The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two (17 page)

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.”