To Be Chosen (37 page)

She flicked the reins and Troyan started down the hill. The Stallion was black with patches of white. She rented him back in Tomrus where she had disembarked, and was pleased with his responsiveness. She rode into the stable where a bearded man with touches of gray in his hair, dressed in tanned buckskins, stood grooming Banner, Jerremy’s gray Taracopian warhorse. “May I help you, Accomplished?” he asked in a gravely voice. Two other horses in the stalls turned their heads at the sound of his voice.

“Would you take care of Troyan? By the way, how do you feel?” Sherree replied, noticing that the man seemed well enough.

“I feel fresh as spring water, thanks for askin. Your fellow Aakacarns aren’t lookin too good. Whatever it is that’s makin-em sick ain’t troubling me,” he replied. “You just leave lookin after your horse to old Zackeriah Stabler. I never forget a horse, people sometimes but never a horse.”

“Thank you,” Sherree said, then dismounted and handed the reins to the groom. “I’m Accomplished Jenna, here to get my associates back on their feet,” she added and then made her way to the house of the Stone Guild.

On the first floor she found a large common room and a dinning area. The kitchen and store rooms were over to the left and a bathing room to the right. The living quarters were upstairs. She started up to the second floor when a Three-bolt Accomplished with a neatly trimmed white beard stepped in front of her, apparently wanting to go down. His eyes were bloodshot, he was unsteady on his feet, and it too
k him a moment to focus on her.

“Aloe Guild, I’m pleased to see you. My apprentice informed me of your coming. I’m Franklin Togan,” he stated.

“Yes, I know who you are. I am Sherree Jenna. We met on the riverboat,” she replied. “Is there somewhere you can sit down so I can examine you?”

“We might as well go back to my room for that,” Master Togan replied, and led the rest of the way upstairs, into a hall having four doors on each side, and through the first door on the right.

Brown curtains on the window facing the lake were open, showing a direct view of the golden spire. A bed and night table to the left, and a desk and wardrobe to the right, completed the furnishings. The Master Artisan sat on the bed and Sherree placed her hand on his forehead and cast, Diagnosis. His body showed signs of fatigue, dehydration, and an empty stomach, but there seemed to be no internal cause for the effects. She decided to go ahead and treat the symptoms, and then figure out what was making everyone sick. She added, Rejuvenation, at the end to give him enough strength to take in some nourishment.

“Now, I want you to go down and eat a decent meal and drink plenty of fluids,” she told him.

Master Togan grinned. “This is the best I’ve felt in days. I can hardly wait to get back into the city,” he told her, and his smile was replaced by a more solemn expression. “How long will it take you to get my team on their feet?” This was a man who loved his work.

“They should be better within the mark, but that does not end the problem. I found no cause for your illness, only treated your symptoms. A more thorough investigation is called for, not just of the Accomplisheds, but also the areas you’ve been exposed to,” Sherree informed him. “Now, go eat while I te
nd to the rest of your team.”

She continued down the hall to the next door and knocked. A weak female voice gave her permission to enter. The room had the same accommodations as the Master Artisan. In the bed was a blond-haired One-bolt Accomplished. She had a pale complexion, but that was normal for a person of Lobenian descent. She opened her eyes when Sherree touched her forehead and cast, Diagnosis. Like Togan, she was dehydrated and fatigued with no
apparent cause for the effect.

“What’s the verdict? Am I going to live?” the Artisan asked and managed a weak smile. Her blue-green eyes were bloodshot.

Sherree treated the symptoms before answering, “Judging by your current condition, you may live to see a few more centuries or so. You should be hungry about now. My prescription is to eat something nutritious and drink plenty of fluids.”

The Accomplished threw off the satin covers and sat up, revealing her underwear. She cast a laundering spell and the sweat stains vanished from her pink silk shift and panties. She smiled. “I’m Marsha Obennen. Thanks for the healing.”

“I’m Sherree Jenna. As for the healing, I’m pleased to have been of help. You really should get dressed and go eat some food.”

Marsha went over and opened the wardrobe, which contained her black and crimson silks. “I’m so hungry I do not need to be told thrice,” she said while removing her silks from the hangers.

“I hope we can talk later. For now, your associates need my attention,” she told her, and then went to the next room.

Jerremy was dressed in his silks and sitting in a chair facing the lake. “I’m surprised you arrived so quickly. There are more than twenty spans of wilderness between here and Tomrus. The Creator knows how many animals you came across, none of them must have been injured,” he stated without turning around.

“You call that a greeting? How about, I’m so happy to see you, or, thank goodness you’re here to make me feel all better,” Sherree teased him.

Jerremy pointed his nose in the air in a clear pretension of being above it all, but spoiled it when she came around and found him smiling. “I’m so happy to see you. Thank goodness you are here to make me feel all better,” he said. His dark eyes were bloodshot like the others, but his naturally light brown skin made him appear healthier than he actually was.

“For your information, I ignored the suffering of a squirrel and a blue jay in my haste to get here.”

He licked his dry lips. “Noted, I am more valuable than a rodent and a bird.”

“Keep that in mind,” she said, and then proceeded to heal him.

“I was the last to get sick, have you healed anyone else?”

Sherree nodded her head. “I healed your mentor and Marsha Obennen. I met him in the hall and decided to go door to door.”

Jerremy stretched out his arms and stood up. “Then cross the hall. Artisans Daria Copa and Michael Kayten are on the left side. The other rooms are vacant,” he informed her and then rubbed his stomach. “I’m starving. I think I’ll go down and have a bite to eat.”

“Do so and drink plenty of fluids. I’ll join you after I heal everyone here and the Accomplisheds of the Aqua Guild,” Sherree replied as he headed for the door.

She went on and healed Daria and Michael, but did not find the cause of the ailment. In the local home of the Aqua Guild, she healed Martin Varroon, an Oceanic and Three-bolt Accomplished, Joel Glader, Salla Chey, and Sharon Caylis, all three were Reservoirs. Joel was a Two-bolt and the other two were Ones. None of them were mentors so no Droplets were among them. They all expressed their gratitude for the healings and eagerness to get back to work in the sunken city.

Sherree cast spell after spell, searching for bacterial or viral infections. Oh, she found plenty of bacteria, but nothing the human body could not easily handle. She scanned the entire compound, stables and all, including Zackeriah. The man was in excellent health for a commoner of his age. She was forced to conclude the source of the ailments had to be within the sunken city. She went back and ate with Jerremy and the Master Artisan.

“Master Togan, I’ll need to examine your exploration sites. Whatever it is that made you all sick has to have come from Tomlin,” Sherree informed him.

“I have no objections to you going beneath the waves. You should take Accomplisheds DeSuan and Glader,” he replied without hesitation. “When do you plan to go down?”

It was dark outside and she thought it best if her patients had a good night’s rest before putting them to work. “In the morning,” she replied, to which Master Togan agre
ed and Jeremy had no objection.

Sherree was assigned one of the empty rooms at the end of the hall and went to sleep. She woke at the crack of dawn and met Jerremy in the hall and decided to have breakfast. They finished the meal, and after a brief orientation on what going under the lake would be like, Jerremy accompanied her to the waters edge where Joel Glader stood waiting for them.

The Two-bolt Accomplished of the Aqua Guild had black hair and a pasty complexion, which had nothing to do with the recent illness. This was his natural appearance and a common trait of his Pentrosan ancestry. “Stay close to me and keep your appendages within the sphere at all times,” he said in a light hearted manner.

“I appreciate your help,” Sherree told him. She smiled, finding his attempt at humor amusing.

He gave her a respectful nod of the head and then faced the lake. A sapphire blue sphere appeared and surrounded all three of them and moved as the Two-bolt entered the water. Sherree and Jerremy kept pace, one to the Accomplished’s right and the other to his left. As they progressed deeper into the lake, the water instantly converted to breathable air, waves flowed around them, yet not a drop came within the ball created by the experienced Aakacarn. The temperature was at a constant seventy-two degrees. All sorts of fish swam around them, avoiding the bubble of air as if it was a solid object. A turtle slowly arose from the bottom, away from them, and up toward the surface. The spell made the mud beneath their feet seem as hardened clay, yet was returned to normal after they passed.

The clear waters of
Lake Tomlin gave them a high range of visibility. The wall encircling the city was less than a span ahead, protecting an area five spans in diameter. Every building seemed to be made of white marble with gold trim, few of which were less than twenty cubits in height, the tallest being the one in the center with the great spire projecting above the surface.

They walked through the copper gate, which was green, and into the first intersection. A fountain occupied the center with three marble fish atop each other, the third with its mouth open toward the sky.

“Jerremy, I want you to retrace your steps, take me to each location you visited,” Sherree told him. She summoned potential and began scanning for germs or anything that could cause a bacterial or viral infection.

“Then we need to go to the right. The first place I visited was that building,” he replied while pointing to a circular structure that looked like a giant coil of white rope wound up to a pointed tower. Each coil was ten cubits thick and had four levels, not counting the tower, which was ten in diameter and twenty in height, making it the second tallest building in the city. “I was intrigued by the architecture,” he added, and by the way his eyes seemed to be analyzing the structure as he spoke, the design still held his interest.

“Then we go there,” Sherree replied.

They entered the building and turned to the left. Jerremy summoned a ball of light and they proceeded along the outer ring, which was a hallway with arch-shaped doorways on the right. The wooden doors were long since rotted away so there was no difficulty seeing what was beyond the arches. One room took a quarter of the first floor and down another arch was a hall that went all the way to the other side. They came to an archway that led to the foot of a staircase. Jerremy entered and started up the steps. Joel stayed close, keeping them within his sphere of air, all the way
to the top floor of the tower.

Sherree scanned the building from the highest point in the tower to the lowest point three levels beneath the street. All of her scans came up negative. It had taken more than a mark to rule out this location as the source of the illness. At this rate, it could take days of careful searching just to learn wha
t was not making people sick.

Three marks into her search of the city and five buildings later, Sherree wiped perspiration from her brow and realized she had been doing so for at least half a mark. Jerremy and Joel were also sweating. “Is there something wrong with your spell?” The sphere had been maintaining a constant seventy-two degrees, perfectly comfortable, and even though they had been on the move, her pace had been deliberately slow, so there was no physical reason for them to feel warm.

“Neither the conditions inside or outside the sphere have changed,” Joel replied, and began rubbing his temples. “I’m starting to get a headache.” 

“As am I,” Jerremy admitted.

“The contagion is definitely here, but where?” Sherree wondered out loud.

“We can work our way from here to the center building, it and much of the city was built by the Stone Guild, which makes it unique, especially in Ducaun,” Jerremy suggested in a voice filled with pride for his guild.

“The center building has the symbol of the Aqua Guild above the entrance, the golden drop is still clearly visible,” Joel apparently felt the need to add. The Accomplished of Tomlin had been a member of his guild.

Sherree had no interest in who built what or why. The contagion was her enemy and this was the arena in which she would conquer it. “Let me relieve us of these symptoms before we continue,” Sherree insisted and then summoned the poten
tial.

She focused on Joel first, since he seemed to be suffering the most, and then Jerremy. It took twice the potential and concentration to relieve her own symptoms as compared to when she was treating the others, which was an unfortunate fact for all self healers. “Now we can proceed as Jerremy suggested,” she told them and started into the next building on the street.

She lost track of the marks, but not how many places they searched, fifteen on the right and fifteen on the left, lining both sides of the street. They reached the central building and sat down on a park bench a short distance away from the eighty cubit tall structure. The sphere functioned perfectly and it seemed odd to see trout and gars swimming through the alleys and catfish probing the streets with their sensitive whisker-like barbs. This was their city now and people were the ones out of place. After a brief rest they began the bottom to top examination of the central building. Sherree found no contagion, but a headache made her realize the symptoms were coming back. The spells she cast to alleviate them were not cures, only offering temporary relief, temporary being the operative word seeing as they were now constantly exposed to the source. It was time to go.