Read The Mages' Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear: Volume Two for Free Online Page B

where they would attempt to restore order, bury the dead, feed the population, and let the apothecary wagons treat the sick. Michael planned to travel with the Oxbow brothers on the route to Swamp Ford, Oxbow Narrows, and Azure Falls, but he had a project that he wanted to do before the wagons left.
    Michael had flown over Broken Arrow as a Giant Ki Eagle, and he knew that the knight protectors and priests had locked themselves inside the temple compound. They were killing, either by arrow or fireballs, any locals who approached the walls for aid. The last thing he wanted for the caravan of supplies was to arrive in Broken Arrow and have the church confiscate it, but the ninety soldiers that were traveling to Broken Arrow would be no match for the power of fire mages, be they either priests or armored knight protectors.
    Every Temple of Perry Ascendant had a golden Perry’s Hand symbol above the main ceremonial entrance. Before the plague, every citizen without a specific dispensation was required to attend the Holy Ceremony of Perry’s Fire each week. The appearance of Perry’s fire was promoted as a miracle and proof of Perry’s blessing of his church and those attending. The blue magical flame would illuminate the whole interior of the Temple no matter how vast. The flame would burn all night with no fuel except for the power of prayers of those who attended. It was the most important sacrament of the church, but Michael now knew that it was merely a fire magic spell. Michael had learned a counter to that spell from the Naiads of Black Sand Beach; the naiad spell was quench fire magic. Michael also knew how to use some types of spells to enchant golden objects in ways that would last for decades or centuries. He would make certain that the fire mages could not use their magic fireballs to kill the Southport soldiers guarding the wagons or hurt the local citizens. The spell would also make the church’s Perry’s Fire miracle disappear from Broken Arrow.
    Diana and Michael had spent hours talking about the deterioration of the living conditions of almost everyone in northern Glastamear. The last thing they wanted was anarchy and the loss of hope, especially if an invasion from the three kingdoms of the east was on its way. Destroying the religion of Perry Ascendant would be a disastrous idea if it were replaced with despair.
    The much older religion of Father God and his Holy Family was the first religion of the humans on the planet Home under the star Blue Haven. Most people still respected that tradition with small home shrines to Father God and his family, but the religion had no clergy, temples, or rituals. Michael hoped there was a way of offering a replacement religion to the vile control and greed of the direct male descendants of Perry the Bagger chieftain. His descendants were the only men on Glastamear with fire magic until Michael learned their secret spells. The healers would need to produce both a reformation of their religious beliefs and a revolution of political control if the kingdom was to be saved from repeated epidemics and the havoc of war.
    The night before the caravan was to leave for the provincial border at Green Mountain Pass, Michael flew to Broken Arrow. While still in his form as an eagle, he landed on the Perry’s Hand symbol above the temple entrance. After enchanting the gold covered hand with the spell to prevent fire magic, he flew above the city looking for signs of the white pneumonia and finding many who were infected. Order seemed to have broken down; even basic services like taking care of the bodies from the streets were not being performed. The situation looked bleak and the people demoralized. He noticed that his spell had extinguished all the lights coming from the Temple of Perry’s Final Victory. The perpetual light of Perry’s Final Victory in the center of the famous temple was now gone for the first time in two thousand years.
    He headed home to spend his final hours