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

by Charles Williamson

  “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.”

  Chapter 27

  After midnight, Michael climbed to the roof of the inn, changed into his eagle form and flew circles around the Great Temple of Briarton noting where everyone in the compound was and whether they had fire manna or not. Almost all of the priests’ families were located in two apartment buildings behind the temple. In most cases, one fire mage, the priest, was also present. The knight protectors with an occasional concubine were in a separate walled compound within the main temple grounds. They were all sleeping in one barracks area. In one large house, a strong fire mage was sleeping alone, and Michael assumed it was the house of the high priest. He landed on the wall to the knights’ compound, became invisible, and converted to his normal form to look around.

  Michael crept through the compound; entering the barracks, he found a large room with rows of half-wall partitions separating the forty beds. It was very cold in the room because the three heat stones in the center of the chamber were cold. They would normally be heated by fire magic. There was no other source of heat in the room and the temperature was below freezing. He counted twenty-seven sleeping knights all covered with thick down-filled blankets. Next to each was a stand with his armor, sword, and crossbow. With their weapons so close at hand, they would not be easy targets for common city guards. In Hearthshire Town the knights had killed more than their number of armored professional soldiers even when surprised while sleeping. Without their steel plate armor, most of the sleeping knights looked like ordinary men, although perhaps somewhat larger than average.

  He had seen four knights in full armor guarding the wall, and the one pretending to be a high priest in the separate house. By his count, there were eighteen priests with manna and thirty-two knights protectors in Briarton. Eight concubines shared beds with the knights. His total count was forty-two non-mage family members, priests with no manna, and concubines. Michael wanted to get a look at this knight, the self-styled Allen the Fierce, who claimed to be a high priest. He climbed the wall out of the knights’ compound and walked cautiously and quietly to the high priest’s house.

  He used the naiad spell open all locks to enter through the heavy front door. The first floor was luxuriously appointed. The late Baron Joseph Wheaton had been from a wealthy aristocratic family, and the house was among the most beautifully appointed Michael had ever seen. The late High Priest was the second most powerful official of the church of Perry Ascendant because Briarton was the wealthiest and most populous province except for the capital at Min Hollow. In addition, Michael knew that Wheaton had not been opposed to enriching himself at the church’s expense.

  Michael quietly walked up the stairs to the third floor where he saw the manna of the sleeping knight. He could tell that Allen had the strongest level of manna of those within the compound, but it was much lower than the actual high priests who Michael had observed. The man’s bedroom had a fireplace, and it was warmer than anyplace else in the compound. The embers gave plenty of light while he was using his night surgery spell.

  Michael reached over to where the armor was placed on a stand and cast quench fire manna. Even if Allen the Fierce ventured outside the range of the spell at the temple, he could cast no fire magic while he wore this armor. What Michael noticed when he looked closely at the sleeping face was that this Allen the Fierce looked strikingly like the sculptures of Holy Perry himself.

  Michael had read that the first image of Holy Perry was made over a hundred years after his supposed ascension. The likeness of the current Holy Son at that time became the familiar face that graced hundreds of fountains and niches. This man could be his twin, and that resemblance must be disconcerting to any knight or priest who opposed his rise to power. In spite of the physical similarity, this man’s manna was a pale shadow of the power of true high priests. Michael knew that leadership within the church was directly related to the level of manna a man had. The High Priest of each province was normally the member of the priesthood who had the highest manna in that part of Glastamear, and the Holy Son of Perry Ascendant was the man with the highest level of fire manna in the whole kingdom.

  That gave Michael an idea that might help solve the problem in Briarton. If a true high priest arrived, every fire mage could easily detect the power of his manna. Most would accept him as the rightful high priest until an official one was sent by the Holy Son. Michael explored the compound for another hour looking for any weakness in the defenses. He found several alternative entrances through the underground storm drains and places along the wall that could not be seen by the guards on the walls.

  Michael went back to the inn and slept until dawn. He had arranged for a full breakfast to be served when Sir Gregory arrived. He spent an hour making a diagram of where everything and everyone in the temple compound was located this past night. He would explain that he snuck into the compound, but that the exact locations and headcounts were something of a guess.

  Sir Gregory arrived with an escort of twenty city guards and wearing excellent chainmail armor with a Briarton Province crest. As governor, he had decided that the protection was needed anytime he was in the streets.

  “Excellent morning to you Michael. Did you learn anything interesting last night?”

  “Well met, governor.” Michael handed him the map and a single longbow arrow. “This map is my estimate of the number and disposition of the priests and knights within the compound. This arrow’s point is one designed by Justin Fletcher of Southport. We used them when six knights attacked our caravan in Hearthshire Province. These points will pierce steel plate if they hit solidly when driven by a longbow of the type used for hunting large animals. They don’t penetrate very deeply, and it might take a score of hits to bring down a knight. In the case I mentioned, none of the knights were fatally injured, but the repeated hits with these caused them to surrender.”

  “We have enough longbow archers for this to make a difference. I could station men around Temple Square in buildings with protection from return crossbow bolts. Fifty men with bows might keep the knights in their compound with these points on their arrows, but this provides no method for ousting them or restoring order in the Temple.”

  “I have a suggestion for that as well. Governor, I suggest that you contact High Priest Carson in Hearthshire Town. It is the church’s custom for the priest with the highest level of fire manna to be selected as a high priest. He is the one who can cast the most powerful level of Bring Forth Perry’s Fire or other spells. If Carson comes to Briarton, most priests and knight protectors will be able to see his power. He will even be able to re-consecrate the temple allowing services to resume. I’m confident that the priests will defer to him as a true high priest and most knights will accept his role. That might end the problem in the temple without violence.”

  “Again you come through for me. Are you sure you won’t take the position of deputy governor. The province could really use you.”

  “I promised my loving wife that I would be home in Southport for the birth of our first child, and I have many business interest to look after. I plan to head south later today. Trust High Priest Carson; he is a good honest man.”

>   Over breakfast, they discussed strategy for their business arrangements, and Sir Gregory was in a splendid mood when he left to meet with a local fletcher and ironworker. He wanted those arrowheads immediately, and he mentioned that he would send someone to Hearthshire Town that same day to ask High Priest Carson to visit Briarton and put the temple compound under his authority.

  Once Sir Gregory left, Michael used mage thought-talk to contact Diana to let her know that they were on their way home, passing though Azure Falls and Oxbow Narrows. They would retrieve their horses at Marigold Meadows before riding directly to Southport. He explained he wanted to take samples of the dwarfish ore and the sword and shield made at the dwarves’ mine to Henry Ironmaster. They also talked of personal things, and Michael was anxious to spend more time with Diana at home rather than chasing all over Glastamear.

  “How are you feeling? Is the morning sickness past?” Michael asked.

  “No, it still comes every morning, my love, but at least as a healer I can treat myself. Otherwise I couldn’t keep my meals down. I also have a craving for barley cakes with fig jam. I never even liked barley cakes before. I’m really beginning to show, and I’ve told many of my new friends about the pregnancy. Everyone thinks you’re so brave to deliver the relief supplies to the northern provinces, but now, I would just like you home with me.”

  “I’ll be there within ten days, my love.”

  Michael repeated the story of Robbie the Unicorn to Diana.

  She replied with a flash of surprise in her mental comment. “It’s a nice enough story I guess, but I’m not sure why you think it’s important.”

  “The church plans to take every child with healing manna to train as healer priests. If this story spreads among Glastamear’s children, it will be even easier for Robbie to persuade the kids to follow him to Rock Point.”

  “Oh, I guest I need to pass that story on to some of my friends’ children too.”

  After his conversation with Diana, Michael contacted Lord Hampton, head of the High Council of the Healers’ Guild, at Rock Point. He was pleased to learn that the children had arrived safely the day before. There was a lot of excitement in town, and each child was placed with a foster family. The puppies they’d brought also caused excitement for nearly everyone because Rock Point had only had a few cats as pets before their arrival. Cats were often kept as pets on cargo ships that carried food, and a few had made their home with the citizens of Rock Point, but there was no need for dogs for hunting, and the island had none.

  Lord Hampton explained that the healers at Rock Point had already arranged for two teaching sessions a day. In the morning they would instruct basic skills like history, agronomy, animal husbandry, and math to all the children in town. The afternoon session would be for those who showed the potential to learn healing magic. They would teach ancient Elfish, the language of all spells and they would explain the theory of magic. Since they had more teacher volunteers than needed, they decided to teach master’s classes to any experienced healer who was ready to try more advance spells. Lord Hampton was excited to have so much new talent available to the guild.

  Next Michael reached out to Obert, the chief shaman of the Black Sand Pot of naiads. Michael’s first thoughts were a question.

  “My friend Obert, it there way to quench fire manna selectively. That is I would like to allow High Priest Carson the use of fire magic while keeping it from the other knights and priests in Briarton until things are stable.”

  “Michael Elf-Blood, you still do not understand who you truly are. All spells in use in Glastamear or elsewhere on Home have been created by High Elves and taught to their children like the forest magic to the fairy folk, the earth magic to the dwarves and the water magic to us. The naiads do not know the spell you mention, but an elf is not restricted to learning existing spells. You know the language of spells. Just create one that does what you want; it is part of your nature as the Elf-Blood. You are a Great Elf on the inside.”

  Michael was doubtful but thought it was worth a try. He asked another question that had bothered him on this trip. Obert you have lived a thousand years or more. Have you noticed that Glastamear is getting colder, the winters longer, and a slow movement of humans farther south.”

  “Of course, but I’m surprised you noticed the changes Michael. Our climate gets colder for 648 years and then it gets warmer for 648 years. Our star causes these 648-year cycles. Blue Haven has gone through these cycles since before the first dragon was born, a hundred thousand millennia before the Great Elves arrived. An elf might be able to explain why our star’s light and heat varies, but I cannot.”

  “Where are we on this cycle?”

  “It will get colder for another forty-two years and then get warmer every year after that. The time of the Great Civil War six hundred years ago was also the time of the greatest cold; food became scarce. In the previous cycle, thirteen hundred years ago, the Warring States Anarchy occurred. Naturally, both wars just made everything worse, and half of the humans in Glastamear died in both of those thirty-year periods of greatest scarcity. We may have already started that cycle of human deaths because of the white pneumonia.”

  Michael’s mind was numb. He had read hundreds of books about the history of Glastamear and of the six other kingdoms of men, but not a word mentioned the change of the climate over a period of over six hundred years. It was probably too long for humans to notice. What would happen if Briarton were no longer the breadbasket of Glastamear because of a short growing season? Would there be freezing temperatures in Southport province killing the citrus and tropical plants that were the mainstay of its agriculture?

  “What happens to naiads during the cold?”

  “Nothing much. The water gets colder and we need to eat more to keep our temperature controlled. Some of the reef fish will die and we need to swim farther to catch other fish. It’s never been any kind of crisis to naiads or fairy folk. We just adapt. Since the dwarves live mostly underground, they pay no attention to the change.”

  Michael thanked Obert and sat back to think. Was the coming war with the three kingdoms of the east caused by pressure on their food supplies as the planet got colder? It seemed possible. He was also certain that Firebreath the Red Dragon would know of the cycles because dragons were almost immortal. His predictions of war and destruction for the city of Min Hollow could be based on knowing of this cycle. Michael wondered if there was anything a single human could do to stop the onrushing disaster.

  That morning, Michael and his friends left for Azure Falls. They made good time on the sleighs taking turns resting in the sleeping sleigh while traveling all night. They approached the new walls of Azure Falls by noon the following day.

  Chapter 28

  The new walls were completed, and six archers’ towers now overlooked the walls providing excellent lines of sight for the defenders. The main city gates were open and there was a lot of traffic entering town. When they drove their sleigh through the gates, they caused quite a stir because snow-elk driven sleighs had never been seen in Azure Falls. The shaggy white and tame snow-elk were exotic and beautiful; everyone wanted to pet the large animals and several children wanted to climb on their backs for rides.

  Walter Tallman came forward to greet Michael and his friends, and soon the whole town was cheering their arrival and crowding around. This was market day, and the town was full of people from the surrounding farms because there had been no recent snowstorms and travel was easy for the first time in more than a month.

  Since Michael and his friends had battled the rogue knight protectors who had made the locals into virtual slaves, the whole community was grateful and welcoming. Walter opened the double gates to the warehouse area near the main city gates. Michael had purchased that land and commissioned the construction of a warehouse and stable for his business interests on his previous visit.

  He found the lower level was completed. It would be an excellent place to leave the sleighs and snow-elk until they w
ere needed again in the following winter. Michael now knew that it would likely be colder than the current winter and so on for decades. He thought snow-elk would not seem strange to the citizens of Hearthshire Province in the coming years.

  The storage and sleeping rooms on the second floor were not completed, but Walter took them on a tour of the new facility. Michael arranged for the care of the snow-elk and paid for the construction efforts that would complete this outpost for his business interests. There would be sleeping accommodations for his business associates and storage for his shipments. Michael and his friends decided to use a wagon and team of horses for the remainder of their trip to Marigold Meadows where their own warhorses were stabled. Michael negotiated with a local farmer for his wagon and team.

  Once they bought the stout wagon and four draft horses, they transferred the ore from the dwarfish mine into the wagon together with all their other supplies. Michael had also purchased the blacksmith’s shop next to his new warehouse, and they decided to spend the night in the house on that property before traveling on to Oxbow Narrows. The switchbacks up the Blacksmith Hills would be difficult for the heavily laden wagon, and it was safer to go in daylight.

  They had dinner with a group of town elders who updated them on the news of the area. Now that the town’s wall was finished, there had been six new houses built in the past month. The town’s merchants and builders were prospering. There was a growing population of farmers who preferred to live in the safety of the walled town and went to their farms only for the day. There also was a recently arrived blacksmith who wanted to rent the smithy from Michael and a harness maker of substantial skill who had relocated from Broken Arrow. Michael was pleased with the progress. That night he walked around the town’s walls and towers, and secretly cast dwarfish spells to strengthen the soft travertine stone. When he finished, the defenses were as strong as if they’d been constructed of granite. They were probably the best defensive walls of any town this small in whole Kingdom of Glastamear.