The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two by Charles Williamson Read Free Book Online Page A

William’s house to deliver robes she’d cleaned. How she got this far away from Hearthshire Town, he had no idea, but there might be other refugees who would know he was a healer in disguise. He was lucky this time since she had scurried away without getting a good look at him.
    Michael handed his sword to Peter Oxbow while he put on his hooded riding jacket. The hood was a temporary fix; he decided he needed armor with a helmet to cover his head until he had let his beard grow long enough to change his appearance. It wouldn’t fool a close friend, but most of those were now dead. He had already let his hair grow out from the shaved head common to apprentice healers. Now he had it bound together behind his head in the manner of southern merchants.
    He said, “My friends, let’s camp on the south side of the pass for tonight. There is someone in this crowd who would recognize I’m actually a healer rather than a merchant. I need to get some armor like you have so the helmet will hide my face.”
    Michael knew that Kevin the Massive, the finest armorer in Broken Arrow, had made the armor the Oxbow Brothers and Jim wore as part of a set for the late King Justin’s personal guards. He knew that, as recently as a few months ago, there had been four more in the same style at Kevin’s shop. He loaded his black traveling clothing, a heavy portion of salt pork, dried fruit, and salt cod as a gift, and a bag of gold crowns into his pouch. Out of sight of the approaching wagons, he transformed to a Great Ki Eagle and flew through the bright midday sunlight to Broken Arrow, landing on a roof in a back alley. There were two unburied bodies below where he perched. He quickly transformed, dressed, and made his way to the Street of Armorers. The shop was closed, but he climbed the stairs and knocked on the door of the apartment above the armorer’s store. Kevin answered and recognized him.
    “You bought five sets of the king’s guard armor. That extra money allowed my family to buy food, even at ridiculous prices, to make it this far into the winter. Come in good sir. Do you want more armor?”
    “Kevin, your armor has been excellent, and I would like another set for myself if you have any in the same style.”
    “You’re my first customer in three weeks. Thank Perry for your arrival. Yes, I have one in the perfect size to fit your slender frame. Let’s go downstairs, and I’ll show it to you.”
    “I brought a present; I thought food might be in short supply. It’s salt pork, dried fruit, and salt cod.”
    “Thank you good sir. Millie, here’s some fruit, pork, and cod from a friend. We’ll have a full meal tonight.”
    His wife Millie was only slightly smaller than Kevin the Massive. She hugged Michael as she thanked him for the generous gifts.
    Michael explained, “The governor and high priest of Southport have wagons of food on the way here. They should get here within ten days and this should help till then.”
    “Those damn priests seem to have plenty, but it is death to get anywhere near the temple walls. People in Broken Arrow would burn it down with them in it, if it had been constructed of wood. Curse them in Perry’s name. While they hide, we die.”
    The armor Kevin showed Michael was relatively lightweight, but it was made from well-hardened leather with a chainmail cuirass. Kevin adjusted it so that it fit perfectly and as with the other armor, he replaced the royal purple plume in the helmet with a black one. The helmet was a Ki Eagle design that would cover Michael’s face completely. Michael paid the armor’s asking price knowing that he had already discounted it by half when compared to his previous purchases.
    Carrying the armor in a leather bag, Michael climbed to a nearby rooftop, transformed into an eagle, and flew back to his camp before morning.

Chapter 5
     
    Gertrude of Snowport was one of the healers that Michael had rescued at Snow Troll Fiord that past autumn, and she had volunteered to