The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two (16 page)

Chapter 25

It was impossible to travel through the Great Northern Forest except by following the few roads cut through the dense stands of trees. Since the roads all led from one community to another, it would have been impossible to keep their travel a secret. Michael estimated that it would take over twenty days to reach Black Sand Beach at their current rate, and they had too little food. Buying food in one of the villages would be difficult because during this brutal winter food was very scarce in northern Glastamear. Also, since it was impossible to get all the children to sleep while the sleighs were still moving, they camped each night for eight hours. That pause every night would become more dangerous as they neared the heavily populated areas of Briarton Province where brigands and outlaws were common.

Michael recalled the detailed map on the floor of the dwarves’ travel room in Fay Woods, and he redirected their travel to the nearest one, which had been a dwarfish mining community two thousand years earlier. It was in a remote part of the southern foothills of Mountains of Min. The abandoned mine was not an easy place to reach even by sleigh, but it seemed better than any alternative. He contacted Lady Barbara at Dragon Crag and asked her to send the
Silver Trident
back to Black Sand Beach with enough supplies for moving the eighteen children to the town of Rock Point on Mitchell Island where the guild was planning to make a training school for the children with healing talent.

The travel was arduous. They had to take many turns and change directions repeatedly, and at times, Michael had to use his dwarfish spells to remove impassable obstacles. Each night, Michael would become an eagle and choose their best route. The heavy snow cover allowed them to pass over many obstructions, and Michael doubted their route would be possible for wagons after the snowmelt. They reached the mine on the eighth day. Michael had always wanted to have as many children as possible. This was his first experience with a group of eighteen youngsters. Even though he loved children, he decided that four or five would be as many as Diana and he could possibly handle.

Unlike most dwarfish ruins, this one had many stone buildings above ground, although they were currently buried three paces deep in snow in this bitter winter. They made camp inside one of the largest buildings after they cleared enough snow to make an entrance possible through the huge bronze doors. The doorway was high enough to bring all three sleighs into the central meeting room of this abandoned dwarfish community. Michael cast spells to warm the huge space and to provide light.

The children were anxious to explore the structure, but dwarves often left traps for uninvited guests, and the men couldn’t allow the children a chance roam. Michael cast
stone dome
to create an enclosure that included most of the center of the vast room. Jim and the Oxbow brothers decided it was time for some games to burn off excess energy, and they got out games and toys. Some of the children were tossing balls for the puppies to chase while others played the ancient games of stickball and dodge ball. Several others played the game of marble warfare, hopping disks, or the ancient war game of the High Elves called, in ancient their Elfish language,
ches
s
.

Michael went searching for the travel room that Gripton, the chief shaman of the Great Elves, had caused the dwarves to create over two thousand years earlier. These enchanted rooms had been created especially for the use of the elf-blood of Gripton’s Promise, and Michael was the only human who could use them. However, he had found that if he held the hand of another person, that person could travel with him. There was a travel room near his destination at Black Sand Beach.

He followed a downward sloping ramp to a set of bronze doors decorated with dwarves performing various mining operations in bas-relief. Above the door was an inscription in the ancient Elfish language used by all the children of the elves in the days before humans began to alter the written language. The inscription said, “The Mine of . . .” followed by a word that Michael didn’t recognize. The word’s roots came from iron, strength, and metal. Michael wondered if this mine had been used to gather a specific metal that hardened iron to make steel. If so, it might be the secret metal used to create the steel plate armor of the knight protectors. He decided to find a sample of the ore and take it to Henry Ironmaster in Oxbow Narrows.

Michael proceeded alone and opened the bronze doors. Just inside, stood two iron statues of dwarves holding giant hammers. One spoke. “Enter Elf-Blood. You are welcome here. If you seek a travel room, take the first right and the third left. If you wish to mine the . . . ore, head straight ahead.”

Michael explored the ruin. He found many samples of the metal the dwarves had mined and put samples in his backpack. He found living quarters and storage rooms. There were many samples of dwarfish weapons and workshops where the weapons were forged. They were stronger than any made by men, and the few that survived in Glastamear were greatly valued by swordsmen. The dwarf style sword was made for one-handed use paired with a shield. Another room held hundreds of dwarfish shields made of steel-clad hardwood. They were rectangular in shape and convex to provide excellent arrow deflection for those warriors strong enough to carry their weight. These items were excellent weapons for anyone who didn’t have the years of practice needed to master the two-handed Lana swords that Michael and his friends used. The supply here in the ruin would be worth a fortune, and would equip a small army, maybe two hundred and fifty or three hundred men. Michael thought this store of weapons would be important someday. He took only one sword and one shield to show to Henry Ironmaster.

Another pair of iron golems stood guard at the travel room. They greeted Michael and let him enter. Michael said the words to take him to Black Sand Beach and instantly he was in that familiar travel room, which he’d connected to the Healers’ Guild refuge in the cliffs near the beach. He followed the tunnel he’d made in the autumn and found Jake, David, and Martin in the common room of the refuge eating breakfast. They were the three healers who crewed the cargo ship the
Silver Trident
. He had last seen them at Sand Point when they delivered the supplies that went to Briarton.

They greeted Michael warmly and he joined them for breakfast. David explained, “We’ve loaded the books and have full food and supplies onboard. We added beds to the cargo hold for the children. Lady Barbara said we’d be taking eighteen youngsters to Rock Point. The trip will be an adventure for them in the middle of winter even with those enchanted rings you provided.”

“I may be able to scout the weather for you before you set sail. I’ll fly high and far out to sea to check that no storms are on the way.” All three men knew Michael’s magic was far greater than any other healer. In the autumn, they had ridden on the back of the giant black dragon from the island of Dragon Crag to the city of Southport.

After having some tea and salted pork with the crew, Michael had them follow him to the travel room so they could help the youngsters as he brought them through. Michael went back to the room where the children were playing and took two by the hand and led them through to Black Sand Beach. It was scary because of the giant golem and the dark corridors, but Michael spoke reassuringly as they walked. As soon as they were through, he went back for another pair, and so on until all the children and their pets were in the refuge at the beach. After seeing that they and their pets were well fed, he went outside and converted to an eagle and flew far out to sea. There were no signs of any approaching storms.

Before reentering the refuge, Michael transformed into Robbie the Unicorn. The children were greatly excited to see him again, and he used mage thought-talk to reassure them of the safety of the trip in a sailing ship. They were excited by the passage through the dwarfish ruin and most looked forward to attending their new school in Rock Point.

After assuring the crew that it was a good time to sail, he went back to the travel room and converted to his normal self before going through to his friends in the dwarfish mining ruin. Michael decided that their next trip would be to Oxbow Narrows to provide the ore and weapon samples to Henry Ironmaster. They loaded a substantial sample of the ore onto two of the sleighs.

The route to Oxbow Narrows would take them through Briarton and Azure Falls. Michael would have a chance to check on the progress of construction at both locations. From there they would travel to Marigold Meadows and through Green Mountain Pass to Southport. Somewhere along the way they would need to replace the snow-elk and sleighs because they would become useless as they traveled past the area of deep snow near Briarton.

It was a glaring bright morning when they left the dwarfish ruin and headed through the snow cross-country towards Briarton. They made good time following the tracks that he left on their way to the ruin. They saw no people, but another herd of mastodons came near their route, and they stopped to watch the massive and usually docile animals knock huge drifts of snow aside to reach the dried grass below.

In four days, they reached the walls of Briarton without seeing a single human up close during their trip south because they had traveled across the farmland avoiding both towns and roads. The weather had been cold, but no new storms had slowed their travel.

Chapter 26

When they reached the Great Northern Gate of Briarton, Michael hailed the guards after removing his helmet.

“Greeting Michael Son-of-William. You are very welcome in Briarton. We’ll open the gates and send word to Sir Gregory of your arrival. He has asked us to let him know if you returned.”

Michael and his men rode their sleighs through the gates. Very close to the gate were the remains of the Briarton Hospital, which had burned during the pogrom against the Healers’ Guild. Michael had purchased the site and ordered a shopping arcade built along the front of the property, which bordered the main thoroughfare that led from the Great Northern Gate to the Temple Square. Now they halted their sleighs allowing Michael to examine the property. Construction had resumed, and his foreman, Claude the Builder, was busy overseeing the two score of men working on the project.

“Greetings, Michael Son-of-William. You can see that we’ve resumed construction now that the snow has been cleared from the streets and the epidemic is under control.”

“And greetings to you Claude the master builder. The front façade looks perfect. Are there shops already open? I see a line of people waiting to enter.”

“Oh this crowd is all in line for the apothecary shop, but two merchants will move in this week, and three more the following week. The whole place will be fully leased by spring.”

Claude showed Michael and his friends around the property. They were in the process of adding interior walls and preparing for occupancy. While they were inside, Sir Gregory arrived with an escort of twenty guardsmen.

He hugged Michael as if they’d been friends for life, which made Michael a little suspicious. Sir Gregory’s motives were often his own. He was the type of merchant that caused Michael to want to check and see if his purse was still at his belt. They were partners in this Street of Dreams project because Sir Gregory was the only man with the political connections to get it done.

“Things seem greatly improved under your leadership, Sir Gregory. Is the city returning to normal?”

“The city itself fares well. People are returning to their homes and business is resuming. The food you delivered has been a great assistance in bringing us back to normal. However, there’s a problem at the temple compound that I’d like to discuss with you at my house. Can you come for dinner? Lady Breen and the children would love your company.”

“Of course, I’d be delighted. I know a new story about a unicorn and a troll that the children might enjoy.”

“I’ll send an escort to the Unicorn Stallion Inn soon after dark. By the way, it’s best to avoid Temple Square right now. Well, I’m off to inspect grain storage; see you tonight.”

Michael continued his tour with Claude and they settled on the decisions that needed to be made at this point in the construction. They decided to build a separate water tower behind the building rather than on the roof. Michael thought having the water source out of sight made the project more attractive. They settled on a black and tan pattern for the floors in a style used in the governor’s palace and chose a coffered interior ceiling of maple inlayed with gold leaf. It was all going to be expensive, and Michael gave Claude a purse with an additional five hundred golden crowns. Since Michael had recently made the coins using the earth magic of the dwarves, the cost wasn’t much of an issue for him.  As instructed, the back part of the property adjacent to the city walls had been left completely alone. It was where Michael hoped to rebuild what had once been the largest and most famous hospital in Glastamear.

Michael was curious about what had happened in the temple compound. When he was last in Briarton, he enchanted the Perry’s Hand sculpture above the Great Temple’s door with
quench fire magic
. He knew the priest and knight protectors were now completely without the power of fire magic, but knights were always formidable warriors, especially when compared with city guards who normally kept order by arresting drunks and pickpockets, or stopping family arguments from becoming feuds.

After his tour of the property, he went to the apothecary shop to see Lady Marsha, who had been a leader of the Healers’ Guild in Snowport before the pogrom. She came out from behind a counter where her helpers were mixing potions to hug Michael, and they stepped into an unoccupied store next door to talk.

In response to Michael’s question, Lady Marsha explained, “The white pneumonia somehow got into the temple compound a few days after you left for Crow Crossroads. We first knew of the crisis when the priests began to toss bodies over the compound walls. We removed them and took them to the mass grave you prepared, but each day new bodies appeared. The city guards who were helping us bury the dead recognized High Priest Wheaton’s body even though he’d been stripped of his vestments and purple robe. We’ve buried over a hundred from the compound, many of them the wives of children of the priests.”

“They won’t let you in even with the cure?” Michael asked.

“There’s some clerical politics going on inside that I don’t understand. My guess is that whoever is in control has already had the pneumonia and recovered. With the high priest dead, I have no idea who’s in charge, but the leader won’t let us in to help.”

“I’m having dinner tonight with Sir Gregory. Maybe I’ll learn more of what’s going on.”

“The good news is that we’ve settled in well. I purchased a house for the four of us to use with the money you left me plus the coins we’ve made from the fees for the cures. Because of all the deaths, property is cheap in the city. We’ve done well in reaching the villages and towns of the province. I think we’ve gotten the pneumonia under control in Briarton Province except in a few rural pockets and those poor souls within the temple compound.”

Michael and his friends went to the Unicorn Stallion Inn. It was quite busy, almost full. However, the elaborate suite that Michael had rented in the past was still available. They settled in after feeding their snow-elk. That night the escort came for Michael and walked with him to Sir Gregory’s house. It was a cold clear night with both Father Moon and Uncle Moon visible. Fairy Lights in the northern sky colored the dark city with flashes of crimson, green, and violet. The street was busy compared to Michael’s previous visit.

Sir Gregory’s children were excited to see Michael again. He had regaled them with stories and tales of adventures on his last visit. This evening, he told them a story, which went something like this:

In times long past in the kingdom of Glastamear, a giant green ogre named Steven captured eighteen young children. He stole them in the dark of night taking them from their beds as they slept. Steven the Ogre took them to the massive Fortress of Ogres where he put them in the deep dark dank dungeon and fed them only goose fat and pig lard to fatten them up. He wanted to serve them at his Perry’s Night feast and impress all the other ogres who would attend. He was ambitious to be leader of all the ogres, and he thought the feast would help him fulfill his ambition.

Word of the children’s captures reached Robbie the Unicorn and Stanly the Troll who lived together in a castle far away in the Mountains of Amber Solitude. Robbie had a beautiful blue coat with a pink mane and a golden horn. He was widely thought to be the most beautiful creature on Home under the star Blue Haven. Stanly was almost too ugly to describe and ten times the size of Robbie, but they were close friends.

Robbie was furious because he loved all human children and decided they must do something to help them. It is the nature of trolls to have few opinions of their own, and Stanly was happy to go along with his friend to free the abducted children. They traveled day and night until they reached the ogre’s fortress, only one day before the Perry’s Night feast.

In the whole history of Home under the star Blue Haven, no one had ever attacked a whole fortress full of giant green ogres. Since they feared no one, the ogres all were asleep. Stanley was enormous; trolls brush their teeth with trees and wash their faces in whole rivers. They use farmers’ cottages for pillows and when they rise in the morning they leave depressions that become farm ponds. When they reached the ogres’ fortress, a heavy iron portcullis blocked their entrance. The gate was so heavy that it took eight ogres turning two lifting wheels to raise it. Stanley reached out and lifted it without even a grunt, and Robbie the Unicorn went to look for the children. He found them down in the dark and damp dungeon under the fortress. Locks and chains were no obstacles to magical unicorns, and Robbie immediately freed the children from their shackles and gave them apple pies to eat because these children hated goose fat and pork lard and wanted sweets.

All the children followed Robbie into the courtyard where they jumped into a wagon. Robbie pulled the wagon through the gate before Stanley lowered it. Robbie galloped through the night taking each child to his home across the vast lands of Glastamear. By Perry’s Night all the children were home in their own beds.

The other ogres laughed at Steven’s foodless Perry’s Night feast for they had only goose fat and pork lard to eat, no nice plump children, and Steven never became their leader.

The children loved the story, and Michael was certain they’d repeat it to their friends. He told other stories at the dinner, and when the children went to bed, it was time to talk about the problem at the temple compound.

“Michael, my friend, I received a message from the acting governor of Hearthshire Province. His message was asking if we needed aid, but the most important information I received was from questioning the messenger, a cohort commander named Hammond. He told me the whole story of how you climbed into the temple compound and opened the gates for Governor Farrier’s troops so they could put down the knight protectors’ insurrection.”

“My role was minor. Farrier’s troops did all the fighting.”

“I respect your modesty Michael, but it was no small feat. We may have a similar problem in Briarton. Unlike Hearthshire Town, all the family residences of the temple’s priests are within the compound. That means there were at least a hundred family members inside that compound when the gates were closed last autumn. Something terrible happened when the white pneumonia broke out recently. A significant number of the bodies they’ve thrown over the walls have injuries from sword or crossbow bolts, and we think almost all of them are priests rather than knights. I believe there had been fighting among the priests and knights over who should take the place of High Priest Wheaton. By long tradition the high priests are always selected from the priesthood rather than from the knight protectors. Astonishingly, a knight called Allen the Fierce is now claiming to be the new high priest of Briarton Province, and he has appointed another knight James the Silent as acting governor.”

“That’s absurd. A knight can’t be a high priest or a governor. They have their own hierarchy with the Holy Commander of Perry’s Warriors in charge, and the Holy Commander reports directly to the Holy Son. More damned rogue knights; they’ve been a second plague in this bitter winter. And these maggots have the priests’ families as hostages. What have you done about the situation?”

“Michael, you know the city guards are no match for knights in full steel plate armor even when they have no fire magic. If they decide to take over the city, there’s little I can do until the snows are gone from the pass into Min Hollow. The king has five thousand real soldiers; I have about three hundred city guards with leather armor and iron short swords.”

“I understand. An assault like we had in Hearthshire Town would be suicide for your men. What can I do to help?”

“I need more information. I can’t ask you to climb the temple compound walls. It’s very dangerous, but if you decide to do it anyway, I would welcome any information you can gather. There will be no moons in tonight’s sky, and the men I have stationed around the compound will not interfere.”

It was clear to Michael that this dinner was a setup. Sir Gregory had wanted him to investigate the compound and used this backhanded manner to ask. Michael had some advantage that Sir Gregory knew nothing about, so he felt there was little real danger to an invisible mage who could detect the location of every guard with a
detect life
spell.

“Let’s have breakfast in the morning at my room at the inn. I may have some news to pass on before we leave for Southport.”