The corporal didn't even reach out to take the document.
"There is pestilence in the village, milady. We have been forbidden to touch other people's things in order not to spread the infection through the district. We have also been forbidden to allow anyone either in or out, no matter who they might be. Anyone who disobeys will be executed immediately as a traitor to the king and a propagator of pestilence. I ask you once again: Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"None of your business, you damn chasseur," Hallas muttered to himself, but fortunately the corporal didn't hear him.
"We are on a mission for the king," said Miralissa, with a hint of anger in her voice. "We are on our way to Ranneng. That is all you need to know, corporal. And any hindrance caused to us is regarded as a crime against the crown."
"There is nothing I can do," the corporal muttered, caught on the horns of a dilemma.
The problem was clear enough: on one side an order not to allow anyone through and on the other the royal seal. So try to figure out what to do: Let them through and you'll lose your head; don't let them through, and you're in for big trouble anyway.
"I have my commander's orders," said the corporal, clutching at his last straw.
"What can supersede a command from the king?" Miralissa insisted, sensing that her opponent's defenses were cracking.
"A threat to the life and prosperity of the kingdom," said a voice behind the barrier.
The ranks of soldiers parted and two figures came out to join the corporal. Their faces were concealed by bandages, but they were still easily recognizable as members of the Order. A magician and an enchantress.
"The plague sets all of us on the same level. If the disease escapes from this localized pocket, the country will face catastrophe, Tresh Miralissa."
"I don't believe I have had the pleasure," the elfess said coldly.
"Magicians of the Order of Valiostr, Balshin and Klena," said the man. "Of course, you did not recognize me in this protective mask, but we have met, Tresh Miralissa, at one of the receptions in his majesty's palace."
"Anything is possible," Miralissa said with an indifferent nod. "What has happened here? Can you tell me, magicians?"
"Do you mind if I take a look?" the enchantress asked, holding out her hand.
As Miralissa coolly handed the document to the woman, I saw her nostrils flaring in fury. The elfin princess was not accustomed to having obstacles put in her way.
"You are free to go, corporal," Balshin said in a low voice. The chasseur gave a sigh of relief and withdrew to join his men, leaving the magicians of the Order to deal with us.
"Genuine," said the woman, after making a few passes over the paper.
For a split second the royal document flared up with a pink glow.
"That ought to eliminate any possible infection," said the enchantress, handing the paper back to Miralissa.
"What is going on here is as follows," said the magician, not disconcerted in the least by having to throw his head back to look up at the riders on their horses. "Enchantress Klena and I were riding past the village when the first case of infection appeared. That was three days ago-"
"How did the illness come to be here?" Ell interrupted.
Ah, so I wasn't the only one who was confused about the strange way the pestilence had appeared so dangerously close to Ranneng. Just a few days' journey from the second-largest city in Valiostr.
"We do not know. That still has to be investigated," said Klena. "But the symptoms are authentic. We were able to summon a regiment of Heartless Chasseurs quartered in the city. They closed off all the roads and paths to make sure that not a single inhabitant was able to leave the center of infection and spread the plague across the country."
"And have there been any attempts?" Arnkh boomed from under his helmet.
"There have," the magician said with a perfunctory nod.
A very perfunctory nod. Nobody asked any more questions, although it was clear to all of us what must have happened to the desperate people who found themselves caught in the trap with the victims of the infection. They had been shot with arrows from a distance, that was what. And it made no damn difference who was trying to break through the chasseurs' blockade-healthy peasants with pitchforks or women with children. No one blamed the Heartless Chasseurs, though-it was a matter of kill a few dozen now or expose thousands more to danger.
"And what of the chasseurs themselves?" Miralissa asked.
"Securely protected by magic."
"And since when has magic protected against the Copper Killer?"
"Magic is constantly developing," Klena declared pompously. "The Order has learned how to prevent the illness from infecting people, but there is no way to help those who have been infected before we can protect them."
The longer this conversation went on, the less I liked it. There were just too many things in the story the magicians had told us that didn't fit. And apart from that, they weren't even telling us half the story. If that kind of protective magic did exist, it was clear enough why the chasseurs were still here, and not running as hard as they could away from the plague spot. But then why had the magicians used their wizardry to protect an entire regiment of soldiers, but not done the same for the villagers at the very start of the epidemic when, according to the magicians, only one person was infected?
"How many people in the village are not yet infected?" Miralissa inquired.
"Not a single one," the magician said dispassionately, turning away from her.
Not one? How could that be? Everyone knew that people died on the seventh day, and it had only started three or four days ago.
"Some new form of the disease?" asked Ell. He still had his helmet on.
"Precisely," Balshin replied in the same dispassionate tone.
Miralissa didn't say anything. She was thinking and twirling a small charred stick between the fingers of her left hand. The stick she had used to draw spells in the ash.
Oh no!
What was she thinking? To start a fight with the magicians was madness! I was quite sure she only had to break that stick, spit on it, lick it, or do something else very simple, and the slumbering shamanic magic would awaken. I glanced back, as if casually, at the road. The pikemen were still there, but they were already standing nonchalantly along the sides, talking to each other. Our group wasn't any danger to them, especially since both magicians were dealing with us, so why not have a little chat and leave your cumbersome three-yard pike leaning up against a tree?
"You are on your way to Ranneng?" Klena asked.
"Yes," Miralissa replied curtly.
"For what purpose?"
"On the king's business."
"And why did you travel along a deserted side road, and not the main highway?" the magician asked scathingly.
Now what were they after, may snow vampires tear me apart? Wasn't it clear that our document was genuine and by hindering us this magician was letting himself in for big trouble, not only from an angry king, but also from the Order, which would never condone such headstrong behavior by its members?
"Nobody warned us that it was closed," Hallas growled impatiently.
"All the worse for you," Balshin said, and shrugged.
"And so we cannot pass here?" Miralissa asked, to make absolutely certain.
"Neither pass nor leave. Unfortunately," said the magician, spreading his hands in a gesture of feigned regret. "You will have to stay here until we have defeated the disease. We cannot put the welfare of the kingdom at risk. Naturally, you will be afforded every possible comfort."
"But we are healthy!" Lamplighter exclaimed indignantly, speaking for the first time.
"Perhaps so," the enchantress agreed. "But you have already been told that we cannot take any risks. We shall have to detain you."
"And how long will it take you to defeat the disease?" Ell spat out venomously.
"Three or four months. Then, if there are no new cases, we will lift the quarantine."
"Three months!" Hallas exclaimed, choking on the words.
That left our plans in tatters. If we complied, it would be well into autumn before we reached Hrad Spein, and that meant we wouldn't get back in time. What could we do? Break out the way we had come? But how many men would we lose in breaking out? How many would be felled by arrows, pikes, and the magicians' spells? Almost all of us.
Our last remaining hope was the shamanic spell that Miralissa had prepared. I kept my eyes fixed on that small charred stick twirling between her fingers.
"Quiet, Hallas," she said sharply. "Do you intend to detain us, regardless of the king's order?"
"Yes."
"You may find yourselves in trouble with the Council of the Order. I shall certainly inform Master Artsivus of this," said the elfess, making one final attempt to avoid a fight.
"As you wish," Balshin said with a polite smile. "Inform him, but only after the quarantine has been lifted, not before. You have nothing to fear. Our magic will protect you."
It seemed to me that the magician's advice wasn't worth a spit from the top of the cathedral dome. And the enchantress's cheek had twitched nervously when Miralissa mentioned the Order.
"What will happen if we refuse to obey you?" Ell asked calmly.
"We shall be obliged to use force," Balshin said regretfully.
"Calm down, k'lissang," Miralissa said to Ell. "We shall not spill blood and we shall comply."
"I knew that you would heed the voice of reason," the magician said with a polite bow.
"Where will you accommodate us?" asked Miralissa. She snapped the small stick in half with a casual gesture and threw it away.
The magicians took no notice of the elfess's gesture. What did it matter what she might have broken and thrown away? Balshin and Klena were far too delighted that the haughty elfess had not pulled out her s'kash to pay any attention to such trifles.
"Oh, you need have no concern, Tresh Miralissa! You will be in the chasseurs' camp, it is very-"
Balshin never finished telling us about the camp, because there were sudden howls of horror from the area of the banners. And-why deny it?-I was terrified at first, too. Until that day I'd never seen a human hand strolling down the road all on its own.
Oh yes, at first glance it was a straightforward human hand, only a bit larger. About a hundred times larger. Three riders and their horses could have fitted on its palm.
The monster shuffled its fingers in lively style as it rambled along from the direction of the village straight toward the howling bowmen. As it approached it panted sadly, and the red eyes, set on the joints of each finger, peered disapprovingly at the bellowing men.
Everyone was howling and yelling, the voices of the bowmen supported by a ragged chorus of pikemen. The shouts were growing louder, more and more panic-stricken.
The monster stopped, supported itself on its thumb and little finger, and raised its other three fingers skyward to reveal its palm, a large area of which was occupied by an immense mouth with sparse, needle-sharp teeth. The hand clearly felt it had done enough panting already, so, for the sake of a little variety, it roared.
And that was when everyone started to run. A couple of the very bravest bowmen fired their arrows at the monster, but they got stuck in its finger-legs without hurting the hand at all.
"Get out of here! Run for it! Save us! Into the forest!" Kli-Kli's piercing shouts were taken up by the chasseurs dashing along the road.
"Into the forest! Into the forest! Run for it! Run for it!"
The soldiers in white and crimson disappeared as if the wind had swept them away, leaving behind only the most stupid and those who hadn't found a place to hide yet.
The magicians joined in the fray, shooting fiery beams of light at the hand.
"Come on! Our group has already taken off!" Kli-Kli dug his heels into Featherlight's sides and dashed off after the rapidly receding Wild Hearts.
I followed him, leaving behind the elves and the battle between the magicians, the bravest of the chasseurs, and the monstrous hand.
There was a sudden shrill gust of wind, and I looked back. Miralissa and Ell were galloping right behind me, leaning down low over the necks of their horses.
The monster hand went flying sideways, crushing a few birch trees. The magicians were weaving their hands about constantly, and it was clear that they had the advantage. Little Bee's hooves drummed on the wooden bridge and I caught a brief glimpse of the stream before it flew back and away at tremendous speed. We had broken out. Nobody had even tried to stop us. They were all too busy trying to save their own lives.
"We have to keep moving," Loudmouth gasped. "If they come after us ..."
Our group had stopped on the summit of the hill from which we had first seen the village of Vishki burning. Nothing had changed-the black smoke was still staining the sky, showing no sign of abating.
"Calm down," said Arnkh, taking off his helmet and running one hand over his sweating bald patch. "Didn't you hear them say that the village is under ... what's it called?"
"Quarantine," Kli-Kli prompted.
"That's it! Quarantine! They won't stick their noses out for another three months! You've no need to worry about any pursuit."
"Well, then they'll report to Ranneng so that we can be intercepted," Loudmouth persisted.
"Damn it, you stupid man! I said quarantine! They won't send out a messenger or even a lousy pigeon! Isn't that right, Lady Miralissa?" asked Arnkh, turning to the elfess to confirm that he was right.
"If there really was copper plague in the village," she said thoughtfully, keeping her eyes fixed on the sooty smoke rising over the forest.
"But what was it, if not the plague?" asked Marmot, genuinely surprised.
"It could be anything!" Hallas declared. "You can expect anything at all from that Order of theirs. You human beings look the other way and meanwhile the magicians get up to all sorts of dirty business behind your backs. Well, who says I'm wrong?"
The gnome gazed round the group sternly, searching for someone to disagree with his opinion. There were no fools who wanted to get into a fight.
Hallas was right. The Order was always playing with fire. I immediately recalled my dream about the blizzard that had raged in Avendoom after the unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Nameless One with the help of the Horn. That had earned us the Forbidden Territory. And no one knew about the part played in all of that by the Order that everyone loved so much. If we didn't know about one of the magicians' little slips, there might be another one we didn't know about. And the other one might be far more serious. Even if there was plague there, they probably started it themselves. The learned have cast their spell, for their own profit, and too bad for everybody else.
Hallas bent his arm in a gesture known to the whole world since ancient times. The gnome was simply bursting with hate for the Order. I wondered why.
"Forgive me, Lady Miralissa, but this is a sore point with me! The magicians themselves set up the whole thing. I don't know what happened there, but there was some kind of mess-up, and then they sent a dozen bolts of lightning and a hundred fireballs shooting down from the sky to cover their tracks. Flattened the entire village!"
"How do you know they flattened it? Did you see?" Honeycomb boomed.