The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume One (12 page)

Chapter 24

Michael used
transparency
to disappear and
float
to cross the calm waters to the beach. He stood on the reddish sand and used one of his dwarfish spells to fill a small pouch with gold dust. He cast a
copy metal shape
spell on a golden crown coin, and the gold dust formed into six of the gold coins with some gold dust left over. He used a small quarter crown to make two of the smaller coins. That was plenty of gold for him to carry since he could now make new coins any time he wanted.

He had his elfish sword in its scabbard across his back; the jeweled dagger was in its belt sheath. He spoke the words
hide blade
to make the sword invisible but left the dagger visible. He had a walk of about thousand paces to the village inn where his horses were stabled, and he started off at a brisk pace, glad to be on solid ground. As he walked away from the beach, he wore a ring to hide his manna, and he cast both
detect all manna
and
detect life.
The life signs of the busy village were clearly visible; he saw no signs of knight protectors or priests.

It was nearly dark when he entered the village square; the market was over and there were few people around. There was an eerie feel to the hamlet that he had not felt when he was last here. He sensed something bad had occurred.

The innkeeper was glad to see him as he entered the almost empty main hall. “Welcome, Michael Son-of-William. I’m exceedingly happy to have a paying customer. I’ll get your suite ready at once.”

“Sid, something is wrong in Sand Point. The last time I was here the inn was full of travelers and happy locals. What’s happened since I left town last month?”

“Let me show you to your room and explain.” Sid guided him upstairs to the excellent accommodations he had enjoyed on his previous visit.

“It was those despicable knight protectors.” He made the sign of Perry. “Perry forgive me, but they’ve been harassing everyone in the North Country looking for some elfish book that was stolen from the High Temple in Northport. They stayed five days and searched every hole and crevice in town. They ate whatever they wanted and took over the whole inn and many private homes and paid for nothing. With no guests and no locals willing to even enter the inn, I’m in the worst financial shape since the blizzard fifteen years ago.”

Michael replied, “Even if they used every knight protector in the kingdom, they could never search the whole country for a single book. It seems pointless unless they had something that made them suspicious of Sand Point.”

“I heard something in confidence from our local priest. The king thinks the locals here and in Snowport helped all the northern healers escape. The high priest of Snowport has been reassigned to the small temple at Swamp Ford, it’s about the worst location in all of Glastamear; the swamp bugs make everyone miserable, and with no healers the swamp fever will kill a quarter of the town by next summer.”

“At least the knight protectors are gone from town now. Why is the inn still empty?”

Sid replied, “You must have come by boat. All the main roads have roadblocks where everyone is searched, even stripped naked, and harassed. Those king’s solders are no respecters of maidens or even older matrons. I’ve heard some really bad stories. No one travels the road if they have a choice. It will be the end of my business if they keep it up another few weeks.”

Michael felt some responsibility for the innkeeper’s situation since he had the missing book in his backpack, and he had been quite involved in the healers who had escaped Snowport. “Perhaps I can help. I’m willing to make you a loan, repayable in small installments over the next five years. How much do you need to tide you over until the roadblocks are gone?”

After a long pause, Sid said, “The inn has been in my family for six generations. My ancestors would curse me if I mortgaged it.”

Michael smiled, “I said nothing about a mortgage; this deal would be based on a handshake from an honest innkeeper.”

“I would need about thirty crowns to cover my current obligations and give me a nice cushion in case it takes a month or more for travel to get back to normal.”

Michael was sure he named a sum at least twice his need. “I’ll have the money for you tomorrow. You will send half a crown to my agent, Tobias Howardson in Snowport every month. For interest, you can give me a free room on any future visit. I’ll pay for this stay and for your taking care of my horses since we didn’t have a deal at the time.”

“No interest and no mortgage? Your father will kill you, but I will be forever grateful. May Father God bless you!”

Later that night, Michael went to the privy and pulled three bags of gold dust from the grounds of the inn. He used his dwarfish
copy metal shape
spell to convert them to coins. The three bags formed thirty-six identical golden crowns. He worked on the coins with his dagger to add scratches, indentations, and other marks so they were no longer identical.

After making the coins, he walked a short distance from the village until he found a person-sized boulder. Using his dwarfish skills, he formed a cavity that could hold his fire mage book and his dwarfish magic book. It would protect them without the possibility of damage or discovery. He closed the hole with a spell that left no clue of his night’s work. In the dwarf’s room where he had found the book, the voice had explained that his sword and dagger could not be found if he had used the
hide blade
spell. He hoped that was literally true since he did not want to part with either of them, but knew he would face a search many times as he traveled south toward Northport and on inland to Briarton.

As he went back to sleep, he considered the intensity of the search for the fire mage book. He smiled when he fully understood. The miracles of the Church of Perry Ascendant were explained as fire spells that offered no proof of Perry’s guidance or involvement in human affairs. They were merely proof that many priests and all knight protectors were really just fire mages.

In the morning before breakfast, Michael settled his account with Sid and gave him the thirty gold crowns he had requested. When Michael was finished with breakfast and packed for his trip south, Sid came and asked him to follow. In front of the inn, there was a woodworker producing a sign with the carving of a merchant with colorful clothes and showing a big smile.

Sid explained, “Since we’ve always been the only inn at Sand Point, we never named her. Now she will be the Inn of Restful Repose of the Kindly Merchant. That is supposed to be you on the sign. You’ll always be welcome here Michael.”

Michael blushed. “Sid, my friend, I will always stay in your fine inn when I’m in the area, and I’ll tell my friends to stay here too.”

Michael set off south midmorning. Knowing he would be searched, he decided to wear the Perry’s Hero metal he had received from High Priest Carson in Snowport. By midafternoon he was stopped at the first roadblock. A dozen travelers, men, women, and children, stood around in the nude while surly soldiers wearing the ornate armor of the Crown’s Own Regiment examined them and their belongings.

Two soldiers with weapons drawn stood in the road and motioned for him to dismount. Perhaps his wealthy attire and Perry’s Hero metal helped, but he was still delayed half an hour, most of the time completely nude. It seemed like a needless humiliation, more entertainment for the soldiers and harassment than based on any need. Michael was sure his fair skin would be sunburnt in places that had never been burned before.

He camped for the night by a stream located about a hundred paces from the main road. The terrain was dense forest, which he had reached by riding up the streambed. The night was cool and foggy; the sun had set, a twilight glow remained. He was eating a cold meal of corncakes and butter that he had brought from Sand Point when the attack came.

He heard a snarl; a large cat whose hunting cry he didn’t recognize was nearby. Quickly, he cast
detect all life
and saw the massive cat, ten feet in length and at least four times his own weight. He knew it was an animal that few people had seen and lived to describe, the ambush lion of ancient legend. Michael, like most others from outside the Great Northern Forest, considered it a tall tale of the North. Black, gray, and forest green stripes camouflaged it perfectly in the dense forest gloom. As it leaped, Michael shouted
stone armor
.

The cat hammered Michael to the ground a second later. The snarling beast tried to bite his throat, but the dwarfish spell held the animal away. Michael’s arms were pinned to his side preventing him from reaching his sword or dagger. The ferocious cat raked his hind claws against his stomach but his spell protected his whole body as if he wore the strongest steel armor.

Michael tried to reach the mind of his merciless attacker. Through the anger and surprise, Michael found the thoughts of a mother with two cubs in a nearby cave, cubs she was determined to provide with a meal. He realized he did not want to kill this mother lion thereby causing her cubs to starve. He was a healer and any killing did not come naturally to him if there was an alternative. Although he didn’t fear that the cat could actually kill him through the armor spell, he had two horses he wanted to protect as well.

His
detect all life
also had revealed a feral hog a hundred paces upstream. He gave the lion an image of this hog and its location, and then cast a powerful
transparency
spell and the
float
spell on himself. The lion clearly knew he was still there, but his actions were so confusing and inconsistent with expectations that she ran off in the direction of the hog.

The whole encounter made Michael realize that his elf-blood was a hope for change, not a sure thing. If he had been one second slower to cast
stone armor
, he would be dead. It might be another thousand years before another elf-blood, by some accident of birth, could take his place. He needed to pay more attention to his own safety, but how? He couldn’t keep
stone armor
constantly in place because he could feel nothing through the spell. He doubted he could even keep his seat on a horse without feeling the animal beneath him. How could he use his hands for much if they could feel nothing? Could he even hold a sword? He decided to experiment.

Long into the night, Michael tried various combinations of spells and enchantments. The combination he arrived at was two enchanted rings,
detect all life
and
detect all manna
. He found he could enchant his shirt and cap with
stone armor
, and he decided to enchant special horse-riding pants with the seat and inside of the legs left free of the
stone armor
spell
.
The costume would not protect vital areas of his body like hands and face, but it might improve his odds in a fight. He found he walked like a drunkard if the shoes were completely enchanted; he couldn’t even feel the ground. He enchanted only the tops preventing the problem.

While he was experimenting, Michael recalled one of the dwarfish spells he had not previously paid much attention to. It was
stone dome
. He tried it and found it could protect a large area, twenty paces or more in radius, large enough to protect his camp including the horses. He now had a safe way to sleep while he and his horses were protected from a return of the ambush lion or other predators.

Chapter 25

It was midmorning when Michael finally broke camp. He was sore but glad to be alive. He rode back onto the main road to Northport and decided he liked inns better than camping. That afternoon he reached the village of Appleton where he had shopped on his way north. As he approached, his detect manna ring showed an exceptionally powerful fire mage and three lesser mages were inside the Appleton Inn. He debated traveling on, but he was low on food and wanted a good night’s rest in a comfortable bed. He was also curious.

After entering the wooden palisade that surrounded the village, Michael noticed that few people were in the market compared to his previous visit during the local apple festival. He filled his packs with food that would keep on a long trip, since he expected to be on the road to Briarton for at least a week.

When he entered the Appleton Inn, he saw a table of four clerics, one of whom was High Priest Carson formerly of Snowport. He was the high priest who had allowed his healers to escape and who had sent Michael the Perry’s Hero metal for his part in their rescue. Michael had never met Carson, but the High Priest recognized him and gave him a smile and a nod when he entered. Michael returned the smile and gave him a thumbs-up gesture; he hoped it would let Carson know his project was successful without exchanging words because the other three men at his table were knight protectors. They were probably there to insure that the exiled high priest made it to his new assignment in the worst place in Glastamear, Swamp Ford.

The innkeeper seated him at a small empty table and Michael ordered a meal of apple stuffed chicken and root vegetables in butter. He asked the innkeeper if he had a room available and settled on a large room with a courtyard view. Since he could make his own coins, price wasn’t actually important, but in keeping with his merchant persona, he bartered for fifteen minutes before settling on a price for himself and boarding and grooming for his horses. He also insisted on a hot bath and both dinner and breakfast. After they agreed on a price, he offered to pay the room and food for the High Priest and his escorts as a donation to the church of Perry’s Ascendant.

The innkeeper went over to the High Priest’s table and pointed out that Michael had paid for their stay. The High Priest stood and made the Blessing of Perry toward him. He smiled knowingly. He hoped the High Priest would survive the diseases that were common in Swamp Ford, but he assumed his superiors thought he would not. Michael wondered if there was a way to hide a healer in the area to cure the locals as well as High Priest Carson. He decided to visit the area after his trip to Briarton, Hearthshire Town, and Southport. Maybe he could find a healer willing to take the risk since he could enchant rings with
submerge manna
and
transparency
preventing their easy detection by knight protectors. He doubted there were any knight protectors permanently stationed in Swamp Ford in any case, and locals were unlikely to turn in a healer they desperately needed.

The next morning after a four-egg breakfast omelet, Michael rode on toward the intersection with the Briarton High Road. There was another knight protector checkpoint where the Northport and Briarton roads intersected. Again they made Michael strip and checked every piece of his gear for the missing fire mage book. After nearly an hour of delay, Michael rode on toward Briarton, normally a three-day journey. The road was still bounded by primeval, impassable forest, and he rode on looking for a camping spot or inn on the unfamiliar road. Father Moon was only a crescent and Little Brother Moon was racing across the western sky chasing the blue ball of Cousin Moon when he detected a group of six human life signs ahead.

He approached cautiously and found a trader with a wagon of goods and five guards. The merchant was Peter of Southport, and he was taking a wagon of goods to Northport.

Michael asked, “How are things in Southport. Travel in the north is time-consuming because of the roadblocks that soldiers of the crown have set up across every road.”

Peter scowled. “Damn to Perry’s fire whoever stole that cursed book. We’ve been stopped four times, and they make us unload everything in the wagon. It’s a big country; it’s impossible to find something as small as a single book, but I’ve needed a bribe to get through each roadblock because I carry a load of healing herbs. The herbs make the soldiers suspect I’m actually a healer or a supporter of the healers, but without healers, those herbs will be worth their weight in gold this winter, especially up here in the north.”

Michael replied, “You’re right; the lack of healers will have a big impact on the prices in the medicine market. All the hospitals are closed, and there’s no plan to reopen them.”

Peter looked around as if to make sure no one from the church or monarchy could hear and said, “You know as well as I do that not every healer could possibility be involved in the old king’s murder. Something else is going on.”

Michael was not willing to trust a stranger and replied, “I’m dead tired; time for me to turn in.”

Michael moved away from the fire and set up his bedroll near his horses. Before dropping off to sleep, he cast
stone armor
as a precaution and
winter blanket
to keep warm.

The attack came with the first traces of dawn. A knife was drawn across his neck, stopped by the armor spell. He reached up and cast
surgery sleep
and his attacker fell next to his bedroll. Michael jumped up and saw armored figures sneaking up on Peter and his guards. He rushed over to the man standing over Peter and repeated the sleep spell. He dashed toward the other three attackers and did the same.

Michael was too late to save one of the guards; the rapid bleeding from a serious neck wound was beyond his power to repair. As the light improved, Peter and Michael searched the attackers. They were in the armor of the King’s Own Regiment, from which all identifying insignias had been removed. Michael’s spell would keep them asleep for at least an hour. As they examined each soldier Michael cast
amnesia release.

After they finished their exam, Peter said, “These are the guards from the last roadblock we cleared. We’ll need to kill and bury them or they’ll come after us. I know you must be a healer to have cast those spells. You’ll not be safe either unless you help us get rid of them.”

“You’re right; I’m a healer, but we have no need of killing them. When they awake they will have no memories of the past two weeks. They will not even know you came through their roadblock.”

“I will never mention you to anyone Michael Son-of-William. May Perry keep you safe. Thank you for saving our lives. However, these men killed one of my guards; they deserve death,” Peter insisted.

“My friend, five sleeping guards who don’t remember how they got here or why will cause a lot less stir than five missing and dead ones. Let us bury your guard and be on our way as quickly as possible.

They carried the dead guard into the forest. The tangle roots made it impossible to dig a proper grave and a funeral fire was out of the question. They covered the body with rocks from a nearby stream, and rode their separate ways after Michael recast
surgery sleep
on each soldier to give them more time to get far away
.
After Peter left, Michael went back to the burial spot and used a dwarfish spell to put the dead guard two paces under the ground and to remove all traces of the burial.

If the incident of memory loss was reported, the knight protectors might figure out a healer was involved from the
surgery sleep
and
amnesia release
spells, but Michael planned to be far away before they did. Also, he thought there was an excellent chance the soldiers would never mention that two weeks of their memories were missing because of the question of why they were here would be difficult to answer.

Michael rode as fast as Ebony Honor and his packhorse could sustain the canter toward Briarton. The next checkpoint was unmanned as he had expected, and he made good time toward the town of Forest Clearing. It was mid-afternoon when he reached it.

Autumn fields of mature corn, squash, and beans surrounded the idyllic town of gray stacked-limestone houses. A few dozen sheep were grazing in fields that had already been harvested. The town had about thirty houses, a modest temple, an inn, and a market square. It looked prosperous. It was sunny and cool and lacked the gloom of the deep forest through which Michael had recently traveled.

Michael was in good humor until he reached the temple that took up one side of the market square. In shock, he noticed a metal cage hung from a stout tree in front of the Temple of Perry Ascendant. It contained the remains of a long dead woman in healer robes of light blue, the robes of a highly skilled master healer. There was no manna sign from anywhere in the village. If knight protectors had been involved, they were long gone. Michael had enough provisions to reach Briarton and decided to ride on until dusk. He didn’t want to sleep in a cozy room with that abomination visible across the square.

For the next three nights he slept in the open and avoided the towns along the way. The terrain had changed as the forest receded and open fields predominated. Briarton was the source of most of Glastamear’s wheat, oats, barley, and buckwheat as well as a major source of beef, mutton, and pork products.

Michael was only about three hours’ ride away from the large walled city of Briarton when he noticed the faint glow of manna far from the major road on which he traveled. He wore a detect-all-manna ring, and he cast his most powerful
detect all manna
spell to reinforce it. Seven healers were hidden in a cave located three thousand paces off the main road. He had found some survivors of the Briarton guild.