Lisaykos, Aybhas, Harvest Season, 6th rot., 6th-7th days

  The Black Falls Fever arrived just one rotation after Fassex destroyed the old Great Crystal of Landa. Salt workers in Black Falls began to visit the healing chapel shrine with a fever, jaundice, and a rash around the abdomen, armpits, and groin. If the fever didn't kill the victim first, the rash grew into boils, which would then burst and drain a foul-smelling green-yellow pus. We didn’t know it when the outbreak first started, but infected Coyn would usually survive if they reached the bursting boil stage without dying. All we knew at the beginning was that everyone was dying within a day of showing symptoms. It took a rotation before we calculated that just one in twenty survived the Black Falls Fever.

  Sister Senlyosart did not disappoint when she demonstrated her power as Sassoo's avatar. On the second day of the outbreak, she used a neat trick of combining a projection charm with her ability as a Voice to compel every Coyn to wear their gems of health. But if a Coyn had already caught the fever, then starting to wear a charm gem of health would not stop the progression of the illness because the gems don’t kill diseases. Instead, they act like a barrier, keeping diseases out. The Coyn in Black Falls who were already infected still became sick, and most of them died. When the death toll passed eight eights by the old numbers, I sent a team of healers and senior trainees with good symptom-handling skills to Black Falls late in the afternoon of the sixth day.

  The biggest problem is that the folks in Black Falls quickly ran out of cords to hang the pendants. I sent Sarfaz to the office of the purse to buy out the cording crafters in Aybhas and have the cords flown to Black Falls. Then, I mindcasted my daughter to do the same in Gunndit Town. I contacted Sutsusum to raid all the corders on Two Ferry Island. Foyuna said she would send her people to scour Queenstown. By the fourth bell on the seventh day, thousands of hands of cording were in the air on their way to Black Falls.

  To be sure the fever did not spread, I sent more gems of health to Black Falls and then sent enough for every Coyn in Truvos, Esso, and every holding in between. Enforcing charm gems of health among the Coyn was another thing I needed to bring up at the next Convocation meeting. This was one area where we could not allow the Coyn to continue with their illogical resistance to our measures to save their lives. I could understand why the Coyn felt this way over charm gems, but that wouldn’t stop me from doing my sacred duty as High Priestess to protect their lives.

  Emily, Souk Fjord, Harvest Season, 6th rot., 7th day – Souk Time

  “Dearest Wookums,” I wrote because I knew it annoyed him, "Gizza, the Presiding Warder of Souk, will send this and any other letters I can write to where they need to go. The last load of tin, pewter, and bronze for the year will be ready in a few days, heading to Kwabin. Assuming that this letter can get around Gungywamp to reach you in the Gulf, you might actually get this letter before the year is over.

  "From what Moo, my traveling companion, tells me, it sounds like the Chem have achieved their goals in Mattamesscontess. The Empire is now a mess, but that's not the Chem's problem. It's Moo's problem since she's the Empress Presumptive of Mattamesscontess. She took me with her to negotiate with the Chem ketches that sailed up to Kwabin, but our boat foundered in bad weather, and we ended up on a half-wrecked Chem ketch after the storm. Moo rescued a Souk ship from pirates, so they have invited us to their home for now. Given how quickly the weather is turning cold, it was a timely offer by the Soukans. Having a place to recover after being shipwrecked is a life-saver, especially given Moo’s incredible lack of experience in doing anything other than magic and ruling.

  “Poor Moo. Her Empire is falling apart, with Cragi heretics to suppress, a capital to rebuild, and her navy and legions to replace. She needs to take up the reins of government and start fixing things – but no, the goofball gods decided that first, she needs to be my chaperon and bodyguard for a rescue mission to free the seventh revelator mentioned in the Prophecy of the Great Breaking. Just groovy, right?

  “This just goes to demonstrate that the gods’ priorities and perspectives are different from what you or I would choose. This time around, I really don’t get it. So, this Foskos warmage and his flying mount are stuck in Tirmarra. The two have been captives of the Tirmarran Eagle tribe for twenty-two years. Did the gods stick those two in captivity all these years just so Moo and I could rescue them? Wouldn't it have been kinder to get these two rescued sooner? I suppose, if you're a god, twenty-two years is just a blip of no time at all, but from the perspective of we mere mortals, twenty-two years is quite a large slice of life.

  “Yes, the goofball gods decided my sightseeing trip to a place I would never visit is more important than Moo fixing the mess left behind from the Chem invasion and the southwest coast rebellion. So Mattamesscontess gets to stay in free fall for another half year while Moo and I get to penetrate the vacation hot spot of the Tirmarran tundra. Can you believe it? Mugash actually described this as a fun adventure for me, as a reward for all I’ve done for the gods so far. If it wasn’t for Galt’s bet, I would have told the gods to shove it this time around.

  “I feel sorry for the two we’re supposed to rescue. I hope they still have a family and a home to return to when they get back to Foskos. The eagle is the one Erhonsay wants for a revelator, so the Peaceful Shrine will take care of him for the rest of his life. The old warmage is another matter. I'm prepared to endow his stay at one of the retirement communities that the Restful Shrine of Surd has set up around Kas for homeless veterans. I can't abide the thought of rescuing someone only to have made their bad lives worse. That feels like evil masquerading as a virtue to me.

  “Traveling with a silverhair in a survival sort of situation has been a continuous surprise for me. Moo has very strong mind's hand magic. Do the remains of the broken main mast and rigging need to be jettisoned off the boat? No problem! The marvelous magical Moo-up mage will magic it away with the wave of a crystal. Does the huge fish I just caught, which is bigger than me, need to be landed and subdued? Just watch! The marvelous magical Moo-up mage will magic that monster fish into the boat and painlessly snuff it out of existence.

  “Being royalty, Moo has been sheltered from the realities of living outside a palace for all of her life. She doesn't know how to cook, clean, or care for herself. Her reaction to cleaning a fish for the first time was ripe.

  “After the storm that shipwrecked us, Moo’upegan and I were sailing into what she said were part of the regular sea lanes in hopes of coming across a ship to rescue us. Then, we came across Mattamukan pirates attacking the Coyn freighter out of Souk. Like a good and proper overpowered stomp-up mage, Moo did in the pirates and saved the Soukans. The Soukans took us in and decided to help us because Moo and I were limping along in a half-wrecked Chem war ketch with a salvaged jib on a sprit for a sail.

  The first pirate wasn’t the only one. Two other pirate ships were in a standoff with the Soukans in the fjord home to their little community. Yesterday, when we arrived at Souk, Moo used her clairvoyance to be our forward observer. I got to use the mortar to disable the two pirate vessels in the anchorage.

  “We are now staying on the waterfront at Souk. The town has maybe five thousand Coyn, give or take a few, living in it. They don’t normally allow Cosm in Souk, and it shows. We have Moo bedded down in the largest godown on the waterfront because no residence here is big enough for her. I’m not sure how big she really is, but she’s in the High Priestess range of tallth. The Coyn of Souk live in the cliffs that line the fjord, in rooms carved out of the rocks, like the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo tribes. All the ceilings are low in the cliff dwellings, and poor Moo can't fit through most doors. That’s why we’re sleeping in a godown.

  "I'm making a mattress for Moo out of sail scraps from the pirate ships. I'm stuffing it with balsam branches. It will probably take a rotation or two to get it made, but I must get Moo insulated from the floor before the cold weather settles in. The poor girl has never been through a real winter, so she keeps underestimating the impact that will have on her. Frankly, I’m worried. She thought she’d be fine in the flimsy clothes they wear in Mattamesscontess because – get this – she could cast warmth charms. Completely and totally clueless.

  “Souk's infrastructure on the cliffs is something I wish you could see because we could use their concepts when we start building our own Coyn towns. The Soukans have a reservoir and some buildings on top of the cliffs for things like storing ice, charcoal, and firewood. I didn't appreciate that at first, but I'm gobsmacked now that Gizza explained it to me. Why didn’t I think of this while living in the Valley of the Vanishing River? If you store your ice blocks and your fuels at the highest elevation in your community, then fetching it means always taking that load downhill back to where you live. The Soukans never have to carry an ice block uphill in the middle of the heat of Growing Season. What common sense, and I never thought of it before I saw what the Soukans had done. We'll need to remember that when we start setting up communities on the west side of the Great Cracks.

  “I wish you could see the ice house, which is so wow. It's mainly underground to help insulate the ice, which they pack in dried rushes harvested from the salt marshes along the shore. The Soukans cut the ice blocks from the reservoir during the Cold Season and fill the ice house. They use the ice during the warmer parts of the year for food preservation. They also have charcoal kilns on top of the cliffs. They make charcoal year-round, which they use for home heat, the stannaries, and the foundry.

  “The Soukans and their counterparts in the four other Coyn seaports of Zaleka, Salemi, Toukalt, and Zong trade furs, amber, bronze, pewter, and tin for wheat, rice, spices, thread, and cloth. Their main trading partners are Kwabin, Inkalem, and Kora Kor. Their main predators are the Mattamukan raiders in local waters and other pirates out of the island chains southeast and northwest of Kora Kor. They depend on the Mattamesscontan navy to keep the sea lanes safe on the route to Kwabin. They have a treaty with the Empire that Coyn from the five seaports cannot be enslaved in the Mattamesscontan Empire. In return, they sell all their tin and bronze to Mattamesscontan merchants.

  “Did I mention that I found out about this so-called vacation trip on my way home to Foskos with Spot? I wish I could find out if he’s okay. Spot and I were separated in a horrific storm. I was left lying in a snowbank on a tributary river to the Shimma'amdu. I don’t know what happened to Spot or where he might have ended up.

  “After Spot and I were separated, Mugash the Meddler decided to drop in on me like an unwanted relative and told me I was now scheduled to take this trip with a Cosm – I didn’t know it was going to be Moo at the time – to rescue some old eagle and his warmage rider from the Tirmarran cannibals. I was ready to refuse when Galt made a bet with me. That wily cat said that if I wasn’t happy with the results of this unannounced trip, he would grant you and me a package deal of the one hundred greatest operas ever performed, one trip every season to the Earth restaurants of our choice, all the Grateful Dead concerts we want to attend, a visit to the original Woodstock, and Arlo Guthrie’s first performance of Alice’s Restaurant in Newport.

  “My end of the deal was just to undertake the trip. I get the package deal if I decide it wasn’t worthwhile when I was done. If not, I still got the once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit dangerous, giant, people-eating monster mages in the frozen north to rescue some old guy and his eagle in the company of the powerful but clueless Moo. It's just a little nervous making, that’s all. And the big downsides are that I'm not on my way home, and you’re not here with me.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "Mugash said this trip was meant to be fun for me. I wish they had consulted with me beforehand. On the other hand, you would probably spend all your time worrying about me if you were here, even though the gods arranged a guardian angel monster mage named Moo'upegan to take care of me on this excursion. You worry too much. I'm more worried about you getting hurt in the Chem war. After all, I have a bunch of busybody gods watching me, but I don’t know if you’re on the same protection plan as I have. I should probably get that sorted out with the divine goofball show. But Galt said I’d get home two rotations after you do, so I’m not too worried.

  “Did I mention that Moo was Infanta Moo’upegan, Empress Presumptive of Mattmesscontess? It’s a hoot hanging out with her. She’s actually really nice, almost always cheerful, and a lot of fun for a stomp-up. She was such a protected rich city kid that she never learned anything about living outside a palace before now. It's fun watching her get gobsmacked by everyday life on a daily basis. At least she now knows how to clean a fish, splice a rope, tie a bowline knot, and sail a boat. We'll be doing well if we can get her into enough warm clothes before the cold weather gets serious. We ended up in Souk with just the clothes on our backs. I was better off than Moo because I always try to have my minimum kit with me, but Moo has only a tunic, pants, sandals, and a flimsy warm-weather officer’s coat to wear.

  “I don’t know how long we’ll be in Souk. Heading for Tirmarra scares me. Usruldes has told me some rather nasty stories about his experiences up in Tirmarra. I can't say I'm looking forward to this. Yes, traveling into the land of people-eating giant stomp-ups is the gods’ idea of a fun adventure for me. Go figure.

  “I’m concerned for Spot. Tell him I’m okay when you see him. He’s probably worried about me. He may suffer from hoof-in-mouth disease, but he means well.

  “I hope you get this before I get home. Xoxoxoxox, Your Little Mouse.”

  I sealed the vellum inside a double oil-cloth envelope. I addressed it to Tom at Healing Shrine, guessing that Lisaykos would know where to forward it even if he wasn't there.

  “Em, it’s food time,” Moo opened the door to the back room I was using in the godown. She was too big to get through the door, but that didn't stop her from opening it and sticking her big head inside while kneeling on the floor.

  I had several more letters to write. Gizza had been understanding that I needed to send letters. She gave me several sheets of already prepped vellum. I would write Lisaykos next, followed by Aylem, the Gang of Three, the Kas'syo haup Gunndits, my mekaner friends in Omexkel, and Asgotl. Surely, the letter for Asgotl would be another set-up for Aylem. I wonder how the first letter to Asgotl went over? I’m sure I’ll get an earful when I get back to Foskos, and I’ll enjoy every moment of it.

  Nyodaddaddad River, Island of Alkinosuk, Harvest Season, 6th rot., 7th day – Souk Time

  “I don’t like them here,” said Dots, the alpha stallion of the Great Herd of Alkinosuk.

  “I agree, but if we attack them, we may provoke retribution from human mages, and the last time it happened, it was ugly, according to my mother," replied Blotch, a mare.

  “I suggest we attack only if they penetrate further up the river," Dots concluded. "For now, let's keep watch on these humans, but otherwise, let's leave them be for now."

  “They are pirates from Mattamukmuk," Blotch stated. "Perhaps we should send an emissary to Mattamesscontess to tell their navy that the pirates have built a secret port in northeast Alkinosuk. The Empire is no longer apostate, so we have every reason to inform and appeal to them."

  “The Mattamesscontans don’t care about us and have nothing to do with us,” Dots remarked sourly. “Why even bother?”

  “Because they care about pirates,” Blotch pointed out. “We share the same enemy; maybe, we should be friends?”

  “No, absolutely not! Cosm cannot be trusted!” Dots got louder.

  “What about that young Cosm stag who visited with letters from Spot?” Blotch remained soft-spoken and calm. “You listened to him.”

  “That was different.”

  “How so?” she snorted.

  “It just was, filly," he stamped. "It was the blessing. The Cosm and the eagle would have died except for that Cosm's blessing. You know we can't touch those touched by the gods."

  “He said he was working with the Chem invasion and knew people in Mattamesscontess. He said he’d be back when he had news or more letters from Spot,” Blotch pointed out. “We could send someone to look for that Cosm. I believe he would help us.”

  “Let me think about it, Blotch,” Dots protested. “You know I don’t like to rush things.”

  The Coyn Jost, Aybhas chapel shrine of Mugash, Harvest Season, 6th rot., 7th day – Foskos Time

  I had been hearing women’s voices on the edges of my sleep. I opened my eyes when I realized that the voices were real, not dreams, but everything was dark. The words were nonsense sounds for the first few moments, and then, suddenly, they made sense.

  “. . . with us yet?” a woman’s voice asked, “Jost? Can you understand me?” The voice had enough of a burr to it that I was sure it was an older woman.

  “I . . . Where?” I managed to get my mouth to move.

  “Try not to be startled,” a hand touched my forehead, “I am going to restore your vision now.” The hand stayed on my forehead, and I could see it was attached to a wide Cosm wrist in a black and grey sleeve with embroidery. I couldn't see through it. Then the hand moved, and I saw three Cosm women studying me: an older healer next to me in a robe with fancy gold embroidery, a really pregnant healer in a working robe over a kirtle, and the Heir of Pinisla in murrey flying clothes and a bright blue mantle. All three of them looked huge.

  Lady Kayseo smiled at me from the chair next to the old healer. It was the first time I had been this close to her. I usually saw her at a distance: on the dais in the dining hall in the old manse or making her rounds of Pinisla Newtown with her two walking sticks. Even without feet, she was tall for a silverhair.

  "Hello, Jost," Lady Kayseo beamed. "I'm happy you're still with us. We're in Aybhas right now, at the chapel shrine. You had stinkdamp poisoning. You were a sick boy.”

  “I have just reversed the effects of the stinkdamp,” the old healer said. “Now, please tell me your name and where you’re from.”

  “I’m Jost, and I’m from Queenstown and now Pinisla,” I said, wondering why she wanted me to tell her what she already knew.

  “And what are the names of the current King and Queen?” she asked, which was even more confusing to me.

  “Imstay King and Aylem Queen,” I replied.

  She nodded, looking satisfied. "Jost, I want you to follow my fingertip with your eyes while not moving your head. Just keep your head on the pillow. Can you do that for me?"

  "Yes, ma'am," I nodded. She moved her finger above my head, so I had to look up, down, and to both sides. Then she had me sit up and do it again. After that, she had me stand on the bed while I pushed against her hands, balanced on each foot, and did other motions for her, like touching my nose while looking elsewhere. I had no idea why.

  “You may take him back to Pinisla, dear heart," the old healer told the Heir. "He appears to have no problems with greater motor control. Have him sleep with supervision at your chapel shrine for at least three nights. I would put him on inside duty with a partner working next to him for one to two days to make sure his motor control is indeed fine and to ensure he has no problems swallowing and eating. He is the first patient and the first Coyn healed with this charm — other than you and your father last year. However, because this is the first official use, we should keep a running record on Jost for at least a rotation. I trust that you, Thuorfosi, and your four healers in Pinisla will not disappoint me in this regard."

  “Yes, Mistress,” Lady Kayseo bowed her head. I realized this old woman must be a very senior healer. She was intimidating, but I knew healers were safe to be around. They weren’t like overseers.

  “Is Jost ready to go home, Arma?” the old healer asked.

  “He will be as soon as he gets out of a sleeping tunic and into clothes he can fly in,” the pregnant healer said. “Kayseo and I can handle the rest, Mistress.”

  “Excellent,” the old woman stood up. “I will see you again, Jost, in two days. Kayseo, Arma, I will see you both soon.” The two younger women stood while the old one left.

  "Can you dress yourself, Jost? Or would you like a hand?" Lady Kayseo asked as she lifted a cloth bag with clean clothes onto the bed for me.

  “I can dress myself, Lady,” I said. “Where are my boots?”

  “On the floor at the foot of the ramp,” the pregnant healer said. “We’ll give you a few moments to change.”

  “Pardon me, Lady," I had to ask. "What did the other healer mean when she said she would see me in two days?"

  “Oh,” Lady Kayseo blinked. “In two days, we will hold a bidding farewell ceremony for the dead miners you found at the diggings. Our Mistress will attend along with several other members of the Convocation."

  “What? Wait? That was the Princess High Priestess? The Great One? The Blessed Lisaykos?” I was shocked and frightened. That old lady was one of the twenty-three rulers of Foskos? And she healed me? I felt sick to my stomach.

  Lady Kayseo leaned forward and placed her hand on my shoulder. Suddenly, I felt calm and a little drunk. “That was a charm of peace,” Lady Kayseo said, smiling down at me. “It should help you feel more centered. Yes, the High Priestess forgot to introduce herself, Jost. She does that sometimes when she's busy, as she is right now. But she's is very kind, Jost, even though she looks stern all the time. And she's one of the only people right now who knows how to use a charm that can cure stinkdamp poison."

  “Will I be in trouble that I didn't pay her proper homage?" I worried. I knew the high priestesses and royalty could do anything they wanted to a person if they thought you weren't respectful enough. I hadn't even addressed her the right way at all. I could be in a lot of trouble.

  “You're fine, Yost," the pregnant one called Arma said. "You are not in trouble at all. Our Mistress does not expect patients to be bound by protocol. It's not something that sick people should be obligated to do.

  "We'll give you a moment to change, Jost," Lady Kayseo said, grabbing her walking sticks. "Then, I'll take you on my griffin back to Pinisla. I believe your friends are planning a little party for you when you get back. They were worried that after being in Aybhas for four days, you might not return."

  “Four days?” Even with the Cosm numbing charm, I felt shocked once again. “I’ve been out for four days, Lady?”

  “Yes, Jost,” Lady Kayseo nodded. “We almost lost you. If not for Lady Thuorfosi and the High Priestess, you might be wandering Gertzpul’s gardens right now.”

  “Blarg.”

  Lady Kayseo then told me everything that had happened since I was poisoned by Stinkdamp. I was stomped to learn that the first attempt to save my life failed. I was even more stomped that the high priestess petitioned the gods to use a special magic to cure me. It wasn't like I was anyone important. It was just too much.

  When I arrived home, I was assigned dishwashing duty for the next two days. At least I got to brag that I got a ride on a griffin. The griffin was even nice to me.