by Guy Antibes
Harrison and Sam both wrote statements about observing Allswell’s activities at the inn’s stableyard.
“I’ll send the boy over with a formal report for Faddon Bentwick, but right now, I have to see someone.”
Harrison did the same thing Sam would have done, he walked to Hiron’s smithy.
“I’ve got some bad news, friend,” Harrison said. “Sit down for a bit.”
Hiron furrowed his brow. “What is it?”
“Your father-in-law is addicted to a deadly potion. It’s made of mendica, alms wort, and podica.”
“I know podica is bad, but alms wort?”
“That one makes the other two not eat holes in the stomach.”
“How?”
“A certain person, who will remain nameless at this point, talked the miners where your father lives into getting hooked on the stuff. Another miner was found dead today. I visited your father, but he wants to continue to take the potion. It makes him ‘feel good.’”
“Alcohol will do that, but it won’t immediately kill you.”
“It’s bad enough. This is ten times worse,” Harrison said. “Your wife has been buying the stuff for her father.”
“Pensie?”
Harrison nodded. “I’m sure she doesn’t know what is going on other than the fact that she has to purchase the drug in secret. Sam saw her buy some.”
“So you know who is doing the selling?”
Harrison pressed his lips together before saying yes. “I hate to dump this on you, Hiron, but you know your wife better than I do. Just prepare her for when the constables come calling. Have her give them the truth. If she tries to cover up for her father, she will be implicated. The truth won’t hurt.”
“I’ll do that,” Hiron said. “Thank you for the advanced warning. I assume you had to tell the constables?”
“I had to. There was another death. From what Pensie’s father said, there have been others up there.”
Hiron nodded. “Pensie said something about that. I’ll close up the shop and let her know.”
“You might tell her that the village clerk is going to be arrested if he hasn’t been already. I don’t want your wife to put herself into peril. I’ll alert the healers in town. Without their supply of the potion, Allswell’s customers are likely to be very sick for a week or more.”
Harrison and Sam returned to their room. Harrison questioned Sam and asked the boy to question him. Sam wrote it all down in his notebook while Harrison wrote a formal report to Bentwick. Sam read the report over. Harrison had put everything in a certain order that made sense to him. He would try to emulate the way the healer laid out all the facts.
“Get this over to the constabulary, and I’ll meet you at The Golden Goddess and see if we can talk the glassmaker into some chicken.”
Sam laughed before he ran to the constabulary and delivered the report.
“Tell Dimple that the clerk fled Oak Basin,” the sergeant said. “I think someone tipped him off.”
Sam nodded. “Did someone visit him at the council building this afternoon?”
“We are checking into that. I’ll get this to Bentwick on the express post leaving in an hour.”
“I’ll tell the healer,” Sam said.
~
“Holy Havetta,” Harrison said, while he sat at the window waiting for the glassmaker to show up. “That’s twice the seller has fled.”
“We don’t know if the seller left Fussel’s Ford,” Sam said. “One of them did.”
“The old man. At least we got enough from Pensie’s father to start a prosecution.”
Sam shook his head. “Who are you going to prosecute, the father, the daughter?”
“You sound too much like my superior officer, young man,” Harrison said.
Sam looked out the golden glass window watching veiled women walk by. It was refreshing.
“There is the glassmaker,” Sam said.
Link Cackle walked in and grinned when he saw the pair sitting next to the window. He leered at Sam. “I brought an appetite.”
Sam smiled back, wondering if he had brought enough money.
The glassmaker put a long flat box in front of Sam.
“Try one on.”
Sam opened the box to see three black frames with circular lenses that looked like transparent gold. The lenses were like mirrors. He took one. The frames were pliable like he expected pollen to be. The temples extended and curled around his ears.
“The healer might have to make adjustments, since you can’t,” Link said. “Underneath is a single hand held lens a bit bigger than the spectacle lenses. I was able to fashion a round frame out of metal, so you won’t have to worry about replacing that frame. You might call it a spying glass in your case.
He put them on. The spectacles fit well enough for Sam. They made the light a bit darker, just like the window did. He stepped outside and marveled at the pollen-made items that people wore and carried. He grinned and took a deep breath.
Sam felt like he had when he first looked out from the Golden Goddess through the window. He inhaled a sniff of freedom. He returned and tried each pair on and looked at the patrons of the restaurant through the spying glass. They all worked.
Link grinned. “Now for a beefsteak.”
Harrison groaned and looked at Sam with sympathetic eyes. The server came and took their order.
“Chicken for me,” Sam said.
Link burst into laughter and clapped Sam on the shoulders, making the boy flinch. “Gave as good as you got! I like you, boy. That was worth my trouble right there. I like a good response. I’m so big that most people are intimidated by me,” he said.
Sam nodded and made himself smile. He ordered chicken because he liked it, but he wasn’t about to tell Link that. “Thank you for the spectacles and the glass,” Sam said. “Whenever I use them, I will think of your good deed.”
“Wasn’t much. It took me about an hour last night to cut and grind the edges of left-over window glass. The coating, which is the hardest part, was already done. With use, it will rub off, so wear them when you need to and put them away to help the gold coating last longer.” Link looked at Harrison. “So what are you doing in Oak Basin? I wondered what a visiting healer is, but I couldn’t figure it out.”
Harrison nodded. “We owe you that much. I am dispatched once a year from Baskin to monitor the mountain villages. I serve two purposes, to assess the healers and to gather general information about village status.”
“A spy for the king, then?”
“Some might consider me that, but I am a very experienced healer who likes to keep his ears open anyway. I am paid well enough, and I am not in anyone’s chain of command,” Harrison said.
Sam didn’t think Harrison worked for the constabulary, but someone higher up, after seeing how Captain Rangerfield had treated his companion, but he didn’t say anything.
“And the boy?”
“Sam interests me. He needed to get out of Cherryton, his hometown, and I’ve never observed anyone who couldn’t see pollen before.” Harrison glanced at Sam. “He has proven to be a very resourceful teenager.”
“That makes sense,” Link said. Their food arrived, and that stopped their conversation for a bit. Link turned to Sam. “Has he told the truth?”
“That’s basically what he told me.”
“Put in a good word for me, then,” Link said. “I have no desire to run afoul of Toraltian laws.”
“Then tell me, how much gold goes into your coating solution?” Harrison asked.
Linked laughed. “Without giving my process away, I will say less than a lion for the entire front of this restaurant. There is a lot of alchemy involved, but the coating is thinner than I can measure. It’s like dipping something in water rich in minerals. When you let the water dry off, a coating remains, a thin film that can be scratched off with a lot of rubbing. That’s all I’ll say.”
Knowing Harrison, that might be enough. His friend knew a lot about a
ll kinds of things so far.
“Is it a foreign process?” Harrison asked.
“It is, but we have gone far enough. As far as I know, I learned the process as a way to make mirrors. I fiddled with gold, and the boy has proof that it works. Now that we have circled each other with knives out, I suggest we call a truce.”
Harrison grinned and nodded. “Indeed! It was fun. Are you the only glassmaker in Oak Basin?”
“A fair question, this time. I am. This window is an advertisement. There are lots of houses yet to be built, and my glass will go into all of them,” Link said. “I’ll be introducing mirrors at the end of fall. That takes silver, but the coating is thicker. Mirrors cost a lot less than this window.” Link looked outside.
“Well, good luck. I’ll check on you next year when I come through again.”
“You really do a circuit?”
“I do and am well paid for it. We’ve already uncovered some nastiness afoot, and I think there is more to come.”
Sam knew that to be true. It seemed whenever they got close to someone important, they left, but he wondered if Harrison knew who really ran the drug operation in Fussel’s Ford. He knew it would be futile to confront the healer about that.
They talked about Baskin and traveling in the other countries of Holding. Sam yawned, and Harrison patted him on the shoulder.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll tuck Sam in tonight. I am very appreciative for the spectacles and will put in a good word for you, if it is needed.”
“Good enough for me.” Link rose and left them first.
The server came by for payment. Harrison looked at Sam.
“How much?” Sam asked. He groaned when he heard the amount, but even with the beefsteak on the bill, he didn’t empty his purse.
They walked through the darkened streets of Oak Basin. Sam couldn’t stop smiling, as he didn’t have to worry about averting his eyes all the time.
“This is much better.”
“But it calls attention to you,” Harrison said. “Have you ever seen anyone wearing mirrors over their eyes, even if they are golden?”
“How many times have you seen a teenager walking around with a dog that comes up to his chest?” Sam said.
“Point taken. You no longer have the disadvantage of not being able to see pollen articles. It may take some time to get used to, but I’m sure you are up to it,” Harrison said. “It is time to move on now that the constabulary is on the alert. We leave very early tomorrow, so we can get to our next village.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
~
T HE ROAD TO WORRIER’S FLAT WAS MOSTLY DOWNHILL once they climbed another pass exiting Oak Basin. Sam kept putting on and taking off his spectacles, looking at the difference in the countryside. The spectacles’ gold coating reduced the glare from the sun, but it also dimmed his view when they passed through dark forests. Sam considered it a worthy tradeoff.
Now he could see the pollen covering that Harrison used to protect the back of the wagon. He fondled the curious fake straw pouch that they had discovered in Fussel’s Ford.
“This is a work of art,” Sam said. “Now I can see why you knew whoever was behind the drug trade was a master pollen magician.”
Harrison nodded. “I’d like a few words with Chief Constable Bentwick about now. We’ve been leaving a trail of clues and reports for him.”
“This is bigger than a village thing, isn’t it?” Sam said. “I mean, it might be more than just drugs. A person won’t get rich selling herbal potions to miners, will they?”
Harrison stopped the wagon. “Now that is a very good observation. If it was miner to miner, one could think it was a coincidence, but it has persisted among the mountain villages. I don’t know why someone would be targeting ex-miners, though.”
“Maybe we do some more interrogating at Worrier’s Flat. Do they have old miners there?” Sam said.
“That they do,” Harrison said, snapping the reins to get the horses walking again. “I will give you the task of finding and talking to ex-miners. Don’t talk to them about drugs. Find something else to ask them. If you talk about drugs, you might become a target for another assault.”
Sam smiled and nodded, looking at the world through golden spectacles.
“Make sure you feed the birds the Oak Basin constables gave us. I have a feeling we will need to send a few more.”
~
Worrier’s Flat was what the name described. The village was at the bottom of an old bowl, mountains surrounded on all sides. A creek ran along one side, digging into the flats, which looked like Havetta had filled up the valley and leveled off the dirt. The side where the creek exited the valley was wide and flat, tilting downward, keeping the valley from looking like Oak Basin.
Trees dotted the flats, which were covered with lush grass. Sam spotted many flocks of sheep. There must have been thousands of them.
“I don’t recall so many sheep before,” Harrison said. “What do you think?”
“The flock at Horner’s Rest? Could they have ended up here?”
“The valley won’t support that many sheep for long,” Harrison said. “We will be sending a bird when we stop.”
“That makes one less bird to feed,” Sam said. “How much land does it take to support sheep?”
“Remember the vale north of Riverville? That place might support two or three hundred sheep. What we have here is probably three or four times the space with twenty or thirty times the animals. Whoever has amassed this many intends to sell or slaughter all kinds of them.”
“Why would they do that?”
Harrison smiled at Sam. “I think that is something you are going to find out while I help out the local healer.”
They reached their inn, the only one in the village. “We are full up,” the innkeeper said. “You might be able to stay with the healer. He lost his wife since you were here last. You can eat here if you choose, but you saw all the sheep on the flats. The shepherds, if you want to call them that, have taken all the rooms.”
Harrison nodded. “We might take you up on the board. My friend and I will likely be back.”
~
“That isn’t surprising, is it?” Sam said.
“Not at all. We will definitely eat at the inn. We wouldn't be able to discover much if Blane, the healer in Worrier’s Flat, lost his wife. She was the one who knew what was going on in the village. He’s our next stop.”
As they rolled through the village, Sam could feel tension in the air. It wasn’t very difficult to separate the shepherds from the villagers. The shepherds looked more like bandits and acted that way. The villagers stayed away from them.
Blane welcomed them into his home. It was larger than the other clinics they had visited in the smaller villages, but Sam could see the man lived in a large part of it.
“I heard Peony died,” Harrison said.
“Ah,” the man shook his head. “A tragedy that was. I’ve been without her for two months, now.”
“About the time the sheep started coming in?”
“You noticed, eh?” Blane said. His voice dripped with anger and sarcasm. “A blight they are. All those sheep might ruin the flats for good.” He spat on his own floor. “Peony was a bit too nosy for her own good. You know I always told her that, Harrison.”
The healer nodded but stayed silent. Sam thought he did so to give Blane more of an opportunity to vent and say something useful.
“Those bastards come in here and think they own Worrier’s Flat. They flooded the place drawn by rumors of gold that someone started. The rumors turned out to be false, so someone hired them, and now they strut around town causing trouble.”
“It looks like they have taken over, all right,” Harrison finally said. “Has anyone tried to stop them?”
Blane shook his head. “They have the constable in the palm of their hand. He wouldn’t even investigate Peony’s death.”
“What?” Sam said. “You mean she was killed?”
&n
bsp; The older healer nodded. “Died from some kind of potion.”
“You don’t happen to know what it was?”
Blane ran his hand through his hair. “Podica and mendica, best as I could tell.”
“With alms wort?”
The man shrugged. “What does it matter? She died, and there is no way she’s going to come back. I did what I could for her, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Harrison put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Did she ingest it by mistake?”
Blane shook his head. “No. Four of the shepherds poured it down her throat.”
“And the constable did nothing?”
“Refused. The constable said he didn’t want to end up like Peony.”
“That’s too much of a coincidence,” Sam said.
The old healer looked as if he had pulled himself out of his anger. “What is a coincidence?”
Harrison updated him with what they had discovered on this summer’s tour.
“More than a pattern,” Blane said. “I wondered what was killing off the old miners in the village. I think someone is giving them a diluted potion.” He looked at Harrison. “You know it can make a body feel really good, some say better than alcohol, but we’ve had some of the older ones pass on. They developed sores on their bodies. You know all about that, but the boy might not.”
“I’ve seen the sores,” Sam said. “Do you have their names?”
“Of course, I do. It is part of my job, isn’t it, Harrison?”
Harrison nodded. “It is. I think it’s time to send off a bird or two.”
The two healers and Sam prepared another report. This time they could suggest how everything was becoming related. After the birds were sent, Sam and Harrison strolled to the inn for meals. Blane agreed with Harrison’s initial assessment.
The inn was nearly full, but the innkeeper moved a few villagers together to give Harrison and Sam a table.
“Thank you,” Harrison said.
“No problem. Blane would be the first to suggest eating here.”
Sam grinned. “He did.”
“Help us out, here,” the innkeeper said so quietly that Sam could hardly hear him.
