The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume One by Charles Williamson Read Free Book Online

thing I know about the town of Rock Point is that it’s where all the salt cod comes from.”
    “Yep, that’s us. We sell cod and salt and salted-cod. The town always smells like fish and the sea. I’ve missed that smell. We almost never have visitors except for a few merchant ships in the summer. It’s as isolated as any place in Glastamear.”
    Michael shivered and said, “I’ve never been this cold in the early autumn. It feels like winter.”
    “The Ice Current flows past the peninsula. It keeps the town cool in the summer and much colder than the mainland or the rest of Mitchell Island in the winter. Those terraced fields will be in harvest now. In another month snows will cover the Great White down almost to town. It’s the Ice Current that carries the cod in such numbers that we can catch all we can eat plus all we can sell.”
    “There are no Perry Ascendant priests?”
    “No priests, but also no healers. There hasn’t been a healer living here for over sixty years. That’s why the whole village chipped in to help me get my training once they figured out I was born with a little healing manna.”
    “They’ll be glad to see you back. You’ll be able to finish your apprenticeship with three expert healers here.”
    Diana looked a little hurt. “Does that mean you’re not staying? I could learn a lot from you too.”
    “Diana, I’d love nothing more than to spend a relaxing time with you here in Rock Point, but there may be other healers that need me to hide their manna from the Church. I’ll stay on the sloop with Obert till we get back to Black Sand Beach. Once there, I’ll make my way to Northport. When I find other healers, I’ll try and bring them to Rock Point if your people would welcome them. There is danger in defying the Church and King Richard the Vengeful.”
    “The Church means nothing to us. Perry’s writ never reached here, and King Richard is just the Church’s puppet. There are lava-tube caves that go deep into the Great White. We can shelter healers with a thousand paces of rock to hide their manna when we see a ship approach. We have used those caves for storage and shelter from blizzards or raiders for six centuries, and there are comfortable rooms cut from the volcanic stone that include beds, kitchens, and hearths. Bring every healer you can find; they will be welcome.”
    Two hours later they neared the entrance to the Rock Point Harbor, and Diana and Michael were still standing in the bow chatting about being apprentice healers. The huge sixty foot high circular basalt wall of the harbor was natural volcanic rock. Michael thought it looked as if a huge bubble of rock had burst and left this semicircle of stone. A twenty paces wide opening provided access to the harbor. Two dressed stone towers about ten stories high jutted up on either side of the opening, obviously designed to guide mariners into the harbor, perhaps as both lighthouses and fortifications.
    When they entered the harbor there was a sudden rise in temperature. “What just happened; I don’t even need a jacket now.”
    Diana laughed. “Now you know our secret. Rock Point is not nearly as cold as most people think. There are hot springs that flow into the harbor making the water much warmer than the open sea. Centuries ago, our ancestors channeled some of the springs into pipes that direct a flow of hot water under our houses, keeping us nice and warm all winter.”
    Michael smiled. “You said no one ever visits in winter, so no one knows your secret. Everyone thinks you’re incredibly hardy souls when you’re actually just like the rest of us.”
    “You’d love it here, even in winter,” Diana said.
    “I think you may be right,” Michael replied as he gawked at the town.
    There were three piers with perhaps fifty small fishing boats either attached or pulled up on the rocky shore. Racks of drying cod were visible on the beach opposite the town. Twenty, two and three story dressed stone warehouses