The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume One (11 page)

Chapter 22

“But mother, he’s here to rescue you,” Michael heard Captain Eric say.

Michael could feel the hands of a healer on the back of his skull, using the anti-concussion spell. His hands and feet were bound. He kept his eyes closed and listened.

“He fooled you my son. He’s a fire mage; he must be a knight protector in disguise.”

“I saw him cast fire balls to melt the ice on the path. No healer can do that,” Christy said. “He’s here to murder us.”

Christy was using healing spells on him at the same time she condemned him as a knight protector. That was the true nature of healers Michael thought; even if he really were an enemy, they would do everything possible to heal him.

Eric’s voice indicated some doubt. “It’s true he used fire magic to get us this far into the ice-blocked fiord, but he can also still the waves of a Great Northern Blast. He saved us from a cold and watery death using a spell he said he learned from the naiad at Black Sand Beach. He healed hundreds of people in Snowport while we were waiting for the boats to be ready. There’s no way he faked that. The man is a healer even though he claimed to be a pearl merchant. He’s a healer and more.”

Michael opened his eyes. He was not in a true cave; the square room had glass-smooth black walls and a dimpled black floor with shelves of stone for sleeping along one wall. The ceiling glowed uniformly with an unnatural pale blue light. It was just like all the dwarf homes he knew from ancient tales. He cast tiny fire spells to break his bonds and sat up.

“Lady Marsha, I’m Michael, the apprentice of William of Hearthshire Town. I’m no priest or knight protector. I’m a healer like you.”

Lady Marsha gasped, “Then you truly are the elf-blood of Gripton’s promise; thank Father God you’ve finally come and at the time of our greatest need. The members of the council knew about you when you joined the guild, but your elf-blood nature was merely a hope. We knew of the strength of your manna, but not if you could do other forms of magic like fire, water, and earth.”

“The naiads taught me water magic, and I found an ancient tome of fire magic when I broke into the dungeon below the temple in Northport to rescue Lady Agnes and the other mages they were holding.”

“You broke into the temple dungeon, impossible!” Christy said.

“The naiads taught me
transparency
and
submerge manna
making me invisible to the guards. I enchanted rings with
submerge manna
so the five of us couldn’t be detected. Lady Agnes and three other healers, actually maybe six healers by now, are waiting at Black Sand Beach. There is a safe place where Lord Hampton, Bursar Childes and Arthur of Westport Hospital are waiting for all of you to join them.”

“And William, did he reach safety?” Lady Marsha asked.

“They got him before I met the naiads; I’m told he used
heart stop
, so they didn’t learn anything from him.”

“I’m very sorry; I know you were close.”

“Thank you. He was a wonderful teacher and friend.” Michael withdrew his bag of enchanted rings. “These rings will hide your manna; you must all wear them continuously until we reach the safe place where Guild Master Hampton is waiting.”

Lady Marsha looked concerned. “No human has been able to enchant rings and amulets since the Legends Times. The church will have every knight protector in Glastamear searching for you if they ever learn you can do this as well as fire and water magic.”

“Michael, do you know this place?” Lady Marsha asked.

“It is clearly dwarf construction and probably ancient. Are there dwarves still here?”

“No dwarves have lived her for at least two thousand years. It’s mentioned in the guild’s ancient history texts; it’s called Gripton’s hole or Gripton’s refuge in old elfish. We came here because we knew it was warm no matter what the weather outside and because no priests know about it or would think of looking for us this far north.”

“It’s a wonder to see it in perfect shape after twenty centuries. They truly build to last, my lady. Please take this bag of rings and distribute them to hide our healers’ manna. We’d best get started back to the boat.”

“No Michael. There’s something you must see first, even if it forces us to wait for tomorrow to evacuate. There is a chamber at the end of this passage that no one can enter, except perhaps you. Please follow me. Christy, distribute those rings and let our friends know help has arrived.”

Lady Marsha and Michael walked along a corridor lined with reliefs of dwarves in battle with mythical beasts, or engaged in other heroic tasks. Each figure had jewels for eyes but otherwise was the same black obsidian as the walls and floors. A series of vacant rooms opened from the corridor in what once had been a substantial community of several hundred. After about twenty minutes they reached the end of the hallway. It ended in a single door of shinny metal, maybe steel, Michael thought.

On either side of the door, stood enormous metal effigies, each reaching five paces high, almost to the ceiling. One was a dwarf in full armor that held a giant hammer. The other was a male elf warrior with a two-handed sword of the ancient fighting style of the Lana swordsmen of the dawn of history.

On the door’s lentil was written in flowing elfish script, Gripton’s Refug
e
. Lady Marsha motioned to him to stand back, and she took two steps forward. The statues moved, abruptly crossing the hammer and the sword in front of the door, and Lady Marsha quickly jumped back and grinned at Michael.

“I thought that with your
transparency
spell they might let you pass. Our ancient lore holds that Gripton left this place for the elf-blood who would be born someday.”

Michael removed the ring he’d enchanted with
submerge manna
and handed it to Lady Marsha and took two cautious steps forward. The golems stepped back to their rest position recognizing elf-like manna in him.

He saw the elfish words for a powerful healing spell used to knit bones. It took tremendous manna to perfectly align broken bones and knit them together. He could cast it even though normally only masters with many decades of experience knew it. He cast
knit bones
and reached for the beam that blocked the door. It slid easily and soundlessly out of the way.

The door opened to reveal a second room with a red door at the end. A red stone dragon’s head protruded from each sidewall. A stream of smoke rose from their stone nostrils. The lintel above the coppery red door had the elfish words,
“
Fire Trap, BEWARE
!
”

The door was blocked with a beam that had the words of a spell that Michael had read about but never tried even in practice. Michael was uncertain what the words
asbestos robe
meant, but the spell book from the Northport temple described it as protection from fire. He took off his fine fox-lined coat and tossed it back to Lady Marsha, incongruously not wanting it not to be burned in case he was immolated. He cast
asbestos robe
and walked forward through a sea of fire that blasted from the mouths of the stone dragons and rose from holes in the floor. He didn’t even feel its warmth.

When the fire stopped he heard screaming from behind. He turned and saw Lady Marsha with her hand to her face. He called out, “I’m OK. Don’t worry.” He opened the red door.

Ahead was no room, just a rectangular pool of frigid water. He cast
water breath
and
warm blanket
, and jumped into the fifteen-paces deep pool. It was a long ten-minute swim through the airless corridor to the ladder that led up to the next door.

It was a stone door with the word WELCOME carved on the lintel. It opened easily to his push, and revealed things that might change the world.

Chapter 23

The room Michael entered was about twenty paces by forty paces, and every surface including the ceiling was covered with astonishingly beautiful elfish paintings of some fantasyland of ancient times. Dwarfish statues stood on either side of the entrance holding huge ebony war hammers. Michael understood they would bring instant death to a thief who did not belong in this sacred room. There was a huge golden chest in the center, four paces by three paces. Behind the chest was a reading stand with a single book. A magic light, bright enough to read by, glowed in the air above the book.

Michael entered cautiously and approached the enormous chest. Slowly lifting the lid to peer inside, he saw a treasure even greater than that in his room at Black Sand Beach, his gift from the naiads. In addition to the uncountable gold and platinum rings and amulets, there were two blue glass swords and two knives of impossible sharpness with ruby and pearl ornamented hilts. They were elf blades; the legends claimed they never dulled with use and could never be shattered even by a dwarf’s hammer.

There were also several, hand-size, ornately carved, wooden boxes made of a material he assumed was elf wood. He could detect no manna associated with the boxes. The magic elf wood of ancient tales was said to protect enchanted items from the effects of time and from detection by spells. Michael took nothing from the chest. He walked to the book and opened it to the first page.

A voice spoke. “You have passed the second test elf-blood of Gripton’s promise. The first test was that you knew the spells necessary to reach this room. The second test was that you valued the knowledge of the book above the treasure. There will be other tests in other chambers before your destiny is revealed. The book you opened is an account of all sixty-three spells of earth magic known to the dwarfs. Several of those spells will allow you to pull gold, platinum, and other metals directly from the sea or soil; the knowledge is more valuable than that whole chest of treasure. Other spells will allow you to work the metal into whatever shape you like. The most valuable and powerful spell is
stone armor.
It will give you a magic shell stronger than the finest steel plate armor.”

“You may take whatever you like from the chest. The blades are enchanted so that they can never cut their owner, even when dropped and picked up by an opponent. By speaking the words
hide blades
, no one can detect that you carry them. In the boxes are travel amulets. Take one. By speaking the words
take me home
while it is around your neck, you will return to this cave from anywhere. Once you learn the elfish names of other chambers, you will be able to ask the amulet to take you to any of them.”

“May the creator Father God be at your side in your epic quest to end the red dragon’s curse of Perry Ascendant on the family of mankind.”

Michael picked up the book. He did not want to spend more time than necessary in this place because he wanted to get all the healers to the ships. He took only one elf sword, one elf dagger, and one box containing a travel amulet from the chest and rushed back the way he had entered after wrapping the book in a waterproof pouch he had brought.

Half an hour later he was assisting the mages to the ship. It was almost dark when they reached the
Diana
, but he felt that temperature dropping and decided to try and get her out of the fiord before she was frozen in place.

He cast fire spells through the long exhausting night while the crew rowed the skiff pulling the boat along the ice-free trail he was making. The dawn had broken when they reached the other two ships. Michael collapsed in the skiff and had to be carried to the cabin on the
Diana
.

Lady Marsha cared for Michael in his exhaustion. She borrowed paper and graphite and did a complicated calculation. She explained to the other mages in the room, “I have estimated the manna cost of each fire spell and applied that to the distance in the ice that Michael cleared for our passage. He used more manna last night than all of the healers of Glastamear combined have used in the past ten years. He is truly the elf-blood.”

The oldest healer of the north, Gertrude of Snowport looked at the other healers and asked, “He is surely the elf-blood, but is he good? Will the power corrupt him?”

Lady Marsha replied, “We’re here because of his actions. That proves his intentions are good, but as to the risk of corruption by great power, only the Father God knows that for certain.”

The three ships sailed south keeping far enough out to sea to avoid other ships. On the sixth day Michael had the skiff towed on a line a hundred paces behind the
Diana.
He wanted to try some of the earth magic he was learning without endangering others. Two hours later the skiff was pulled up to her cradle on the decks. Michael hopped out and told the captain to check the skiff. It contained nine golden disks in total weighing as much as a small man, and sample disks of many other metals, some of which had never been seen before in Glastamear.

He smiled at the astonished sailors and said, “These are the bonuses for you and for the crews of the other two boats. Tomorrow, I will need to go ashore somewhere near the village of Sand Point to look for other healers. I will tell Lady Marsha where you will be sailing after you pick up other healers at Black Sand Beach. It is a long journey and you will need to take additional provisions onboard before leaving the coast.”

“I would feel a lot safer if you were going the whole way Michael, but I know you have other healers to save. May Father God be with you.”

Michael noticed that the captain made no mention of Perry Ascendant in his blessing. He wondered if that would soon become normal among the citizens of Snowport.

He went into the cabin and asked to speak to Lady Marsha. The others left them alone to talk.

“Lord Guild Master Hampton, Guild Bursar Childs, and Arthur, manager of Westport Hospital are on Mitchell Island in the village of Rock Point. The village is at the base of the Great White Volcano of Mitchell Island. You will recognize the harbor because two towers stand besides the opening. I suggest you tell no one of the final destination until you are near the island. At Rock Point, have the shipwrights remove every trace that the ships have been used for passengers. They must be true line fishers, able to withstand any inspection. They should actually fish on the return trip to the mainland.”

Michael continued, “One healer must remain onboard and return with the crew to Black Sand Beach. That healer must cast
amnesia release
on all three crews, even the captains. It will remove only the memory of the final two weeks of the trip. They will still remember everything except that their final destination was on Mitchell Island. I know of no spell to cover their activities completely, but at least if they are interrogated, they will not know the guild’s new home.”

“I will stay onboard.”

“Lady Marsha, there are others who know that spell who could stay, but it is your decision. Whoever returns will need to stay in the naiads’ tower until the next ship is ready for Rock Point. That could be weeks or months. There are currently either four, or if we’re lucky, six healers waiting at Black Sand Beach for the trip to the island. Lady Agnes of Ice Castle is the most senior healers now at the beach.”

Lady Marsha hugged him and said, “I will enjoy getting acquainted with the naiads, and I’ll stay until you’re ready to save more of us. It is Father God’s blessing that you were born in this time of greatest danger. You must keep yourself safe; Glastamear needs you.”

A few hours later, Michael met with the three captains. “I have asked Lady Marsha to serve as my agent as ship’s owner until she leaves the ship. She alone knows your destination. She will direct you there from Black Sand Beach and return with you to that beach.”

Michael frowned because he didn’t know how they would react. “There is something distasteful that I must explain before we go any farther. Senior healing mages learn a spell called
amnesia release
. It is used when someone has undergone such a horrific trauma that they must forget it in order for their minds to heal. Lady Marsha will use it to make all of you forget the previous two weeks. You will not remember where the healers are hiding.”

Captain Eric Goodfriend of the
Diana
replied, “That is good news. It’s best we don’t know.” The other captains agreed.

Michael continued, “At your destination, shipwrights will remove all evidence that the three ship have been used for passengers. You should fish on your way back to Black Sand Beach. Also I own an oyster boat that is already at the beach, you should also take their smoked oysters to market in Northport. After that I would like you to fish up and down the coast, stopping at Black Sand every month or two. I will be there waiting sometime in the future. I hope it is with other healers that I have located inland and at Southport.”

The three captains were pleased that they would soon be back to their fishing profession but still able to help healers who might need it if the opportunity arose. The sailing agenda up and down the coast would also allow them to spend some time with their families in Snowport on each voyage.

Ten hours later, the
Diana
was two hundred paces from the shore near Sand Point Village, the town where Michael had left his horses before taking the stage to Snowport. Michael shook hands with Captain Eric, smiled, and said two words in ancient elfish, and instantly disappeared.