The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two

by Charles Williamson

  He’d seen the manna of the Most Holy Son of Perry Ascendant, Steven the Fifteenth, when he flew over Min Hollow last autumn. It was many times the manna of the most powerful fire mages he knew, like High Priests Carson and Simon and that monster Xian. The Holy Son was reputed to wield fantastic energies given directly to him as the leader of the church by Holy Perry himself. He had read ancient stories of the Holy Sons creating whole walls of flame to stop charging lancers or horse archers. In the war of a hundred days, fifteen hundred years earlier, Steven the First, was said to have brought down spears of blue sunlight that melted men and their armor into a fused black slug. Even the rocks were said to have melted into glowing red lava, which poured forth from the point of impact. Maybe these stories had more truth than he previously had suspected, and he wondered if an apprentice healer had any chance of producing change against men who could wield such immense power.

  The weather stayed clear and very cold, and Michael took his turn sleeping in the swaying hammocks in the sleeping sleighs. He used none of his magic except to search for dangers, but there were no more circumstances like the great wolves’ attack. They bypassed the walled towns along the way. Michael detected no manna signs in Appleton or Forest Clearing. Lady Marsha decided to send one of her healers back in an apothecary sleigh to help the towns along their route. On the fifth morning, they were near the cave where he’d rescued Master Bradley, the business manager of the Grand Hospital of Briarton. Less then an hour later, they were at the closed gates of Glastamear’s second largest city.

  Michael yelled up to the archers on the wall, “We bring supplies from the mayor of Snowport and the governor of Southport.”

  “I have orders to let no one in for any reason. You bring a second round of the white pneumonia with you.”

  “Check with Governor Haddad. Ask him to come to the wall,” Michael yelled.

  The guard seemed to think things over for a minute. “Governor’s dead and High Priest Wheaton has been locked in the temple for two months. Sir Gregory is in charge.”

  “Send a message to Sir Gregory. Tell him Michael Son-of-William is at the gate with thirty-five wagons of food.”

  Fifteen minutes later Sir Gregory stood looking down at Michael. “Thank Holy Perry that you’ve come with food, Michael. Starvation is common among the poor and working classes. Many thousands might have died before spring from hunger. Already we have uncountable dead from the white pneumonia. However much we need the generous gift of food, your group may still carry a new round of the epidemic with you.”

  “Gertrude, an apothecary of Southport, developed a cure for the white pneumonia. I have four apothecaries who know her formula in our caravan. We’ve had no one come down with the pneumonia on our trip here because of their treatment.”

  “Do you swear by Holy Perry that you have brought no one with the epidemic disease?”

  “I, Michael Son-of-William, swear by Holy Perry and Father God that no one in this caravan carries the white pneumonia.”

  Sir Gregory motioned to the guards who opened both the outer gates and the inner gates, and the sleighs moved into the city toward the central market square in front of the Great Temple of Briarton. Before they reached it, Sir Gregory ran up to the first sleigh and directed Michael to the Merchants’ Quarter.

  “Michael, the Temple Square is a horror; it’s piled with many thousands of bodies laid out in the snow. The lower classes have stacked all the dead there to show contempt for the church. It’s been too cold for burial, and many people are furious with the church because the temple compound has been locked for two months.”

  Sir Gregory hopped up onto the sleigh beside Michael, “Let me direct you to the merchants’ common warehouse. It’s the only enclosed space large enough for this much food. I swear that I will see to a just and free distribution of the supplies you’ve delivered.”

  Michael was somewhat skeptical, but there seemed to be no other government authority to trust, and he certainly didn’t want the church in charge of the distribution. He knew from personal experience that the Briarton High Priest, Baron Joseph Wheaton, was corrupt since he had bribed him on his previous visit.

  By the time they reached the courtyard of the warehouse and unloaded the thirty-five wagons, it was dark, but the sleigh drivers preferred not to spend the night in the city. Michael purchased three of the sleighs with their snow-elk from their driver owners. There were no snow-elk sleighs in Briarton, and Michael was certain he would need them if the weather remained bad. He needed one for his group to use and two to be used by the apothecaries to reach the smaller town of Briarton Province.

  Michael and his five friends as well as Lady Marsha and her three healers trudged though the snow buried streets to the nearby Unicorn Steed Inn. It was nearly empty, and they all found comfortable rooms. The innkeeper recognized Michael and put him in the same huge suite that he had occupied on his visit in the autumn. Jim and the Oxbow brothers joined him in that suite, and Lady Marsha and her three healers took a suite together on the floor below. The Unicorn Steed was famous as the most luxurious inn in Glastamear. The wealthy always seemed to have food even in the worst of times, and the innkeeper arranged a large and satisfying meal served in the private dining room of Michael’s suite to the whole party of travelers.

  The meal was festive since they had just completed a difficult overland journey. Michael explained that he had purchased the three sleighs with their snow-elk so that healers could use two as apothecary vehicles to reach the many small communities in snow-covered areas of rural Briarton Province. The third, Michael and his friends would use to head even farther north to the small town of Crow Crossroads near the entrance to Min Hollow. He wanted to investigate a remote mountain valley, which sheltered a castle on a crag. He told the group about the attempt of the Church of Perry Ascendant to create an order of healer priests to replace the murdered Healers’ Guild members.

  Jim said, “I think there is a high priority project to do before we let two of the sleighs move on to smaller towns. The Temple Square is piled with frozen bodies, most of them died of the white pneumonia. The whole mess in the square will be a source of future infections for anyone who was missed by the first round of the disease.”

  Michael nodded in agreement, and Lady Marsha said, “Burying the dead is clearly a priority, and the only vehicles that can do that in these conditions are the three sleighs. Let’s begin in the morning.”

  “But where can we put them? The ground is frozen solid and covered man-height deep with snow,” Peter said.

  Michael replied, “There is an extensive cave system under this area of Briarton Province. The cave where I found Master Bradley and his apprentices is part of an enormous limestone network. I’ll find a cavern close to town that’s also dry. We could probably make about five or six round trips a day with maybe a hundred bodies transported in each trip. That should clear the square in a week. We can treat the bodies with respect even in a mass grave. I’ll speak with Sir Gregory about it tomorrow. We should say the rituals of the reincarnation for the dead.”

  Lady Marsha suggested, “Once we complete the burial cave, the town can build a monument to the deceased if the survivors want to memorialize their lost ones. I think keeping the death rituals intact will be important in a return to normalcy and winning the goodwill of the citizens.”

  Michael replied, “I’ll see if we can enlist a priest for the rituals. A few may have been outside of the Great Temple when the gates were barred.”

  Chapter 19

  That night, Michael took his eagle form and searched using his dwarfish earth senses for a suitable cave. First, he flew over Temple Square to see the number of bodies that needed to be buried. He couldn’t count the number; it was many thousands. He landed on the Perry’s Hand symbol above the main entrance of the temple and enchanted it with quench fire magic. There would be no more fire magic in the city of Briarton.

  After the enchantment, Michael flew widening circles around the
city. When he sensed a dry cave less than a thousand paces from the city’s walls and about ten paces below ground, he used the dwarfish spell excavate to prepare it. He made a steeply sloping shaft from ground level down to the largest room in the cave system. The massive underground space would be able to hold all the bodies from the square with a lot of room to spare. When he went down into the massive underground room, he sealed all the other passages using the dwarfish spell excavate so that the bodies could not contaminate the city’s ground water and the bodies would never be disturbed by anyone searching through the cave network once he sealed it. He wanted no chance of the white pneumonia returning in the distant future from an accidental exposure.

  Once the burial cave was ready, he flew back to the Unicorn Steed and slept for the rest of the night. In the morning, he walked to Sir Gregory’s house with Jim and the Oxbow brothers. All six of them were in full armor with their swords and crossbows at the ready because lawlessness had taken hold in the streets of the desperate city. They used their snowshoes because the streets were still two paces deep in snow in most of the city.

  At Sir Gregory’s huge home and business compound, the guards expected them. Jim and the Oxbow brothers were taken to the kitchen for breakfast, and Michael was asked to join Sir Gregory, his wife Lady Breen, and their three oldest children in their dining room. Lady Breen was a striking flaxen-haired beauty; the three children shared her good looks. They were ages ten, eight, and six.

  With the children at the table, Michael decided not to discuss the burial plans or impact of the epidemic on the city. Instead he told of the warmth of the southernmost province even in winter. He delighted the children with his account of the first masked ball of the season, the beauties of the Great Temple of Southport, and the tall tower on the temple grounds called The Light of Perry, which served as a lighthouse visible from far at sea. He also told the tale of seeing the enormous mastodons on this trip from Snowport and being followed by great wolves. He described the fun of a sleigh ride with a four snow-elk team across newly fallen snow, charging through the night at the speed of a galloping horse. After breakfast, Sir Gregory invited Michael to his office to discuss the food supplies and how they should be distributed.

  Sir Gregory began by saying, “Michael my friend, thank you for the joy you gave my children. It’s been a bleak winter for them, and I rejoiced seeing the smiles you brought to their faces. Do you have children; you’re very good with them.”

  “My wife, Diana, is pregnant with our first. I hope to be back in Southport for the birth. You have become the leader of the province since the governor died, but I’m not certain that congratulations are in order. It must be a terrible burden.”

  “It’s not a role I ever wanted. My wife is well connected with the royal family, and she got me the appointment as the King’s Agent. I had begun to feel the job of acting governor was hopeless until you arrived at our gates yesterday. Thanks be to Holy Perry for your gift of food.”

  “High Priest Simon and Governor Talton asked that the food be freely distributed based on the number of people in each household.”

  “It will be done exactly as they wish. I have no desire to try and profit from this horrible winter. I will begin the distribution this afternoon.”

  “With each gift of food, I’d like one of the apothecaries that came with me to distribute the white pneumonia cure. We need to break this epidemic. We must also bury our dead. I would like to begin today to clear the Temple Square. Are you in contact with High Priest Wheaton?”

  “No, I last spoke with the high priest when he received the order to recall all knights and priests and lock the temple compound. He didn’t like the idea, but it was a direct command from the Holy Son. I have tried sending messengers to the temple walls, but since the priests locked the gates, no one can get near the compound’s walls without a fireball tossed their way to discourage discourse. The citizens now hate the clergy for their abandonment and for hording food while the town faced starvation. Last month before this enormous snowfall blocked the streets, a general riot broke out and the governor was murdered and his home ransacked. Since then, at least half the population has fled the city, and no street is safe for me without a guard detachment. However, the last two storms have left so much snow in the streets, that things are quieter because many residents’ doors are blocked by snow.”

  “So the knight protectors here can still cast fireballs?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, certainly. Why do you ask?”

  “In other towns where the clergy has abandoned the citizens, Holy Perry has withdrawn his blessing. That happened in Hearthshire Town, Broken Arrow, Snowport, and other places. The temple in Hearthshire Town had to be rededicated by High Priest Carson to remove the taint and allow the sacrament of Perry’s Fire.”

  “I’ll try another messenger today. If the high priest will come to the wall, I’ll let him know that you’ve returned with a huge food shipment.”

  “I’m sure you know that the bodies in the Temple Square must be buried. I have three sleighs here in town that can move even in this deep snow. I’d like you to provide a detachment of city guards to load and unload them. I know of a nearby cave we can use for a common burial. Are there any priests not inside of the temple compound? I’d like the rituals for the dead as part of this mass burial.”

  “I have three priests here in my house. They are Perry’s shrine attendants from small towns who arrived too late to enter the temple compound. I’ve kept them here because there is so much anger that they feared to be seen in their brown robes in the streets of Briarton. What a sorry state the church is in if these ordinary small-town priests have lost the goodwill of nearly everyone.”

  “Assisting with the burials should improve their image. I plan to begin this morning if you agree.”

  Sir Gregory called for an aide and sent him to bring the priests. A few minutes later, they entered. None were fire mages, and all wore the brown robes of the lowest level priests.

  Michael asked, “Good men, are you willing to assist in burying the dead. There are thousands of bodies in Temple Square that will need the reincarnation blessing.”

  They all agreed. Sir Gregory offered to loan them heavy coats to protect them from the bitter cold of the burial site, and all three of them walked with Michael and his friends to get the three sleighs, which they drove to Temple Square. A detachment of city guards was waiting, and they loaded bodies onto the sleighs. Michael and his friends took the first load to the burial cave. The priest blessed the location making it an official cemetery. They blessed each of the bodies, and a detachment of city guards dropped the body down the shaft that Michael had formed. For a week Michael and his group continued this burial routine from the winter darkness of early morning until after the night’s return. They also buried all the bodies they found in the streets or that people brought out to the sleighs as they drove through town.

  During that exhausting week, Lady Marsha set up the first apothecary shop in the partially finished Street of Dreams shopping area that Michael and Sir Gregory owned. They sold the cure for one crown to those who could afford it and gave it away to those who could not. Soon lines formed outside the store before dawn, and the four apothecaries were busy all day every day.

  By the tenth day, the epidemic was finally broken within the city, and the few new cases that showed up were rapidly cured. After the bodies from the square and streets were buried, Lady Marsha converted two of the sleighs to traveling apothecary shops to take the cure to the rest of the province. During this period, the city guards went from house to house to inform people of the free food at the common warehouse and the cure available at the Street of Dreams shopping area. Where people had been snowed in because the huge drifts blocked their doorway, the guards shoveled the snow away and freed them. The city guards also cleared the main streets for wagon or horse travel. These actions made both Sir Gregory and Michael into local heroes. Everywhere Michael or his friends walked, their armor wa
s recognized, and they were greeted cheerfully.

  By the end of the week, the city was in much better shape, but the temple compound was still closed, and the lights of Perry’s fire were not seen in the colorful windows of the Great Temple of Briarton. The priests and knights had lost their fire magic. Some of them came to the walls to beg for coal or firewood to warm their rooms.

  The population knew that the three rural priests had done the ritual of the dead over the bodies before they were buried in a mass grave, and those three priests were now welcome guests in the city. However, the priests and knight protectors from the temple remained afraid to venture onto the streets because of the anger of the local citizens. Sir Gregory arranged for a shipment of coal and dried foods to be delivered to the temple gates so that the priests could pull the wagon into the compound when the square was empty at night. Someone involved in the preparation or in the movement of the supplies wanted revenge upon the residents of the temple compound. Unbeknownst to Sir Gregory, the body of a white pneumonia victim was buried under the coal.

  Since the situation seemed stable in Briarton, Michael was determined to head north to Crow Crossroads, and from there, find the remote valley where the children with healing magic were being held. He hoped that he and his friends could find some way to free them before spring released the iron grip of the winter of death. High in the mountains and that far north, the freezing temperatures would be death to anyone without heat from fire magic or a stable source of coal or firewood. He might not be able to use submerge fire magic without being murderer to all within the castle. He and his friends had to find another way, but the less time the church had to indoctrinate the young healers the better.