It was a joyous banquet because so many Briarton healers had escaped. The food was mostly seafood supplemented with flatbread, vegetables, and fruits, but for the nearly starving healers of Fay Woods, it was an astonishing feast. It was near midnight when Michael swam out to the Naiad’s tower. The other healers had all moved into the new quarters he had built. Michael fell into an exhausted sleep.
Before dawn, Michael woke to the sound of wind and waves that shook the stone tower. Water dripped from the trap door in the ceiling that led to the roof observation deck. He cast a powerful still waters spell, which quieted the waves in the whole bay. He cast detect all manna and saw the manna signs of the naiads safe in their deep caves under the bay, but he also saw something that shocked him. He saw the manna signs of the healers in the refuge he had just constructed.
He had not given those from Fay Woods submerge manna rings. There were thirty-seven healer manna signs that could be detected from far away. There was a chance the knight protectors would already know that healers were hiding here because, when they worked together, their detection skill multiplied. With enough casters, they might have detected the refugees from the Northport Temple. Michael decided he must prepare for the worst case.
Cursing his own forgetfulness, he quickly picked rings from the treasure chest the naiads had put in his room and began to enchant them with submerge manna. The wind was still blowing at a full gale so that a man could not even stand against the tempest, but he needed to find a way of getting to the healers as soon as possible. Although he could make himself immaterial like a Fairy, in that state he could carry nothing. That was why the Fairy Folk were usually nude. He knew no spell that would quiet the wind, but he thought of a way of getting to the healers without going outside.
He went to the lowest level of the tower and began to use the dwarfish spell excavate. He used other spells to reinforce the walls with iron and began to dig deep under the tower before beginning the tunnel to the refuge. In about an hour, he broke through to the common area and began to distribute the rings. He was fairly certain that even if they had been noticed, no one from Northport would try to reach the cove during the worst storm in decades. He would have a few days to prepare.
Chapter 32
Michael gathered all the master healers at a table away from others to discuss their problem.
“Lady Agnes, please explain what will be going on in Northport during a great ship-smasher storm.”
“As soon as signs of a major autumn storm are detected, boats will be moved through the basin canal about three thousand paces inland to a place called safe harbor lake. At the same time most of the goods in the harbor warehouses will be moved to caves north of town for storage. The warehouses are built of stone; the wind and waves won’t knock them down, but most will flood from the huge waves and the high storm tide. Anyone who lives close to the sea and does not have a stout stone house in a high location will go to the Great Temple of Northport for refuge. There will probably be six to eight hundred people sheltering there by now. The priests will feed and house them until the storm passes.”
Michael asked, “Where will the knight protectors and priest congregate?’
“Every one of them will be in the Great Temple to take care of and to manage the refugees.”
Michael explained, “I think the knight protectors were waiting outside of Fay Woods because they knew that healers were in the woods. When many of them cast detect all manna together it magnifies the range of the manna they can see. We know many of them are now together at the Great Temple of Northport. Because of my stupidity in forgetting to provide the rings before we left Fay Woods, there is an excellent chance that they now know we’re here.”
Master Bradley asked, “Michael, what should we do to prepare?”
“It may be two weeks before my fishing ships return and can take everyone to safety. By their current schedule, I think they’ll be fishing down by Southport. If the knight protectors come here, we need to remain hidden until they give up and leave. There is nothing fire mages can do to Naiads, but they will kill all of us if they can find us.”
“Do you have magic that can fight them?” Agnes asked.
“Lady Agnes, I am still a healer. I won’t kill even knight protectors if given a choice. I do know a spell quench fire magic that will temporarily remove their casting ability. I know stone armor that will prevent their swords and arrows from reaching me. I can become invisible or change myself into an animal. I have learned many things. However, I expect to scare them away; not slay them.”
Lady Agnes smiled. “Your answer is the one I expected from a true healer. Thank you for being true to your guild in spite of circumstances.”
“What can we do to help?” Master Bradley asked.
“You may be trapped in here for weeks if it comes to a siege. You’ll need to keep morale up for the younger healers. Perhaps you can begin regular classes improving every healer’s skills. We’ll stockpile all the food we can, and I’ll disguise the entrance and the ventilation channels, but your task is to give no sign that you exist.”
The discussion went on for more than an hour. It was decided that the first priority was to stockpile food. After the meeting ended, Michael extended the tunnel from the tower to the travel room. From there he traveled to a location near an abandoned barrow about two days travel from Briarton. He knew that it was harvest season in that area.
As before, stone dwarfs stood guard; they welcomed the elf-blood. He used the excavate spell to dig a ramp from the hall outside the travel room to the surface, closing it using stone dome before beginning the walk to the nearby town of Green Valley.
Michael purchased three packhorses and filled their packs with grains, dried fruit, dried meats, and other things that would keep for a long time without spoiling. He also added sweets and spices to add variety to the diet of the healers at Black Sand Beach. He paid for everything in gold, and by evening, he was headed back to the travel room.
Using dwarfish strength Michael took all the goods down to the travel room and relocated them to Black Sand Beach. He went back for the horses, bringing them through one at a time, and then he filled in the ramp he’d built to the surface, leaving no trace of his food-gathering trip. He didn’t want to abandon the packhorses that close to where he had purchased them lest they raise too many questions about a stranger who had used them for only one day.
During a lull in the storm, Michael removed all trace of his activity in building the temporary home for the healers at Black Sand Beach. He disguised the only entrance using a forest magic spell he had learned from the Fairy Folk. He shattered the stone stairs he’d built from the travel room to the beach and remove all the stone debris, tossing it into the sea far from the naiad’s reef. The storm had removed any sign of their travel along the beach.
He had done what he could to protect the healers at Black Sand Beach. His next project was to search for healers in Hearthshire and Southport, and he was impatient to find if any survived. For his trip to Hearthshire, he would need to disguise his facial appearance with a beard and mustache, using a skill of quick growth he had learned from the Fairy Folk. He wanted to resume the character of the merchant, Michael Son-of-William to explain why he was traveling throughout Glastamear. Since was able to cast extremely powerful detect manna spells, he hoped to identify any healers who survived by merely riding through the province casting the spell.
Before leaving, he gathered a selection of pearls and jewelry from the chest in his room to use as inventory on his journey. He explained to Obert his error in providing rings to the new arrivals, and Obert assured him that the naiads had no reason to fear fire mages. If knight protectors did come to the beach, the naiads would use quench fire manna to render their magic useless.
He used the travel room to go to the dwarfish ruin nearest Hearthshire Town and made a ramp that he could use to take his three packhorses to the surface. He brought his horses through one at a time, and made his way to th
e nearest village large enough to have an inn with a stable and with a market where he could buy a horse to ride and supplies for his search.
The nearest town was called Peter’s Smithy, a substantial town of about two thousand people at the base of the Gray Hills, an iron-mining region. Michael knew about the town but had never visited. The healer Kate of the Gray Hills had once lived there, but now the only manna sign was a weak one from a single priest in the local temple. He walked to the main gate and explained that he was a merchant whose favorite stallion had been killed by an ambush lion. He was here to trade for a new horse and sell some of his jewelry and pearls. A silver coin to each guard eliminated the need for further explanations.
Michael made his way along the high street looking for a horse merchant. The town was drab, built of gray stone with gray slate roofs. The smoke of the smithy’s ovens that provided the main income for the townsfolk had darkened every building and hung in the air. The rocky soil did not support many trees or other vegetation.
Peter’s Smithy did not look prosperous, but he found a stable near the main square with three excellent quality riding horses for sale. He rode each and decided on a spirited black stallion. He had used mage thought-talk to decide on the stallion. He knew it had a strong will of its own, but he thought it would grow to value Michael as a companion and do anything he asked of it. Michael paid for the horse by trading the worst of his packhorses and a ruby ring. He spent half an hour in negotiations to affirm his merchant status.
He left his horses at the stable for the night, buying quality oats for each and walked toward the nearby government square where the best inn was located. The Inn of Peter’s Repose was directly across the square from the Temple of Perry Ascendant. Michael was relived to see no sign of executions hanging in front. The innkeeper was a jovial man who immediately recognized Michael as wealthy enough to need his finest accommodations. Michael accepted the two-room suite with private bath and asked for a bath to be prepared while he dined.
Michael sat in the common room listening to nearby conversations and enjoying mutton stew and fresh rye bread with tree spice flavored custard for dessert. He used a healers’ spell called hear the heart mummer to improve his hearing so he could easily make out the conversation of all thirty people in the inn. He listened for half an hour before he overheard one of the maids complain about her daughter’s colic, and the head cook explained that on her day off she could take her girl up to the Gray Mountain hamlet of Iron Pick where Kate was hiding.
He met a couple of other traveling merchants, and they discussed the terrible travel conditions in the north caused by the search for some damn book by the knight protectors. Michael mentioned that the need for constant bribes was eating into his profits so he had traveled south. They discussed the best places in town to sell jewelry and pearls and the best places to buy local goods. An hour after sunset, Michael went up to his room to enjoy a bath and sleep in a good bed.
In the morning, he enchanted rings with submerge manna, and transparency. He explained to the innkeeper that he’d purchased a new stallion and wanted to test him on a difficult ride into the mountains. He expected to return in time for dinner at the inn. He used the same cover story at the stable and led his horse to the road on the mountain side of town. Michael named the stallion Black Dash and tested his speed on the ride toward Iron Pick. He would offer Kate a chance to relocate to the sanctuary at Rock Point, but if she preferred to stay and help the locals, at least he could give her rings to suppress her manna or to hide from view.
Once outside the wall and on the road to Iron Pick, he used mage thought-talk to bond with Black Dash. It was the most exhilarating ride of his life, mentally bonding with his stallion as they galloped joyfully along the empty road. Michael used a fairy spell to lighten his weight to that of a boy, and they charged along the road even faster, the stallion feeling simple joy at his speed and power. Black Dash had great endurance, but after half an hour even the young stallion tired. They slowed to a walk still bonded in thought-talk and becoming partners. Michael would never again think of a horse as something he owned.
Midmorning, Michael approached a village with about twenty stone one-room miners’ cottages. Most had small vegetable gardens trying to grow something in the rocky soil. There was not a tree in sight. Mining iron was a tough way to survive, and Iron Pick was not a prosperous or interesting looking settlement, but it was as safe as anyplace for a healer. No priest or knight protector would ever visit it unless they learned that Kate was there.
Chapter 33
As Michael approached, six burly men carrying picks and looking mean stood in a line blocking the only road into town.
The center one barked, “We have no use for strangers in fancy clothing riding a horse that cost more than I’ll make in a lifetime. Get the hell out of here outsider.”
“I’m here to see a friend; she’ll remember me as Michael of Hearthshire. Please, tell her I’m here to help.”
Kate opened the door to a nearby house and said, “Seth, I know him; let him come in.”
Seth replied, “Remember that we’ll be watching you. If you cause any trouble for Kate you’ll regret it.” He moved aside but still watched Michael suspiciously.
Kate beckoned Michael to enter her cottage, shut the door and hugged him. “Michael, I’m so sorry about William and all the others. I heard he was already dead when they flayed and burned him, unlike most of the forty other healers executed that same day.”
“Yes, our housekeeper said he used a spell that master healers know to stop his own heart. At least he didn’t suffer. I was gathering herbs, and a compassionate townsperson warned me of the pogrom before I went back to Hearthshire Town.”
“How have you avoided those sadistic monsters since? You’re lucky to be alive. I think they got all the healers in the city, probably only a few of us who lived in villages escaped with local help.”
“I made it to Black Sand Beach; the naiads helped me. There are other healers there if you want to join them, but if you stay here, you’ll need to use these two magic rings that were given to me by the naiads. The one with the garnet will hide your manna from knight protectors. You should never take it off. The gold one with the griffon design will make you and everything you’re carrying invisible. It only hides you from sight; it doesn’t block other senses.”
“I can’t leave all the people who depend on me and who have kept me safe from the church. These rings will make it a lot easier to help my friends.”
“I understand. You’re very fortunate that the locals are on your side; your twenty years of kindness and healing made you loved in your own village. In most places, people stood by and let all their healers be murdered.”
Kate hugged Michael again and explained, “I’m told attendance at temple is down by three quarters in Hearthshire Town. Few people believed that all the healers could have been involved in killing King Justin, and they blame both the church and the crown for leaving them without healers now that winter is near. The knight protectors still enforce the tithing, but many more people are paying reluctantly or hiding more of what they earn. You’re disguised as a merchant; is your role to distribute these rings all over Glastamear?”
“Yes, I’m a merchant of pearls and jewelry. It lets me travel and look for other healers. So far I believe about a hundred have survived.”
“Thank Father God. I had no idea there were even that many.”
“My story in town is that I’m out getting familiar with my new stallion. I’m expected back in town this afternoon, and I’ll soon be moving on looking for others who need these rings. If you feel threatened, put on the invisibility ring and head toward Black Sand Beach. May Father God protect you, Kate. I will never pray in Perry’s name again.”
Michael rode back to Peter’s Smithy proud that Kate had chosen to remain with the people who needed and protected her. He was trying to shortcut the process of finding other healers in remote places when he noticed a Giant Ki
Eagle high above. The Giant Ki was the largest bird in Glastamear. It was a type of eagle that hunted substantial size prey from a high altitude. It was such a strong flyer that it could take a whole sheep or a deer to its nest for a leisurely feast. Farmers and shepherds hated the giant predators, but because they were the symbol of Glastamear’s Royal Dynasty, killing one was punishable by hanging.
Using forest magic, Michael could assume the form off any animal. The Giant Ki Eagle was strong enough to carry a bag with his clothing and the rings he wanted to distribute. Michael had discovered that he could cast any of his spells by using a mental voice rather than speaking the words aloud. Flying while casting detect all manna should pinpoint healers much quicker than any other way. Using the form of an animal did not prevent casting other spells including defensive ones like stone armor and spells like dwarfish strength, with which he might be strong enough to carry someone on his back while flying. He also knew he could reduce his own weight and everything he carried using a spell from the Fairy Folk. He decided to try those techniques that same night.
At the stable, he brushed Black Dash and fed him two apples as well as a bucket of oats. He continued to hold the bond with the stallion, strengthening their partnership, until he left for the Inn of Peter’s Repose.
He enjoyed a light dinner while he listened to the conversations of the locals, eavesdropping in hopes of finding a lead on other healers. While he got no direct news of healers, he did hear people discussing the purchase of herbs and other ways of preparing for a difficult winter without healers. He also heard that the church had increased their tithe on local farmers from one in ten to one in seven of each bushel. The increase was said to be for this single harvest because of the risk of epidemic this winter. Of course there was the usual grumbling about higher taxes, mitigated by a real fear from the lack of healers.
The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume One Page 15