The Sorcerer's Legacy (22 page)

“Manage it! I’ll make that fool o’ a ‘prentice carry the lot up on her back if I gots too, ya can count on that, milord!” the woman declared firmly. “Jess, get yer skinny rump out ere’!” she shouted to the back where the large ovens sat.

A petite young woman of about sixteen, her hands covered and her face streaked in flour, bustled out. “Yes, mum, what can I do?”

“Your big oaf o’ a suitor got a wagon?”

“Aye, mum, he’s got one and a horse too,” the girl answered nervously.

“Oh, well that ought to make it a darn sight easier to pull then don’t it, ya lil’ twit. You go an’ tell that big lunk that if he’ll bring that cart ‘round, ya will give ‘im a big kiss.”

“Mum, that wouldn’t be proper!” the girl cried scandalously.

The baker woman’s face turned red at the girl’s resistance. “Ya go an’ tell ‘im ta bring that’ cart ‘round ‘an iff’n he don’t, he’ll get one from me!”

The girl’s eyes went wide in shock. “Yes, mum!” she complied and bolted to the door.

“An’ girl!” the baker shouted after her.

“Yes, mum?” she stopped just as she yanked open the door.

“Make sure ya tell ‘im to attach it to the horse first!”

“Yes, mum,” the girl replied and darted out the door and into the snow.

“Is there anythin’ else I can do for ya, milord?” she asked her new favorite customer.

“Yes, on second thought, wrap up all of the sweet buns and put them in sacks that my young friend and I can carry on horseback,” Azerick replied.

Azerick and Roger walked out of the bakery carrying two large cloth sacks full of pastries a few minutes later. A quick trip to the miller and butcher with the same offer of paying double got him a promised delivery of five hundred pounds total of beef, mutton, and pork as well as six hundred pounds of oats, barley, flour, cornmeal, and rice.

“Roger, would you like to tell me how you ended up on the streets?” Azerick asked the boy.

“My da sailed out on the fishing boat he owned but never came back. My mum got real sick last winter and then some men came right after she died and said that my da didn’t own his fishing boat and took our home and everything we owned and said we couldn’t live there no more. Richard and Melissa asked them where we was supposed to go and they said that was our problem,” Roger recounted mournfully.

“Well, you and your siblings will be all right now,” Azerick assured him.

His emergency provisioning complete, Azerick, Roger, and Horse headed for the gates, eager to return to the keep. As they neared the gates, the same guardsman he had exchanged greetings with earlier hailed him as they drew near.

“Ho there, Magus, I don’t know what’s going on but it looks like nearly every street rat in the city is headed up your way,” he called down from the wall.

“Thank you for the heads up. How many do you think there were?”

The guard scratched his head, ineffectually due to the padded steel pot helm. “Not sure, had to be near a hundred, maybe more. They were moving out in different sized groups. Enough to put siege to ya if they wanted I’d reckon!” he laughed.

Azerick waved his thanks, passed under the gate, and followed the broken trail through the snow. It did not take him long before he saw the first of the children. The first ones he reached were in a group of six, all about ten to thirteen years in age. They looked up at him with mixed expression as he rode Horse alongside them.

“Are you all doing all right?” he asked the group as a whole.

“Aye, our feet are froze numb, but that may be a blessing,” one near the middle answered.

“Roger, open up one of those sacks and give each of them a sweet bun,” Azerick told the boy.

Roger untied the drawstring of the bag of sweet buns secured to the right side of the saddle and handed the treats out to the grateful travelers.

“Thank ya much, Magus,” they all said gratefully.

“Enjoy it, you will need the energy. It’s a rather long walk,” Azerick said with a warm smile.

Azerick and Roger left the group behind to make their way to the keep. As soon as they turned onto the narrow dirt road that led to the keep, Azerick could spy the next group up ahead. The distance was deceptive because the group was walking up the far side of a large dip in the terrain. It still only took a few minutes to reach them regardless. Azerick saw that there were two adults in the group as well as eight children. He saw that larger of the two men was carrying a girl of perhaps eight years old on his back like a rucksack.

“How are you all doing so far?” Azerick asked as Roger passed out more of the pastries.

“They all look to be managing well, milord, ‘cept this lil one here. She was wearin’ cloth sacks for shoes and her feet are froze up pretty bad,” the man said.

Azerick saw that her feet must have pained her terribly as she ate the sweet bun with tears streaming down her face.

“Are these children with the two you?” Azerick asked the men.

Both men’s faces turned apprehensive. “No, milord. We overheard some other street kids telling these ones that the magus is offerin’ ta put them up through the winter. My friend and I was hopin’ you’d take pity on us too and put us somewhere out the cold,” the man said, looking up at Azerick with pleading eyes.

“Be you the magus of the tower?” the man asked and continued when Azerick nodded. “Me and Zeke are both decent and hardworking men, Magus. We’ll earn our keep and act proper, my word on that, milord.”

“What is your name, sir?” Azerick asked the man.

“Evan, sir,” he replied as he shifted the girl’s weight about on his back.

“How long have you been carrying her, Evan?”

“Since just after we passed through the gates. Perhaps two miles by my count,” he answered.

“You must be getting tired by now.”

“Aye, she doesn’t weigh much more than my shadow at lunch time but it adds up. I don’t dare put her down though. Her feet won’t take it and the kids will be hard pressed to carry her themselves. Zeke was going take over but his back is not as strong as it once was. He hurt it when he took a bad fall off a horse.”

“Let me take her. She can squeeze in behind Roger,” Azerick offered.

“I would be much obliged and I thank you for it.”

Evan swung the girl around to his front and lifted her up onto horse’s rump snugly behind Roger. She wrapped her sticky fingers around Roger’s small waist and held tight.

“Evan, you and Zeke make sure these kids get to the keep and we’ll get you fed and talk about what you can do after that. It is only about two more miles so keep your spirits up. There is hot food and a warm fire waiting for you.”

The trio, quartet if one counted Horse, who thought himself at least equal to human company, met two more groups both larger than the previous two less than a mile from the keep. Roger and the young girl, whose name was Stephanie, handed out pastries to the weary travelers. They were all cold and extremely fatigued but they pressed on with determination to reach what they prayed would be their salvation.

Azerick and his two passengers reached the keep where Peck was waiting to unsaddle and rub down Horse before he put him away. Azerick carried Stephanie into the keep and nearly dropped her in surprise. There were close to fifty children and a handful of adults, mostly men of various ages, but also three older women who looked to be tending to the children. The large main hall was comfortably warm, bordering on hot as both huge fireplaces blazed away with dancing orange flames.

Azerick took Roger and Stephanie into the dining hall and was shocked to find another score of shabbily dressed children standing and sitting around the long dining table. Azerick begged a seat from a boy that was finished eating and set the girl down. He threaded his way through the dining room and into the kitchen. He saw Agnes bustling about the kitchen as well as two other women but they were not the cooks he had employed to feed the workers. From the threadbare and ragged appearance of their clothing, they were obviously more of the destitute.

“Agnes,” Azerick called out to the cook.

“Oh, Master Azerick, I’m so glad you are back. All these young people, I’m just overwhelmed!” she huffed wearily.

“Who are the two over there,” Azerick asked, pointing with his chin.

“A couple of the poor wretched souls that came in with the younguns. I didn’t know what you wanted me to do with the grown ones and I didn’t have the heart to refuse em. Truth be told, I’m glad for their help. I hope I didn’t do wrong, Master Azerick,” the cook asked anxiously.

Azerick smiled and gave the older woman’s shoulder a squeeze. “No, you did fine, Agnes. There is about another score and a half still coming from what I saw on the road,” he informed the cook.

Agnes’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh dear, with these numbers our stocks will run short in a week!” she exclaimed in consternation.

“Don’t worry, Agnes, I have a large shipment of food coming,” Azerick reassured the woman. “One good thing about this cold, the meat will keep for a while.”

Azerick found Peck and Ellyssa in the main hall talking with some of the homeless children and motioned them to come over.

“Peck, take a horse or two and walk the road to make sure no one fell out of their group or became too weary to press on. Ride the youngest ones or those who look to be in the worst shape up to the keep. Ellyssa, watch for new arrivals and make sure they get fed as much as they wish to eat and put them closest to one of the fireplaces so they can dry out,” Azerick instructed his two charges.

Peck grabbed his jacket and darted out the door. He chose two of the horses that he had worked with and deemed to be the least intractable, saddled them both, and rode down the road at a quick trot.

Azerick went to his laboratory down in the lower levels of the keep and tucked several vials of healing potions into one of his cloak pockets. He quickly found Roger and Stephanie right where he had left them.

“Here, Roger, drink this,” he told the boy as he handed him one of the vials. “It tastes terrible but it should help.”

“Is it magic?” Roger asked looking at the dark glass vial.

“I guess you could say it is magic,” Azerick replied.

“Oh, it’s making my foot tingle!” Roger exclaimed in surprise.

“Good, that means it is working,” Azerick smiled down at him.

“Stephanie, let me take a look at your feet,” the sorcerer directed.

The young girl slipped of her still wet, homemade shoes. Azerick looked at her feet and found that they were red and swollen with dots of white speckling the bright pink skin. Azerick was confident it was only chilblain and she was not an immediate danger now that she was out of the cold.

“You should be all right, Stephanie, now that we can get you warm and dry. I am going to throw these out and get you a nice pair of dry stockings ok?” Azerick told the girl.

Azerick sent Ellyssa to go get a pair of her warm, knitted stockings for the girl as he waited to welcome any newcomers. Within minutes, the next group of children arrived and Azerick promptly cleared a space for them by one of the blazing fireplaces and picked two of the adults to go to the kitchen and bring them some food. Peck arrived next with three younger children on the backs the horses and helped them into the keep before riding back down the road.

Just past noon, a young man and woman showed up pulling an open wagon carrying several bundles of clothing. Azerick once again put the adults that had come seeking refuge to work sorting the clothes by size and issuing them out to the masses while he settled the bill. Many children had to put up with clothes that were a couple sizes too big but there was not a single complaint. Every one of them, including the adults, had such joyous expressions on their faces that you would think they had been given clothes worthy of the palace ball.