Chapter 8: Palatine

His Eminence, Prime Bishop Richard the First, sat on his throne and strummed his first two fingers of his left hand.

His birth name was Dick Baker, but there were few people alive, who knew this. Only a select few called him Richard. Most people called him Your Eminence or Prime Bishop.

He was a short, rotund man with thinning grey hair and a bald patch on the back of his head. His complexion was mottled, and his skin looked patchy with small areas of scabby rashes all over his body. His eyes were a pale blue with red rims, and his nose was large, bulbous and red.

He wasn’t a pretty sight naked, with his big guts, fat arse and legs, and patchy skin. These days he had to spell his tiny cock to keep it erect and make it bigger. Even then, he didn’t always find the satisfaction he once did.

His most disfiguring feature was his hands. They itched and he wished he could take the damn gloves off, but he dared not. Even he couldn’t stand the sight of his bare hands. They no sooner seemed to heal, then the skin would flake off again, and they would swell so badly, he could barely move the fingers that worked.

Not many knew that he had already completely lost his two smallest fingers and the ring fingers back to the first knuckle. The gloves were designed to leave those fingers curled in and were stuffed, so it looked like he still had all his digits.

His middle fingers had also begun to blacken, and he couldn’t sense the tips anymore. He never accepted anything to his hands from anyone. He had resized the fake wizard’s ring, so it fit over the glove on his right hand. Not to wear it, would cause rumours and he knew there were enough of them about him already.

The four mutes, who served him personally, had heavy-duty binding spells on them. They couldn’t be questioned by anyone. If they were, they reported it immediately to him.

The only other people who might see his hands and body were the witches he raped and they didn’t live long enough to tell. They often sickened and died within weeks of him touching them with his bare hands.

He suspected that this current plague was his fault, as was the last one. They had lost over thirty thousand last year. It didn’t seem to discriminate by age. If you were exposed to an infected person, then you only had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving it.

A month before, he had received a new mute girl and took a fancy to her. She apparently went into to town regularly to get his medicines. She had bathed his hands and applied the lotions he had spelled and then he had fucked her for her troubles.

She had been a hot little piece, he had enjoyed fucking her and he had even come for her. That was until he noticed the tell-tail signs of the plague on her a week later. Either the protection spells he had placed on her hadn’t worked, or the plague he inflicted was now able to get past them.

Either way, it was spreading amongst the unwashed mass of humanity in Justini. She must have touched hundreds in the marketplace while she was contagious. The bloody plague had spread so fast this time that it was alarming. It was also killing more people faster than it had the year before.

The stupid Lords had panicked and raced home to the safety of their lands only to take the plague with them. His clerk had said that they had lost over two thousand in just two weeks and just as many were sick. Reports were coming in from out of the city of whole families dying.

This plague was devastating. Many of those that perished in the last one had been slaves and servants. Apparently, many of the lazy, good for nought Lords and Clerics didn’t look after their people and they lived in appalling conditions. This time, even the Lords and their families were dying and not just getting sick.

After the last plague, the planting has been slow due to the loss of labourers and Richard knew this had affected the revenues. Bad summer storms had also affected the harvest. Fields were flattened before they were ready to be harvested.

He had the King put up the taxes, but for once, the people didn’t bitch about the King. They took their frustrations it out on his people, as they collected the taxes on the Kings behalf. He had to triple the guards for them.

His Clerics had also said donations were almost non-existent and that numbers were down in all congregations. As soon as the weather begun to cool, those that could get out of town did so. They all feared another plague and he had given them a reason to flee.

The harvest had been dismally poor and not only that, when he had sent the Clerics to collect the goods from the outer Duchies, they had come back with half what they normally did or nothing at all.

Apparently, last year’s plague had reached their cities. Several of the Duchies wouldn’t let his people or people fleeing Justini enter their newly walled cities. Not that he could blame them, even though he did. He hadn’t answered their pleas for help, so they had helped protect themselves by keeping his people out.

Then the ships that he had sent to Pakaru came back only half-full and with only two Clerics, who had gone mad. They blathered that, ‘A wizard had taken their sacred magical items.’

Jerome had sent a missive to him that the men had performed foul deeds and that he had to strip them of their items. He was having trouble coercing the young Prince, who had the ears of the local Lords. He too reported unseasonable storms had rotted or flattened their crops in the fields. He said that he needed to stay longer.

He has sent what goods he could without having the local Lords riot on him. He was slowly getting them under control but with only a few clergy to support him, it was taking much longer than he expected. He doubted he would get back before spring came and possibly even later in the year.

Richard found this missive a little unsettling but couldn’t decide why. His other Clerics had similar problems with the other Duchies, so he wasn’t really surprised by Jerome’s problems.

When the ships came back from Spar, his new settlement on the continent of Saran, with most of the goods that they left with still on board and a third of the people who were supposed to be living there aboard, and no new slaves, he was very displeased

Apparently, the King of Saran had gotten upset with them taking his people as slaves and had put his foot down. They also reported that the Lord Wizard was also not pleased and they had sent them with the message that the Palatinians were to come in peace or not bother coming at all.

He had sent a warship to reclaim his settlement, but it had returned to tell him Spar was deserted. Not a sole was living there. They had not been able to land on a beach within 5km from the town, and they couldn’t enter it at all, as it was protected in some way.

While about half of the population had moved to the Golden City, the shields had hidden the settlement and its port from view. The people had seen the warship try to enter the bay and been very relieved when it couldn’t enter the port or the shielded area, as Lord Storm had promised.

The Captain had to bring his troops home. Richard fumed about the extra useless mouths to feed, and he had little to give them. The granaries were half-empty and winter wasn’t officially here yet. Even with the death toll up to five thousand when the ship came back, he was going to run out of food before the next harvest.

Of all his problems, the story of there being a new Lord Wizard was the one that troubled him the most. He had heard rumours from his contacts in Trenton that the Lord Wizard truly was alive and well.

They said that the Gods had sent him here from the heavens, to reunite the One People and fulfil the prophecy. He had laughed at, as he had changed the prophecy so he doubted the Lord would find the men he thought he was looking for when he should be looking for women.

Richard learned that the Lord Wizard had defeated Lord Gazan and removed the binding spells from all the medallions and rings that had been bound to him. They also couldn’t alter them anymore, as the items simply removed themselves from the person and disappeared.

One of the crazy Clerics had also said something similar when they tried to take a medallion off of a young druid. He too had mentioned something about four powerful wizards. He might need to question the Clerics again.

If a Lord Wizard had returned and he had already found several of his other wizards, then he was in deep trouble. The box he had was an apprentice’s box not a full wizard’s box. They would come here for sure to retrieve the box he had if the Lord Wizard was trying to rebuild the decad. He started to sweat as soon as he realised this.

There was also the rumour that the King of Saran now resided in the Great Golden City and that it was functional. He was also one of the Wizards. He wondered if this was his salvation. If he could claim the city here, it would protect him. He was sure that he had the spells to coerce the cities entity to obey his will.

“Rohan,” he yelled out. He watched as the snivelling little man hurried up to him and bowed at his feet. He felt like kicking him, but restrained himself, barely. “Pack the ships and collect as many of the most faithful and strongest Clerics that you can find. Make damn sure that there are enough servants for us and food for two months.”

“Where, where are you going your Eminence?” he stammered.

“I have had a vision and must travel down the Great Split,” he told him.

The man shuddered and looked at him in horror. “Are you sure Your Eminence?” he stammered.

“Yes you fool, I wouldn’t say so, if it wasn’t true now, would I? I wish to leave by the end of the week,” he growled at the man.

The man shivered and shook and nodded his head vigorously, and he backed away bowing and then ran from the room as fast as his puny legs could carry him. Richard wanted to laugh but restrained himself.

He wanted to send for Jerome, but he wouldn’t have a chance of getting him here in time so he would have to go without him. The letter from Jerome still disquieted him. He hadn’t wanted to go to Pakaru saying he couldn’t protect the Bishop if he did.

Richard brooded about his options.

It took them only six days to get his ships out to sea.

The dead had mounted to nearly eight thousand by that time. Richard had little trouble getting the Clerics to board the ships. The people were very upset, and the Clerics had taken to locking themselves indoors. They were being spat on and even attacked if seen in the streets. He had to send his troops to collect the men he wanted.

The ships’ Captains weren’t happy either. There had already been missives stating that the late autumn storms were violent further south. If it weren’t for the current plague, they would have bucked him.

He had made sure they had weather mages on each ship, but even they seemed to have problems keeping the storms at bay. It was a very rough, slow trip heading south. They had to take shelter several times to wait out storms that the mages couldn’t turn.

His Clerics were exhausted from maintaining the protection spells on the ships to keep them in sailable condition. Richard hated being on a ship, but he had little choice if he was to save his own skin.

The rough weather meant he had to stay in his cabin as often as not and this displeased him as well. He wasn’t pleased with his isolation on board either, as none willingly approached him.

Having to summon people to come and keep him company had become very irksome.

King Augustus’ eyes fluttered open.

He felt the pressure of a hand holding his, and it gripped a little tighter as he moved in waking. His eyes opened to see an angle. “Am I dead?” he croaked.

The beautiful vision smiled and then a man’s voice said, “No, father.” Augustus flicked his eyes past the woman and smiled weakly. “My son. Who is this lovely being?” he asked looking back at the woman with the honey coloured hair.

“She is my wife,” Alexus answered, as she placed her hand on his father forehead. Augustus looked at him surprised and then felt another hand slide into his night shift between the buttons. He looked at the attractive young man in question, and he smiled back at him.

He then felt the most awesome feelings run through his body. Every nerve ending tingled in delight causing him to moan in pleasure. He felt his cock stiffen and it pulsed as the feelings intensified.

He felt as if his whole body was being stimulated at the same time. His hips stiffened, and he grunted out his orgasm. The pulsing of his cock as it squirted semen was intense and pleasurable. He felt his discharges soak into his night shift as his hips finally slumped.

He sighed with delight as the feelings settled and had to smile when his son said in admonishment, “Kale! Was that necessary?”

The cute young man grinned at Alexus, “Sorry, it seems to be a side effect of how I heal. I’ve not had any complaints from the recipients.”

“And I doubt you will have, my son,” Augustus sighed in utter contentment. The feelings of wellness and being alive were wonderful. He felt that he had been sick for so long that the feeling of wellbeing was intoxicating.

Penny bent down and gently kissed his forehead, “You were lucky we got here when we did father of my husband. I don’t know how you were even still alive.”

Augustus smiled, “I’m not that easy to kill.”

“I thank the Goddesses for that father. I wish it were true for others,” Alexus said sadly and gently squeezed his father’s hand.

A look of sadness crossed Augustus’ face, “Yes, your mother and brother were two of the first last year. How many have died, this time, my son?”

“Too many, father, although we have help coming,” he told him.

Augustus hefted himself up higher in the bed. “That bloody Bishop did this. He is a walking disease. I haven’t had my head so clear for a long time son. What did you people do to me?

“We removed his influence from you. He uses a form of coercion to bend you to his will. Lord Storm is getting the other wizards. You’re going to like him, father.”

“What other wizards and who is Lord Storm?” he asked intrigued. He then spied the gorgeous young woman with the big green eyes who was holding Kale’s other hand and smiled at her.

Kale happily introduced his wife Selwyn, and they took turns explaining what had been going on since Alexus had last seen his father. Augustus was amazed that his son was now married to a wizard and that he was supposed to become her apprentice.

‘The wizards are back as prophesied, ‘ the King thought gleefully.

The younger man and his wife who had helped heal him were also wizards, but they belonged to a different group. This information fascinated him. Penny and Alexus apparently belonged to the Lord Wizards group. “So why have you come home now, son?”

“Well, Storm heard about the plagues that you have been having here the last couple of years. When Kale became what David calls a Marquess Wizard like him, Storm said that Kale had to come with us to fulfil his part of the prophecy.”

The King looked thoughtful and said, “The healer must cleanse the children of the sun. Us, he must help us, yes?”

They nodded at him. “So have any of the other feats been accomplished?” he asked with interest.

They looked at each other, and Penny said, “Well, in Trenton we had a wizard that was corrupting the medallions and rings and making people slaves. Lord Storm had all of us powerful mages join with him to perform a spell.”

“It removed the items from the people who were mistreating them and we had to kill the wizard who was corrupting them when he went rabid. So I guess that he completed the first one, ‘The devil wizards must be defeated for one’,” she said.

Kale frowned, “Actually, I don’t think he has finished that one. He defeated the ones in Trenton, but there are still more here. Most of the Clerics are wearing corrupted rings and medallions.”

“Well maybe that is part of what you have to do. Perhaps you all have to assist him with this part of the prophecy,” the King suggested.

“That could be true, as I believe the fact the medallions are corrupt, is why the Clerics can’t heal the sick as they should,” Kale answered.

“What about the line, ‘The Starman must defeat the cursed one’. Do you think that Sarah was actually the Starman?” Selwyn said to the other three wizards.