a fatal blow up into his skull. Most of the other attackers, seeing the three knight protectors were dead, began to run. The Oxbow brothers grabbed their bows and brought down four of those while at least fifteen brigands and deserters escaped the carnage of the camp.
Peter and Gregory jumped onto the tops of the wagons and loosed arrow after arrow into the fleeing brigands, bringing down five more. Michael, Jacob, and Roger were healers; they saw to the injured, while Peter and Gregory stayed on guard.
Michael knew that some of the injured would realize that the men who helped the survivors were proscribed healer mages, for only a true master healer could knit bones and seal deep wounds. Only one of the wagon drivers survived uninjured because the drivers had no armor and carried only knives. The lone uninjured survivor had crawled under a wagon and not been noticed. Three more of the wagon drivers were alive but gravely injured. Four of the soldiers were alive but seriously injured.
Michael was not a true master healer; he had never taken the master’s test that the guild required. However, he knew spells far beyond his official rank. With the help of Jacob and Roger, he was able to save all of the survivors, but it would leave no doubt that he was a disguised healer rather than a merchant. He did it anyway while hoping the men from Southport would keep his secret. Once the injured from the caravan were stable, he had a strong reaction to the combat. He had directly killed two knight protectors. He had never deliberately killed anyone, and his anguish was obvious to the Oxbow brothers.
Jacob came over to him and said, “Michael, you are crying and I understand why.” There were tears in his eyes too. “One of my arrows killed a fleeing man who was no longer a danger to me. The two knights you killed were murdering the injured, and healers have always protected their patients. I wonder at what a terrible time we live in. Healers never kill, but we both did. But for me, it was not in defense; maybe I should never have joined the guild. I didn’t live up to its tradition.”
Michael put his hand on his fr
iend’s shoulder and said, “We are only human. There is much ahead that will test our guild rules, but it is important that we do the best we can. Jacob, I had the bloodlust; it’s a dangerous thing for reason and virtue to be consumed by fury and hatred. We’ll both do the best we can, my friend. That’s all Father God can expect from us. You are still a true guild mate to me and I to you.”
Gregory came over to them and said, “Michael, thank Father God that you enchanted this armor. It deflected several killing blows, but I think the fact that it’s magic will be obvious to some of those who got away. That may be a problem if they spread the story of magic armor and especially of your sword that can cut through a man in steel plate at the waist in a single blow.”
“We should hope that no one would believe such impossible tall tales. Clearly such men are only trying to cover their cravenness.” They both smiled at the lie. “However, even from such men, we may need reinforcements to guard our supplies. We don’t even have enough uninjured men to drive the wagons. I may need to ask John and Jim Neville and some wagon drivers from Swamp Ford to join us.”
“If you need someone to take three horses and gallop to Swamp Ford, I’ll be off within seconds,” Gregory said.
Michael could have used mage-thought to reach his best friend Jim in Swamp Ford, but that would be impossible to explain to the survivors. “Yes please go for help, but first did any of the attackers live?”
“Yes there are four still living. Two of them may need a master healer; their cuts are too deep for Roger to stop the bleeding. One is well enough for us to have tied him up to keep the viper from slinking away.”
“Well, Gregory, make haste for Swamp Ford. Keep on the move to avoid an ambush from the survivors, and take Black Dash, Jim’s horse, and your own mount. My stallion is extremely fast and has a lot of stamina; he can outrun most pursuers. Your horse and Jim’s are warhorses, strong but slow.”
The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two Page 5