The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume One (22 page)

Chapter 44

Michael had no desire to appear in the middle of Rock Point as an eagle and suddenly transform into a skinny, stark naked, nineteen-year-old lad. He landed in the snow of one of the highest terraces where he transformed and dressed in his black traveling outfit. As he descended the stone stairway, he was recognized by one of the mages he had rescued from the cave near Briarton who ran into town shouting his name to let everyone know he was back. Soon he was mobbed with locals and healers. Diana threw herself into his arms while the whole crowd cheered.

After a long series of greetings including from his best friend Jim Neville and the Cooper brothers, he said, “Please my friends, we’ll have a reunion celebration tonight, but first I need to have a private discussion with Lord Guild Master Hampton to explain what’s happening on the mainland. Diana, please tell your father that I would like to call on him at your home in about two hours.” Everyone cheered again because they knew the purpose for that meeting.

Lord Hampton and Michael entered one of the deep caves and found a room with some comfortable cushions. Michael explained everything he’d learned and done, including the admonition of the red dragon Firebreath.

“My Lord, what are you feeling about sending a few healers to the mainland cities to try and curb the epidemic that is rushing upon us.”

“There is no possibility that there are enough of us left to stave off disaster, and as you point out, we can’t lose anymore people with healing manna or healers might disappear from the land of Glastamear forever. If they volunteer, I would agree that healers past childbearing age can return to the mainland for the winter, but only if you know of places where they might be safe. Southport seems our best bet because of the sympathetic High Priest. However, even in Southport there will still be knight protectors who would betray us and many citizens who would turn us in for a reward. There are already four of us in danger in Snowport. Northport and Briarton seem much too dangerous, and there is no way that you or any other healer should go near Min Hollow after what Firebreath said. Clearly, he could detect you from a great distance in spite of your
submerge manna
spell.”

Michael was not surprised at Lord Hampton’s decision. He agreed that they needed to protect young people with manna, but he wanted Diana, Jim Neville, and the Cooper brothers to be made exceptions. He replied, “I will ask Diana’s father for her hand unless you object to the marriage of two healers. I would like for us to live in Southport and continue to build my cover as a merchant. Someday we will need to start an insurrection against both the church and king. We can’t do that from Rock Point or Dragon Crag.”

“I believe you can protect Diana in Southport, and you have my blessing to move there. I know you two are meant for each other, and no guild master would try and keep you apart. I would like most of our young people to stay in Rock Point and find mates from the locals. It’s the only way to create a younger generation who can bring healers back to the mainland if the Church at Min Hollow falls to the coming attack by the three kingdoms. Since Jim cannot have children, he should go if you like. I will agree to the Cooper brothers as well since I’m sure they would ignore me if I objected. As for insurrection, that seems unlikely, we are too few in number.”

“If insurrection comes, it will not be healers that lead, but furious commoners who survive the Winter of Death. If the army and knight protectors are called to defend Min Hollow in the spring, we may have a chance to take the coastal cites next summer starting with Southport.”

They continued the discussion until it was time for Michael to ask for Diana’s hand. After that appointment, Diana’s father stood in front of the mayor’s house and proclaimed the bands of betrothal with a wedding to be performed in six days. The whole town was expecting the marriage, and the homecoming party that night was also a betrothal party celebrated by all of Rock Point.

Every table was moved to the street and filled with the best food the homeowners could make or buy. Every lantern was lit, every musician was playing, and every singer singing. The street party lasted long into the night with the guests of honor, Diana and Michael, required to stop at every table and sample whatever was offered.

Finally after midnight, Guild Master Hampton spoke to the crowd in the market square. “May Father God bless and keep safe these two extraordinary people for they are the guardians of our future. I hope to see the rest of you youngsters find the same happiness that I’m sure they will discover. Good night all.”

Michael and Diana took a couple of cushions from her house and walked along the causeway until they were alone. Michael cast
winter blanket
and they sat together and talked till dawn. Michael explained everything that had happened and ask her if she wanted to live in Southport.

“My dear, I expected to train as a healer and return to Rock Point as the only healer. With a hundred other healers, most with more experience than I, there’s nothing for me to do here. I’d love the chance to be involved in your merchant disguise and move to a different city.”

“There is still danger in trying to cure people in any location that has knight protectors. I have to keep you safe above all other considerations. I’m not sure you’ll be able to use your healing skills.”

Diana explained, “I’ve been thinking about how we could fight the epidemic without attracting attention. If we set up an apothecary shop and offered a cure that worked, we could cure hundreds of people a week. We wouldn’t need a real cure, just something bitter that had to be mixed and drunk immediately. That way we could use
clear lungs
right in the store while they were drinking our concoction. In addition, we could cure anyone we met on the street or at a party without even touching them. They would never know that they were saved by a secret cast of the
clear lungs
spell
.
”

“That’s brilliant my love. I need to get word of it to Lady Marsha in Snowport, but it would take two days for an eagle to fly there. It will have to wait until after the wedding.”

“If you’re really an elf-blood, you should be able to thought-talk across the distance between the stars. Reaching Lady Marsha in Snowport shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Why am I so stupid? All the old tales of elves say they could talk to anyone in the star cloud, but I never even tried to thought-talk at a great distance. I could have talked to you every night if I’d known.”

Michael reached Lady Marsha without trouble and passed Diana’s idea to her. This type of communication should be a great advantage in coordinating their future actions. Michael also reached Lady Barbara on Dragon Crag and asked her to send the Silver Trident to Rock Point to transport their group and any healer volunteers to Southport. It would take about a week to reach Rock Point and another week to return to Southport. He hoped they would be in time to prevent the epidemic’s onset in the southernmost city of Glastamear.

Six days later the whole community of Rock Point gathered in the largest cave above the town. Dressed in their wedding finery Michael and Diana repeated in unison the ancient vows, far older than the church of Perry Ascendant. The oath of union taught by Gripton to the first humans to marry on the planet Home under the star of Blue Haven.

“I will hold your hand and travel with you for all our livers. I will love and protect you for all our lives. I will nurture and cherish you for all our lives. This I pledge before Father God and all men and women present.”

The End

The spells of Glastamear

Healing

1. Amnesia release
   causes the patient to forget the past two weeks.
   
2. Calm soul
   reduces anxiety.
   
3. Cancer reach
   can remove cancerous growths.
   
4. Clear lungs
   cures contagious lung disease.
   
5. Detect all manna
   will show the presence of mages.
   
6. Detect life
   will highlight all nearby animals and humans.
   
7. Ease of passing
   reduces pain and suffering for terminal conditions.
   
8. Healing hands
   cures injuries.
   
9. Hear the heart murmur
   improves the hearing of the caster.
   
10.                     
    Heart stop
    will stop the caster’s heart permanently.
    
11.                     
    Knit bones
    is used to realign and repair broken bones.
    
12.                     
    Night surgery
    allows the caster to see in low light.
    
13.                     
    Perfect recall
    allows the caster to remember anything they read in the past.
    
14.                     
    Surgery sleep
    causes the patient to fall into a deep sleep.
    

Water

1. Float
   allows the caster to walk on water.
   
2. No stink
   removes the odor of the caster.
   
3. Open all locks
   can be used to open mechanical locks.
   
4. Quench fire magic
   causes fire mages to lose casting power for a time.
   
5. Shell skin
   strengthens the skin against insect bites and small cuts.
   
6. Still waters
   will block waves for a certain radius even in a storm at sea.
   
7. Submerge manna
   will hide the manna of the caster.
   
8. Transparency
   causes the caster to be invisible.
   
9. Water breath
   allows the caster to stay underwater for long periods.
   

Fire

1. Asbestos robe
   prevents fire damage
   
2. Fireless heat
   allows you to heat something like food without building a fire.
   
3. Torch
   provides light.
   
4. Winter blanket
   warms an area around the caster.
   

Earth

1. Copy metal shapes
   allows the caster to copy any metal shape.
   
2. Dwarfish strength
   allows the caster to carry very heavy weights.
   
3. Excavate
   digs a whole in the earth.
   
4. Fast travel
   allows for travel between dwarfish travel rooms.
   
5. Hide blades
   allows an elfish sword to become undetectable.
   
6. Stone armor
   provides the caster with the equivalent of steel plate armor.
   
7. Stone dome
   builds an impenetrable dome of force around the caster.
   

Forest

1. Alter form
   allows the caster to assume the form of any animal.
   
2. Alter weight
   allows the caster to reduce their weight.
   
3. Animal communicate
   allows the caster to communicate with animals.
   
4. Become a Ki
   is a spell that allows Michael to assume the form of an eagle.
   
5. Forest Vapor
   allows a fairy to pass through small holes.
   
6. Speed crops
   is a fairy spell that makes plants grow faster.
   
7. Take animal form
   is a fairy spell that allows the caster to take an animal form.
   

Characters in order of appearance in the
Pogrom of Mages

1. Michael
   is an
   apprentice healer and mage who is also known as Michael Son-of-Williams when he pretends to be a merchant and Michael Elf-Blood the hero of Gripton’s ancient promise.
   
2. Great King Justin
   is the recently murdered King of Glastamear, who along with many of his relatives was poisoned at the most recent Perry’s Day feast.
   
3. King Richard the Vengeful
   , previously known as Richard of Ash Tree Ford, is officially King Richard the Twenty-seventh. He ordered the pogrom against all mages in Glastamear because he claimed that they murdered King Justin.
   
4. William of Hearthshire Town
   was murdered in the pogrom against healing mages. He was mentor and teacher to Michael and a member of the healers’ High Council.
   
5. Arianna
   of the naiads of Black Sand Beach Pod is a friend to Michael who helped to save his life from the knight protectors who chased him through the Great Black Thicket.
   
6. The Red Dragon, Firebreath
   is the dragon who gave the male descendants of Perry the Bagger Chief the power of fire magic nearly two thousand years earlier.
   
7. Obert
   is the chief shaman of the Black Sand Beach Pod of naiads who teaches Michael water magic.
   
8. Gripton
   is shaman of the Great Elves who traveled the star sea, and who in ancient times, helped in the bioengineering of humans, naiads, dwarves, fairies, and many other creatures of the planet Home under the star Blue Haven.
   
9. Lord Hampton
   is the Master of the Healers’ Guild and head of the High Council.
   
10.                     
    Guild Bursar Childs
    is the treasurer of the Healers’ Guild.
    
11.                     
    Diana of Rock Port
    is the stunningly beautiful healer apprentice who Michael falls for when he first rescues her.
    
12.                     
    Arthur
    is manager of Westport Hospital who is forced to flee with other Westport mages when word of the pogrom reaches the city.
    
13.                     
    Steven the Fifteenth
    , the Most Holy Son of Perry Ascendant, is the highest official of the Church of Perry Ascendant and the most powerful fire mage in Glastamear.
    
14.                     
    Arthur of Stone Lane
    is the most prosperous merchant of Westport. He becomes the banker and friend of Michael when Michael assumes his merchant identity.
    
15.                     
    Lady Agnes of Ice Castle
    is a member of the healers’ High Council who Michael rescues in Westport. She becomes a mentor to Michael.
    
16.                     
    Sir James Neville
    is the son of the Baron of the Red Marshes and a fellow healer who is Michael’s best friend. Michael rescues him with Lady Agnes and two apprentices Herb and Gail from below the Great Temple of Westport.
    
17.                     
    Trucha of Snowport and Otto of White Plains
    are two healers rescued by Michael at an inn on the Snowport Road.
    
18.                     
    Tobias Howardson
    is a merchant of Snowport who is a member of the same banking syndicate as Arthur of Stone Lane. He assists with the relocation of the Snowport healers to the refuge at Rock Port.
    
19.                     
    High Priest Carson
    is the senior church official in Snowport. He allows all the healers in Snowport to escape. He’s a good and devout man much loved by the people of Snowport.
    
20.                     
    Eric Goodfriend
    is captain of Michael’s line-fishing boat, the
    Diana,
    and he is the brother of Lady Marsha, leader of the Snowport mages.
    
21.                     
    Christy of the White Mountains
    is the Snowport healer who mistakes Michael for a fire mage and knocks him unconscious with a rock at Snow Troll Fiord.
    
22.                     
    Lady Marsha
    is senior healer of Snowport and sister of Captain Eric Goodfriend.
    
23.                     
    Sid
    is the owner of the Inn of Restful Repose of the Kindly Merchant at Sand Point, a small hamlet south of Snowport.
    
24.                     
    Peter of Southport
    is a merchant that Michael meets on the road to Briarton. When they are attacked, Peter learns that Michael is actually a healer disguised as a merchant.
    
25.                     
    Master Bradley of Briarton
    is the Business Manager of the Grand Hospital of Briarton. Michael rescued Bradley and his six apprentices in a cave near Briarton.
    
26.                     
    Sir Gregory of Briarton
    is a successful merchant and banker in the prosperous city of Briarton, which is located in the most fertile agricultural area of Glastamear. He is the agent for King Richard, and his wife is the king’s cousin.
    
27.                     
    Claude the Builder
    is manager of the construction site at the ruins of the Great Hospital of Briarton. Michael hires him for the new construction at the site.
    
28.                     
    Baron Joseph Wheaton
    is the High Priest of Briarton who becomes a business partner with Michael and Sir Gregory in their new construction project.
    
29.                     
    Morgan of Fay Woods
    is the leader of the Fairy Folk who teaches Michael forest magic.
    
30.                     
    Grand Master Gwen
    is head of the Great Hospital of Briarton. Michael meets her and the thirty-six other healer refugees from Briarton in Fay Woods.
    
31.                     
    Kate
    is a senior healer who hid from the pogrom at th
    e
    Gray Mountain hamlet of Iron Pick. Michael gave Kate a submerge manna ring when she decided to stay and help the locals.
    
32.                     
    Sir John Neville of the Red Marshes
    is the brother of Michael’s best friend Jim Neville. He decided to secretly practice healing at the town of Swamp Ford where High Priest Carson had been exiled.
    
33.                     
    Isabelle age 12 and Anna age 13
    are from the village of Azure Falls. Michael rescues the young healers after they are abducted from their home by knight protectors.
    
34.                     
    Jacob and Roger
    , and their non-healer older brothers
    Peter and Gregory
    are known as the brothers of Oxbow Narrows. They are rescued by Michael at the town of Broken Arrow on the road to Southport.
    
35.                     
    Toby the monster child
    is the child healer priest who is responsible for the torture of the brothers of Oxbow Narrows while they were captives at Broken Arrow.
    
36.                     
    Kevin the Massive
    is the armorer for old King Justin. At his shop in Broken Arrow, Michael buys armor for the Oxbow Brothers and Jim Neville, which he enchants to make it much stronger.
    
37.                     
    Timothy Son-of-Timothy
    is Michael’s banker in Southport. They become partners in the purchase of the Southport Hospital building.
    
38.                     
    Carolyn
    is the wife of Timothy of Southport and very active in his businesses.
    
39.                     
    Sir Julian
    is the king’s agent and an important merchant in Southport.
    
40.                     
    High Priest Simon
    is the leader of the Southport clergy who allowed all of the local healers to go into exile while reporting to his superiors that he had them killed by drowning them at sea.
    
41.                     
    Lady Master Barbara of Southport
    is the most senior healer of southern Glastamear. She led the healers of Southport to exile on the island of Dragon Crag.
    
42.                     
    Howard Stonemaster
    is the well-regarded builder hired to convert the Southport hospital building for other uses.
    
43.                     
    Jake, David, and Marin
    are three healers at the refuge at Dragon Crag who are also experienced sailors. They man the cargo ship that Michael purchased and filled with supplies for the island refuge.