Charms and Death and Explosions

by Honor Raconteur

  “Yes. That, and declare this area officially under quarantine so that we might have more ready assistance from the other government institutions. A division of labor, as it happens. Not that it’ll be just the two of us, I’ve called on other colleagues to aid the cause. Davenforth intends to go about sticking true anti-sickness charms all over the area to keep it from spreading. I’ll do the same while conducting the search.” Sherard paused and looked around the area with a grimace. “What worries me is that we’re in a very poor area. These people can’t afford to take two weeks leave from work in order to properly recover. How are they to meet their obligations and afford medicine? They’re living on very tight means as it is.”

  One look at the place told the story of just how tight. The place was clean, I’d give them that, but very worn. There wasn’t a single sign of a car or horse stabled here, because those were luxuries people couldn’t afford. Laundry, tattered and worn thin, hung from one window to another, with no sign of cold boxes hanging out the windows that most apartments sported these days. No toys littered the yards. I felt like I stood in a third-world country, in some ways, although these people at least had a proper roof standing over their heads.

  “About six of these apartment buildings are actually company housing for Henri’s brother-in-law’s company,” I informed Sherard with an illustrative gesture to the four-story brick building near us. “He owns three factories. I’ve sent a message to Reggie telling him the situation, asked him to meet me down here. I hope I can at least talk him into giving these guys full wages even though they can’t make it to work. They’re under quarantine, it’s not like they have a choice whether they can go or not.”

  “That will certainly help a good portion of people here,” Sherard observed with an approving nod. “You think he’ll agree?”

  “Reggie’s a good guy. One of those quintessential ‘good chaps’ you people go on and on about. I think he’ll help. The other problem I see is food. From what I can tell, people here don’t really have a means of keeping anything perishable. They might not have much food in the house.”

  Sherard put a palm to his forehead, shoulders bowing in. “Bless you for thinking of that. I’m sure I would have, eventually. I’ll send a message to our good queen, see if we can’t get a disaster relief fund for this. I can have grocers deliver food to the lines every day.”

  One of the many reasons why Sherard and I had become such close friends was that we had the same values. We looked at the world, saw the people who needed help, and moved to give them whatever aid we could pull together. We were both very service-minded people, and it showed in moments like this, as we were obviously on the same page. “Please, sooner rather than later. You’ll need to put up anti-sickness charms to make that safe to do.”

  “Another colleague of mine is tasked with that and already working,” he assured me.

  That relieved me. “Good. But with the food, maybe ask that now, then go search for charms?”

  “Yes, quite. The queen is quite enraptured with her texting pad and usually has it about her person. Perhaps I can reach her through that.” Cheered by this thought, he whipped his out and started scribbling ferociously.

  It never ceased to amuse me that people could now just ‘text’ their queen. At least, the few people who had the texting pad. It was about the size of a large smartphone now and thick as a cutting board, but it had to be to maintain the magical battery attached to the back. Ellie swore she’d find a way to make it more efficient and compact. I trusted she would. Ellie was a freaking genius.

  Message sent, Sherard grumbled to me, “Maybe now she’ll take me more seriously. I’ve been advocating for years that if we had a proper charms inspector, we wouldn’t have near as much trouble in the city.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears,” I prayed, not at all joking. He wasn’t kidding about the amount of trouble that a bad charm could cause. This was just a case in point.

  “Ha, she has it on her!” Sherard did a little jig of happiness before reading off to me, words quick, “She’s horrified at the news and grants me a budget to feed people with. She says to give her an estimate of how many people and how long they need to stay in quarantine.”

  “Estimate’s about eight thousand people,” I informed him.

  Sherard winced, his emotive face making the expression almost comical. “Eight thousand?!”

  “It’s all apartment buildings in here,” I pointed out to him, exasperated. “And we’re quarantining about six blocks, with roughly twelve hundred people a block. You do the math.”

  He quickly did, using his fingers at one point, then groaned. “Great magic, you’re right. I swear, if Garner and Timms weren’t already dead, I’d murder them myself.”

  “Get in line. I already called dibs on that.” Although I think Henri was actually the first to express that particular sentiment.

  “She’s not going to like this,” Sherard muttered as he wrote a reply. He waited for her response with an anticipated wince on his face, his head half-turned away as if expecting the pad to suddenly develop into a Howler.

  You have no idea how sad I was that I couldn’t make Harry Potter jokes on this world.

  The half-wince abruptly realized, a self-fulfilling prophecy, and he cringed. “I don’t think a queen should swear like a sailor.”

  “Women have the right to swear when upset,” I informed him drolly. Although it amused me that the queen was comfortable enough with him to swear. I’d spent a considerable amount of time with Regina when I’d first escaped the cave. She’d had many, many questions about Earth, and in the process of teaching her, and learning from her, she’d become quite a good friend. Regina was a remarkably down-to-earth woman—as far as anyone could be when born into royalty. “What did she say?”

  “That she’d delegate someone to put the order in to grocers. Food will come in every morning and evening. She also says she wants a full report on just what caused this later.” He jotted out a response before putting the pad away. “It’s going to be a very, very long day.”

  “Understatement of the century,” I sighed, shooing him on, then thought better of it. “Sherard. It’s in the middle of the workday, which means most of the people who live here aren’t actually here right now. What are we going to do about them?”

  “We can’t quarantine them at work,” he answered slowly, head lifting to the sky as he thought the problem through. “Anyone who went to work sick, we drag back here to be quarantined at home. Anyone not showing signs, I suppose we find temporary lodging for them. Stonking deities, that isn’t going to be easy.”

  “I’d let people choose, if they look healthy, as I’m sure most people would choose to be with their families,” I advised.

  “Yes, quite.” Sighing, he dropped his head back down. “I’ll arrange all of that. If someone wants in, let them in. If not, keep them out.”

  “Roger that.”

  “I’ll put Kingsmen in charge of notifying the men at work and pulling them here,” he muttered, scribbling once again on his pad. He grunted at whatever answer he received. “Very good. Alright, I need to verify that it was charms and what type is causing the problem. Where should I start?”

  “That building. Start there. Most of our patients came from there.”

  “Right.” Pulling his shoulders back, he marched for the building.

  Belatedly, I realized the obvious and called after him, “You’re wearing an anti-sickness charm of some sort, right?”

  “Of course!” he responded over his shoulder, not breaking stride.

  Figured. I could never get one up on Sherard. Many people misjudged him because of the guyliner, and the red double-breasted coats he favored, because really, he looked like a theatrical pirate in search of a stage. But he was one of the sharpest men I’d ever met, and that was saying something.

  Another thought struck and I called after him, “Do something about the rats too!”

  He paused, glanced sharply back
at me over his shoulder and demanded, “Why are you concerned about the rats?”

  “Proven thing, on Earth at least,” I explained succinctly as possible. “Most plagues and epidemics are carried by rodents.”

  Swearing, he gave me a grim nod. “I’ll post extermination charms too.”

  I love a man who’s quick on the uptake. I went back to cordoning off the roads, explaining over and over again to anyone trying to enter or leave that quarantine was in effect. No one was happy about this—surprise!—and I got more than a few arguments. I was glad that I was now able to say that the queen herself was sending in groceries, that it was being organized right now for delivery. That put some people’s fears to rest. Enough so that I felt people wouldn’t be trying to sneak out, at least.

  When I hit the docks, it became a little more complicated, just because the area was more open. There wasn’t much to tie a rope off to, or a clear line of delineation. I finally snagged one of the foremen, explained to him what was happening and what I needed, and he was quick to arrange some heavy crates to help hold the ropes. One of the smartest things I’d ever done was come up with my swimming lessons program for the sailors and dock workers. Even if they didn’t know me personally, everyone on the docks knew of me, and that reputation saved me in situations like this. They might not understand fully what I asked of them, but they were willing to take whatever orders I gave them, and that was all I needed at the moment.

  Halfway down the docks, Reggie finally caught up with me. His ruddy skin glowed an alarming shade of fire-engine red, fair hair sticking up in every direction, portly frame jostling a little as he ran toward me. He wore a suit, a nice one, so I assumed he’d been in his office today and not the factories. Thank heavens for small favors, as that meant my message boy had caught up to him quickly.

  “Jamie,” he greeted me with wide blue eyes. “What’s this about, my factories are invaded with a sickness?”

  He must have heard my messenger wrong. I’d not had anything to write with, so sent a verbal plea for help. “No, not quite. Your workers. A majority of them bought a batch of bad anti-sickness charms and put them up in the apartments, and now everyone in the area is down with a bad influenza. We’re estimating about six city blocks have been infected.”

  Reggie blanched. “I’d heard reports that more and more of my workers weren’t reporting to work, but—the foreman was just going to fire them.”

  “No,” I groaned, but wasn’t really surprised. Half the reason why I’d contacted Reggie to begin with was to prevent this sort of misunderstanding. “They’re deathly sick, Reggie. Please don’t fire them. In fact, right now they can’t report for work even if they wanted to. They’re under quarantine.”

  He looked at the rope still in my hands, followed the line of it with his eyes. “That bad?”

  “Bad enough that the queen is sending in groceries to feed people, as she doesn’t want this to spread to the rest of the city,” I threw in, seeing if I needed to bait him more or not. I didn’t think I would need to. Reggie was the type that liked to be helpful, after all.

  “She has? Bless our good queen.” He looked quite proud of the woman for a moment, although he’d likely never met her in person. “Alright, you summoned me down here for a reason. What do you need help with?”

  I loved Reggie. “First, can you write a message for me to take in to the workers, assuring them they’re not fired and they’ll be given full pay until the quarantine is lifted? I estimate it will take about two to four weeks.”

  “Done,” he agreed instantly. “What else?”

  “If you can talk to your fellow businessmen, the ones who own these company apartments, and get them to agree to do the same? It will ease a lot of fears.”

  “I can certainly do all of that, but you know that when my Emily hears of this, not to mention my mother and mother-in-law, they’ll want to help in some way too.”

  “Good point.” I thought about it. I wasn’t sure of what common symptoms the influenza on this planet might have with Earth’s, but from the way Sherard and Henri described it, it was more dangerous and contagious. I’d had the flu often enough in my life to know what sort of cleanup it involved. “Reggie, I’ll be frank. This stuff is contagious as all get out. They’re going to need very strong soap in order to clean anything they touch in the next few weeks. I’ll send a letter to your family later tonight, explain the situation in depth, but for now could you give them the message that people just need new things down here? Strong soaps, blankets, towels, things they can use to replace the ones already infected.”

  “I’ll tell them first, then meet with the owners of Hartman & Hartman and Tender Textiles,” he swore to me, already on fire with purpose. He was alive with energy, nearly vibrating in place, a man on a mission. “They’re two of the biggest owners with company housing in this area. If I can get them to agree, the rest will fall in line. Those two own most of the area anyway.”

  “I owe you dinner,” I responded in heartfelt relief. He’d just saved me a lot of time and arguments.

  He gave me a boyish grin. “Looking forward to it. I’ll touch base with you again in a few hours so you know of our progress.”

  I waved him off, watching him go for a moment. I now totally understood how he’d charmed Emily Davenforth into marrying him. What a good guy. If it wasn’t frowned upon by this culture’s rules, I would bear hug him and squeeze the stuffing right out. I might do it anyway if he really pulled all of that off.

  My texting pad rang in my pocket and I pulled it out, pinning the cordon rope under my elbow so I could write a response.

  It was from Sherard: Our bad charms.

  I took a moment to lift my face to the sky and swear. I hated being right. Dropping my head back down, I scribbled back, Ok. Reggie promises pay to his people. Working on others.

  Glad to hear it. Will pass the word.

  That should relieve many people’s minds. I knew in their shoes, that would’ve been one of my main worries. Finances always were a worry, a weight dragging at the spirit. Remembering what I’d said to Sherard, I passed along: Most diseases carried by rodents, FYI.

  I didn’t need to see his face to know how Henri would react to that, but the only thing he said in response was: I’ll see to it.

  Good man. I almost put the pad back in my pocket before a thought struck. I scrawled out, Ellie?

  It took a moment before she responded, What, Jamie?

  How much of that rubbing alcohol do you have made up?

  I found myself with cramping calves and feet by the time our reinforcements arrived. Granted, I was not accustomed to staying on my feet for long periods of time, which was likely the reason. I’d been darting about Dr. Cartwright’s practice for several hours, examining the patients. As far as I could determine, the malady had been started by the charms, and reinforced every time they were exposed to the charm again. This particular strain seemed worse than the usual influenza—I blamed the addition of the Destroying Angel ink into the mix—as we’d already lost an infant and three elderly. High statistics indeed in just seven days.

  In an effort to cleanse the area and give these people a fighting chance to get well, I volunteered as one of the magicians responsible for cleaning out the bad charms. I’d need to witness their removal for the sake of the case anyway, so it was two birds with one stone. I took on several apartment buildings, applying true anti-sickness charms, trudging up multiple flights of steps, and removing any of the bad charms I could find. It meant, of course, that I had to stop at each apartment and explain the problem to the occupants before they’d allow me inside so that I could retrieve the charm. Usually each family had a collection of charms, not just one, but the one I hunted for often lurked in the collection. Not every apartment had one, only roughly seventy-five percent of them did, and half of those were Garner’s charms. It was a deplorably high number and I could only believe proximity had stacked such odds in favor of this probability. The main shop for Garner�
�s wares resided in the marketplace closest to this neighborhood. Of course most of the goods would wind up here.

  Our Kingsmen, several other doctors, magicians, and roughly two dozen policemen arrived and started in on a different apartment as I worked. Captain Gregson coordinated several officers outside to help patrol the area outside of the quarantine line, to make sure people didn’t try to either enter or leave. Of course, some people who lived here wanted back in, and that was quite a different kettle of fish to deal with. I wasn’t sure what the protocol for that would be, as epidemics weren’t something I had experience with.

  The last apartment on the fourth floor was locked, with no one at home. I marked it on my reference sheet so that I remembered to return to it later. A few of the apartments had been unoccupied, and I assumed the families to be at the doctor’s office. A return visit would be necessary. I turned away and wearily made for the stairs. Mercy, I needed something to eat. I’d skipped lunch altogether; not only was my stomach complaining at my negligence, but my energy was dropping sharply. Something of sustenance would be greatly appreciated. I didn’t dare hope for the opportunity to rest. That would not come for hours yet.

  Halfway down the stairs, I could hear my partner’s voice carrying up the narrow brick stairwell.

  “—yes, ma’am, don’t you worry. We have a Royal Mage himself combing through, looking for those bad charms. And my partner, he’s a Magical Examiner, one of the best in the city. He’s looking through this building right now. In fact, I think Henri was applying good anti-sickness charms as well as removing the bad.”

  “Oh, bless him, bless them both,” a raspy female voice responded. “But what are we to do for food if we can’t leave? And my husband went to work this morning, can he come back in?”

  “The queen is sending in groceries for everyone. It’s being organized now and the first delivery should come in this evening. You’ll get one every morning. As for your husband, there’s quite a few people on the other side of the line. We’re examining everyone first. If they’re already sick, they come straight in. Is your husband sick?”