To Save the World...

Chapter 11

"I still can't believe it!" Darvin proclaimed as they walked into town. "An entire crowd! Healed all at once!"

"Yes," Ivorisa agreed with a smile. "It was amazing. But, we were all there. We witnessed it, too. You've been talking about it for the entire three days we walked from Duns Veloor."

"And those false priests!" Darvin continued as if he hadn't heard her. "The looks on their faces when their altar melted! Their panic when they realized they'd picked a fight with a real god!"

"I actually preferred it when three of those five false ones came and asked to learn the ways of Messor Vitavi," Tavin said quietly.

"Me, too," Musara agreed. "If they could just take their zeal for their false goddess and turn it to the good of helping people in the name of Messor Vitavi, imagine how much they could accomplish!"

"As long as they don't demand people pay for their services," Jez added.

The others all nodded.

"So, where are we now?" Darvin looked around the dusty streets of the sprawling, unwalled town.

"Manark," Musara replied.

"Priestess!" a voice called. Several people in rags limped into view. They stopped several feet from the travelers.

"Priestess of Messor Vitavi!" another in the group called. He stopped talking to cough, blood splattering his hand and the dust at his feet. He took a shaky breath and looked back to Musara, blood coating his mouth and chin. "We heard about what happened in Duns Veloor! How you healed the entire city! Please, pray that Messor Vitavi heals us, too!"

"Please, have mercy on us, priestess," another pleaded. "If Messor Vitavi won't heal us, we shall surely die."

Musara looked to Jez. Both women nodded.

Musara drew out the coin of fate from her pocket and prayed, "Messor Vitavi, goodness and love beyond understanding, is it your wish we heal these victims of the plague?" The coin flipped in the air and landed in the dirt, bronze face gleaming in the muted sunlight.

Musara retrieved the coin as she and Jez walked forward to stand with the people. They began their work of healing and praying.

"Form a line!" Darvin called as the three guards joined the two women. "Things go a lot smoother when we do this in an orderly way. No pushing!" He stepped in as a man jostled a youth aside. Darvin grabbed the man by the arm and hauled the sick fellow farther back in line, gesturing for the youth to take a place in line.

Others in the group turned and called down the street, "She's here! The priestess is here! She's healing people! Come quick!"

"No," Musara objected. "I—I'm not healing anyone. Jez is the healer. Messor Vitavi is the one who reaches down to answer our prayers for healing. He is the one who should receive the thanks and praise."

More people shouted, the word being echoed by others farther down the street, "The priestess is here! Come with your loved ones! Hurry!"

"Please," a woman grabbed Ivorisa's sleeve, wide bloodshot eyes leaking blood, "my family is all sick. They're back at the house. I... don't have the strength to carry the children here..."

"We'll stop by your house," Ivorisa assured the woman, gently taking her arm to guide her to the growing line. "Here, get in line. Once you're healed, you can show us where you live."

"If you tell me how to find your house, ma'am, I can go get your family," Tavin offered.

"We can just go there once we're done here," Ivorisa replied. She looked around as more people came, the sick carried in arms or on wagons. "I think we need to stay here and help control this crowd. We don't need another trampling incident."