Chapter 14
“Nathaniel didn’t steal me; he’s saved me twice in the last few days!” Mirry yelled back.
“Masteress Amber!” yelled Maranissa, angry enough to look twice her height, “Nathaniel has just rescued your son from the etheric depths, and that’s all the gratitude you show him!”
“Do you mean I should be grateful that my son’s mind is so scrambled, it’ll take months to get him thinking straight?” Masteress Amber raged. “Mirry, all your life you haven’t needed to be saved even once until this boy came into your life! Now come home with me!”
“No.”
There was that ominous pause that grownups use to scare kids who say “No” to them. The other guys with Mirry ‘s mother inched closer like they were closing in on a kill.
“What did you say?” asked Mirry’s mother.
“Nathaniel needs to learn how to sing the healing chant from Master Terman and then we’ve got to get the windmere willow’s blossom, then Nathaniel can make the healing substance that will cure the strangling pestilence,” said Mirry all in one breath. “And I’m helping him.”
“You are not about to help the boy that Master Lesentrange says pestilenced all the boys in the choir and then ran off with you and dropped you into the etheric depths,” said a man who looked angry enough to be Mirry’s father.
“But we’re all obligated by treaty signed to give full support to anybody who participates in a healing quest,” said Maranissa.
“That treaty can’t mean that I have to let a confused little boy risk his life when he doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Masteress Amber screamed. “Mirry is sure to get pestilenced if I don’t get him out of here and behind our protective shield at home! You are coming with us—Now.”
A thin rope of flame snaked out from Mirry’s mother. Mirry yelled and screamed and cried “No!” at least a dozen times, but he was powerless against the spell. In a matter of a few seconds, he and his family were gone, leaving me and Maranissa with a very angry Master Terman and his family. I was soon to know that his wife’s name was Masteress Belinda, and his son’s, Ferndal. A blue-green lizard about the size of a poodle or schnauzer darted out of a corner to hiss at me. He was later introduced to me as Sebastian.
“Do you know what you have done to me?” the harp teacher asked through clenched teeth. “No, you don’t know what you have done to me. The Guild of Gifted Healers has been banned from the Academy on account of their contagion. That means we are sure to be quarantined on account of your invasion. You have trapped me and my family in our apartment for at least a week, provided I get rid of you this very instant.”
Before I could begin to say how sorry I was, an elderly man who looked gentle, but scared, appeared just inside the door. He looked at me and shook his head sadly.
“I see that the words running through the Academy are true,” said the master. “Master Terman, I have no choice but to quarantine you and your family to your apartment and ban you from any entry into the Academy until this apprentice from the Guild of Gifted Healers has been gone for seven days. The ban will be lifted at that time if none of you have become pestilenced, and I sincerely hope that does not happen. ”
“I understand, Master Partridge,” said Master Terman with a slight bow.
“I hope to see you all, still fully healthy, in a week’s time,” said Master Terman as he faded out.
Ferndal immediately began to pace about the living room in some distress.
“Do you mean that I will not be able to visit the Coffee & Ale Shop with my friends or go out with Rosalind?” he asked his father, casting a dark look at me.
“I’m afraid so,” said Master Terman. “This is none of my doing, but I cannot undo what has just happened to us.”
“Our students will not be able to come these next few days, and we will lose their fees,” said Masteress Belinda.
“I’m so sorry about this,” I said, “Mirry thought you would help me with my healing quest. He didn’t know all the trouble it would cause. I can leave now.”
“That is the least kindness you can do for us,” said Master Terman.
“Aren’t you even going to try and help Nathaniel with his quest?” Maranissa asked. “Don’t you realize that people will die if Nathaniel doesn’t learn the healing chant he’s supposed to learn?”
“I’m sure Mirry meant well,” said Masteress Belinda, “but he knows nothing of Gifted Healing.”
“And the Guild of Gifted Culinary Artists is hardly known for its healing substances save for their cures for starvation,” said Master Terman.
I thought that Maranissa was going to pick up the harp on the work table and bring it down over Terman’s head, to judge by the purple in her face. But before she got that far, the door opened and a young woman with dark brown skin entered. Her gentle eyes made me think of almonds, and I felt better almost immediately. Sebastian ran up to her to get his throat scratched.
“Rosalind!” Ferndal exclaimed. He seemed awfully happy, but awfully worried as well. “Why did you come now?”
Rosalind gave her boy friend a gently mocking look and then looked at me with interest.
“I didn’t really want to be apart from you for seven days or more, my dear Ferndal,” said Rosalind, “and words are running through the Academy that a Gifted Healer has come among us, who is on a healing quest that uses a Singing Gift, and I wanted to see if those words are true, and now I see that these words are indeed true.”
“Take one good look at the boy now, because in a short time span, he will be gone,” Master Terman growled.
“So soon?” asked Rosalind. “I didn’t think you could have helped him so quickly, even if he is as quick a learner as I have heard that he is.”
“My student Mirry thoughtlessly brought him here,” said Terman.
“And where is Mirry now?” asked Rosalind.
“His tizzied mother has just taken him away,” said Master Terman. “It seems that she feared what Nathaniel might do to her son. From what I hear, this boy is better at spreading the pestilence than he is at singing it away. I hope that you are not strangled by the pestilence along with us.”
“Nathaniel isn’t spreading the pestilence; he’s trying to cure it,” Maranissa insisted.
“Master Lesentrange says that this boy brought the pestilence to his choir by breaking through the protective shield around St. Percivale’s Church,” said Master Terman.
“Just before coming here,” said Maranissa, “we visited the other boys. Nathaniel sang to them and his song got them breathing with less struggle.”
“Then might he have helped my brother, Kenter!” Rosalind exclaimed.
“Of course he helped Kenter,” said Maranissa. “He is less dangerously pestilenced now than he was because of Nathaniel.”
“I hope he’s still better,” I said, “Kenter has been very kind to me.”
Rosalind looked at me again.
“The boy’s clasp cape is shining,” said Rosalind. “That means he is still on a healing quest, and we should help him if such is in our power. My brother Kenter wrote me about this boy before he was himself pestilenced, and could no longer write me. He said the Nathaniel sang an awe-striking healing of Mirry that saved his fingers from an injury that would have destroyed his life as a harpist. I think we should learn what Nathaniel’s healing quest is all about and try to help him before he is forced to depart.”
Rosalind sat down on a beanbag-like chair that seemed appear for that purpose.
“Oh all right,” Master Terman scowled. “Gift us with your story.”
A beanbag-like chair nudged the back of my legs and I fell back into it. It wasn’t really a beanbag, I don’t think, but it was sort of like one, in that it had enough give to it to fit itself to my back. Except for Rosalind, I didn’t seem to have the friendliest audience in the world, but I didn’t have any choice but to say what I could.
“It started—when—uh—I was asked to deliver some medicine—you see, my dad works at a pharmacy and I help him—and I just found out my dad is in the Guild of Gifted Healers—well, I took the medicine to this house,” I began. “Then I got asked by Masteress Oldham to do this healing quest and I have to learn—you see, there’s this chant I’m supposed to learn how to sing, and so I got sent to Saint Percivale’s, but Master Lesentrange didn’t want to help me, but he wanted me to sing in the choir, so I—well, I did some singing there . . .”
I was stumbling over my words so badly, that I stopped to catch my breath. Master Terman, Masteress Belinda, and Ferndal looked pretty impatient. I couldn’t blame them. Maranissa broke in and told the rest of the story a lot better than I could. It was a little embarrassing, though, when she made such a big deal out of my healing her cheek when Jorland hit her with a spell. But then I began to wonder if maybe it was a bigger deal than I thought. Maranissa said that Denson had encouraged and almost forced the other boys to be mean to the girls when they came to serve us without Masteress Carrasima, and what I did changed all of that in a hurry. Then Maranissa went on about how the dining room was all abuzz about my healing of Mirry the next morning, and then a lot of the boys suddenly got to be a lot nicer than they were. Then she told them about how she started watching me carefully, because she knew I was going to do something, and she wanted to be in on it. As soon as she found out I’d gone off with Pollo, Charles and Mirry, she shook the truth out of Denny and went after me. Unfortunately, Denny was blabbing to other people, too, so some things went wrong. I was getting pretty thirsty just listening to her. Maranissa must have read my mind, because she brought out some cold drinks from under her cape and passed them out while she continued with her story.
“And now you know why Nathaniel needs our help,” Maranissa concluded.
“That is some story,” said Masteress Belinda.
“I suppose you could say that,” said her husband.
“That is truly amazing if Nathaniel saved you and Mirry from the etheric depths,” said Masteress Belinda. “I believe the last time that happened was five hundred years ago when Master Malcolm saved a girl who had fallen in.”
“Well, after hearing you story, Nathaniel, I would love to hear you sing something for us,” said Rosalind.
Nobody in Master Terman’s family looked thrilled at the prospect, but they weren’t in a great position to say anything, and I wasn’t in a very good position to turn her down. Ferndal didn’t look happy about seeing me get so much of Rosalind’s attention. My being far too young for her probably saved my life.
“What do you want me to sing?” I asked.
“Something you like to sing.”
I had to think a minute. I didn’t really want to do “Wayfaring Stranger” or “Somewhere” again, and I didn’t want to do anything with my ongoing willow Song just then, either. I finally decided to sing a little bit of a Bach piece I was learning in choir before I left. It was a fun, almost jazzy tune that had stuck in my head. I even remembered the German words to it: “Die Kinder Zion sei fröhlich über ihren Königen . . .” and so on. I didn’t have it down pat; it’s a bit difficult, after all, but I didn’t mess it up too much. I was just getting into the swing of the piece when I heard a loud twang from behind me. My heart sank when Master Terman jumped up and dashed over to his work table.
“If you’ve broken my harp, I’ll string up your guts,” he growled.
“I should have thought to have you put up a shield,” I said in a small voice.
I looked anxiously over my shoulder as Terman examined his harp for damage, grunting all the way.
“Hmm,” Master Terman grunted. ”The broken string isn’t broken anymore.”
“Are you sure you didn’t forget you’d fixed it?” asked Masteress Belinda.
“Of course, I’m not sure that I didn’t forget I fixed it,” Master Terman scowled. “But I don’t usually leave my harp on my work table if I’ve fixed it.”
Master Terman plucked several strings.
“Hmm. Seems to be in tune.”
“Perfectly in tune,” said Ferndal.
“Did you do this?” Master Terman asked me.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I mean that I don’t know,” I replied, my own patience growing thin. “Sometimes things happen when I sing if there aren’t any shields. I don’t know how it happens, or why.”
Master Terman carried his harp over to his beanbag-type chair and sat down. I felt something at my ankle. It was Sebastian nosing me, and looking much more friendly. I scratched his head, and he looked friendlier still.
“Do you mean to tell me that the Guild of Gifted Healers has turned you loose on a healing quest to cure the worst etherically-induced pestilence in known history, and you don’t know what you’re doing when you sing?”
“Masteress Oldham seemed pretty desperate when she asked me,” I admitted.
“Nathaniel has a very fine voice,” said Rosalind, “and it is clear that its giftedness is strong. It may be that the Divine Being has sent him to us in our time of desperate need.”
“Nathaniel does have a pleasing voice,” said Masteress Belinda. “Perhaps we should learn more about his quest while he is here in case we can help him. Do you have the bark inscription Maranissa told us about?”
“Well, half of it,” I said.
I pulled out the piece of bark and handed it to Rosalind. She examined it sadly.
“I can do little with this.”
“Let me see it,” said Master Terman.
He looked at the bark and rolled his eyes in several circles.
“I’m afraid that this mangled inscription is useless. I don’t see how I can help you, and I don’t see how Mirry could have thought I could. I suppose he thinks you can do anything just because you stopped the bleeding of his finger.”
“Nathaniel! I was hoping I would find you here!”
I stopped myself just in time from plugging my ears at the sound of Masteress Carassima’s voice. I still hadn’t gotten used to it, and I was hardly expecting her to pop into Master Terman’s apartment like that. This time, she had two young boys with her whose mud-brown capes identified them as apprentices in the Guild of Culinary Artists. Sebastian, obviously smelling something, ran up to her, and one of the boys dropped a little snack for him on the floor.
“Well, you found Nathaniel, all right, and you can have him,” Master Terman grumbled. “I hope you know that we’ve just been quarantined because of his this boy, so I hope you like cooking for us.”
“Oh, I love cooking for everybody,” said Masteress Carassima. “I’ll leave a meal for you before I go, but I’m sure Maranissa will do well enough for you. Our guild doesn’t recognize quarantines, especially not at a time such as this. I must say I’m awfully glad you’ve agreed to help Nathaniel with his quest. It’s about time a sensible Gifted Musician worked with him on the music he has to sing.”
“Well, actually . . .” Master Terman tried to say.
“Actually, I think Nathaniel is a dedicated and talented boy,” Masteress Carassima went on. “Mirry is just as dedicated—Hey! Where is Mirry? I thought he was here!”
“His mother came and took him home,” said Masteress Belinda.
“Much against Mirry’s will, I should think.”
“Very much against his will,” said Maranissa. “She’s a bigger witch even than you.”
So, Maranissa thought Masteress Carassima looked like a witch, too. Masteress Carassima did not seem to be offended by the insult.
“I’ll teach Masteress Amber a thing or two about being a witch, that she’ll wish she’d never learned, next time I see her,” Masteress Carassima muttered. “I came to give each of you a cookie, fresh from the Gifted Ovens of our Guild house. Nathaniel, this one is for you. Eat it carefully.”
Masteress Carassima dropped a cookie into my hands so big it was almost more like a generous piece of cake. With the help of the boys with her, she distributed a cookie to each person in the room, each one smaller than mine by far, except that Rosalind got a good-sized piece for herself.
“Thank you very much, Masteress Carassima,” said Masteress Terman, who didn’t seem to know what to do except put up with the woman until she went away.
“And here’s an oyster stew pot for your dinner,” said Masteress Carassima as she handed a black pot to Maranissa. “Nathaniel, the boys of the choir are still breathing a bit easier thanks to you, and they’re even eating a bit of the food I fixed for them. I’m sure Mirry will find a way to give you all the help you need. I’m so glad Nathaniel has found so musical a family to teach him what he wants to know.”
Then Masteress Carassima was gone, leaving a room full of wide-mouthed people. Maranissa was the first to recover and start eating her cookie. She gave me a look that told me I’d better eat mine and appreciate it. Ferndal took a bite of his and his eyes lit up. Before long, everybody was eating except me. I examined my cookie, but didn’t see anything odd about it. I took a careful bite, fearing there might be an exploding piece of sugar in it or something, but there wasn’t. It was just a great cookie that seemed to combine all the best kinds of cookie in one. After about three bites, I stopped being so cautious, and that’s when I felt something funny in my mouth. Maranissa giggled at me.
“She told you to be careful,” she teased me.
I took another careful look at my cookie and saw a piece of paper sticking out of it.
“What’s this? A fortune cookie?” I asked.
“I think you have just received a message cookie,” Rosalind explained.
I pulled the paper out of the cookie, licked off the crumbs, and opened it up. It was a note, all right. It read:
We are making great and effective use of the library where we are enforced guests. What we are finding should be a great help to you. We’re still with you all the way.
Pollo and Charles