Alec the Wanderer: Generations of Eredwynn #4 (18 page)

I cast once again for a ring home, found nothing, and dozed off. The girls were gone until midafternoon and it was obvious to everyone in the inn that they’d had a good time. I was glad that we could give our girls a good birthday, and I was sure that they would have never expected to get a present like they got. Flying might be common in the twenty-first century, but in this time, it was unheard of.

The sisters told me that they’d tried a lot of spells while they were out and could do them all solo. They felt that the magic held more secrets that they would be able to do only when linked, but they didn’t feel comfortable trying them. They weren’t sure how visible they would be, and they were as skittish as I was about getting labeled as witches.

I pulled Amanda aside. “The doctor told me that we should be careful around ‘clergy’ and people working with the ‘church’. What are ‘clergy’ and how would I be able to spot them? For all I know, I could have healed a clergyman and not even known it.”

She laughed. “I doubt that there are any clergy in town or we would have heard about it by now. In this time, they traveled a lot from town to town. I think they often wore long robes, and a long necklace with a cross on it would be a dead giveaway. I’m really sorry, Alec; I didn’t study much about the church from this time. I was more infatuated with the castles and that sort of thing. I really miss Wizard’s Castle and want to go home.” She laughed but I could see the tears fighting to rise. “I never thought I’d call a castle home, but that place is the closest thing to a home I’ve had in a very long time.”

I hugged her and whispered, “I’m sorry I got us all stranded here. I promise to look daily until I get us home. I’m hoping that Father will know something has gone wrong when he doesn’t hear from me for a while. I don’t know what he could do, but Davie has many magical contacts. If we can’t help ourselves, maybe they can help us.”

She nodded, a bit reassured, and we went to join the others. I heard about the wonderful gift that the twins had been given and they declared this the best birthday they’d ever had. Carol and the sisters practically glowed with happiness. After the report, I had Carol drift to go off with me.

“It’s time to go.”

She smiled. “Actually, you surprised me by staying as long as we did. You should know that your Wards fell in love with you when I told them that their gift was your idea.”

I laughed. “That’s fine, there can never be too much love in the world. When we get back to our world and they get older, they’ll find men to love. Then they’ll realize that this old wanderer isn’t as wonderful as they think he is now.”

Carol nodded playfully. “And if they don’t in a half dozen years, we can have Consorts instead of Wards.”

I shook my head and winked. “If I help raise these young ones for that long, I don’t think that I’d be comfortable having them as Consorts. They could still be our Wards until they marry, but I doubt they’ll ever be Consorts.”

She smiled and gave me that ‘we’ll see’ female look. She went back to the rest of the party and made the announcement. “Tomorrow morning we’re going back on the road. The people of this town have things under control now and should be healthy soon. There might be other places that need our help, but we’ll still have to be careful. So let’s get our packs checked so we can be ready to go early.”

I took the twins upstairs and showed them the clothing that I’d gotten for them. They thought that dressing like boys was funny, but decided that it would be better than having cold wind up their dresses while walking. The clothes were a near fit and Carol helped out with a stitch here and there.

Chapter Sixteen

I
woke early, roused everyone and we prepared to travel once again. The innkeeper knew of my plans to leave and had breakfast waiting for us. We thankfully sat down for breakfast, thanked the innkeeper and his staff, and then hit the road.

Our travel routine returned quickly and my heart was light. My little group had helped a couple hundred people at the very least. We’d rested, had hot meals and were on the road again. This was exactly what I’d wanted to do with my life, and I had people that were happy to do it with me.

The only thing that bothered me was the doctor’s warning, and that became reinforced on our fourth day out from the city. As we were making camp one evening, a rider from Liege caught up with us. He hailed me by name and I went to meet him.

He was road-weary, but wanted to talk before he’d join our fire. “Alec, if I may be so bold, the doctor sent me with news. He said that it was important that you know, so you’d be able to protect yourself and the ladies.”

That got my attention, because no one threatens my family. “Thank you for bringing the message. What is it that the good doctor thought we needed to know?”

Carol and the sisters gathered around while the twins started dinner. The man looked at all of us and spoke apologetically. “I was one that was healed by your wife.” He smiled and nodded at Carol. “I was talking to some friends that had also been healed and we were overheard by Father Francis. I hadn’t even heard that he’d returned to town, but thought no harm could come from telling him of you. Your skills were miracles and saved so many, I felt they must have come from God. He declared that healing like that without the sanction of the church must come from the devil. God had sent the plague to smite the wicked and he said you were interfering with God’s will. Father Francis has never been an open-minded man. The town was thrown into an uproar when he tried to gather men to hunt you down. None, other than his own men, would go with him. He has twenty men on horseback and they should be leaving in the morning to begin pursuit.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you for your warning, sir. Stay the night with us. I’ll move the twins to the large tent with my wife and the sisters. You can have the smaller tent. The ground will be fine for me and we have gear that will keep me plenty warm. We use some of our other skills when we’re on the road and away from towns. Don’t be shocked by anything that you see and know we’d never hurt anyone that wasn’t trying to harm us. I’ll show you the boundary of our camp, because when you leave, you’ll need me to let you back in.”

The man agreed and was understandably confused by a lot of what I’d told him. Sunset came and we’d not finished with moving the girls out of the little tent, so I had Carol use her light spell to illuminate the area. I’d never seen it before and she had been itching to try it since she’d dreamed about it. When a circle of light lit up an area twenty yards around us, the poor visitor fell to his knees.

“Now I know that I’m in the company of angels.”

I helped him up with a chuckle. “I call my wife my angel sometimes, but in reality, I’ve never seen an angel. I’ve traveled farther and seen things that you couldn’t even imagine, but no angels. We’re men and women with special skills, nothing more.”

He joked nervously, “What do the twins do? Shoot fireballs from their fingertips?”

I laughed, saying, “No, that would be the sisters.” I nodded to Amanda and Barbara. “I think you should let them fly about fifty yards and kill them. We don’t want people to come running.”

The sisters grinned from ear to ear and counted down. They cast at the same time and small, white hot
fireballs
flew across the field. At fifty yards, they deactivated them and they faded into nothing.

The man laughed very nervously. “That’s the last time I’m gonna make a sarcastic joke around you lot! You are very wonderful people and I owe you my life. Seeing the fireballs actually made me feel better, knowing that you can defend yourselves if necessary.”

I sighed, then chuckled. “Those were our second weakest offensive talents. I hope we never have to use our strongest.”

That night I slept by the fire with a heated
dome shield
over my campsite. My plan to get away from Father Francis was simple. We’d get up in the morning, I’d cast for a ring to Eredwynn and if I had no luck, I’d cast for Nuremberg and
port
us there. Since the town folk had been told we were heading for Frankfort, and the horses should catch us before we made it, perhaps he’d give up the chase. We had enjoyed ourselves helping the people and I knew that keeping the ladies busy would take the edge off the homesickness. I could have taken us into the hills, lived off the land and never been discovered, but they needed contact outside our little group. We’d go to Nuremberg and help. We’d deal with Father Francis if he came to us and protect the townspeople from him if needed. I slept restlessly and with one eye open.

The next morning we woke early, stocked our messenger with supplies to get him home and said our goodbyes. I cast for an Eredwynn ring, and had no results. I went to the tents and got in the way while they were being packed up.

When everything was packed, I let everyone know that we’d be
porting
to Nuremburg. I explained my reasoning and everyone agreed it was best to avoid a confrontation. I cast southeast of our location for the largest town I could find, located a likely suspect and
ported
us to a wooded area. It was near a lake, just southwest of the city. We got our bearings and turned into travelers once more.

Two hours later, we arrived at the outskirts of the town. The town’s main entrances were guarded, but the guards only seemed interested in whether we had the sickness or not. I asked directions to the Mayor’s office and went through the town to the location I was given.

The door had guards and I approached. “Good morning, gentlemen, we would like to see the Mayor, if possible. We’re travelers with healing skills and we might be able to help the sick in this town.”

One of the guards nodded. “I’ll allow you in and the ladies can wait here. They’ll be kept safe. Perhaps you could show your skill to the Mayor himself. He is just coming down with the sickness. If you could prove your worth to him, I’m sure he’d set you up in business.”

I nodded and thought to Carol and the sisters, “
Keep the twins and yourselves shielded. This shouldn’t take too long and I’ll let you know if anything goes wrong. I love you all.”

I nodded to the guard and he led me inside. He announced me as a healer and left me with the Mayor.

I walked up and extended my hand. “Good morning, sir. I’m Alec Stephenson, a healer. I’m traveling with my wife and a couple other young ladies who are also skilled healers. We’ve taken in a couple of young girls who had lost their families to the plague. They assist us and help keep us organized.”

The Mayor started to shake my hand, noticed a black spot on his right arm and withdrew it quickly. “Good morning, young man; I’d shake your hand, but our local physician died of the plague himself. I wouldn’t want to pass it to you. If you can do anything to ease the suffering of my people, I’ll do everything in my power to assist you.”

I smiled. “We don’t know how long we’ll be in the area, but I know that my wife is starting to want a place that is more stable than the road. The young girls that we’re traveling with should have a roof over their heads more often. We never charge for our healing and that might make it harder on me to build a home for them. My wife is a country girl and grew up on a farm, so city life wouldn’t suit her. Perhaps you could assist us in getting some land, say southwest of town?”

The Mayor chuckled. “I’m Mayor Michael Steube, but most just call me Mayor Michael. Talking about a roof and land might be getting ahead of ourselves. Perhaps you could give me some of your special potion or whatever it is you use to heal. If I’m convinced you’re the real thing and not just a charlatan with a good line, I’ll see what I can do.”

“That is certainly fair, sir and I do apologize for getting ahead of myself like that. It’s just that we came from Liege and the folks there fell in love with us. I was so sure that you would, too, that I spoke out of turn.”

Michael laughed. “That’s okay, son. Young men often act in haste when the woman they love is involved. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll sample your wares and we can decide what they are worth.”

I bowed slightly and offered my hand. “Simply take my hand and I’ll show you what we can do.”

The Mayor took my hand and I could feel the fever just beginning. I scanned him quickly and saw the invading infection. I let my healing magic flow and watched as the man gasped at the disappearing spots of infected skin and the fever. When he was clean, I released him.

The Mayor bowed low. “Sir, if you can do this for my people, you can have anything that you want. The plague has arrived here and it hurts my heart to turn the sick away at the gates. I have a place where you can work and the land you asked for will be granted to you. As my people are healed, we’ll work out an arrangement for you to have lumber to build that roof your wife is pining for.”

He called for a guard. “Take this man and his companions to the physician’s building.” He turned back to me. “That building and everything in it can be considered yours, as long as you’re needed right here in town. It has multiple rooms for working, a waiting area and an apartment upstairs. I’ll expect you to take the Sabbath off, as we have a large Jewish population. You could work on your own place on the land that I’ll grant.”

I thanked the Mayor and returned to the waiting ladies. A guard led us back the way we’d come to a large two story building. He opened the door and stood out of the way. I led my party inside and the guard closed the door with a nod. I explained what had happened.

“When I got inside, I could see that the man had the first symptoms of the plague. We talked for a while and I healed him. Now this building and everything in it is ours. It belonged to the local physician, but he died recently. It’s supposed to have an apartment upstairs, but I don’t know how many rooms or anything. But this will be home for now, and we have the examination rooms and waiting area. We are once again in the healing business, for free.”

Everyone laughed except for the twins, who took off for the stairs that led to the apartment. I knew that it would be well explored by the time we arrived. We looked in the small rooms downstairs and saw that everything was very clean. There was a long table and a couple of chairs in each one. It would be perfect for our style of healing, I just hoped that we could do a lot of good without drawing the attention of Father Francis or someone like him.

We followed the twins upstairs to see what our newest temporary home looked like. It was a humble, but spacious apartment. It had a kitchen and dining area, with a modest living room. There were a couple chairs and a couch that looked threadbare but usable. There were two bedrooms with fair-sized beds, but it looked like I’d be sleeping on the floor. With all of our camping equipment and blankets, the floor would work fine for me.

I suggested, “You adult ladies, Carol and the sisters, could sleep in one bed and that would leave the other room for the twins. I could make a pallet on the floor, as long as no one stepped on me. I suppose that we could leave our stuff up here and go announce to this huge city that we’re open for business. I honestly didn’t know this city was as large as it is when I decided to come here. But the five of you are strong women and I can just sit back and watch you work.”

All five of the females in my group laughed and rolled their eyes. I stashed my pack, except for my dagger, since it was irreplaceable, and we went downstairs. I lit the candles in the room with a gesture and opened the door. The guard who had been sent to escort us here was still outside.

He informed me, “I was assigned to the physician before his death. I feel that it’s only fitting that I resume my post. Do you have everything set up already?”

“We have everything that we need at the moment except patients. How will we get word out that we’re here to help?”

The guard laughed. “It’s as easy as this.” He called to a boy that was walking by. “Hey, boy! We have new doctors in town that are looking for people to set right. Do you know of anyone?” The guard turned back to me. “The word will spread faster than a royal proclamation. What would you have me do when the people begin arriving?”

“Just keep our waiting room from getting overly crowded. The twins have practice at moving people to rooms for us and can take care of that. If you could keep the people orderly and quiet, that would be great.”

He nodded and we moved back inside. Mary and Martha went about cleaning up and dusting furniture in the waiting area while we claimed our healing rooms. I knew that after our first healed patients reached the streets, people would begin coming in.

We didn’t have long to wait before the boy had people trickling our way. Very soon, after the first sick man with a child arrived and left, we were busy once again. Some weren’t happy with the idea of the blindfold, but we couldn’t figure out a way to turn off the blue glow that came from Amanda and Barbara when they were healing. I didn’t think that the populace would accept that display of power without causing some alarm, so they would send the problem person to Carol or me.