Acoustic Waves, Battery, Fukushima, Nuclear Energy, Frequency Monitoring, Story 1, Story 2, Story 3, Carly's Story, Jesus, Dragon,

Carly's Story - Copyright, Richard Collins 2011, All Rights Reserved

The sunlight was blinding as it reflected off the many surfaces of the river.  Water rolling over rocks carried flashing colors and fallen leaves.  The branches of the trees were rubbing against each other, as the wind twisted everything about.  The sounds of the water were louder than the wind.  The confusing sounds made it it difficult to hear pursuers.  The horses picked their way carefully through the rocks.  They shied away from the noise and mass of the water.  Carly shifted in the saddle to help balance.  She laid a hand on her horse's neck to calm the little mare, and to calm herself.  Carly looked left to where Jan's horse was entering the water, its eyes rolling in fear.  The bottom was rocky and hid many crevasses that threatened to catch and hold a delicate hoof.  Carly stared through the water to force her eyes to see what was hidden there.  She did not have time to be careful.  She had to move now or they were dead.  There wasn't time to try magic.

With a leap, Carly's mare jumped into deep water.  The current caught immediately and carried her down stream.  Carly had a brief glimpse of Jan gathering his horse for the same leap.  Jan's face was frozen in fear and concentration.  If the river could carry them away from this area quickly, they might just survive the day.  Carly's father had warned her to stay near the Hold to avoid any confrontations.  Now they had a dozen riders on their trail, all because she had wanted to go for a ride.

Jan held the reins firmly for the jump into the river.  He was a good horseman, but he was still afraid.  He had seen one of the servants pulled from this same river, drowned for no reason at all.  He was more afraid for Carly.  He did not want her to be captured.  He did not want her kidnapped, but there was little he could do about it.  He could not fight so many;  he was only lightly armed.   How could he be so stupid to take her riding?  Now they were riding for their lives.  Jan leaped his horse in the river and was swiftly pulled downstream.  He was only a few lengths behind Carly.  It was like a great hand pulling them downstream.

In a moment, they were in a narrow part of the river.  The rocks on boths sides folded into a seam that shot the water and broke it into white peaked waves.  The horses seemed to catch their hooves on the bottom, then it was too deep and they floated free.  The river widened.  The current was still strong and fast.  Trees on both sides of the river covered most of the river.  It was relatively quiet in here away from the wind and the noisier water.  Jan could just hear shouts behind them.  He did not turn around.  If they followed in these dangerous waters, there was not much he could do about it until they came to a stopping place.  If he remembered correctly, these white waters conntinued for several miles.

Carly could see ahead to where the water turned white again.  She guided her horse to stay in the deeper water.  She wanted to get as far away from here as possible.  If they could use the water to take them far downstream, they might survive.  Her mare was trembling from the cold water and the fear, but she was taking this bravely.  Carly patted her again and spoke softly.

This time when they hit the white water, the horses could feel the bottom for a moment, but it sloped sharply to the right and spilled them.  Carly was thrown under water, then struggled to the surface and held onto the reigns.  She was dragged over the rocks, something tearing at her calf and ankle.  The cold water kept down the pain, but it throbbed and stung.  She struck the rocky walls several times, but held on.  Jan was thrown, but managed to stay on the surface.  He was watching where Carly was dragged and managed to avoid most of the rocks.  Those riders would not risk this, or they would be battered too.

They were back in deep water again, but soon they would be getting to the falls!  Jan could hear them already.  He pulled himself back onto his horse, and then urged it to catch up up to Carly.  She was still in the water, just hanging onto the saddle.  She seemed dazed.  Jan could not tell how she was doing.  Was her leg broken?  It looked bloody from what he could see under the water.  Jan rode the water alongside Carly.  He reached over and pulled her into the saddle again.  She was awake and struggled to hold on.  They were rushing toward a sharp gap in the rock.  All Jan could see ahead was rock and water.

The falls tipped them over.  Carly managed to stay on her horse, the sides were inches away from her, the water smooth and deep.  She bumped the sides now and then, but it was only a touch.  The falls tipped them further and they burst into roiling white water.  For a moment, Carly was under her horse, then the water rolled them over again and she was on top.  Jan was nowhere to be seen.

Jan swam to his horse.  He had been battered as they came to the bottom of the falls.  If it had not been a long slide, they would not have survived.  He knew where he was now.  Unless someone followed them, they were a league or more ahead of any pursuit.  There was time to get home safely.  He just had to get them out of the river now.

Carly urged her horse to the side of the river.  Jan was right beside her.  The horses were shivering and trembling.  Carly was glad for the cold.  She did not want to face the pain when she warmed up.

The river spread wide here.  There were a series of channels leading downstream.  In between were boulders and piles of debris.  Jan and Carly struggled to the left bank.  There was a small sandy strip there.  A place to get out.  It was very steep for the horses, but Jan pulled them firmly out of the water.  Both horses were shaking and trembling.  Carly was leaning on a tree; her right leg was torn and bleeding. 

Jan tied the horses away from the water and then came back for Carly.  She was sitting on a rock now, blood running down her leg.  He cut the hem from her skirt and tied that around her calf.  Her boot had protected her ankle.  There was no way to treat her now.  They would have to move quickly or their lead would be gone.  Jan helped Carly onto her horse and then led off at a slow but steady pace.  The horses were tired and fearful, but they would be better moving.  He could not see if they were injured or not.  They would probably have bruises, but they were walking now.

Winston held up his hand to halt his riders.  There was no way he was going to follow them down the river from this point. It would be dangerous for many furlongs, and the only path that led to the falls was many leagues around.  He was sure to miss them..  There would be other times to catch the girl.  He could be patient.  Her father could not move.  It was only a matter of time.  But they had been so close!  He only hoped she was not killed in trying to escape.  He wanted her alive, first.

Carly and Jan were met at the gate.  There were shouts and cries.  Old Pam was looking at the blood on Jan's boot.  She was cluckling like an old hen when Jan helped Carly down from her horse.  The hostler was looking over the two horses as they were led away by one of the boys.  Two men crossed arms and carried Carly to the house.  Jan turned to his room to find some dry clothes.  He was stopped by Carly's father, the Baron.

"What happened?"  he asked.  This was a many who did not scream or demand.  He was used to his words being heard and obeyed.

"Winston and his men spotted us as we were riding.  They tried ot cut us off, but we took the river down to the falls.  We were lucky that there was much water in the falls, we were able to make it over the rocks without being broken ourselves."

"What happened to my daughter?" the Baron asked.

"Our horses fell, or rather slipped.  We both went down.  She was dragged over the rocks.  I do not think it is broken.  The horses seem to be all right.  I was afraid there for a while that they would take lame."  Jan answered.

"They are growing bolder all the time.  I have enough men to meet them on the field of battle, but I would like to avoid open warfare.  Winston's father was a reasonable man.  Why does his son have to be so adamant against my daughter?"

Carly had one of the girls help her with her wet clothes.  She combed out her hair and put on a plain gown.  Her leg hurt, but that could be repaired.   The bigger problem was what to do about Winston and his men.  Could she use magic to alter the balance some way?  She was just learning weather and healing.  There was so much else she needed to learn.  She did not even have a proper teacher.  She was having to learn so much on her own.

Carly sat in a large chair and put her foot up on a stool in front of her.  She could see the gouge where the rocks had torn her flesh.  Most of the bleeding had stopped, but it was still very painful.  She did not let herself feel the pain.  She needed to concentrate, and pain had no place interferring with magic.  Carly placed her right hand on her leg where the gash started.  She started to hum and focus.  She did not need songs or spellls, but she could focus better with a sound to help her.  Humming worked.  It seemed to seep into her mind and release something there.  She could feel the warmth rise our of her heart and down her arm.  It flowed into her hand and fingers.  It flowed into the wound.  There was a faint green light that illuminated her fingertips where she was touching.  The wound closed as she brushed her fingers down her leg.  There was damage under the skin and flesh.  Carly wiped her hand back and forth, up and down her leg.  The bruising and ache went away.  In a few minutes, the leg was perfect again.  All that remained were a few blood stains from where she brushed the wound in the beginning and transferred them onto her leg.

"Here, let me wash that for you."  Old Pam spoke now.  She had been watching Carly for some time now.  She watched her heal the wound and wipe away the bruising.  Old Pam wiped off the last bits of blood and dirt, then she stood up.

"You are getting better at healing.  I remember when this would have taken you much longer.  And I remember when you could not remove bruising.  Now you are almost perfect at it."  Old Pam said.  "It is too bad that you cannot simply magic away Winston and his followers."  She said.

"I am too new to magic to do that yet.  I am not able to fight a full grown man, armed and ready.  I have heard that mages can do that, but I do not know how.  Or rather, I know how, but I am not able to do it yet."  Carly spoke.  "I should go out and check on the horses now.  They may need healing.  I do not want them to suffer just because I was unlucky."  She continued.

When she was fully dressed, Carly went downstairs.  Her father was there.

"Did you heal yourself already?"  he asked.

"Yes.  I am gettng faster at healing now.  I do not know what I would do if this had been more serious.  I could manage the healing in spite of the pain.  But if there were more pain, I might not manage a healing.  I am going out to check on the horses now."  Carly said.

"Thank you.  I am sure the hostler will be happy to know you are checking on his horses."  he said.

Carly walked out to the stables.  Her leg did not bother her at all.  There was pain in other parts of her body where she had hit rocks.  She was still going to have bruising and pain.  She did not have a way to heal a whole person, she could only handle healing in bits and pieces.  When she got to the stable, the two horses, Ava and Blaze, were there together.  The hostler explained to her that one of Aga's legs was bruised, and one hoof had been chipped, but it was basically whole.  Carly healed the bruising and then went over all the horse's joints just to reduce pain and tension.  Carly curried her horse and Ava rested her head against Carly's shoulder.

Jan was currying his horse.  Carly ran her hands over Blaze to draw away pain and heal strains.  There was a faint glimmer of green light as she did this.

"What are you going to do when I am gone?"  Jan asked.  "I have stayed as long as I can, but I must get back to the capital.  My men will not be here to protect you."

"I am happy that you could stay as long as you have.  My father is very grateful that you have been here to protect me.  He will have to hire more men when you go."  Carly said.

"Could you come with me back to the capital?  We could be married and go back together."  Jan leaned toward her.

"Until I am finished with my training I cannot leave.  Also, as long as I am here, Winston witll not try a direct assault.  I may not be able to face an armed man alone, but I can wreak havoc with horses.  I can also keep our men healed so there are effectively more of them for battle."  Carly explained.

"Do you want to be married?"  Jan inquired.  He seemed to be holding his breath.

"Yes, I do.  But I also do not want to run away when things are left unfinished."  Carly answered.

"I still do not like leaving you alone like this."  Jan said.

"At least Gerard is back.  His magic will tip the balance.  When I have learned his magic, I can leave."  Carly explained.

The next day, Jan and his men left for the capital.  The Baron was grim faced, but smiled when he was with Jan.  The Baron liked having someone so bright and fearless as Jan.  He hoped to have him as a son through marriage.  The Baron had admired Jan's father, the Count, when he was still alive.  Jan's older brother had taken on his family duties.  Jan and his men had gone to strengthened his brother and family.

Gerard was an unlikely mage.  He seemed more at home on a farm or a battlefield.  One thinks of a mage as an elderly man, white hair and a long beard.  But Gerard was quite young and reasonably handsome.  When Jan had first come, there was some unease on that account.  Jan did not like the idea of his Carly spending so much time with a young man.  It soon became apparent, though, that Gerard was dedicated to his art.  The art of magic.  Besides, he had his pick of most any woman, if he was interested.

"Gerard, what are we going to try today?"  Carly asked.

"I would like you to know more about mind magic.  It is an unlikely thing for a man to try, and it will help you to know truth."  Gerard explained.

"As you have explained before, it is possible to read the surface thoughts of others, it is possible to use the mind as a weapon to harm others, it is possible to determine if someone is telling the truth.  What would you like me to try to do first?"  Carly asked.

"First you need to clear your own mind and be prepared with shields so that someone does not attack you.  Once you are sure of your own mind, you can attack or read others."  he began. "Close your eyes and think about clear water.  Try to visualize a pure drop of water that is invisible, yet has substance.  Hold that pure drop in your mind and listen to its song.  I will attack you.  Be prepared to fight back by making the drop as hard as steel."  Gerard explained.

Carly let her mind clear and then visualized a drop of clear water.  She listened hard and tried to hear its song.  There seemed to be a ringing.  There seemed to be whispering and murmurs.  The sounds suddenly grew louder, so she steeled herself and tried to make the drop as hard as polished steel.  The drop rang like metal on metal.  It did not move.

"Do it again.  This time try to strike back."  Gerard instructed.

She held the drop steady in her mind.  She listened to it.  There was the sound of murmuring and whispers.  She felt something start to push at the drop and she pushed back as hard as she could!

"Good Lord.  I was almost not fast enough to protect myself from your counter."  Gerard said.  "You have very strong shields already, and you have a strong defense."

"This is very much like a healing trance, except that I am not listening for pain and damage, but a simple image of a drop.  Are healing and mind magic related?"  Carly asked.

"Yes, they are, but most people do not grasp that similarity for a while.  You seemed to know it already."  Gerard explained.

"I seemed to hear murmurs and whispers. Is that from your mind, or are there other ones around here?  How far can you read someone's mind?"  She asked.

"It is not a matter of distance.  It is a matter of how closely you can remember and recall someone's spirit.  When you have the crystal drop in your mind, then think of someone and concentrate on the sounds.  You might be able to hear them in your mind."  Gerard explained.

She held the crystal drop steady in her mind.  She listened for its song.  When she heard the murmurs and whispers, she thought of her father.  Suddenly, she could hear words!  Her father was talking to someone about guard duty.  They were concerned that we did not have enough men.  Her father tried to assure them.  She was hearing her father's thoughts and words, as well as the things he was hearing.  She felt like she was intruding somewhat, so she switched her thoughts to Jan.  At first there was nothing, and then she heard the sound of horses.  He must still be on the road.

She tried to listen to Gerard, but there was a barrier.  She tried hard to break it, but he held firm.  She started to listen to Winston, but Gerard stopped her!

"I do not want you to warn him.  If he detects you trying to listen to his thoughts then he will hire his own mage and build up protections.  Right now I do not think he has any protections.  But I would like to keep it that way."  Gerard explained.

"What about truth telling?  Is that difficult?"  Carly asked.

"What you need to do is to have your crystal drop ready, and have ready the person you are going to question.  Then ask a question.  When you hear their outer voice, you will also hear their inner voice.  It the inner and outer voices do not match, then they are lying.  It is difficult to keep your mind in the state of listening, while you are also asking questions.  But like anything, it will get easier with practice.  I will lower my shields and let you ask me some simple questions to practice."  Gerard instructed.

She readied the crystal drop and a picture of Gerard in her mind.  She started listening to his mind.  Then she asked him how old he was.  He said he was a hundred years old.  There was a mismatch between his inner and outer voices.  He had lied!  I asked him where he was born and he answered a nearby city.  That was a lie.  She asked him what he had for breakfast.  He said porriage and that was the truth!  I asked him how tall he was, and he said seven feet.  It almost sounded like it was true, but how could it?

"It is possible to lie with your mind, if you have sufficient training and focus.  It is possible to answer if you believe strongly that something is true, even though it is false.  That is what I was doing just now."  he explained.

"When I countered you earlier.  Is that what you would do to attack someone?"  She asked.

"Yes, get your crystal drop in mind,  Then focus on the person you want to attack, and then push with your mind.  Be very careful with that because if you do not focus on your target, then anyone around you will feel it.  You might harm someone you love if you do not have a good focus.  You do not seem to have that problem.  But I suggest you practice listening to people's minds first so you will know how to focus and to listen."  Gerard explained.

"If I have an enemy that I want to attack, how will I practice if you are afraid I will give myself away?"  I asked.

"I have wanted to do something about Winston for a long time."  Gerard explained.  "He definitely harbors evil thoughts towards you.   But he has not actually done anything yet.  Would it be wise to attack someone who only wished you evil, but never did anything?"  he asked.

"Why does he hate me so?"  she asked.

"I am not sure he hates you.  He might even be attracted to you.  Perhaps his attempts to kidnap you were so that he could be closer to you.  It might be that he is afraid of you.  That is my personal thinking .  I think he is afraid of what you will become when you have magic."  Gerard answered.

"But you have magic and he does not seem to be afraid of you, or angry at you."  She queried.

"I am not your father's only child.  He wants your father's lands, but he does not want to fight for it.  Perhaps he thinks he can take you and force you to marry him, then kill your father.  Or just wait until your father dies on his own.  Also, mages come and go.  Who knows how long I will remain here.  If I am here I will try to protect you, but can I protect you your whole life?"  he asked in return.

"It worries me that Winston might want me for his wife.  To him that seems a natural thing, to marry me and gain my father's lands.  But I do not want to be forced.  Certainly my father does not wish it."  She answered.

"But your father is getting tired.  On the one hand, there is a rich man who wants your hand in marriage.  On the other hand, your father is being pressed to protect his land.  If something happens to your father, who would protect you?  Jan it too far away.  I am only a paid servant."  he answered.

"Would it protect my father if I were married to Winston?"  She asked.

"As long a Winston could be sure that he would gain the lands when your father eventually dies.  Your father is a strong man, and has strong ties in court.  Those are valuable to Winston as well.  He does not have the same skills as his father had.  He might think you could help him in the court as well."  Gerard explained.

"Because of my magic."  she stated.

"Because of your magic.  It makes you stronger and harder to control, so he does not like it.  But it also makes him stronger and you more attractive, if you are connected to him by marriage."  he replied.

"What about children?"  She asked.

"Your children will have magic too.  If you train them from an early age, they should be very strong mages.  One reason I agreed to teach you, is because you are such a strong natural mage.  Just this evening as we are practicing several new things, you pick up the skills on the first try.  You have almost no hesitation.  Your childred will be powerful."  Gerald explained.

"I think he does not want me to have magic now, because I help protect my father's lands.  But if we were married, then he would like it because I would protect his lands and his children."  She related.

"That sounds very likely."   he concluded.

"What does it feel like if you are attacked by mind magic?  Is it painful, or does it just feel strange?"  She asked.

"If it is weak attack and your shields are down, then it feels like someone trying to mindspeak you.  If it is a strong attack and your shields are down, then it will be painful.  If it is a very strong attack and your shields are down, then it can cause death and it will be very painful."  he explained.

The very next day, as Carly was treating the horses again for bruises, Gerard came to her and asked her to follow him.  He led her to the archery practice field.  He indicated a target that was about fifty yards away, and he explained that he wanted her to practice with a bow every day.  But she was to guide her arrows by magic.  He took a knife and cut a small circle in the target, smaller than her fist.  This was to be her target.  He further cut a smaller circle about the size of a walnut and that was where she was to aim.

Carly had used a bow before.  She was fit and able to draw a bow.  But it seemed rather difficult to hit that small of a target at all, let alone with any frequency.  She was not even sure she could hit the original target into which he had cut the circles.

"What I want you to do is to practice every day.  You will shoot one hundred arrows.  I want you to hit the outer target every time and the inner target at least ten times."  he explained.

He stood there while she strung the bow.  She put on a pair of light gloves to protect her hands, then she selected an arrow and started to pull it, but she stopped.

"How do I guide the arrows by magic?  You mean I use my mind to move the arrow into the target?  Do you have any hints for how I do this?"  she asked.

"Your hands will pull the string and set the arrow on its way.  You mind needs to take the arrow in flight and guide it to the target.  You need to have a clear mental picture of the target, and you will need to push to get the arrow onto the target.  Use your crystal drop to feel the target.  Listen to feel when the target is centered, loose the arrow, and push it into the target."  he explained.

She put the arrow to string again, and then pulled back.  She closed her eyes for a moment to get a picture of the crystal drop and the target.  When she was ready she opened her eyes, steadied the bow, and then released the arrow.  She pushed with her mind to move it towards the target.  It missed the target altogether.  It seemed to be moving straight and then it curved suddenly.  Something was off in her approach.  She decided to just shoot one arrow to get used to the feel of the bow.  She pulled back, aimed and released.  There was a solid thunk when the arrow hit the bigger target.  She was a long way from her hand sized target, but at least she was hitting the right range.  She selected another arrow, put it to the string.  She pulled back, aimed, and then pushed as she released.  This time there was another thunk and the arrow was closer to her target.  Again.  She pulled back the arrow, aimed-pushed-and-released all in one flow.  The arrow thunked into her target, just inside the fist sized circle.  She took another arrow, focussed on the target, pulled-aimed-pushed-released in one continuous motion.  The arrow thunked into the center of her target.  Another arrow.  Another one in the target.  She did not even look at the target now.  Arrow pull aim push release.  Into the target.  It seemed like there might be an easier way so she changed it slightly.  Arrow pull aim release and then push.  That thunked solidly into the center, hitting the arrow already there.

She could feel the target now.  She could feel the arrow now.  She closed her eyes, felt for the target and the arrow, pulled and released, then she pushed the arrow into the target.  There was a clattering as this arrow hit the two already in the center.  She opened her eyes to see she had hit the center of the target again, and the arrows already there.  She did not want to damage a lot of arrows by putting them all in the same spot, so she chose a spot on the outer circle and then proceeded to put an arrow exactly on that circle, each arrow a thumb's width from the previous one.  When she ran out of arrows, there was a full circle of arrows, not a one out of place.

Gerard was watching this whole time.  He walked out with her to retrieve the arrows.

"I can tell I am going to have to challenge you, since you are already better at this than I imagined."  he said.  Then he lifted the target and moved it back another twenty yards.  He found two other targets and moved them on either side of the main target.

"See if you can make circles on each target.  Start on the left one, then the center and then the right one.  Start at the top of the circle and then put the arrows around the circle like you just did."  he instructed.

Carly was not sure that she would even be able to reach the targets, they were that far away.  Could magic speed the arrow to go that extra distance?  She would have to try a few shots to see.  She set down the bundle of arrows and selected one.  She aimed the bow for the longer shot.  She got the image of the target in her mind.  She wanted the left hand target at the top center of the circle.  She closed her eyes, pulled back on the arrow, aimed with her mind, released and pushed.  There was a distant thunk and she opened her eyes.  The arrow was in the right target, at the top of the circle, in exactly the right spot!  There was a wave of cheering behind her.  She turned around and found everyone watching her.  They congratulated her with their laughter and their silence.  They were waiting for her to complete the circles.  So she selected another arrow and sent it toward the center target.  Exactly in the right spot.  Then the right target.  Then back to the left.  She stopped after another hundred arrows.  Her arms were shaking and her hands were raw, but she had placed all of her arrows in their spots.

"That is twice as many today as I planned for you.  Stop here and we will try something different tomorrow.  We might have to use moving targets to challenge you.

==== end Oct 27   5,500 about 11 pages

Carly healed the  tiredness and pain in her arms and hands.  Old Pam stood by while Gerard healed the strain in her back and shoulders.  Carly was going to heal herself as she was shooting next time, so that she would not get so tired.  Why know how to heal, if you did not apply it to yourself.

The next day, Carly shot a hundred arrows, using the same three targets as before.  These she placed just inside the circles since the target was getting torn from all the arrows.

"While you are tired, I want you to try something else."  Gerard instructed.  He led her to a table where there were sets of throwing knives, a target nearby.  Carly had never thrown knives, though her coordination and strength were good.  She picked up one of the knives and tried its balance.  "Hold it like this."  Gerary said, demonstrating how to hold the knife.  He flicked it toward the target and it hit near the center.  "These are more difficult than arrows.  The weight is greater, and the motion is more complicated.  With these you need to follow the knife with your mind, become one with the knife."  he explained.

Carly balanced the knife as she had been shown.  She closed her eyes and visualized the target.  She found her crystal drop and used it to look closely at the knife.  She threw it towards the target and pushed to get it to the center.  The knife landed flat against the board and clattered to the ground.  She picked up another knife, balanced it and prepared herself.  This time she imagined herself in the knife, spinning toward the target.  She threw and pushed.  The knife struck near the center, stuck for a moment and then fell out.  She picked up another knife, prepared herself, threw and pushed much harder.  This time the knife struck and stay, firmly embedded in the wood.  The next knife was a different weight and balance.  She shifted it in her hand to feel the balance.  She used her crystal sight to visualize the knife.  She poised and threw, pushing very hard.  The knife flew to the target and stuck there firmly.

Carly threw the sets of knives, then went to pick them up and retrieve them from the target.  She was mainly hitting near the center, but not always.  She needed to practice to be sure that the knives always went where she wanted them to go.

When she had thrown over a hundred times, Gerard showed her how to throw underhand.  He showed her how to hold the knife across her palm, using her finger tips for guidance.  She actually got much greater accuracy this way, but her force was not as great.  "I am getting them into the target better, but not as hard as overhand.  Is there any way to get them to stick harder?"  she asked.

"When you throw underhand, you can use your mind to speed up the knife and force it into the target.  You wish it into the target by using more mental force.  You will have to experiment to see how hard to push."  he explained.

Carly balanced a knife on her palm and focussed on the target.  She visualized the knife and then tossed it toward the target.  This time she pushed very hard as she let go of the knife.  It sped from her hand and embedded itself halfway up to the hilt!  She threw another one and gave it the same amount of force.  Again, halfway up to the hilt!  Carly was throwing the knives in a line across the target placing each one a thumb's width away from the last.

"Where is a good place to hit someone to disable them?"  she asked.

"In the throat or the eye is good if you want to kill them, but they will be moving and those are hard targets.  If they are wearing mail, those may be your only options.  With your magic, you might be able to penetrate mail or armor.  These are good steel knives, we can sharpen them so they are needle sharp.  You can try throwing through mail if you like."  Gerard explained.

"I would also like to try moving targets.  Is it likely I will be in a fight?  If I am, then I want to be able to hit someone who is moving."  she said.

"Yes, I think you might have to fight.  We cannot be around to protect you all the time.  Sometime you might have to defend yourself.  I am mainly giving your this arrow and knife practice to improve your magical focus.  I want you to be able to draw on your magic whenever and wherever your might be.  Eventually I want you to be able to use anything as a weapon - stick, rock, bucket, whatever.  But what we are training is your magical focus.  Later, when you use storm magic, you will use a lot more power than you are using with the knife to control something much more powerful in turn.  You will get there by taking these small steps."  Gerard explained.

Carly waited while the young stable boys set up a rope swing.  They tied a block of wood to it that was shaped about like a head, with a block on top and a branch going down where the neck would be.  One of the boys painted two eyes on the head, and then they swung it for her.  At first they swung the block and then ran to get out of the way.  Then, when she showed she had control of the knives, they stood where they were.  Carly followed the block in her mind and made the small spots her target.  She used the underhand throw and then more magicl force to get the knife into the target.  Fairly shortly she was hitting near the "eye" each time, except when she tried for the neck.  The stable boys called out where they wanted her to hit each time as they let go of the target to let it swing.  The knives struck exactly where she wanted them to go.  Some of them were struck so hard, the boys had a difficult time removing them.  Finally, they started spinning the "head" as they flung it, but each time her knife went true.

Carly worked at the knives for several hours.  She tried small knives and largers ones.  She even tried a hand axe.  The heavier objects took more mental force.  She was learning how to tap her magical potential.  She was also learning how to heal herself, because as the hours went on, hers arms, and back and shoulders and legs all began to hurt.  She cut herself a few times with the sharp knives, expecially when she was using the overhand throw, the very sharp knives cut into her thumb and fingers.  So she was constantly healing herself.  She also healed a few cuts and bruises for the boys as they tried to help her pick up the knives.  She was very careful not to hurt them as she was throwing.  It worried her sometimes they were so close.  She could probably heal a knife wound, but not one in a major artery or in the heart or throat.

"Will my healing powers improve by doing this?"  Carly asked Gerard as they finished putting all the knives away.

"You are learning how to focus and how to find the heart of things.  If you try to heal someone now, you should find that you have more focus, and more power."  he explained.

At dinner, she sat next to her father as usual.  What was not usual, was her huge appetite.  She piled food on her plate, and then she ate it all.  "You are eating well this evening." the Baron noted.

"I seem to be starving.  Does using magic take so much out of you?"  she asked Gerard.

"Up until now you have only used small amounts of magic at a time.  Now you have been spending several hours using much more magic.  It is hard work, and your body needs its rest and food."  Gerard answered.  "When you do the greater magics, I will show you how to tap sources of magic outside yourself.  You could exhaust yourself in an instant with some of them.  You could find yourself dead with others.  Without the proper preparation, magic can be quite dangerous."  Gerard explained.

"Is all this weapons training really necessary for a young woman?"  the Baron asked.

"As I explained to Carly, this is in preparation for using magic alone to do her bidding.  Moving physical objects from your hand to a target is good practice for moving lightning to its target.  It is all a matter of scale."  Gerard related.  "I also hope she will be able to protect herself, if she needs to."

"Winston has tried twice to kidnap her.  At least we think that was his intention.  Luckily neither situation led to outright battle.  The first time there were some curses and threats, but nothing came of it.  This last time you were able to excape when a group of them came riding for you.  Again, we think that was his intention.  Having Carly in his control would be a fearful thing."  the Baron said to them.

"Have you seen any deer lately?  I would like Carly to try hunting with her new skill with the bow."  Gerard asked.

"Isn't she getting enough practice with the targets?  I understand she is really good already."  the Baron replied.

"It is one thing to hit a standing target, and something else to hit a living creature.  If she ever has to face someone I would like to know that she has the will to kill if need be."  Gerard related.

"That is rather cold, isn't it?  My daughter is a young woman, does she need to do these things?"  the Baron asked.

"Your daughter is going to be a mage of great power.  She will likely have to face off against other, usual male, mages in battle.  Their weapons will mainly be magical, but anything, including regular weapons, might be used.  It would be a great pity to train her to withstand a tornado, and then fall to a knife."  Gerard explained.

"Father, I do not mind hunting.  I know where our food comes from, even if I have never hunted myself.  I will do what Gerard says."  Carly told him.

The next day, Gerard and Carly and three of the old boys went hunting.  They rode their horses through the early morning dew just as the sun was rising.  The path led through some dense woods, and then into an open meadow.  They left the horses just inside the woods and continued on foot, Carly and Gerard leading the way.  Gerard was carrying his bow over his shoulder.  Carly had hers at the ready, with an arrow already notched.  They were half way across the meadow, when they could see deer standing on the edge of the forest  just opposite where they had left the horses.  There several does and fawns, some bucks and the leader, a large buck.  Gerard whispered to Carly to take one of the younger bucks.  She lined up her shot, focused on the heart of the deer, and loosed her arrow.  Her arrow hit the one she had aimed for, it went to its knees and then fell over.  The others moved a bit, but did not leave.  "Take another buck."  Gerard whispered to her.  This she did and this time the herd scattered into the woods.

When they came to the two deer, one of them was still breathing.  In both cases the arrow had gone entirely through.  Carly went to the buck that had survived.  She laid a hand on it to calm it and then she called on her healing powers to heal it.  There was a surge of bright green light and then a warm golden glow.  Carly could feel the torn muscles and veins knitting together.  She could feel the pain and the terror.  In a few moments the surge of healing was over, and a quieter knitting was going on.  That was the warm glow.  It was healing the many small things.  She did not have names for them, she could not even properly say she saw them.  But if she did not heal them, the deer would die.  The deer began to struggle to get up.  Carly stepped back and let it get up.  It looked at them for a moment, and then bounded off into the woods.

"I hope you do not mind if I practice my healing.  I did get one buck for food."  she said.

"No, that is fine.  You are getting stronger in your healing.  That was a killing shot.  If that had been a man, he would be dead, except for your healing."  Gerard said.

When they returned home, Carly went back to her practice with bow and knives.

"Let me show you something.  It will give you more practice with your magic."  Gerard said.  He had her stand facing the arrow targets.  He took an arrow and placed it in her right palm where it would balance.  "Treat it like a knife and throw it underhand, then use your magic to really push it into the target."  he instructed.

Carly held the arrow and balanced it.  She felt its weight.  Finally she balanced it on her fingers with her hand cupped.  She swung her arm back and forth a few times, and then she flung the arrow towards the target.  When she released the arrow from her hand, she caught it with her mind, and then sped it on its way.  The arrow struck hard in the target.  When she went to look how it had landed,  she saw that it was buried half way into the wood.   She could not remove it.  They were going to have to cut it out, if at all.

"This might be a good time to try some mail and armor."  Gerard said.  He brought a sheet of metal the armorer had delivered, and tied it between two posts.  One of the boys painted on it with white plaster to make a target.  It sat about fifty yards from her.  Her practice was not to simply hit it, but, with magic, to try to pierce it.

"Should I use a bow, or should I send these by hand?"  she asked.

"Why don't you try them by hand, since that is what you were just practicing."  Gerard said.

She picked up an arrow and balanced it across her fingers.  She gave the arrow a toss and took it with her mind and sped it on its way.  It went directly to the center of the target, hit and shattered.  She took another arrow, balanced it and concentrated on the tip.  She tried to use her magic to make it sharper and stronger.  She threw the arrow underhand, took it in flight and flung it at the target with her mind.  There was a tearing sound and the arrow went entirely through!

"What did you do that time that was different?"  Gerard asked.

"I tried to use magic to make the tip stronger and sharper.  I wanted it to pierce the steel.  When I threw the arrow, I wanted it to pierce the steel.  My intention changed from before when I was just trying to hit the mark."  she explained.

"You are doing exactly right.  I was just about to tell you to do that, and you did it on your own.  I think you really have a natural gift for this.  Let's try a few more arrows, just to be sure, and then I want to show you something else.  We can use the steel target for that as well."  Gerard instructed.

Carly sent a few more arrows at the target.  She was piercing the steel every time.  The plate was full of holes.  Gerard came up to her as she released the last arrow.  It thudded loudly and went through.

Gerard brought a bag.  It was pretty heavy.  He reached in and handed her a rock. It was mostly round, about the size to fit in the palm of your hand.  About the size of a chicken's egg.  "Try throwing these.  See if you can get them to pierce the steel."  he instructed.

She was not sure she could throw them as far as the target.  This would have to be done by magic.  She decided to use the same underhand toss that started the knives and arrows.  She balanced one in her hand.  She was going to toss it forward.  She focussed her magic on the rock and instructed it to hold together strongly, to speed to the target, and to force its way through the steel.  She swung her arm a few times to feel the balance, and then flung the rock with her mind.  The rock seemed to disappear when it left her hand, there was a shrieking sound and then a powerful crash as it struck the target.  The rock exploded in a fiery spray.  It did not pierce the sheet, but it made a deep dent.  It had almost pierced the sheet!

This time she spent more time preparing the stone.  She wanted it to stay together and actually pierce the metal.  When she flung the stone, again it disappeared when it left her hand.  There was a shrieking as before, then there was a loud thud as the stone pierced the steel sheet.  There seemed to be smoke rising from the target and from the grass behind.  Carly did another dozen stones the same way.  They all pierced, except the last.  It was bigger than the others and heavier.  When it hit the steel, it disappeared in a burst of light and sound.  Carly and Gerard walked to the target.  It was torn, with over dozen large holes.  The last was near the center and tore a jagged hole about six inched across.

"You are progressing very quickly.  Are you tired?"  Gerard asked.

"No.  I feel fine.  Do you want me to do something else?"  Carly asked.

"Before we start, I want you to heal yourself all over.  Not just your arms and legs and things your can reach with your hands, but your whole body, inside and out.  Do you think you can do that?"  Gerard asked.

"I might have to sit down this time and I will need to close my eyes."  Carly said.

"That is fine.  I am not worried so much about form this time, as having your be able to heal yourself all over.  Healing is a way to draw energy into something.  If you learn how to heal yourself, you will better be able to tap the energy around you."  he explained.

Carly sat down on a chair near the knife table.  She breathed deep and closed her eyes.  She imagined healing coming from all over to enter her body.  She could feel the tiredness in her body.  She willed the tiredness away and the energy to fill her.  She opened her eyes and she could see green light covering her arms and legs.  She could feel a golden glow on her cheeks and face.  The light flooded her whole body, even her tired feet.  She closed her eyes and tried to look inside herself.  She wanted herself to be strong and capable.  She wanted to be able to pierce steel herself.

"No, No, No!  Stop!"  Gerard called loudly.  Carly opened her eyes. "You were starting on the sequence to the greater magics.  You are not quite ready for that yet.  Be patient.  You were doing the rigth thing.  The step of building yourself in strength is the next step we will be taking.  Just not today, nor right now."  Gerard instructed.

"Yes, I will wait.  I was just treating myself like I treated the stone.  Trying to make it stronger."  Carly said.

"Yes, you were doing it exactly right, but you did not have your shields in place.  You might have burned yourself up trying that without shields."  Gerard explained.

"I think I have healed myself all over.  Could you tell if I did it right?"  she asked.

"Yes, you did it exactly right.  You should feel much better now."  he answered.

"I do feel better.  Should we go on to the next thing now?"  she asked.

Gerard led her to the stream nearby.  It had a wide, rocky bed, about thirty meters wide, with the stream running through only a portion of it.  The rocks varied from small pebbles to head sized boulders.  There was a long upthrust of rock on the opposite bank that held a rampart of dirt and trees about ten foot over their heads.  It was quiet except for the gurgling of the water over the rocks.

"What I want you to do is to take these stones and try to break that large rock across the stream.  It is several feet thick, so I do not think you will do it, but give it a try.  Also I want you to try to use these larger stones if you can.  See if you can move them by magic."  Gerard instructed.

Carly took a small stone, the size of a chicken egg, and laid it in her hand.  She told the stone to be strong and to pierce the larger stone.  She picked a target in the center of the large stone across the stream.  She gave the stone a little toss and it disappeared.  There was crack like lightning and a hole appeared in the center of the target.  It was smoking.  There was the smell of earth burning drifting across the stream.  She took a larger stone that took two hands to hold.  Again she spoke to the stone and then tossed it.  There was a tremendous crash and stone flakes came flying around her.  She could hear them hitting the ground and the trees behind her.  Gerard had his hands up.  There was a blue haze around both of them.

"It looks like I need to protect us from the consequences of your actions.  You are sending these with enough power to hurt us from the fragments.  I am going to have to teach you how to shield yourself before we go on.  I just did not expect you to have this much power so soon."  Gerard said.  "Get your crystal drop and focus on it.  Imagine a blue crystal shield all around us.  Imagine that nothing can come through the shield but air.  Not even dust or smoke.  Imagine that it will stop rock fragments or wood chips."

Carly closed her eyes and found the drop of crystal.  She listened to it to hear the things around her.  She could hear its whispers and murmurs.  She imagined a solid crystal shield around them, one that would stop anything.  She opened her eyes and looked to see what, if anything, she had created.  There was a shimmering blue veil around them.  She picked up a rock and threw it.  The rock bounced off the veil.  She laughed.  "How am I supposed to throw stones if they are locked in here with me?  Do I throw the stone and close this afterwards?"

"That is one way.  You might want to practice it with stones and arrows when you are not using so much power.  What I would rather you do is either pick up the stones outside your shield and throw them, or tell your shield to let things out, but not in.  Both will work."  Gerard laughed.

Since she had only started practicing with stones, she did not think she could pick them up with her mind and throw them, so she chose to open her shields to outgoing things.  She closed her eyes and imagined her shield.  She told it to be strong and she asked it to let things out, but not in.  This time when she gently tossed a rock, it went right through the shield.  She took another stone about the size of a goose egg.  She asked it to be strong and pierce the target, then she tossed it.  It flew from her hand and crashed into the opposite bank with a loud crack.  Chips and splinters of stone came flying back across the stream but bounded off the shield.  She threw a few more stones of various sizes, then she picked up one the size of a small head.  It was quite heavy.  She thought she needed to talk to this one a little longer. It was an intuition.  She could not throw it, so she told it she wanted it to leave her hands and fly to the target.  She chose a spot a little to the right of where she had been sending the smaller stones, to hit some fresh rock.  The stone twitched in her hand so she almost dropped it.  Then she told it to go and sent it on its way.  There was a crack like lightning and then a roar, then another crack and a whole sheet of rock split off from the face.  There was the rumble and grumble of rock on rock and then the small landslide stopped.  The trees were shaking and waving.  "Is that what you wanted me to do?"  she asked with a sweet smile.

Gerard had a bemused look on his face.  It broke into a smile.  He was proud of her.  He was a little frightened how quickly she was learning.  But he was definitely proud of her.  "Shall we stop here and get something to eat?"  he said.

"I want to try one more thing."  Carly said.  She looked around and found a stone on the ground about the right size outside her shield.  She focussed on the stone and told it to be strong.  She wanted it to pierce all the way through.  She pushed and told it to go.  The rock disappeared.  There was a tremendous crack and there was steam rising from a nearby tree.  The tree was nearly two feet thick and there was a hole all the way through it.  They walked closer and they could see that the hole was smooth all the way through.  There was a hole in the tree behind it as well.  After that they could not see.

"I am glad you can work outside your shields.  I think that shields are stronger if nothing is allowed to go through, in either direction.  I have no way to prove that, but I think it is correct."  Gerard said.

They walked back to the keep.  The sun was overhead and the day was hot in the sunlight.  They went to the kitchen and were fed a hearty meal, though that was not the habit here.  Carly had used a lot of magical energy.  Actually she had drawn on and used a lot of magical energy.  She felt pretty good, but she was hungry.

"Is there something else you want me to try.  There is still time today for more."  Carly asked.

"If you are not too tired, why don't you practice with hand thrown arrows at moving targets.  We can get the stable boys to help again."  Gerard answered.

The boys set up a target about sixty meters away.  It had a horizontal bar hanging out from a post, so that a rope could be thrown over and a target attached.  A small rope let the boys pull the target from side to side.  Carly tossed arrows and directed them to the target.  At first she missed the exact spot, but then she caught on to how far she had to lead the target to get a good hit.  Then she hit almost every one.  The boys tried twisting the target too, but she was able to compensate for that motion as well.  She shot well over a hundred arrows.  Or rather she sent over a hundred arrows, all to the target.

Carly was interested in working outside her shield.  So she built up a shield around herself, and then tossed arrows outside the shield.  They all went to the moving target.  She had one of the older boys come and shoot arrows at the target.  She stood inside her shield and sent the arrows into the target.  The boy started shooting in different directions, even almost straight up, but she caught them and sent them all to the target.  The boys were laughing and laughing.  The noise attracted a crowd.  People were smiling and joking.  She never missed an arrow.

Carly had a good appetite at dinner again.  She ate some of the venison she had shot herself.  It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Could we train more people to use magic?  If everyone of of my men shot arrows as well as my daughter, we would not need to worry about anyone.  I saw what she did at the stream.  Did she really put a rock through that tree?"  the Baron asked.

"Only certain people can do magic.  Your daughter seems to have a natural ability for it.  She is picking up in days what it took me months to learn.  I would like to say that it is because I am a good teachers, but, in truth, it is because she seems to naturally know what to do next.  She would be a great help in a battle, but there is only one of her.  That is why I am so glad she is able to shield herself, and to work outside her shields.  I am not worried now, if someone were to try to capture her.  They could not get to her around her shields.  The only thing she would have to watch out for is being trapped inside the shields and not being able to move.  She could either die of thirst or fall asleep.  So she is not completely protected."  Gerard explained to the Baron.

"We have not even gotten to the greater magics yet. She should also be able to control the weather, lightning, fire, water and earth.  And there is also the ability to control living things, and much mind magic.  She is just beginning."  Gerard said.

"What is she going to do?  Will she have to marry a mage?  What about Jan?"  the Baron asked.

Carly did not like being talked about as though she was not there.  She started to say something, but Gerard began speaking first.

"She is probably going to be one of the strongest mages this kindom has ever encountered.  If her skill and strength with the major magics is as strong as these minor skills, the King will certainly pay close attention to her.  There will be a lot of interest in who she marries and what children she might have.  That is not something you will be able to avoid.  I am not sure about Jan.  There is no particular magical skill in his family.  He has not shown any aptitude yet, so he is not likely to.  When I tested him, he had no magical skill.  I would say that his chances are small to nonexistant.  The most likely scenario is that she will be paired with a strong mage to breed more strong mages."  Gerard explained.

"I want my daughter to marry someone I know.  You make this sound like breeding fine horses.  I should have some say so in who my daughter marries."  the Baron said.

"But what will happen when the King decides to get involved?  And he will.  Do you think that all your people have been quiet in the market place?  No matter what you do, people will find out about her and then the king's men will come looking.  She will be summoned to the King or, at least, to his people.  Are you going to be able to protect her then?  Can you protect her from the King?  What if he tells you to marry her to some man - and then expects children to boot?  I think that is likely to happen.  And will it not be useful for you to have the king's favor?"  Gerard related.

"Do you mean I will be told who to marry?  And it might be anyone, even an old mage?  That almost sounds worse that Winston.  At least he is reasonably young and handsome."  Carly exclaimed.

"You do not want to get involved with Winston.  I think you will just have to become as strong with magic as you can, and hope that people will listen to you when the topic of marriage comes up."  Gerard explained.

"What do you want me to learn tomorrow, then?"  Carly asked Gerard.

"Fire.  I want you to learn fire."  Gerard answered.

Most of the household was awake before dawn.  The Baron was one of the first ones up.  The keep was basically a large fortified farm.  Most of the workers in the main house kept the same hours as the field workers.  All of the workers ate well, and were well dressed.  The Baron was careful about his people.  That is why he kept a full time healer on staff.  That is why he had enough men under arms to protect everyone.  It was a shame, people said, that the Baron did not have any other children.  He had lost them, and his wife, to a fever that had also taken fully a quarter of his people.  Carly has almost died.  It was almost time for the Baron, who was not an old man, to take another wife.  If he was going to remarry, he either needed to make use of intermediaries, or he needed to move to the capital for a while.  Before he moved, he wanted Carly to be trained as a mage, and hopefully married.

Carly had a big breakfast and went out to the training field.  Some of the boys were out shooting.  Gerard was nowhere in sight, though he would likely be coming out soon.  She built a shield around herself, and the practiced sending arrows outside her shields to the targets.  Gerard still was not there, so she shut down her shields and threw knives for a while.  She could hit anything she could see, so she was a little bored with it.  The steel sheet was still hanging from the posts, so she tried sending knives to penetrate the metal.  She was very careful to harden and sharpen them before sending them off.  The metal pierced almost as easily as wood.  She did not know this was very difficult, so she went ahead and did it anyhow.  She was thinking about hitting things she could not see when she throught to try sending things sideways.  She walked out into the yard a bit where she could see the target from the side.  She held the knife in her hand and sent it to cross in front of the target. When it got right in front of the target, she had it turn and strike the target.  It was hard to see the target from the side, so she kept a mental image of the target.  When she finally checked, most of the knives were embedded near the center of the target.  Some of them were almost driven in to their hilts.  She had to get the armorer to pull most of them out.  She broke the handle off one before she called the armorer.  While she was waiting for him, she tried to use magic to pull out some of the others.  She basically asked the knives to pull themselves out.  She had done a few when the armorer came and pulled the rest.

"Have you ever tried a sling?"  the armorer asked her.

"I have seen them used, but never tried one."  Carly answered.

"Did you know that we use iron pellets instead of rocks for the slings?  I saw you working with the rocks yesterday.  I think you will find the metal pellets to be easier to throw than rocks.  I brought you a few to try out."  the armorer explained.

Carly took the bag from the armorer.  It was very heavy for its size.  She took out one of the pellets.  It was an oblong cylinder and not very smooth.  Rust came off on her fingers.  She felt the pellet and then walked over to face the steel target.  She "talked" to the pellet, asking it to harden itself to penetrate the steel.  She did not throw it, but sent it directly from her hand.  There was a crack as the pellet split the air, and then a very loud clang when it penetrated the steel plate.  Carly and the armorer walked out to look at the plate.  It was already full of holes, but they could see clearly where this one had gone through.  It was still hot and smoking slightly.  The hole was perfectly round.

"You know this plate here is much thicker and heavier than men will ever wear for armor.  And you are putting big holes in it.  I have watched you put arrows through this, as well as rock, knives and now these pellets.  I could bring you something light weight that would probably still penetrate this plate, but not be as heavy, or as dirty."  he said.  He left and then came back a little while later.  "Here is what I was talking about."  the Armorer explained.  He gave her a handful of silver rings, with just a touch of rust on them.

"What are these."  Carly asked.  She held a ring in her hand.  She slipped one on her finger.  She put it back in her hand and faced the steel target.  She sent the ring into the target. There was a loud whine and then a kind of cutting sound and then they walked out to see.  There was a slot cut through the steel.  The ring had gone in sideways and straight through.

"Could you have it cut through the other way so it makes a bigger hole?"  the armorer asked.  They walked back away from the plate and she sent another ring into the plate.  This one made a high pitched whine different then the first and then a loud bang.  When they looked at this one, there was a nice round hole.  They could tell because that was where she aimed it, it was still hot, and there a was a shine to the edge.

"This is a very powerful weapon.  It is light weight and yet it makes a larger hole than the pellet.  It does not have as much impact as the pellet but it would be deadly.  I guess the circle of metal that is cut out would continue on.  It might act like an arrow head itself."  the armorer said.

"I want to try something.  I want to hit these three spots here."  and she pointed to three white spots on the plate.  They stepped back a dozen yards.  She took three rings and placed them in her hand.  There was a whisper of sound and then a whine and then three loud clangs.  She showed the plate to the armorer. There were three deep dents in the plate exactly where she wanted them.  "Do you think these would stop a man without killing him?"  She asked.

"It would take me hitting this plate with a sledge hammer and a punch to get that much impact in that small an area.  I would have to hit very hard.  If there were a bone behind that it would break.  If there were a body behind there, it would probably mean a deep wound or bruising at the least.  You could use less force and disable a man, but if you wanted to be sure, then what you used was the right amount."  he said.

"Can you give me a bag of these.  I think I might like to keep them with me.  Even a few could make a huge difference.  I will keep the ones you brought me.  I would like more."  she asked.

"Yes, I will give you some that are in better shape than these.  I can wash them so they are not rusty, and put a light oil or wax on them.  You can keep them in a small bag.  Worst case you can hit someone on the head with the bag."  The armorer joked with her.

Carly went into the house to see what happened to Gerard.  She was shocked to see armed men standing near the front and outside.  She stayed out of the way but close enough to hear.

"I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your daughter.  I wanted to ask for her hand in marriage.  She would be my first wife and would bear my heirs."  That was Winston's voice!

"My daughter is in magical training right now and cannot marry until that is completed."  the Baron said.

"That is all right, she could continue her training ever after we were married.  I would insist on it."  Winston said.

"She is too young to marry."  the Baron said.  His voice sounded strained.

"She is almost eighteen I understand.  Girls marry at sixteen or younger, with their parents consent."  Winston said.

"She does not love you."  the Baron said.

"She does not know her own heart.  She will grow to love me.  She will be proud to be the wife of someone of my standing.  You will both benefit from my favor."  Winston said.

"But you tried to kidnap her twice before."  the Baron said.

"Nonsense, you misinterpreted my intentions.  Some of my men were over zealous.  They made threatening moves against my wishes.  I would never harm your daughter.  I intend to make her my beloved."  Winston said.

"But she loves someone else."  the Baron said.

"I know about the boy Jan.  Such a nice boy.  But things might happen to a young man.  All kinds of accidents happen to young men."  Winston intimated.

"She cannot marry until I am married again.  I am sure my new wife will want to oversee the wedding and will want to approve of the young man."  the Baron explained.

"When are you planning to marry again.  I have not heard of anything.  You are just making this up."  Winston said.

"I am preparing now to go to the capital.  Carly is going with me as well as Gerard.  She will continue her training and I will be meeting my new wife.  Negotiations are delicate, so I have not mentioned this to anyone."  the Baron explained.

"Since I am here, can I see my beloved?  Just for a moment."  Winston said.

There was a stir outside of men squaring off.  A blue glow filled the air and split Winston's men from the Baron's.  There was a struggle and then the two groups separated.

"Later!"  came the last word from Winston.

==== End Oct 28  12,600 words about 25 pages

Carly waited until the sound of men and horses had faded, then her father and Gerard came back inside.  She was anxious and curious at once.

"I think he will keep coming back as long as she is here, and unmarried."  Gerard said.

"Now I have committed myself to go to the capital and look for a wife."  said the Barron.

"He is used to getting his own way.  He might follow us to the capital."  Gerard said.

"Why is he so insistent?  Why is he in such a hurry?"  Carly asked, finally getting a word in.

"Likely he feels that this is his only chance to get you before you are trained and before the King finds out more about you.  Not many people know you yet, so he wants to capture you or capture your heart before you know your own value."  Gerard explained.

"I felt that he wanted to try to take her by force just now, if he had a chance."  the Baron said.

"Yes, that was my impression as well.  I think he is getting desparate.  He may try something more before we leave for the capital."  Gerard said.

Carly listened to them making preparations for the trip to the capital.  They were listing the things and people they needed to take, and they were concerned with protecting her on their journey.  She was wondering if there was anything she could do to help.  She found Old Pam and they talked about clothes and food for the trip.  They talked about their house in the capital and they talked about Winston.

"He called me his beloved.  No one has ever called me that before.  I felt myself blushing when he said that.  He said we misunderstood him.  He wanted to see me."  Carly said.

"Now, don't you go getting moon eyed about that one.  He is lying to put on a face.  Once you were in his hands, it would be something different, I warrant."  Old Pam said with a growl.

"So you don't believe him at all."  Carly said.

"Not as far as I can spit."  said Old Pam.  "Now let's go look through your clothes to see what you need to take to the capital."  she continued.

They had laid out all her clothes, when Gerard came to find them.

"It looks like we will go to the capital.  It will be easier to protect you there, so far from his men.  The King does not allow large armed guards to stay in the capital, unless they are part of his own troops."  Gerard said.  "I want to finish as much of your training as possible before we go.  Some of the things we are doing need space.  We had better do them before we go."

"What do you want me to do today?"  Carly asked.

"Let us try fire today."  Gerard said, with an edge to his voice.

Carly and Gerard walked to the practice field.  While she was practicing, no one else was using the field.  It was for their safety because of the magic she controlled, and it was so as not to distract her.  When they got there, there were several piles of firewood, some candles, some buckets of water, some black rocks, and some odd pieces of metal.

"Start with the candles and see if you can light them.  If you can do that, then we will try more difficult things.  To light a candle, bring up your crystal drop, focus on the candle wick, and "ask" it to burn, much the same way you "asked" the rock to move faster and be stronger."  Gerard explained.

Carly closed her eyes to see the crystal drop.  She listened to the candle and began to talk to it.  She asked it to burst into flame.  Then she "pushed" with her mind.  The whole candle burst into flame!  From top to bottom the whole candle melted and burned.  There was a pool of melted wax and the string.  It was blazing hot.

Gerard had his hand on a bucket of water, but he decided to wait and let this burn out on its own.  It took about ten minutes for most of the wax to burn away.  Then he used a piece of wood to tamp out the flame.  "This time, just the wick at the top of the candle."  he instructed.

Carly looked at the candle and aimed at the wick.  She gave her instructions to the wick and then "pushed" with her mind.  The candle lit with a pop.  It flared up for a moment and then settled into a steady flame.

"Try and light the next one quietly.  You don't need so much force."  Gerard instructed.

Carly focussed on the next candle.  It lit with hardly a sound and then burned quietly.  She lit the remaining candles the same way.  There were nine candles burning.

"Now, I want you to snuff them out.  Ask the candles to stop burning."  Gerard explained.

Carly concentrated on the last candle.  She targetted the flame and then pushed with her mind.  There was a puffing sound and the candle quit burning.  It was like someone had snuffed it out with their hands.  She went down the line of candles and snuffed them all.

"Carefully light this piece of firewood here.  Try to get the surface of the wood to burn.  Don't go too deep into the wood, we will do that later."  he instructed.

Carly "spoke" to the wood with her mind.  She explained what she wanted to happen, then she "pushed" with her mind.  There was a whooshing sound and the piece of firewood burst into flame.  Carly went on to light a pile of wood, and different parts of individual pieces of wood.   She lit a piece that had been soaking in water.  Then she lit the pieces of coal that were there.  Finally she tried to burn the pieces of metal, bit by bit.  First she melted pieces, then she caused them to burn with a bright white light.

"You must already be tapping the greater magics somehow.  I cannot explain how you can have so much power.  You are not tiring and usually that would happen if you were using only your own power to do these things.  When you were throwing those boulders, that surely would have been beyond your power, but you did it anyhow.  What are you doing when you do these things?"  Gerard asked.

"I use my crystal drop to focus.  I concentrate on whatever thing you want me to burn.  I fill my mind with that and I say carefully what I expect to happen, or what I want to happen.  Then I push with my mind to draw on the magic.  I don't do it myself.  I ask the magic to do it."  Carly explained.

"That is exactly what you would to to draw on the greater magics.  How did you know to do that?"  Gerard asked.

"I did not have the strength to throw the rocks, arrows, knives, pellets and such.  Not on my own.  So I just reached out to where I guessed that the magic was.  You told me to do these things, I expected that I would be able to do it, if you were asking me.  So I guessed that the magic worked by itself and I just had to tell it what I wanted, and when."  Carly explained.

"So no matter what I asked you to do, you knew that the magic would do it for you, since I asked."  Gerard said.  There was a look of wonder on his face.  "That is a very good way to go."  He trailed off. "We only need to do a couple of things now.  For this I want you to put up a shield.  Remember earlier when I told you not to burn anything but the surface of the wood.  Now I want you to burn the interior of the wood as well.  I want you to burn it all up at once."  Gerard instructed.  He carried a piece of firewood out into the field, then came back.  He put up his shield, and Carly put up her own.

Carly looked at the firewood and gave her instructions, then she "pushed" very hard all at once.  There was a tremendous explosion.  Tiny bits of wood and ash pinged off their shields.  When they walked out into the field, they found a small pit when there wood had been.  It was more than a foot deep and several feet around.  When they got back she said, "I can do that another way."  She took a small stick of firewood, she made up her instructions, and then tossed the firewood.  It went streaking to the middle of the field. When it struck the ground there was another explosion.

"How are you feeling?  Are you tired?  Do you want to continue with something else?"  Gerard asked.

"I am not tired, but I am hungry again.  It seems like I just ate."  she smiled.

They walked back to the main house, and asked for something to eat.  It was not a regular meal time, but they were accommodating and she got a good solid meal.  They were sitting at the large table, taking their time.  Gerard asked Carly if she would like to learn mindspeech.  She said that would be fine, should she stop eating.

"No, let's continue eating.  I will try sending you mindspeech.  You should be able to hear me without anything special on your part."  Gerard explained.  He seemed to concentrate and then Carly heard him in her mind.  It was like he was talking out loud!  "Now you try sending something to me.  Just "push" gently as you talk inside your own head."  he explained.

Carly closed her eyes.  She found the crystal drop and used that to listen to Gerard's mind. She could only hear murmurs. Then she spoke to him with her mind.  His head jerked up.  "That was very loud!" he said.  She tried again, without the crystal drop.  This time he said that was about right, still a little loud.  So she lowered her push to the barest minimum and spoke quietly with her mind.  That was good.  She still focussed on Gerard.  She did not want her mental speech going to anyone else.

"Can anyone else hear this?"  She asked.

"No. Stay focussed on me when you want to mind speak to me.  Focus on someone else if you want to speak to them.  I guess if you were in danger, you could call to anyone nearby."  he explained.

"When are we going to the capital?"  Carly asked.

"We are going tomorrow.  No reason to wait now.  We sent a messenger to tell them we are coming and who is coming.  Our men will ride along with us and then come back the next day."

The next day was dawning.  There was a bit of wind, but the sky was clear.  There were twenty seven people in the party.  Twenty men at arms, Carly, Gerard, the Baron, Old Pam, and Carly's personal maid, and a driver for the wagon.  The Baron had men and staff waiting for him in the city.  Carly, the Baron and Gerard rode their horses.  Old Pam and the maid rode in the wagon.  The Baron had fancy carriages, but this was more comfortable to everyone, and they only needed the one wagon for their things.

They were about ten leagues from the capital.  It was not too far, but they would have to stop for food and water along the way.  Men went ahead of them to scout, there were men protecting the rear.  The men were wearing mail and leather for protection.

Carly rode along side the wagon and spoke to Old Pam.  They were discussing clothes.  Carly was wondering if there were going to be balls and teas to attend.  Old Pam was assuring her there would be plenty of opportunities to wear her new clothes, clothes she had made since the last time they went to the city.  They were laughing when all of a sudden there were cries and shouts from ahead.  The guardsmen came racing back to protect them.  The rear guard moved in closer.  Everyone had drawn swords and spears, bows and arrows.  Then a large contingent of riders came in view.  There were close to fifty men. And, there was Winston riding at their head.  He came smiling with open arms.  There was a sound like an axe striking wood and a cry.  Gerard fell from his horse and lay still.  Winston's men drew their swords and gripped their bows.  They spirred their horses.

Carly did not have much time.  She closed her eyes and found the crystal drop.  She gave her instructions and then pushed to create a shield that enclosed them all.  When Winston't men hit the shield, they crashed against it and were thrown from their horses.  Horses were injured.  Some of them lay still and others struggled to get up.  A volley of arrows came towards Carly's group, but the arrows bounced from the shield.  Carly scrambled from her horse and went to Gerard.  He was bleeding.  Someone had shot him in the back with an arrow.  It had penetrated his shoulder.  When she got there, his eyes were open, but he was in terrible pain.  The Baron joined his daughter.  The Baron took his knife and cut the end off the arrow, then he pulled it through.  Carly put her hands on the shoulder, it was pumping blood.  She called on the healing power and fought to stem the bleeding.  All around her hands, in the shoulder, there was a bright green light.  She held it there and the bleeding stopped.  In a few minutes, the green turned to gold, and the healing continued.  Gerard was starting to move now.  Then he sat up.

"That should hold for now.  I can heal it more later.  What happened?"  Gerard said, then he saw what was happening.  "You managed a shield for a crowd!  I never showed you how to do that."  he said.

"I just came up with what I wanted and then I put it in place.  It worked, so I came to take care of you."  Carly said.

"Is anyone else hurt?"  Gerard asked.

"No, they were trying to take you out first.  If Carly did not put up this shield, we would likely all be dead by now."  the Baron said.

"But how long can she keep up the shield.  If she lowers it, then they will have us."  Gerard said.

"I think I can keep it going as long as needed.  But we need to get to the city.  If we have to stay over night, I will get too tired to maintain the shield."  Carly said.  "If we move forward, will the shield move with us?"  She asked Gerard.

"The shield will run up against trees, men and horses.  You will need to call on the greater magics to force the shield against them.  I am not sure if you can do that.  We need some way to break the stalemate."  Gerard explained.

"I think I know a way."  Carly said.  She stood up and faced Winston't men.  She put her hand to her waist and brought out what looked like a small coin purse.  She reached inside a brought out a small hand full of silver rings.

"What are those?"  the Baron asked. 

"Watch." said Carly as she placed three of the rings on her palm.  In am moment the rings disappeared and the three men around Winston were knocked off their horses.  Carly could hear the noise of them hitting the ground.  They all landed with a grunt.  Carly took three more rings.  They disappeared and three more men went down.  There were moans from the men.  Three more rings.  Three more men down.  Now Carly was hitting people all through the group.  No one knew who was next.  Some of the men got back on their horses.  They were leaning over, as if in great pain.  Three more rings, three more men.  Winston was turning his horse round and round.  He was looking for people attacking him.

"What about Winston?"  Gerard asked.  "I think it is his turn."

Carly lined up three more rings.  She knocked down Winston and the two people closest to him.  He landed flat on his back and lay still.  His men scrambled off their horses and went to take care of him.  They probably thought he was dead.  Carly was not sure.  She had assumed that he was wearing mail.  Finally the men sat Winston up.  He was rubbing his chest.  He pulled back his clothes and you could see mail.  There was no blood that she could see.  Winston was led to his horse.  He mounted and then turned away.  His men all followed him and they left.  There were a few weapons lying around, but no one was left behind.

"Can I see one of those rings?"  Gerard said.  She handed over a couple of the rings.  Gerard looked at them and then handed them to the Baron.  "These are rings left over from chain mail.  Where did they come from?"  he asked.  The Baron nodded.  He was interested too.

"The Armorer gave them to me.  He showed me the pellets they use with slings, and then he showed me these rings.  I asked him for some as a form of protection.  They worked just like I hoped they would."  Carly explained to them.

"How did you know how hard to throw them?"  the Baron asked.

"I practiced with them. At first I sent them so hard it penetrated the steel plate we were working with.  I could put them through sideways, or flat like this."  And she demonstrated the two ways.  "When I put them through flat they cut out round holes in the plate.  I had to lower the level a lot so I did not injure these men too much."  She explained.

"Do you think they have gone?  Can we chance sending out some scouts?"  the Baron asked.

Carly lowered the shields for a moment and three men rode out from behind the shield.  She immediately closed it again.  They waited about twenty minutes and the men rode back.

"We trailed them back to their keep.  We did not see tracks of anyone trying to come back.  We can keep watch and move on."  the scout said.

Carly took down the shields, but everyone remained attentive.

The house in the city was larger then the one in the country.  There were no barracks or training grounds, so it seemed smaller.  Some of the Baron's businesses were conducted from the house, but most were in the merchant part of the city, where he had many large warehouses.  Most of his income came from the city, but he felt he could relax more in the country.

Carly, the Baron and Gerard were standing in the main entry hall.  The men were housed at a local inn with its own large stables.  They were given an extra bonus for their work.  They were surely going to have a good drink tonight.  The house staff was preparing dinner, and putting away clothes and things brought from the country.  There were several hams and some fresh produce.  Carly was looking forward to a hot bath.

"I am going to have to advertise that I am looking for a new wife.  There has been speculation about me, I know.  Now I can tell people that I am serious.  I am still a fairly young man.  I would like to start a new family."  the Baron said.

"You should find a young wife."  Carly said.  "You want someone who will be around to take care of the children.  Someone strong and lively.  But capable of running a large house hold."

"Oh, ho!  So you know what kind of wife I need?"  the Baron said, smiling.

"I know that you do not need a fluff head or some silly young thing.  But you do not want someone too cynical and worn down either."  Carly said.

"Well, it will be interesting to see who I find."  the Baron said.  A slight frown touched his face.

Carly rested that evening, but in the morning she woke, as usual, at dawn.  When she went down to breakfast, Gerard and her father were sitting there talking over some business.

"I need to see to all my businesses while I am here, as well.  I have been too long in the country.  So this is not such a bad thing after all.  I have men out checking with local families to see who might be available for marriage.  I have also contacted marriage brokers, but have not heard from them yet.  If I were more royal, than merchant, I might have to work strictly through the court.  As it is, I can look fairly widely."  the Baron related.

"Gerard.  Do I have any practice today?  What do you have planned for me?"  she asked.

"There are two things that I would like you to do. First I want you to meet some healers and look in on the sick.  Then I want you to practice some water magic."  he related.

Carly dressed in plain but nice clothes.  She did not like fancy clothes for everyday wear, but she liked to dress up for anything special.  Gerard and Carly walked to a nearby church.  There were Healers there who took care of both rich and poor.  Carly saw people lined up outside the rooms where the Healers worked.  She tried to guess what was wrong with each one, but Gerard kept walking and went directly inside.  He called out for Jean.  She came out to see him.  "We have not seen you in a long time."  she said.

"Yes, we have been in the country until today.  I have been teaching Carly the basics of healing.  I wanted her to get some more experience with different kinds of sickness and wounds.  Can you let her try to take care of some of these people?"  Gerard asked.

"Certainly.  We can watch out for her to see that she is doing it properly.  We would appreciate your help."  Jean said.  "Come this way"  she said to Carly.

The first person through the door was carried in by two men.  He was a young man, he had a crushed foot.  "If we cannot save his foot, he will be lame the rest of his life.  He is such a young man, that would be a terrible waste."  Jean said in a whisper to Carly.

There was sweat on the young man's face.  "He must be in terrible pain."  Carly thought.  She brought up her crystal drop and focussed on the foot, and on the young man.  When Jean unwrapped the bloody bandage, they could see that the foot was horribly crushed.  All of the skin and part of the muscle on top was ripped.  Carly said, "Let me see his good foot."  And they took the shoe from his good foot.  Now she knew what she needed to do.  She called on the healing powers and instructed that the hurt foot was to look similar to the good one.  She put her hands gently on the foot and green light sprung up where she touched.  Soon the entire foot was green and golden.  The young man suddenly cried out loud, there was a popping sound from his foot.  The foot no longer looked flat and mangled.  It had the proper shape.  She kept up the healing.  Now everything was a golden color.  The skin and muscles were knitting up.  Carly closed her eyes and looked at the young man.  She could see damage in the leg as well, so she washed it with green light and then golden light.  There was a small smile on the man's face.  He started to struggle to sit up straighter.  He put his foot down flat on the floor.  His injured foot looked well.  "Wait. I am not done."  Carly said.  She put her hand on the man's shoulder and green touched his whole body, then a warm golden glow, and then that faded.  "Now I think you are all right."  Carly looked at Jean for confirmation.  Jean touched the injured foot and ran her hand over his leg.  The man stood up and then carefully walked across the room and then back.  "It does not hurt at all."  he said.  There was a look of pure adoration on his face.  He knelt down and kissed the hem of her gown.

Jean said to Gerard, "I could not do that for the life of me.  I would have healed the wounds but I could not have gotten all the bones back in their right places.  She is calling on the greater magics, isn't she?"   Gerard just nodded.

The next person was an older man with a broken arm.  The bone was not lined up properly.  Carly had them take off the bandages.  She could see where the bone had come through the skin and then been forced back.  She focussed on the arm and then started her healing.  The whole arm lit up bright green.  The man gave a great sigh.  Carly was concentrating on making the damaged arm look like the good one.  She could see them both, and she could instruct for how the damaged one should be.  "Would you carefully pull on his hand to get the bone straight?  she asked Jean.  Jean held the man's hand and then when Carly was ready she applied steady pressure.  There was a clacking sound as the bones just leaped together.  They knit solid.  There was green light still where the arm had been punctured.  It was golden colored everywhere else.  The man started moving his fingers and hand around.  He started moving the arm.  "Wait."  Carly instructed.  She laid her hand on the man's shoulder.  His whole body glowed bright green for a long minute, and then golden and then nothing.  The man was wiggling his fingers and moving his shoulder around.  When he started to rise, he put his hand on his chest.  "You healed my bad lungs.  They were so painful."  The man bowed deeply to Carly.

Carly healed everyone who came. She healed boils, bad teeth, a festering wound, rashes, a child's bad scrapes, a stab wound, and still the people came.  Finally, a very pregnant woman came in, carried by two men and followed by two women.  "She has been in labor for most of the day.  The child is turned the wrong way.  We have tried what we can, but if we kill the child, we might also lose the mother.  Can you help us?"  they pleaded.  The woman was laid down on a blanket on the floor.  Carly sat next to her on the floor.  Carly closed her eyes and put her hands on the woman's belly.  She felt for the child.  Then she put her hand on the woman's shoulder.  The woman's whole body glowed bright green.  The glow went on for several minutes, then it turned golden light, and then that faded.   The woman sighed.  Carly put her hands on the woman's stomach.  The child glowed green inside her.  You could see the color coming through her skin.  Then the color turned golden and faded.  The woman cried out as her stomach twisted suddenly.  The woman relaxed against the floor.  "Catch the baby now."  Carly instructed.  The two woman placed a heavy blanket under her and then helped her through the last few contractions.  The baby was born healthy and crying lustily.  The woman reached out to Carly and held her hand.  She smiled as she was handed her baby.

"That is the last one of the day for now."  Gerard said.  "Do you feel tired at all?"

"No, I actually feel quite good.  But I am hungry as a bear."  Carly said.

They walked back to the house.  It was between meals again, but they went to the kitchen and were fed a good meal.  Gerard did not eat much, but Carly ate enough for two.

"I am really happy that woman's baby was all right.  I am glad for all of them.  I liked helping the people.  I would not mind doing more of that."  Carly said.

After lunch they made their way to the back stable.  When they got there, Carly found many tubs and buckets full of water.  Gerard reached into one of the buckets and pulled out some water.  It was solid, but it was not ice.  It curled up into a sphere of water.  He held it balanced in his hand and then handed it to Carly.  She took it with both hands.  When Gerard let go, the sphere turned back to regular water.  Carly got wet a bit.  Gerard laughed at his joke.  He held his hands over the ground where the water had dropped.  The water formed into a sphere again and he picked it up.  He put it back into the bucket.  Carly closed her eyes and visualized the crystal droplet.  She used that to listen to the water.  She started telling the water what she wanted it to do.  She asked the water to form into a ball and then she touched the water.  The whole mass of the water in the bucket turned into a solid and curled up like a sphere.  It was too heavy to pull out of the bucket so she turned the bucket over and dumped it onto the ground.  The ball of water stood there.  She pushed it with her fingers and it rolled a bit.  Finally she pushed it back into the bucket and turned it back into regular water.

"How do I get it into a smaller piece?"  She said to herself.  She visualized a sphere of water that would fit in her two hands.  She reached into the bucket and pulled it out.  Only the sphere was changed. She threw it up in the air a bit, and then caught it.  She handed it to Gerard, but it did not turn back into ordinary water.  When he gave it back to her, she decided to try something different.  She "asked" the water to turn solid.  It did.  It was warm to the touch.  It was not cold or frozen, but it was solid.  She handed that to Gerard, he held if for a few moments and then she turned it back to regular water.  He got wet that time, but he laughed good naturedly.

"How do you freeze this?  Suppose you want ice?"  I asked Gerard.  He just looked at her with a smile on his face that said, "You figure it out for yourself."

So she formed a solid sphere of water.  She held it in one hand and then "asked" for it to turn to ice.  It did, instantly.  It was very cold and she dropped it.  It landed with a satisfying splat in the wet grass.  Without touching it, she caused it to melt again.  The water sank into the grass and ground.  Carly put her hands over the grass and pulled the water up from the ground.  It was "soft" water this time.  She put it in a bucket and then pulled again to get more water.  This time, still more water came out of the ground.  She put that in the bucket.  Several times more she pulled water from the ground and put it in the bucket.

"Can you see all the water in the ground?  Gerard asked.  Carly closed her eyes and looked at the ground.  She wanted to see the water.  She could see it now, blue green.  Not much near the surface, but down below she could see it.  "Keep looking Carly.  I will show you something."  Gerard said.  He led her across the yard to a well.  She could see the level of the water in the well.  She could see the water underground at that same level.  There was moisture all throughout, but real water was there.

"I want to try something.  Is there a target around here that I could use."  Carly said.  Gerard nodded toward a tree stump.  It looked pretty solid.  Carly reached into a bucket and pulled out an egg shaped piece of solid water.  She "talked" to it for a moment and then held it in her hand.  It disappeared and she her a loud thwap from the tree stump.  She went over to look at it, and there was a round hold in the stump all the way through.  The back side of the stump was wet.  "I sent it through the wood and then changed it back to water so it would not go any further.  I did not want to hurt anything else."  She explained.

"There is something else I can do."  She concentrated and all of the pails and tubs of water changed to solid water.  She touched them in turn to be sure.

"Stop!  What were you going to do next?"  Gerard asked her.

"I was going to change them all to ice.  Is that all right?"  Carly asked.

"No.  Not without shields.  Let me show you why."  Gerard took one of the buckets and put it away from the others.  Then he put a shield about ten feet around that.  "Now go ahead and do it.  Make it go quick and you will get more reaction." 

Carly looked at the water in that bucket.  She asked for the water to be changed to ice, and then she pushed quickly to change it.  There was a muffled explosion and the wooden bucket shattered into pieces that flew in all directions, caught by the shield. 

"When water freezes it expands.  When you do that instantly the ice does not push up like a normal bucket, but pushes all around and makes an explosion.  The faster the change the stronger the explosion."  Gerard explained.

"I can think of one other thing to do."  She touched one of the buckets and turned the water to boiling.  She was very careful to not turn it to steam.  She quickly turned it back to a normal temperature.

"That is all I have planned for you today.  You discovered most of it on your own.  That is what I want.  I want you to be able to figure things out on your own, so when you are on your own, you will know how to discover new things."  Gerard said.

"Then I will go get cleaned up for dinner.  I am hungry again."  Carly said.

Dinner was more formal this evening.  Everyone dressed up and there were serveral visitors.  Carly wore a peach colored gown.  It was embroideried with tiny beads, white buttons, and lace.  It had an underskirt of white.  Her shoes were silken and done in the same patterns as the dress.  She did not dress like a farm girl all the time!  One of the dinner guests was a young man just a bit older than her.  He came with an older woman, his mother.  Carly thought privately that they were here to see if the mother might be right for the Baron, and the young man might be right for her.  Carly was on her best behavior in any case.  It was good to know that all the possibilities for her did not have to be old mages.

The only thing that bothered the evening was that she was so hungry, she could hardly keep from eating.  She did not want to make a pig of herself in front of visitors, but she did show a healthy appetite.  She would sneak down later and get a snack.

"I understand you were helping the Healers today, my dear."  The mother inquired.   For some reason Carly did not want to tell her about the healings.

"Yes, I went to see how they are healing the sick.  I was very impressed that they were able to help so many people."  Carly said.

"Did you do anything, yourself?"  the mother asked.

"Oh, I held a few hands and tried to make myself useful, but I did not do very much."  Carly avoided answering her question.

The Baron had a very curious look on his face, but the mother did not ask any more questions, and Carly turned back to her food.

Old Pam met her upstairs to help her out of her gown. Carly's maid put up the clothes and got her night clothes.  "Could you bring me another dinner?  I did not get enough to eat.  Just a couple of meat pies, some bread and preserves, an apple, and some spring water will be fine."  Carly instructed her.

Old Pam went through her clothes with her once again.  They decided to send some of them for alterations.  The Baron had several seamstresses on staff.  Carly was pretty hand with sewing, but these were nice gowns that needed a more professional touch.  Carly had a nice blue gown that was so plain, they were going to have it beaded.  Old Pam also promised to have someone come by to do her hair.  Old Pam was not up on the latest styles, and her maid did not have the experience.  So they were going to have someone come in.

Carly ate her second dinner slowly.  She ate it all, as she thought of everything that had happened during the day.  She was not sure about her father having many different women brought over to look at, but then decided that if her father found someone, they would be coming to live in this house.  So they should also see how he lived and how his people acted and he should see how they would fit in this setting.  Carly slept soundly that night.

Carly was up at dawn, as usual.  She dressed in a plain gown, since they were going back to the Healers today.  She greated everyone with a smile and then tucked into a large breakfast.

They arrived at the Healers fairly early, but there was already a long line.  There seemed to be more people than before.  Gerard escorted her inside and then stood aside while she helped people as well as she was able.  The first person came in on a pair of crutches.  His hip was twisted out of joint and there seemed to be some withering of the leg.  Carly was not sure what she could do about this.  It seemed like something that had happened a long time ago.  She was more familiar with injuries that were fresh.  The man explained that he was in constant pain and the hip kept coming out.  Would she help him?

"Jean.  I am not sure I can help this man.  Should I try?  I am likely to fail.  Also, I need to see his good leg to see how to fix the bad one.  How do I see him undressed?"  She explained to Jean.

"Simply do the best you can.  I will get him ready for you, with Gerard's help."  Jean said.

Carly went into the next room while they prepared the man.  They helped him out of his trowsers and gave him a blanket for privacy.  When Carly came back, she could see both of his legs.  The one all distorted and somewhat withered.  She visualized the crystal droplet and used that to look at the man.  She could see the pain and distortion in his bad leg.  She laid her hand on his shoulder first to heal him generally.  Then she touched his good leg and healed the strains and pain there.  Then she put her hands over the bad leg.  The green light was very bright, it hurt to look at it.  It did not fade to golden, but stayed green.  All she could do is continue and hope that he would be healed.  She kept her hands over his leg until the green faded and there was only a golden color all over.  "Jean.  I do not know if his hip is in the right position.  Can you turn it so that it is right?"  Carly asked.  Jean grasped the man's leg and turned it so that it was more in the right position.  Carly had her hands over the hip now and it was bright green again.  There was a "pomp" noise and the leg seemed to slide into place.  At least it looked like the other one now.  The green faded and then his whole body turned golden and then that faded.  "Can you wiggle your toes and move your foot?"  Carly asked the man.  He did so with both feet.  "Try sitting up and then standing." Carly instructed.  The man sat up and then, with Jean and Gerard helping, he stood up.  There was a moment of instability, and then he stood up.  He took a small step, and then another.  Then he screamed and started to cry uncontrollably.  Carly did not know what to do.  She held her hands over his body, but there was no green or golden light.  He did not seem to be in any pain, but he could not stop crying.  Finally he stopped and fell to the floor.  He kissed the hem of her dress again and again.  He was crying because he was so elated.  It took a while for the man to get dressed and then to leave.  He kept coming back to Carly to thank her.  The hem of her skirt was wet with his tears.

The next person was a very young girl who had been burned.  These were old burns.  They must have been very painful.  The little girl was pretty but her face was disfigured and there were scars on her hands and stomach.  Carly did not ask Jean what to do.  She asked the child to take off her top and lay on the table.  Carly had one good arm and part of the body to work from.  She was not sure what to do about the face.  Carly would just have to try and see what she could do.  So, Carly laid a hand on the girl's shoulder to heal her generally.  She was bright green for a long time and then that faded to golden color and then that faded out.  The child was healthy, but she had many pains and memories.  Carly decided to do all the wounds at once.  She would just take as long as it took.  She started with her hands stretched over the girl, but soon just rested her hands near the girl.  The girl was bright green in those areas that had been burned.  The little girl whimpered a few times.  She did not seem to be hurting, but she might be a little afraid of what was happening.  Carly continued for a long time.  Jean was there watching, along with the girl's mother.  Gerard peeked in once.  Carly could see some of the scars seem to soften.  It was hard to tell with the green light.  Carly kept going.  Finally the light settled to golden and then faded altogether.  The girl looked perfect!  There was a little hair missing in the front where it had burned away, but that was not noticeable.  It might grow back now.  There was a little fuzz where the eyebrows were supposed to be, and the eyelashes were properly formed.  This pretty little girl was going to be all right.  "Sit up, sweety.  How do you feel?"  Carly asked.  "I feel good.  All those bumps are gone.  Am I well now?"  the little girl asked.  Carly nodded.  The mother could not seem to get her voice.  There were tears running down her face.  She was not sobbing like the man had, but the tears would not stop.  Jean helped the little girl get dressed and then escorted them outside.  The mother's voice could be heard as she left.  "Look at her!!  Look at her!!  Look at her!!"  over and over again.

An old woman came next.  Her eyes were twisted so the eyes looked in different directions.  Carly asked her if she could see, and she said yes, but she could not see in the direction she was walking.  She kind of laughed at that, at herself.  Carly was amazed that the woman was so good natured.  First Carly healed her all over.  That took a long time for the green to fade to gold and out.  Then Carly put her hands over the woman's face and started the healing.  The light was green, but not too bright.  Carly kept going. As long as it was green she kept healing.  There was a "huh" from the old woman and Carly could see some difference in her eyes, but she was busy with the healing and the lights.  The light turned golden and then faded.  The old woman was looking at her hands.  Her eyes were straight.  It seemed she could see properly again.  But she kept staring at her hands.  "I have not been able to move my hands for years.  You fixed them.  You healed them." she said.  The old woman kissed her hands.  She thanked her again and again.  As the woman left, Carly could still hear her telling everyone.  "She healed my hands and my eyes. She healed me.  She healed me."

There were several people there with fever and cough.  One woman had female problems and was bleeding.  One girl had caught her hair in the wheel of a wagon and her scalp was all torn. A child was bit by a dog, they were afraid it was rabid.  One child drank poison.  (The healing caused the child to throw up again and again.)  Finally, she was done for the day.

==== End Oct 29  20,300 words about 41 pages

Carly practiced with water again.   This time she created steam as well.  She could cause a handful of water to convert to steam, and then use that as a kind of shield.  She made a fog so dense she could not see through it.  She created snow and ice.  She made spears out of solid water.  She made cup and objects from solid water.

Dinner was formal.  She wore a light gray gown with a yellow underskirt.  The gown had embroideried roses in yellow, with green stems and leaves.  This evening there was an older woman, close to her father's age.  She was attractive, but she had a severe mouth and frown lines around her eyes.  She looked like she had just swallowed a sour pickle.

"This is your only child now?"  the woman asked.

"Yes. My wife and other children were all killed by the fever."  the Baron answered.

"Do you plan to start a new family, then?"  she asked.

"It was my wish.  I am still a fairly young man."  the Baron said.

"You will be old, when they are just starting out on their own."  she pointed out.

"I have no heir now.  I would like to be able to settle my affairs for my family."  he countered.

"I am not the one you are looking for then.  I have already had my children, and my husband is dead these several years.  I have no son, either."  she explained.

"That is unfortunate, but I am happy to have met you any way."  he said, graciously.

After that, Carly noticed that the woman smiled more and the severe look on her face faded.  Now she really was attractive.  But apparently she was not the one her father was going to marry.

Gerard was not at dinner.  Carly met him afterwards.  At least she got plenty to eat.

"Your father is being very logical in his search for a new wife.  I think you will have many of these dinners.  And, he will try to find you a husband as well."  Gerard said.

"Yes, I expect to sit through many formal dinners in the coming weeks.  Hopefully it will not take too long to find someone for him, but I want him to find a good wife.  I would rather take more time and find the right one, than to hurry and make a mistake."  Carly said.  "I am not too anxious to find a husband right now.  I am more concerned to find my father a wife."

"Maybe both things will be accomplished."  Gerard replied.

"What are you trying to teach me next?  I have already learned many useful things."  Carly asked.

"I would like you to start a journal.  I want you to note down what you think the weather will be each morning, afternoon and night.  Make predictions as far in the future as you fell comfortable with, and write them down.  Then check them as the days go by to see if you are correct.  Like I said, predict for the mornings, the afternoons, and the nighttimes.  Say whether it will be sunny, whether there will be wind and from what direction, say whether it will be hot or cold, say whether it will rain or whatever.  Try to predict things like lightning and hail, if they occur."  he instructed.

"Isn't it possible to change the weather, to control wind and rain?"  Carly asked.

"Yes, you have access to the greater magic, so you should be able to change the weather locally.  I do not know how far you can control it.  Whether for just the city, or for the regions and countryside around.  But I wanted you to know the weather first.  If you do change the weather, it will affect things far from here eventually.  I want you to know what you are causing.  You might call for rain here, and that might cause drought for the farmers somewhere else."  Gerard explained.

"How do I predict the weather?  Do I use the crystal droplet?  Is there something I should query?  How do I do it?"  Carly asked.

"You can try to see the weather as far from here as possible.  Then you can watch rain, clouds and winds coming this way.  You can see what will happen a day or two out that way.  You can also directly try to see the future.  Try to see as far into the future as possible, and that way predict what will happen here with rain and the weather."  Gerard explained.

Carly started her journal that night.  She first tried to see the weather far from the city.  To do that she visualized her crystal droplet.  Then she listened through that for things far away.  At first she got hints of things like river, hills, valleys and forests.  She could see other cities, villages and farms.  She even seemed to see her own keep.  As these became clearer, she noted the weather in each place.  The air seemed to sparkle with the moisture in it.  She could see the great rivers of cloud and moisture marching through the skies.  She noted this and made her predictions for tomorrow's weather.

Then she tried to look into the future.  She tried to visualize the days marching off into the future.  She asked what would be in each day.  What would be the weather in the future?  She noted this down in a separate column of her journal.  She had two predictions for some days, one based on a wide view, and the other based on looking through the future.  She would see which, if any, was correct.

Gerard was late coming down for breakfast.  He looked tired still.  Carly asked him how he was feeling.

"I feel tired and achy.  My throat hurts and my head hurts."  Gerard answered, then he started coughing.

"Are you coming down with a fever too?"  Carly asked.

"Yes.  I have a little fever.  There were people yesterday waiting who had the same thing.  Is that what is happening to me?"  Gerard asked.

Carly walked around the table and laid her hand on Gerard's shoulder.  She healed him.  It took a while, so this must be something fairly serious.  "I did not heal all those people with coughs and fever yesterday.  Is just being around someone cause for you to get it?"  She wondered.  Gerard thanked her for the healing.  He already felt better.

Jean was feeling sick too, when they arrived at the Healers.  Carly healed her and then faced a long line of people, all of whom were coughing and sneezing.  Carly healed each person as they came in.  After a while it was easier for her to go outside and treat the people in line.  That was faster and easier on the people waiting.  "Are there more people like this at home?"  She asked some of them.  Yes, there were many more people in their homes who were too sick to come to the Healers.

"Jean, should we go to these people's houses?  Should we try to find the people who are sick and heal them?  This might be the same fever that killed my mother and family."  Carly asked.

"It seems serious.  I have heard that some people are dying from it.  We have only seen a few of the people who come in.  There are a lot more who are sick."  Jean said.

Gerard, Jean and Carly found that most of the people were coming from one part of the city. It was one of the poorer sections, and one where there was a lot of commerce.  If the sickness could spread, it might have come from some other city.  They made their way on foot, the large mansions of her neighborhood giving way to the sturdy houses of the merchants, and then to the mixed housing of poor intermixed with warehouses and inns.

"I know some people in this neighborhood.  Let's ask what they know."  Gerard indicated.  He led them to one of the better inns where they met Jason, the inn keeper.  He was talking to the constable as they came up.

"Yes, there are many people sick in this section of town.  It started just a few days ago with some people at one of the poorer inns, and then spread to every neighborhood.  I am trying to organize some sort of quarantine or some method of treating so many people.  But I do not know what to do about sickness."  the constable explained.

"Why don't we mark the houses that have sickness.  We can treat people in their homes.  After a household is treated we will mark that house as safe.  When all the houses and establishments are done, then we will hopefully have treated everyone.  We will also have a central location where people can bring people who are sick, so that travelers and people from other parts of the city can be treated."   Gerard instructed.

Jean and Gerard set up a place to treat people just outside the inn.  Both Jean and Gerard could heal. They did not have the power or capability of Carly, but they could heal this fever.  If Gerard had been there when Carly's family got sick, they probably would have survived.  He and Jean would treat all the people who came looking for treatment.

The constable and Carly began going house to house.  Members of the watch went with them and ahead to other houses.  They drew a horizontal line on the doorway if there was sickness and a cross if there was no sickness.  After Carly healed the people in a sick house, the watchman painted the vertical line to show that the house was safe.  Carly went from person to person, from house to house.  Her focus became the person in front of her.  Young, old, very sick, not so sick.  She healed them all.  She healed anyone who looked tired or worn, in case they were begining to get the fever.  It was easier to heal everyone, than to sort through who just had sniffles or who had a little fever.  Some houses had only one or two people.  Some of the inns had twenty or thirty people, and they all wanted to be protected from the sickness.  Carly made her way street to street.  The constable was very helpful.  He made sure everyone in each household was treated.  He used his authority to get people to open their doors and bring out all their household members.

A young boy came up to Carly and the constable, with food for them.  "Gerard says to eat."  he relayed.  Carly smiled, and then sat down to eat.  She was getting so tired that she had lost her appetite.  The magic was supporting her, but she was getting very tired.  She was glad for a break for a few minutes.  She sent the boy off with her thanks, and a message for Gerard that they were about half way through.

Jean and Gerard were treating a steady stream of the sick.  They came supporting each other, most were coughing and feverish.  Gerard and Jean healed each one.  They gave them a wooden marker to show that they had been treated.  More watchmen guided the people to the waiting area.  The innkeeper sent out drink and food for the sick.

Carly felt better after her brief break for food, then it was back to moving house to house.  Some of the houses were very poor.  In some of them there was a smell of decay and sickness.  Carly had to struggle to breathe, but she kept up the healing.  They had stopped to knock on the door of another house, when the constable started coughing and sneezing.  Carly took time to heal him.  She placed her hand on his shoulder, then called on the healing.  A green glow covered him, especially his chest.  After a while the green changed to gold and then faded.  The healing was so routine and monotonous it was putting her to sleep!  House by house, street by street, she continued healing.

The watchmen were carrying torches now.  It was completely dark.  The constable pounded on the door and called for the people to open up.  The constable asked them if they had any sick.  They said, no, they had been treated at the inn, and showed him their wooden markers.  The watchmen marked a cross on the door.  The constable smiled at Carly.  "That was the last one, deary.  You have done a wonder today."  Carly and the constable and the watchmen made their way back to the inn.  They put out their torches and went inside.  Jean and Gerard were there.  "We just finished ourselves.  We will come tomorrow and be here to treat anyone we might have missed.  Watchmen around the city will tell people to say if more sick are found."

"I had better hurry home, I am sure father has more people over for dinner.  I should be there."  Carly began.

"I sent a messenger to the Baron to explain what we were doing.  He sent back that you were not to worry about dinner, just take care of the sick and take care of yourself."  Gerard related.

The innkeeper fed them very well, and then they took a coach back to their house.  They dropped off Jean at the church.

Carly took a bath when she got home.  She dressed for bed and then wrote in her weather journal.  She barely kept from falling asleep when she closed her eyes to see the future.

Carly was still tired when she woke up the next morning.  Her feet hurt from all the walking and her arms hurt from reaching out to people.  Carly healed herself and felt much better.  She ate a good breakfast, and was happy to see that Gerard was feeling better. Carly did not know how sickness came to be. She was not sure if her healing would keep people from getting sick again.

"Jean is going to the inn today to treat anyone who might still be sick.  The other Healers will take care of anyone who comes to the church.  You do not have to do any healing today."  Gerard explained.

"I should go and help at the church.  They will be short handed.  I feel fine and I want to help."  Carly said.  Gerard was going to help Jean again, so he sent a man to escort Carly to the church.

The Healers at the church were very happy to have her come.  Jean was one of the better healers, and since she was busy at the inn. they were short handed.  Carly first went through the line and treated all of the people with coughs and fever.  They took their names and where they lived to see if other parts of the city were affected.  These all came from the area that Carly had healed yesterday.

While she was treating the ones with fever, there was an emergency.  A workman had sliced his leg with an axe.  The wound was still fresh and bleeding.  The man's shoe was full of blood.  Carly felt sick for a moment, and then she started the healing.  That calmed her down.  The damage must have been severe, she took quite a while to heal it.  "I would have lost that leg if I had gone to anyone else.  You have my undying thanks."  the man said.

The first regular patient was a woman with cataracts, her eyes were completely white.  Carly healed her without difficulty, but the change to the woman's life was profound.  This was something that Carly was coming to grips with.  How a relatively simple application of her magic could significantly affect the whole life of someone else.  As she was accepting the woman's thanks, Carly was thinking that if she had to breed with a mage to produce children who might be powerful healers and mages, that might not be too bad an exchange. What does her happiness count against the possibility that she could produce many children who could also heal?

The next person was an old woman.  Her back was very bent, she looked straight down at the ground as she shuffled into the room.  "I am just getting old and tired. I do not know what you can do for me, I just would like to feel better."  she explained.  Carly tried to think of what she could do.  A much younger woman was with her, helping her.  "Is this your daughter?" she asked.  "Yes, this is my youngest daughter."  Carly sat the woman down on a small chair, then touched her shoulder.  She was going to ask for a healing of everything that was wrong with the woman.  Her target was the young woman, her daughter.  The green glow from the old woman was so bright, it brought tears to her eyes.  The daughter had to turn away and the old woman winced.  Half a candle mark later the glow had still not faded.  Then suddenly the old woman turned golden and soon after the light faded altogether.  "Do you feel all right?"  Carly asked.  The woman stood up.  She was as tall as Carly now.  Her back was straight and most of the wrinkles were gone from her face.  Her eyes were bright and there was a smile on her face.  "I did not expect you to turn back time for me."  She said.  "I do not know what to say, except thank you.  "Mother, you are beautiful again."  her daughter said.  There were tears in both their eyes as they walked out.

A man came next.  He had stepped on a nail and then the wound had gone bad.  His foot was black and sunken.  Carly healed him all over first, and then healed the foot, until is was like his good foot.  There were many people with fever who had arrived while she was treating these few.  She went outside and healed the ones with fever and coughs.  They took down names and where the people lived, then sent them on their way.  She also healed a man with a torn knee, a woman with a cut hand, a child with a bad rope burn, and several people with bad teeth.  She finished the day by healing more people with fever.

Gerard was still not home when Carly arrived back at the house.  Since it was still early afternoon, she went to practice water skills again.  She was interested in steam and ice, so she set up a shield around some solid water she had made.  First she changed it all to ice, and then she converted the center part of it to steam, all at once.  There was a powerful explosion that dug a crater into the ground.  Several people came running out of the house.  She promised them that she was fine, and also promised not to do that any more unless Gerard was there.  She had just finished and was washing her hands in the kitchen, when there was a disturbance at the front of the house.  The Baron was there and he greeted someone at the door.  They talked for a moment and then the Baron came back in.  The servant closed the door. The Baron had a letter in his hand.

"You have been invited to the palace to see the King and his court.  This does not give a reason, just a time and a place.  It does not say how you should be escorted.  I think I will go with you myself."  the Baron related.

"This is for tomorrow morning. Is there something special that I should wear?  Why does the King want to see me?  Is he going to asked me to marry some old mage?"  she asked.

"I do not know what he wants.  It could have something to do with the healings, too."  the Baron answered.

Dinner was formal, and there was only one guest.  Carly had been going to wear her white gown with white underskirt and blue beading.  Instead, she was going to wear that to see the King.  She put on her light green gown, the one with a pale brown underskirt and flower embroidery.

Carly was shocked when she met the young woman who came that evening for dinner.  She was about twenty six years old and strikingly beautiful.  What caught Carly's attention was the woman's left hand which was all withered.  The color was like her right hand, but the fingers lay limp and her wrist seemed to be frozen.  The woman's name was Marie.

"You say that you have never been married?  You seem fairly old."  The Baron said, striking right to the point.

"I am the oldest of eight children, four boys and four girls.  I helped raise most of the children, so I love them almost as though they were my own.  Because I was busy raising my parents' children and because of my left hand, I have not found a suitor."  Marie explained.

"You look extremely healthy, really quite beautiful I might add.  What has happened to your hand?"  the Baron asked.

"I was not born this way, if you are wondering.  My hand was crushed in a door when I was an infant and it has been this way ever since."  Marie explained.

"What does your father do?" the Baron asked.

"He is a merchant, actually somewhat of a competitor of yours, but not nearly as wealthy."  Marie explained.

"Are you familiar with trade too?"  the Baron asked.

"Yes, I have kept the accounts for my father for many years.  My mother never cared for business that much and my brothers were too young, so I have been my father's helper in his business as well as in raising his children."  Marie said.

"My daughter, Carly, is going to be a powerful mage.  We are concerned with her marriage prospects.  Do you have any comment on that?"  the Baron asked.

"A young woman today should be a partner for her husband as well as a wife.  Love is important, but family, children, and business all take a part.  A powerful mage is something to cherish, and a woman mage will be expected to have many children.  A healthy and kind man, whether he is mage or otherwise, is a good investment in the future.  All we could do to help her, would be to investigate each potential suitor to uncover any serious problems, and try, as best as possible, to find someone she with whom could enjoy a long and fruitful life.  If the man is kind, then the children will also be.  I would say try to find her the best possible partner, and hope for love and many children."  Marie expanded.

"You mentioned kindness twice. Is that important to you?"  the Baron asked.

"A kind man might have many faults, but he tries to overcome them.  He tries to ease the lives of the people around him.  An arrogant or cynical man increases those features in others, often to their detriment.  I think a kind man is more effective in business, family and love than any other kind of man."  Marie explained.  She was looking directly at the Baron, there was a gentle smile on her face.

The talk went on through a long meal.  The servants brought the courses and cleaned up as the evening grew dark.  The Baron and Marie found many topics of conversation.  Carly made a few comments and answered a few questions.  She liked Marie, and was quietly hoping that she would be her new mother.  If they were only a few years apart, that was all to the better, since they could be friends too.

After Marie had left, the Baron asked Carly what she thought of Marie.  "She has a good background and she seems like a kind person herself.  She seems to be competent.  Her family seems good.  You know, I guess, that I can heal her hand for her?"  Carly asked.  "Yes, I realized that.  What ever happens I would like you to do that.  She is a beautiful and competent woman, she deserves to be whole."  the Baron said.  "I am going to have my men investigate her and her family.  If nothing bad comes up, I think this might be the one."  the Baron said with a smile.

"Good!" thought Carly.  She went up to her bedroom then and worked on her weather journal.  When she was looking at the future for the weather, she was also thinking about her own and her father's future.

In the morning Carly talked to Gerard.  He and Jean were finished at the inn for now.  Tomorrow they would be back at the church again.  Watchmen around the city were told to be on the lookout for people with fever or coughs.  They were checking door to door in some places to ask people to go to the church or the inn for treatment.  Now the watchmen would send everyone to the church.

"I am glad your father can go with you to see the King.  The King is a fair man and concerned for his kingdom.  It is likely he has heard about you because of the healings or because you helped prevent a  larger outbreak of fever.  Many people could have died if you had not healed so many people so quickly."  he explained.

Carly dressed in her white gown, the one with a white underskirt.  The embroidery was dark blue in geometric designs and small flowers.  There was just enough lace to draw the eye.  The Baron was dressed in his finest clothes, velvet and fine leather.  Their coach held the two of them comfortably and it left early enough to get to the palace with plenty of time to spare.  The large doors boomed as they opened.  Carly and her father walked softly through the echoing halls.  They were escorted to a pair of large glass doors and then out into the gardens.  The sun seemed brighter than when they were in the street.  Carly was blinded for a moment and then she could look around.  There were courtiers all throughout the gardens.  There seemed to be no particular order or pattern to where people were standing, and then it seemed like everyone was rigidly in place.  They were escorted directly to the King.

"Ah, Baron.  How good to see you, and your lovely daughter.  I have been hearing interesting things about her, and wanted to meet her.  How do you do my dear?"  the King said.

Carly bowed to the King and murmured, "I am fine your Majesty.  Thank you."

"There are two of my subjects that I wanted you to meet.  I wonder if you can do anything for them?"  the King continued.  As he spoke, there was a rustle behind him and then a man and a woman were carried, in chairs, closer to the King.  They were both elderly.  They were both well dressed and had quite intelligent faces.  The man's eyes were white and blind.  He had cataracts, those could be healed.  The woman had no obvious malady, but she seemed weak and sick looking.

"Would you like me to heal them now?"  Carly asked the King.

"If you would please?"  said the King.

The woman happened to be the closer one.  Carly closed her eyes and visualized a crystal droplet.  She used this to look at the woman.  It seemed that her chest was filled with liquid. When Carly got closer, she could hear the woman's labored breathing.  Carly touched her on the shoulder and asked for a complete general healing.  The woman glowed a deep green.  This went on for a quarter candlemark and then it shifted to a golden glow.  This lasted a few long moments, and then the glow faded away.  "All the pain is gone."  the woman said.  Then she stood and then carefully bowed to Carly.  Carly curtsied in response.  The woman's attendants were picking up the covers that had been dropped, and they moved the chair out of the way.

"I feel wonderful, like I am twenty years younger.  I can breathe again, and the pain is all gone."  She reported to the King.

Carly bowed to the woman, and then stepped past her to the blind man.  She used her crystal sight to look for pain and sickness in the man.  She saw some weakness, but mostly his eyes were the problem.  She took another step and touched him on the shoulder.  Again she was asking for a general healing.  So it began.  When the healing was complete, the man's eyes were clear.  He turned them toward her.  "You have a most wonderful gift, and you have given me a wonderful gift in turn.  For that I will be ever grateful."  The man said.  He too stood and then he bowed to Carly.  She curtsied in return.

"Most amazing.  Really most amazing.  Is there anything you cannot do?"  the King asked her.

"I have only been doing this a short while.  I have not found anything too difficult so far, but tomorrow I might meet something I cannot do.  I am pleased that I can help people."  Carly replied.

"Diplomatic too."  the King said.  "I understand you are already a powerful mage."  the King continued.

"My skills are still new.  I have learned a few things with knives and arrows, water and rocks.  Nothing really important."  she replied.

"Really.  I would like to see something.  This is not the place for knives and arrows.  What can you do with water?"  the King asked.  He gestured for a bottle of water to be given to her.

To the man carrying the water she nodded, then said, "Could you pour the water into my hands.  I will catch it."  The man looked hesitant and then poured the water into her hands.  As he poured, she formed the water into a sphere.  When he had finished pouring, she was holding a sphere of solid water.  She showed this around to everyone, and let them touch it.  Then she turned it into a ball of ice.  This she showed to everyone.  They touched it and felt the cold.  "This will make a loud noise."  She told the King.  He inclined his head.  She threw the ball upwards from her hand, it rose far up above them, and then, when it was almost out of sight, she converted it all to stream.  There was a powerful explosion and a huge boom.  Guards came running from all directions, weapons at the ready.  The King waved them off.  He had a big smile on his face.  "So you do know a few tricks."  he said.

Carly bowed again.  She watched the King to see if he wanted her to do anything else, but he turned his back on her and began talking to the old man and woman that Carly had healed.  The Baron came up to Carly and tapped her on her arm.  Then he led her out of the garden.  There they were met by an escort and shown back out of the palace.  They entered their coach and went home.

"I think you did well.  You cured two of the King's favorite people from very serious sickness, and you chose magic that was simple yet impressive.  Your last display with the explosion was well chosen.  The King is always aware of things that will help protect his country from outsiders.  He will look for powerful weapons from his mages.  He might be looking at you for military applictions, but for now, I think he sees you as a Healer with extraordinary powers."  the Baron related.

Gerard was there when they got home.  The Baron explained to him what had happened at the palace.  Gerard listened carefully and then asked Carly what she had done for the water demonstration.  "I only know a little water magic.  I had the attendant pour water into my hands to form as solid sphere.  I showed that to everyone.  I changed it to ice and showed everyone.  Then I threw the ball upwards until it was almost out of sight, and then converted it to steam all at once.  There was a loud boom."  she related.

"Simple and elegant.  It demonstrated your control and your power both.  Good choices."  Gerard said.  "Why don't you get changed,  I have something I want to show you, and something for your to try."

Gerard and Carly had lunch with the Baron.  He was going to check on some of his businesses today.  There were not going to be any guests for dinner.  Gerard called for one of the smaller carriages, just enough for the two of them and a driver.  They made good time through the streets and soon came to a road out of the city.  They had gone only a few miles and they turned off onto a smaller lane.  They followed this under overhanging branches until they came to a large mansion.  They did not stop at the front, though, but continued on down a road to the back of the house.  There they pulled up next to a stone wall.  Behind the wall was a gorgeous garden.  They got out and walked to a gate there.  There was a man waiting there for them.  He had a key on a large ring.  He had opened the gate.  Gerard greeted the man with a nod, and they all walked through the garden toward its back, away from the house.  Everything was pristine, green and lovely -- except for where they were going.

"My goodness.  What is wrong with the garden?"  Carly asked.

"Why don't you tell me what is wrong?"  Gerard asked.

The garden, from where they were standing, all the way to the back of the garden was dark green or black.  It smelled rotten.  Carly bent down and touched the soil, it was damp, wet and felt slimey.  She smelled her fingers and could smell rot.  There were flowers and bushes of all kinds in the area, but they were all blighted.  Carly continued down the walkway and came to a small bridge.  There should have been a stream there, but it was dry and cracking.  She closed her eyes and used her crystal sight to see where the water had gone.  She had a pretty good idea.  At the end of the walk there was a wide area with water standing.  She could see where the stream should have gone and how it was trapped and flowing into the gardens.  She could see a broken wall there and how it was blocking the stream.  She explained all this to Gerard, and he agreed. "So what do you want me to do about it?"  she asked, guessing that was why she was brought here.

"What do you think you should do?"  he asked.

"I can remove the water from where the wall has fallen down and send that water back into the stream.  I can repair the wall and then send all the extra water from the garden back into the stream.  Then I can heal the flowers and plants in the garden."  she said.  She did not know how to repair the wall, or if she would be able to do all that, but those sounded like the right steps.

"That is exactly right.  Do you think you can do that?"  Gerard asked.

"I know how to heal people, so I expect to be able to heal plants.  I can feel their pain, if you like.  Removing the water is similar to what I have done pulling water out of the ground.  I am most unsure how to repair a wall."  She explained.

"Can you use earth magic to move the wall out of the stream and let it start flowing again?  Let's do that first."  Gerard said.

Carly focussed on the wall and the dirt around it.  She got a vision of how she wanted things to look and then she "pushed" with her mind.  That did not work at all!  In fact it hurt a bit.  So she "talked" to the wall and the dirt around it to explain what it was she wanted,  then she "pushed" to get it started.  The wall moved back a few feet from where it had fallen down, and the dirt pulled out of the way.  Immediately the stream started to flow again.  She could see it coming towards her and towards the bridge.  She had left a pile of rock and dirt between the wet garden and the stream, so she instructed the water in the garden what she wanted done, and then pushed to get it started.  Water started pouring out of the ground near the wall, over the pile of rock and dirt, and back into the stream.  She let that go on for a long time.  While she was waiting she walked toward the sunken garden and watched the water flowing out.  She also watched the plants and flowers to see how they were doing.  In about half a candlemark, the water was about right.  She caused it to stop.  Then she visualized the whole area that had been soggy and asked for a general healing.  The whole garden took on a blue green glow.  She had never healed a plant before, so she was not sure how severe this was, nor how long she would have to keep healing.  She did not know if there would be something that corresponded to the golden glow for people.  So she marshalled herself for patience and just watched the garden.  Through the blue green glow, she started to see more green and some flower colors. Some of the plants that had sagged onto the ground were standing up.  It looked like the ground was still very wet, so she started the water to flowing again.  In about a quarter candlemark, she could see that the water level was better and the garden was looking more normal.  She figured the ground was plenty wet, so she left the water flowing out of the garden and into the stream.  Finally the glow changed to a warm yellow.  That went on for a while and then the glow faded.  It was just like healing people!

==== End Oct 30  26,800  About 53 pages

"That looks fine now.  I think you can stop. I want you to meet someone."  said Gerard.

Carly turned around.  There was a woman there, watching.  She smiled, and Carly bowed to her. "Thank you for repairing my garden.  I do so much enjoy it and it was dreadful having all this damage.  You are a gifted mage."  The woman said.

"It was my pleasure.  That is the first time I have tried to heal plants, so I learned something new."  Carly related.  "This is the Countess, Elaina."  Gerard mind spoke to Carly.

"Would you like to come into the house for something to eat or drink?"  the woman asked.  "We would be happy to join you for a little while."  Gerard said.  They entered the house through the garden doors.  A maid was putting food and drink on a small table in a sitting room.  Carly was hungry again.  It must be the magic.

"I understand you are healing people of some serious problems.  Do you see yourself more as a healer or as a mage?"  she said.

"I am so new to this, I am not sure what being a mage is all about.  I like helping people, so I want to continue healing.  I keep worrying that there are going to be some things that I cannot heal.  I am not sure how I will face that."  Carly said.

"The King is very interested in you, and not only because of your healing and magic.  You are a beautiful young woman, and the King has no wife."  Elaina said.

"There are three princes.  Is the King going to marry again?  He has many choices, certainly much better than me."  Carly said.

"The King will probably marry again, if nothing else to have someone to raise his sons.  And, there are a lot of social functions to which the Queen attends.  He might like the idea of having powerful mages in the royal line."  Elaina remarked.

"I still think he has many other choices than me."  Carly repeated.

Carly was thoughtful on the ride back to the city.  She was meeting many interesting people.  People who seemed to know a lot about her.

The next day, Carly returned to the church to heal more people.  Almost all of the ones with fever were healed now.  She healed a man with a broken leg, and several old women from aging.  Most all of it was routine now.  When she arrived at home, she just had time for lunch and Gerard wanted her to go somewhere else.  "The King wants you to show his military people your magic."  Gerard explained.  They took the same carriage as the previous day.  This time they rode through the  city towards the palace and then turned towards the military compound.  The carriage pulled up in front of the military headquarters and Gerard helped Carly from the carriage.

Several young men came to attention when they arrived.  One of them escorted Carly and Gerard to the General's office.  He was fierce looking with a hawk like face.  His body seemed to lean forward, poised for action like a hawk.  He stood and bowed to them.  "We are looking forward to your demonstration."

The general led them through the offices to the back.  Then across the yard and to a nearby field.  They were followed by a group of about ten soldiers of varying rank.  Carly could not distinquish the ranks, but concluded that these were the senior people under the General.

There were various targets set up for archery.  There were other things with which Carly was not familiar.  A troup of cavalry rode onto the field and stopped.  They were all armed with swords and bows.  She looked expectantly toward the General.  "How would you stop these men?"  the General asked.

Carly hardly hesitated.  She threw a shield around the men.  It happened so suddenly that the men were not sure what to do.  One of them rode to the shield and put his hand out.  He could feel the hard surface of the shield.  He took his sword and tried to cut the shield.  The sword rang in protest.

"What if there were many more men?  How many could you stop this way?"  he asked.  Carly expanded the shield to include the whole field.  She put another shield around herself and the people with her.

"What if it was necessary to kill the men?"  he asked.  Carly shielded the men on horseback, then reached down and pulled water from the ground.  She formed a large solid sphere of ice and then sent it to the far side of the field where she converted the center instantly to steam.  It made a huge explosion.  There was a large crater where the sphere had landed.

"Could you take out the men individually?"  The General signalled to the men, and one of them rode out in front of the others.  Carly removed the shield from the men, then pulled water from the ground and formed a small sphere. She sent it towards the men and hit the man in front.  He fell back, but not off his horse.  He was not hurt badly.

"Could you kill him?"  The General asked.  Carly reached for more water and made a small sphere like the last one.  She sent it towards one of the wooden targets, where it hit with a loud bang.  A round hole appeared in the target, that went all the way through.

"How far away could you hit him?" he asked.  "As far away as I could see him, possibly further."  Carly said.

"Have one of your men put a bucket down the road as far as possible, where we can still see it."  the General instructed.  The man rode quickly to the end of the field and down a road that led off the end of it.  He rode until he was just barely in view, and set the bucket on a fence post.  He moved away.  Carly reached down and formed a small sphere and then she sent it towards the target.  It seemed to disappear from her hand.  There was a whistling, keening noise and then they saw the bucket leap into the air.  The man watching raised his hand, and pumped his arm, excitedly.

"Could you take down a castle wall?  Or knock down a steel gate?" he asked.

"I could use earth magic to undermine the castle wall and make it fall.  I could melt the gate, or simply cause it to fall down by melting the hinges and bars."  she answered.

"You said you might be able to kill someone that you could not see?  What did you mean by that?"  the General asked.

"I form a mental image of the target and ask for the sphere to hit that target.  I can do that with my eyes closed.  I do not actually have to see the target to hit it.  I suppose if there were someone far away, I could hit them, even if I could not see them.  I would have to know who they were, or have some way to identify them."  She explained.

"How large a sphere can you throw and how hard?"  he asked.  "I do not know how large.  I do not think there is a limit.  I have thrown head sized pieces of rock to where they penetrate rock.  I would have to try.  Also I could throw something like that almost any distance.  There does not seem to be any limit."  She answered.

The senior officers crowded around then and asked her questions about what she had been doing.  She explained about drawing water from the ground and how to make that into an explosive.  Gerard explained to them how she had used a shield to hold off a force of fifty men, and how she had unseated many of them with steel rings.  They were very interested in that, so she showed them her bag of rings and then demonstrated how she used them.  The General called for a sheet of steel to be brought, and she showed them how she could put holes through the steel, or simply melt it.  The men seemed happy to talk to a pretty girl, so they kept asking her questions, until Gerard called it to a halt.  "Are we about finished, General?"  he asked.

"Yes, I think so.  I wish I had her with me in the last war, she would make a great assassin.  We have mages, but none that can do what she does.  At least I have never seen them do so much." the General said.

"She is more powerful that I am.  I had to study many years to get to where I am, and I cannot equal her.  What she demonstrated today, she has not done before.  The way she can control shields is incredible.  She only just learned how to shield, and she has this kind of control and power.  The water skills she only just learned.  When she needs a new skill, she knows how to create it."  Gerard explained.

"I understand she is a great healer.  Do you think she could look in on some of my men here?  I have some veterans she might be able to help.  Even if she cannot, I am sure they would like to meet a pretty girl."  the General inquired.

Carly and Gerard were escorted to a small barracks.   There was a loud shout when the General arrived, and Carly went into the building to see men at attention.  The General waved for them to relax, and then he had the Captain introduce the men to Carly.  The first man was on who was recently injured.  He had a sword cut down his arm.  It had been sewn and bandaged, but it looked red and inflamed.  "Our practice got a little rough, I guess."  the man said.  Carly touched his shoulder and the arm started to glow green. In a short while it was healed.  The man kept rubbing it and rubbing it.  He had a great smile on his face.  Another man, older, had been hamstrung.  His foot hung uselessly.  Carly was able to heal this.  She had one of the men hold the foot in place while she did the healing.  Another man had been speared in the chest.  It was not a deep wound, but it had not healed properly.  Carly healed this.  Several men had limbs missing.  She could not replace missing limbs, but she did heal them generally so that their aches and pains were gone.  There was one man whose cheek had been torn, he had difficult eating.  She healed that, but it took a long time.  There were a couple of men with bad teeth.  She treated everyone there in one way or another.  The Captain called a halt. All of the men came to attention and bowed to Carly.  There were many smiles and thank yous.

On the trip back, Carly was speaking to Gerard.  "I wonder about people who are missing limbs, hands, fingers and such.  Do you think that if I healed them long enough the fingers would grow back?  There does not seem to be a limit to the healing ability."  she asked.  "You know more about this than I do now.  I have never known of a healer who could treat old wounds like you did today.  That man you treated with the bad foot, you have changed his life.  He might be able to go back to active duty.  He was not that old."  Gerard said.

Carly had been invited to visit with Marie's family.  It was mainly so that Carly and Marie could have some time together, but also for Carly to get an impression of Marie's household.  The Baron could not go himself, but he could send his daughter.  The Baron was very interested in Marie, but he was having his men check out the family first.  So far all the responses had been very positive.

"It is so good of you to come visit.  I really like your dress."  Marie said as they entered the house.  Carly was wearing a peach colored gown with a while underskirt.  There were peach flowers and leaves embroidered on the front and on the sleeves.  Carly thanked Marie and looked around.  The house was a large, older, home.  It looked inviting and comfortable. There was a pleasant smell of candles, flowers and burning wood coming from the front room.  While the smells of spice, meat and bread were coming from the kitchen.  Marie introduced her parents, and then each one of her younger brothers and sisters.  The oldest boy was about Carly's age.  He bowed seriously, but then responded with a grin when Carly smiled at him.  Marie took Carly upstairs to show Carly her room.  It was pleasant and green, with lots of flowers and living plants in it.  Marie showed her some of the gowns she had and they chatted back and forth about food, family, gardens, and the weather.  Marie also talked about her father's businesses.  She spoke with great authority about products, markets, prices and quality of goods.  She spoke knowledgeably about men, management, and trade.

"I would like to do something for you, if I might.  You know that I am a healer.  Would you allow me to heal your hand?"  Carly asked.

"I would never dream of asking you such a thing.  Is it possible?"  Marie asked, twisting her bad hand anxiously with her right.

"If you will allow me, I will at least try."  Carly said.  She reached for Marie's hand and then held it in her own.  In a moment the hand started glowing a rich green.  It was very bright.  Marie was watching anxiously, fearing it would not work, and hoping that it would.  In about a quarter candlemark the green faded to a golden color.  Then that faded.  Carly squeezed Marie's hand, and Marie squeezed back.  The hand was perfect!  Marie held it up to look at it.  She slowly wiggled her fingers and bent her wrist.  She bent her fingers.  She turned the hand back and forth, then she reached over and picked up a handbrush.  She gripped it lightly and used the hand to brush her hair.  "I have always wanted to brush my own hair with this hand.  It is a simple thing, but it has always bothered me." she said.  She smiled a small smile, and then that grew till her whole face was lit.  "Can I go show my family?"  She asked.

"Of course!  Go.  Go."  Carly told her.  Marie ran out of the room and downstairs.  Carly followed more slowly.  "Mother, Father.  Let me show you something!"  she called out.  Carly followed her downstairs and into the kitchen.  There she found Marie showing her hand to her parents.  Marie's mother had tears in her eyes.  Her father was beaming.  "Thank you, thank you.  How can we ever repay you?"  they said. "That is all right.  I am happy that I have the skill to help.  It was not difficult.  I am happy it worked."  Carly said.

Dinner was very gay.  Everyone had smiles on their faces.  Marie's father opened a bottle of wine and offered a little to Carly.  She tried a bit.  All Marie's brothers and sisters kept coming over to look at Marie's hand.  She used it to pick up dishes and hand them.  She used it to eat.  She used it to butter her bread.  She used it to pour wine for her father.  Everyone was truly happy.

When the carriage came for Carly, everyone did not want her to go.  She had become part of their family already.  They were in her eternal debt, they assured.

When Carly worked on her weather journal that evening, she could feel a change in the weather coming.  It had been building for several days, now it was about to happen for sure.  When Carly awoke in the morning, she was not surprised to hear the sound of rain and wind, and the sound of rumbling thunder in the distance.  She jotted down the actual weather in her journal.  So far she had been right every day, each part of the day.

A messenger arrived from the church.  There were only a few sick people waiting at the church, so she was not needed there today.

"I received a message from Marie's family this morning already.  It is a thank you for your healing her hand."  the Baron said to Carly.  "I am really proud that you could help her.  She is a fine woman, and she deserves the best."

"You will like Marie's family.  The boys are all quite handsome and the girls are pretty.  Everyone has good manners and cheerful dispositions.  They are not mean spirited in the least.  Her father is jolly without being the fool, and he seems to have a good head for business, as does Marie.  Their house is well run, yet it is comfortable and welcoming."  Carly related.

"That is good to hear.  I have a good feeling about Marie."  the Baron said.

Gerard had nothing scheduled for the day, so Carly decided to practice looking into the future some more.  Now that the weather had changed, she wanted to know when it would change again.  She was also interested in seeing how far the rain extended.  She wondered if the nearby farmlands were getting rain right now.  So she extended her senses to look at the rain, and she stretched to look into the future.  She was just getting a clear picture when there was a pounding on the door and shouts from outside.  Carly ran downstairs to see what was happening.

"What is it?"  shouted the Baron.  He ran to the door, just as one of the servants opened it.  The rain was pouring down outside.  Carly could see a small crowd of people, but she could not tell what they were doing.  People were milling about and arguing.  Suddenly, a wet bundle was thrust in the house.  It was a lifeless child, wet and muddy.  "Save my child!  Save my child!"  a woman screamed.

Carly moved toward the door and the still child.  She sent her senses into the child to look for signs of life.  The child was not breathing, but there might be a spark.  Carly reached for her healing magic and threw it at the child.  The burst of green was so bright it startled everyone into silence.  Carly drove the healing into the child.  No response.  Again she drove the healing.  Now there was a choking and a splatter as the child's body spasmed and vomited the dirty water. Carly kept the healing going.  The grey, lifeless body started to take on warmth and color again.  "Get the child something warm to wear, bring all these people inside."  The Baron ordered.  The child was quickly stripped and then wrapped in warm blankets.  Someone brought towels for everyone, more blankets, and then warm drinks.  The cook made hot wine for everyone, and brought fresh bread and meat pies for them to eat.  Even the child was strarting to eat, like a timid little mouse.

"The stream is flooded.  She was playing in the water.  She ran out that instant.  It all happened so fast." the mother said.

Carly went around and pulled the water out of their wet clothing and put it into a bucket the servants had brought.  She did minor bits of healing on the people there, since some of them were wet and tired.  She made sure the child was completely healed.  When everyone had dried out, and the rain let up, then everyone went home.  They were loud in their gratitude for saving the child, and they were warm in their thanks for the food and drink.

Carly went back to her room and tried to get back into looking at the future.  Could she see the future, to see things like that happening?  The child almost died.  What if she had a bit of warning?  Carly tried to see the future.  She was looking for things related to herself, and things happening around her.  Could she really see things before they happened?

The next day, Carly woke to the sound of rain again.  Again there was a message that she was not needed at the healers.

Carly busied herself in the sunroom.  It was a room filled with plants of various sorts.  She used her healing magic on the plants to help them grow.  She took each one and watched it heal.  She noted the character and quality of the plant, the color of the soil, the color and strength of the leaves.  She noted how long it took to heal a plant, and what the result was when she finished.  She deliberately broke some leaves and then healed them again.  She broke stems and healed them.  She pulled some of the plants out by the roots and looked at the root systems.  She replanted them and healed them.  She checked the water level in each pot.  Old Pam found her there, and went over what the different plants were for, then Old Pam brought plants from throughout the house for her to heal and nurture.

During the day, the mother and child from yesterday came by.  They were covered by a rain cloak.  They brought some cookies the child had made, for Carly.  Carly thanked them and watched them depart.  She was glad the child had survived.

Carly was not surprised when the next day shone bright with clear sunlight.  That was what she determined by looking far for what clouds and weather were coming her way, and that was what she saw when she looked into the future.

Gerard was ready to leave soon after breakfast to go to the church.  Carly was ready to get out of the house.  When they arrived, there were quite a few people waiting in line.  Some of them with sniffles and coughs, but it did not look like anyone had the fever.  Carly healed those people first, anyway and then sent them home.  Gerard was helping Jean, while Carly worked alone.

The first person was missing a foot.  He had slipped and cut the bottom of the stump where the foot had been.  It was bleeding, and the man was sore where his crutches had rubbed.  Carly healed the sores and then spent a quarter candlemark healing the foot.  She told the man to come to her house each day in the evening before dinner.  She wanted to see if there was something more she could do to help him.  He readily agreed, and carefully memorized directions to her house.  He would come later today.

There was a little boy with a sty in his eye.  It was greatly swollen.  She healed that without too much difficulty.  There was a woman who was coughing blood.  That took a bit longer, but she was healed.  A man had broken two fingers and gashed his hand.  She healed that.  A woman with a rash came next, and she was healed.  Carly wondered if there was anything that could not be healed.  She doubted she could bring someone back from the dead.  She was going to try to heal a missing foot.  She was not sure she could bring back missing eyes or ears.

They finished helping the people who came for healing, then Carly and Gerard went home.  They were a bit late for lunch, so they sat together in the dining room eating.

"There are some people coming by for healing today.  They are friends of the King.  How are you feeling?  Are you tired?"  Gerard asked.

"I am fine.  I will be happy to help anyone who comes.  I have a man coming by just before dinner.  He lost a foot and I want to see if I can help him."  Carly explained.  The maid who was serving them nodded when she said this, so the servants would be notified too.

The first person to come for healing was an old man.  He had two menservants carry him in from the carriage.  Carly had him taken to the sitting room, there she offered food and drink.  But the man had just eaten, he was fine.  Carly examined the man with her crystal sight, and could see that there was something wrong with his hip and with his breathing.  "You hurt your hip and you are having trouble breathing.  Is that correct?"  The man looked startled, but then he nodded.  "I fell and broke my hip.  I cannot walk on it, there is great pain."  I have been in bed since then, and my breathing has gotten worse over time.  I am not coughing blood, but that also causes great pain."  The man was wheezing and coughing as he said these things.  "Let me heal your breathing first.  That should make you feel better quickly, and then I will heal your leg."  She touched him on his shoulder and his chest filled with deep green light.  The man gave a cough and then he sighed.  This healing went on for a few moments until the light turned to gold and then faded.  "Try taking a breath now."  she instructed.  The man had an anxious look on his face.  He took a very small breath, and then a much deeper one.  He filled his lungs with air, and his face beamed.  Carly then touched his hip.  This time the light was blinding.  The light went on for a quarter candlemark.  When it turned to gold there was a long delay before that faded.  Carly was curious, but not too concerned.  Finally she touched the man on the shoulder again to give him a general healing.  That was a tenth candlemark.  Again the golden light took longer than usual.  Carly gestured for the menservants to help the man to his feet.  He was hesitant because he had previously been in such pain.  But when he stood up, there was no pain.  He needed to build up his strength again, but he could easily stand.  When he took a tentative step, his step was sure.  He held on to the menservants, but did not fall.  They helped him walk around the room.  He was smiling.  "I feel like new.  How can I ever thank you."  he said. Carly nodded to him.  The menservants help him from the room.  They were not going to carry him now!  Just before they left the room, one of the menservants turned to Carly and presented her with a large, heavy purse.  She protested that she did not do anything.  The man said, "It is a small something.  You can use it to help the poor."  The man waved as he left in his carriage.

The next person to come was a young woman.  She seemed healthy as she stepped out of her carriage, but she wore a heavy veil.  When she was seated in the sitting room, she removed the veil so that Carly could see her face.  There was a large scar horizontally across her face, it split the bridge of her nose and cut both cheeks.  There had been some attempt to sew it closed when it was fresh, but there was heavy scar tissue now.  Carly looked at her with crystal sight and saw that she was basically healthy, but there was also something wrong internally, in the lower part of her abdomen.  "I will try to heal the scar for you, but is there something wrong with your lower abdomen?  I see something wrong there."  Carly asked.  The woman jerked and seemed to shrink in on herself.  "The man who cut me, kicked me in the stomache.  I lost my child.  I do not think I can have more children."  she said.  "Well, I generally heal the whole person, so I will heal both of these things, if I can.  Is that all right with you."  Carly said.  The woman nodded.  Carly touched her face and it started to glow a bright green.  It was so bright the woman closed her eyes against the glare.  Fully a quarter candle mark later the light faded and the woman could open her eyes.  There was a mirror on the wall.  The woman touched her face and stared at her reflection.  Tears ran down her face.  Now Carly touched her shoulder and began the deeper healing.  This also took almost a quarter candlemark.  But then the glow faded.  "I see now that you are healthy inside as well.  But are you safe from that man now?"  Carly asked.  "That man is dead now, and it seems that I have a future again."  the woman said.  She left a small purse behind when she left.  She did not wear the heavy veil when she left.

The Baron came to check on her just then.  "Father, what should I do with this?" Carly asked, indicating the two purses.  The Baron picked up the larger one, glanced in and weighed it in his hand.  "That is a hansome price.  Not too small for what you have given him in terms of health and life."  Then he picked up the smaller purse and opened it.  Inside were several large gem stones. "These are worth five bags of gold like this other.  You must have done something truly wonderful for this person."  The Baron said.  "I healed his leg and lungs.  I healed her face and womb.  What should I do with this?"  Again she indicated the two purses.  "The man said I could give the gold to the poor.  Is that what I should do?"

"I believe you should tithe to the church.  If you want to give more you can, but that should be sufficient.  Then you should invest the rest of this, maybe keep a small bit back for things you might want."  the Baron advised.  "I will provide for your living, so you do not need money.  But for when you are older it is good to have money and resources of your own."  he continued.

"Would you invest this for me and keep a separate account?"  Carly asked her father.  "Yes, I will do that.  You can ask any time for an accounting."  he said.

The man with the missing foot came about a candlemark before dinner.  The servants escorted him to the sitting room.  Carly had the servants feed him first.  She had an idea that healing was going to take something from the person healed, as well as from her.  While he was eating, she started the healing.  She invested half a candlemark to healing his foot.  She seemed to see some change.  The man reached down and felt the end of the bone.  "It has grown a little, I think.  Is my foot going to grow back?"  he asked.  "I do not know.  That is what I hope, but I have never done this before.  If you do not mind could you come a little earlier tomorrow and I will devote more time to healing.  You can eat here, so that will save you time elsewhere.  Be sure not to injure this now.  Are you careful when you are on crutches?"  She asked.  "I am normally very careful.  That that happened before was a rare accident.  I will be very careful."  he said.  "Are you hungry now?  I have an idea that the healing will make you hungry.  Is that right?"  she asked.  "Yes, I am hungry, even though I just ate."  he said.  Carly had the servants fix up a large meal for him to eat before he went.  She left him and went to get ready for dinner.

Carly wore a white gown with green underskirt.  There were red flowers and green leaves embroideried.  Carly was surprised to see Marie come for dinner.  There were no other guests.  Carly was happy to see Marie and pleased that her hand seemed to be working fine.  Marie came in bearing a gift.  Carly opened it and found a dark green dress with pale golden underskirt.  It was embroidered in golden roses, leaves and vines.  It was very beautiful. "This is beautiful.  When did you have time to do this?"  Carly asked.  "I have always been good with sewing and embroidery.  I had to have help threating the needle sometime, but now I am very fast.  I wanted to make you something with my own hands to show my appreciation."  Marie said.  "We really are close to the same size, aren't we?"  Carly exclaimed.  The Baron sat there with a smile on his face.  He was proud and happy.

"I have been healing a man who lost his foot.  I seemed to see some growth in the bone already.  I am going to keep healing him and see if the foot will grow back."  Carly related during dinner.

"That seems extremely odd.  Is that possible?"  Marie said.

"I will not know unless I try.  I have noticed how long it takes to heal different wounds, and different bone breaks.  I saw how long it took to heal your hand and many other limbs by now.  It seems possible, if I just keep healing, that it might happen."  Carly explained.

"Let's hope so."  Marie said.

"You are going to have more people coming tomorrow from the King.  Now that the word is out, you will be much in demand."  the Baron explained.

"There are several candlemarks in the morning at the Church, and then I can have the King's people come in the afternoon.  In the early evening I have the man with the missing foot.  I do my weather and future journal before bedtime.  I guess I have time for everything.  I do not know if Gerard wants me to practice more magic."  Carly explained. Then she looked at her father and Marie.  "I think I need to get to bed early tonight.  Would you mind if I go upstairs now?  I am kind of tired."  Carly said.  Her father's eyes went round for a moment and then he nodded, as did Marie.

Carly added entries to her weather and future journal.  She was trying harder and harder to see other things in the future, besides the weather.  She did not know what she should be looking for.  She did not know how to look, but she felt if she kept trying she would get some results.   There was an idea running around in her head.

Carly put down her pen for a moment.  When she tried to move the earth with her head, it had hurt a little and nothing happened.  When she explained what she wanted and then got out of the way and pushed, then things happened.  When she was trying to do things on her own, that was some kind of lower magic.  Gerard had explained that the greater magic was when she called on something outside herself.  Could she call on the magic to tell her what the future was going to bring?  Could she call on the magic to tell her what the weather was going to do?  Right now she was using her own power, and it was very hard, nearly impossible.  She would try it! 

She cleared her mind and visualized the crystal droplet.  Then she asked the magic to provide her with a vision of the weather as far as she could see.  Then she pushed to start the magic.  For a moment her mind was a blank, and then a glowing sphere grew in her mind.  It was blue and white.  Half of it was lit by sunlight and the other half in darkness.  When she tried to look closer to see more detail, her mind zoom in towards the sphere.  Now she could see huge areas, like a map.  The white areas were clouds, the brown and green areas were earth, and the blue areas were water.  This was too much!  She blinked to clear her mind and started over again.  She asked the magic to provide her with a map of the weather in her area.  Then she started the magic.  A picture map of the surrounding country side was shown to her.  It stretched over the whole kingdom, she decided.  There were clouds and moisture indicated on the living map.  She could see hills and mountains, rivers and streams, meadows and forests, cities and farms.  "Show me the city."  she instructed.  The map showed her just the city.  It was all in darkness, but she could see there were no clouds.  "Show me the city tomorrow morning."  The city was shown in sunlight, again there were no clouds.  "Show me the city slowly for the next week, starting now."  She instructed.  The city was shown in the dark with not clouds.  Toward the morning there was a mist, and then the sun cleared that off.  It was clear through the day and then the same darkeness the next night along with the mist.  She watched for several more days and then the mist increased to stay cloudy all morning.  Then clouds all day.  There was a lot of moisture in the clouds and the ground was wet.  She could tell when and where it was going to be raining.

Carly played with the weather map for a couple of candlemarks, then she was really tired.  She had noted down the weather for the next two weeks, using the maps.  Tomorrow, or soon, she would try to use the greater magic to also show her the future.

Carly was tired in the morning, but she ate a good breakfast and was ready to go to the church to heal people.  Gerard was going to help Jean again.  It was odd that he was helping her so much.

The first person to be healed in the morning was a woman.  When Carly looked at the woman with her crystal sight, she could see that there was a dark spot in her lungs.  "Would you take a deep breath, please?"  Carly asked her.  The woman tried to breathe deep, but it hurt her.  "Has that been bothering you for a while?"  Carly asked.  "Yes, that is why I came.  It is hurting too much."  Carly touched her and started the healing.  This time she watched the woman during the healing using her crystal sight.  She could see the dark spot getting lighter.  Carly opened her eyes when the spot was gone and noticed that the green light had turned to gold.  So she had another way to judge progress. Either the light, or the crystal sight, could tell her how much more remained to be done.

The next man to come in had a very crooked spine.  Carly knew she could heal that sort of thing, but it was going to take time.  She asked the man to wait until she had healed the others first, since it was going to take more time for him.  "I have waited this long another candlemark or two will not matter."  he said.

A woman with blood shot eyes was next.  Carly's blind sight could see there was something inside her head.  It looked almost black to her sight.  That probably meant that this would take longer than usual as well.  Carly decided to go ahead as she did not know who was next.  Carly decided to do something a little different this time.  Before she started, she asked the magic if this woman could be healed faster than usual, just so that it did not hurt her.  When Carly started the healing, the woman's head glowed deep green.  This took almost half a candlemark to heal her.  Carly watched all along, with her crystal sight to see the spot inside her head.  It gradually lightened until it seemed to be gone.  With her normal sight, Carly could tell that the glow was a deep golden now.  Then it faded.  Carly was going to tell the woman she could go, then she remembered to heal the woman generally to pick up anything else she might have missed.  Surprisingly, this took a quarter candlemark.  Carly was glad she had not forgotten. There had been something else wrong with the woman, something fairly seriously wrong.  When Carly looked at the woman, she saw that her eyes were no longer bloodshot.  The woman said she was not so dizzy any more.  Carly let her leave.

Carly cured several children who had gotten into poison ivy.  She cured a man who was coughing blood.  She cured a girl with some internal problem.  Carly did not know what the problem was, but the girl's stomach was black to Carly's crystal sight.  Finally, the man with the twisted back returned, and Carly straightened his back and healed him generally.  She told him to be sure and eat.

Carly barely had time to eat lunch at home, and then it was time for the King's friends to arrive.  The first one was an old matron, very tall, very thin.  The woman was supported on either side by her ladies in waiting.  They did not carry her.  She walked, very slowly, into the house and to the sitting room.  There she sat, proudly.  Carly had already looked at her with crystal sight.  "Your heart is very weak and there is something wrong with your chest.  You are very frail all over, and there is something wrong with your joints."  Carly related.  "You are right.  That is exactly what all the doctors have told me, but they could do nothing to help me.  Can you help?"  the woman asked.  "I will heal you all over first to take care of the frailty and heal your joints.  Then I will heal your heart and what is wrong with your chest."  Carly stated.  "Could you heal my heart first?  That is more important."  the woman asked.  "Surely.  Are you comfortable, this is going to take a while perhaps more than a candlemark."  The woman said she would get tired if she sat that long, so Carly had a small bed brought in.  The woman laid down and closed her eyes.  Carly healed the woman's heart and chest first,  She watch the darkness lighten and then watched the golden glow fade finally.  Then she touched the woman again and cured her generally, especially her joints.  The combined two took a full candlemark.  It was time for the next person to arrive.  Carly asked the woman to sit up.  She was able to stand easily.  "You are going to be very hungry now that you have been healed.  So please eat big meals for a few days."  Carly said.  The woman left then, the ladies in waiting walking beside her, but not supporting her now.  She left Carly a small purse.  Carly tucked it under a side board and went to meet the next person.

Carly looked up as the next woman came in.  At first, she seemed to be in good health.  Carly used her crystal sight and found that the whole body of the woman was gray.  She had no experience with something like this.  She could not imagine what it might be.  There did seem to be some problem in her vaginal area and in her head.  When the woman was seated in the sitting room, Carly asked her how she could help her.  "It is rather delicate." the woman said.  "I will not embarrass you.  I can see that there is something in your head, and in your whole body that is affecting you, and you might have a woman's problem."  Carly said.  "I will heal you generally and then see how you feel."  Carly touched her on her shoulder and started the healing.  The gray throughout her body dissolved first, and then the darkness in her head.  Finally, after about half a candlemark the green glow turned to gold and then a few moments later faded.  The woman said she felt much better already.  Her head felt clearer and something else seemed to have changed.  She left soon thereafter and left another small purse.

There was some confusion just then.  Carly saw two new carriages outside the house.  She went outside to see what was happening.  In one carriage was a young man, there was blood on his shirt.  There was an old man in the other carriage.  He seemed in reasonable health.  Carly went up to the old man.  "I think you were next, but it seems the young man has an emergency.  Do you might waiting? It will probably be half a candlemark."  The man nodded.

The young man had been stabbed with a sword.  It went through his shoulder, missing his heart easily, but he was bleeding still.  Carly had the man's friends bring him into the sitting room. They put a blanket over the bed there and laid him on it.  She started the healing immediately and the man seemed to sink down into sleep.  In a quarter candlemark the light turned golden already, and Carly was about to stop, when she remembered to also heal him generally.  He seemed kind of gray, but she did not see any other injuries or illness.  Surprisingly the general healing took another quarter candlemark.  Carly was in a bit of hurry, so she had the man's companions walk him back to his carriage.  He seemed all right now.  She did not expect any payment.  She was more concerned with the old man.

She found the old man still sitting in his carriage.  He was sitting, but awkwardly.  Then Carly noticed that he favored his right arm.  It seemed to be paralyzed or damaged.  Carly had his menservants carry the old man inside.  One of the maids had changed the blanket on the small bed.  Carly asked the man to lie down.  She could see damage in his head, and along the arm and leg.  "Is this a recent injury?"  she asked.  "No. It is some weeks since this happened."  the man said.  He had difficulty speaking and now Carly noticed the weakness on the right side.  "I can see several things wrong.  I am going to heal the problem in your head first, and then I will see what I can do about your arm, leg and face.  Then i want to heal you overall.  I think this will take about a full candlemark.  She started the healing of the man's head.  That took half a candlemark.  When the green turned to gold and then faded, she immediately started healing overall, with special emphasis on the places where he was paralyzed.  This took just over another half candlemark.  When the glow faded, she had him sit up, and then stand up.  His paralysis was gone.  His face looked almost normal.  He could walk normally.  "How do you feel now?"  She asked.  "Like a new man.  You really are remarkable, you know."  he said.  "I am sorry you had to wait."  She said.  "It was well worth the wait."  he said.  When he was leaving, he handed Carly a leather folder, the kind used to hold valuable papers.  "I think you will be able to use this better than me."  he said.  "I want you to eat a big dinner when you get home.  And for the next few days."  she said.

The man with the missing foot had arrived while this was happening.  The servants took him to the kitchen and fed him a big dinner, in preparation for his healing.  Carly found him there and started his healing immediately.  She spent a whole candlemark on him, while she was nibbling on cheese and fruit.  He ate continuously for the whole treatment time.  They sent him off with a few meat pies and some apples to eat when he got home.

==== End Oct 31  34,800 words,  about 69 pages

Dinner was casual today.  No one was invited for dinner, so Carly wore her day clothes.  Carly, Gerard and the Baron ate together.  "Here is what the people today brought to pay for their healing."  Carly said and then displayed the gemstones and a deed."  Carly said.  "This is a small estate just outside the city.  I recognize it."  the Baron said, pointing to the deed.

"Can I really accept this?  How do I keep up a place like that?  Don't I need people to take care of it?"  Carly asked.

"This is a deed and rents.  There are people living there and nearby who pay rents to the estate.  It is probably self-supporting.  I will look into it for you."  the Baron said.

"Is that something I should sell and then invest the money?"  Carly asked.

"No, it is an investment in its own right.  You should keep it and let it grow.  Just check to see that it is well managed.  I can have my men check it out for you."  the Baron said.

"Thank you.  There is a lot to learn about investments.  I will just keep healing people."  Carly said, then she changed the subject.  "Gerard, I am able to see the future clearly now for the weather.  I found a way to use the magic to see the future.  I still do now know how to see the future generally."

"What part of the future do you want to see?  Are you specific enough when you look into the future?  If you do not have a clear question in mind, then it is too general and you get everything."  Gerard recommended.  "Have you asked questions about the future of the kingdom?  I am sure the King would like to know whether anyone is threatening him from outside the kingdom.  He might like to know how the harvest will go."  Gerard explained.

"I have mainly been looking at the weather.  I will try some other questions."  Carly said.  Then she changed the subject again.  "Father, are you thinking about marrying Marie?  You seem to really like her.  I think she would make a good wife for you."  Carly asked.

"I like Marie a lot.  My men are giving me good reports on her family and their businesses.  I still have more to hear, but I am hopeful it will all be positive.  I might very well ask her.  She seems a little young to me, but then I would like to start a new family, I need a young wife."  the Baron explained.  He was smiling as he related this.  Carly was encouraged.

Later that night Carly had a chance to try to see the future again. She asked for a picture of the future of the kingdom with focus on things of importance to the King.  Then she started the magic.  She saw pictures of various people doing things.  She did not recognize the people and she could not hear what they were saying.  There were pictures of a flood, and pictures of crops burning.  She did not recognize the places, they could have been almost anywhere.  If she was going to ask about the future of the King, she was going to have to learn the faces of the people around him.  She was going to have to learn the geography and layout of the kingdom much better.  She asked to see the King and the peope around him.  It was very complicated; there were many people moving about.  Again she could not hear what they were saying.  She could just see them.  "Is the King threatened in any way?"  she asked.  Again she saw people but nothing to show what they might mean to the King.

Carly did not need to go to the Church to heal people today.  There was a note, that only a few people had come, and Jean could take care of them.  Carly puttered around in the sun room, and in the back garden.  She wanted to get more experience with plants and plant healing. 

In the afternoon, some of the King's people came by for healing.  The first was mother with a young girl.  Carly could see they were both healthy.  Only when the child came closer did Carly see that the child had a cleft lip.  Otherwise she was a beautiful young girl.  It took only a quarter candle mark to heal that.  Then Carly healed the girl and her mother both, generally.  That took another quarter candlemark.

Carly went outside to check on the carriages that were waiting.  She saw a woman in one carriage.  "Are you next?  I finished the last person quickly, I can help you now."  Carly said.  The woman nodded and then stepped out of the carriage.  She followed Carly into the sitting room.  Carly looked at her with crystal sight.  There was something wrong with her, over most of her body.  Carly did not recognize it.  "I have a rash that will not go away.  It has been growing.  I am becoming worried.  The woman showed her arm, which was covered with a red rash, a deep red.  Carly could see that it covered her.  "Please sit here and I will heal it for you."  Carly said.  When she was seated, Carly touched her on her shoulder.  The woman's body started to glow.  It was quite bright.  This must have been something very serious, because it took a full half candlemark before it turned golden and faded.  Carly had asked for general healing with specific emphasis on the rash.  That is what happened.  The woman looked at her arm and then opened her gown to look at herself.  She was very pleased to have that healed.  When she left, the woman gave Carly a small purse.

The next man had to be carried into the sitting room.  His foot was wrapped up, and the man winced when he was moved.  Carly could see blackness for the foot and a gray color to the whole man.  "I will heal you generally, and I will heal your foot.  Is there anything else that you need?"  she asked.  The man was miserable and did not answer.  Carly began the general healing.  It took a half candlemark.  After that the foot took only a quarter candlemark.  "I cannot believe you healed me so easily.  I have lived with this misery for years.  You cannot imagine the pain and suffereing it has caused me.  My wife and children have given me up for dead.  I have been a miserable creature for so long, and not you have healed me."  the man related.  He gave Carly a leather folder.  Yet another deed of some sort.  Carly thanked him, and walked him to the door.  "You can burn that wrag I had around my foot,  I never want to see it again."  he said.

There was no one else waiting for healing after that, but a carriage arrived at the door.  There was a Minister of the King, as he introduced himself.  There were two footmen.  They carried two chests into the house.  The Baron came to see who had arrived.  He greeted the Minister.  "His Majesty wants to thank you for curing his friends the other day in the garden.  Please accept these small tokens on his appreciation."  the Minister said.  He bowed and then left.  The Baron opened the chests.  They were filled with gold, gemstones and pearls.  "You are now a rich young girl."  he said.  He gestured for the servants to take the chests to the strongroom.

"I will have the accountant go though the chests and determine their value.  You might want to keep the pearls and jewels.  We can set aside a tithe for the church, if you want and then we can invest the rest."  the Baron explained.

Carly thought she was done for the day, but one more carriage arrived.  There was a coachman and footman.  The footman bowed deeply when he came to the door.  He asked if Carly could please accompany them to the home of a woman who was too sick to come here.  Gerard went with Carly and they soon arrived at a large mansion.  Carly followed an attendant to the woman's bedroom.  There Carly could see an older woman almost hidden by the bed clothes.  Her hair was pure white, and her skin seemed translucent.  She was breathing heavily and loudly, a kind of a gurgle could be heard.  Carly could see a dark gray over most of the woman.  Her heart was bad, and her chest was nearly black where healing was needed.  The old woman nodded at Carly, but she did not speak.  Carly began the treatment with a general healing, with special emphasis on the heart and lungs.  Carly watched the woman as the healing progressed.  She used her crystal sight to see what was happening.  Carly could see the heart lighten and the chest too.  She heard the breathing improve and saw the woman struggle to sit up straighter.  It took over a full candlemark to heal the woman of everything.  The woman was sitting up in bed.  "My Dear, you are a gifted Healer.  Everyone had given up on me.  I had one foot in the grave before today.  Now I might have several more years to me.  Is there anything I can do for you to thank you?"  she said.  "I am just happy to help you.  I am glad that the healing went well and you are feeling better.  Do you want to try getting up now?  And you will want to eat more to make up for the healing."  Carly explained.  The attendant helped the woman out of bed.  She took a few steps and then sat in one of the chairs.  "I do feel rather hungry now."  she said.  "Yes, it has something to do with the healing.  When I heal someone for a long time, their body needs food right away."  Carly explained.  When Carly was leaving, the woman said, "I will send something for you soon."  Carly thanked her, then she and Gerard returned home.

When Carly returned, the man with the missing foot was still waiting. It was almost dinner time and the servants had fed him.  He said he did not mind, he knew that Carly had to take care of other people.  Carly had her own dinner brought to her and she healed the man while she was eating.  There was definite growth in the foot.  It was now the size of a small child's foot.  It was pink and soft.  Two more candlemarks and the healing might be done.  The man smiled as he ate.  He could wiggle the toes on his new foot.  He could feel when he touched his foot.  "I do not have dinner this evening with my father.  If you like, I could continue the healing and finished up this evening."  Carly said.  "I would be very happy to have you continue.  It is your choice."  he said.  Carly continued the healing.  It seemed to be going faster now, perhaps it would not require two candlemarks after all.  Servants would come into the kitchen to peek at what she was doing.  The maids hid their mouths behind their hands.  The menservants nodded their head and talked to each other in whispers.  Even the Baron stuck his head in the door to see how things were going.  It took a little less than two candlemarks and the foot was completely healed.   The man tried standing on the foot.  It was a bit weak.  One of the manservants brought a pair of shoes for the man to wear.  "I want you to use the crutches for a few days until you build up a little more strength in the foot.  Be very careful not to hurt it.  Try not to twist your ankle.  And keep eating.  We will send you home with some more food.  Come back in a few days and let me see how it is doing."  Carly explained.

"That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.  What made you think that you could grow back someone's foot."   Said the Baron.  They were in the sitting room with Gerard.

"I have seen scars disappear while I was healing and I have seen holes close up from wounds.  I have seen muscle come back to people with wasted limbs.  It just seemed that if I was patient the foot would grow back."  Carly explained.

"There are a lot of people with missing limbs.  If you take a day to heal each person, you might never complete the task of healing them all."  the Baron said.

"At least I know that it is possible.  But, in the time it took to heal one person with a missing limb, I could completely heal many others."  Carly explained.

"Too bad you cannot make it go faster.  When you are using magic for other things is there a way to make it go faster?"  the Baron said.

"I tried to call on the greater magics to make the healing go faster.  It did not seem to go faster.  I can try again.  When I heal people they get really hungry.  If I tried to replace a missing leg, where would the muscle and bone come from?  Wouldn't it have to come from the body?  I do not know of a way to add muscle to the body.  The man with the missing foot had to eat a lot, he was so hungry."  Carly said.

"Even though I have studied magic most of my life, I have never heard of anyone healing the way you are doing.  It is like you are creating new magics all the time."  Gerard said.

The next day Carly returned to the church to continue healing there.  She had mostly young children with sniffles and scrapes.  She healed one man whose ears were stopped up with seeping wounds.  One woman had female problems and another had a bad burn from boiling water.  The most difficult problem was an old man with bad teeth, she had to regrow them.  That took a candlemark.  Gerard was off helping Jean.

Carly had two people to treat in the afternoon, both in their own mansions.  Both were very old, with bad hearts and lungs.  She added many years onto their lives, and they paid her accordingly.

"Because of all the money you have received, I have had to greatly expand my business to create new investments.  This is not a bad thing, but I wanted you to know.  I have kept a lot of the money in coin and jewels, since it is convenient for storage and keeping."  the Baron told Carly.

"You have built up a nice living as a healer.  I am a little worried that your skills as a mage are being wasted.  Could you spend some of your time working as a mage too?  I have a few things for you to do."  Gerard said.

"When do you want to do this?"  Carly asked.

"Tomorrow you do not have to go to the church to heal people.  You are caught up with most of the serious cases.  We can go in the morning and take care of a few things.  I think you will be able to do them."  Gerard answered.

The next day was overcast, exactly like the weather was forecast.  But Carly knew it would not rain for another day.  Gerard and Carly rode in the small carriage to the far side of the city.  There they came to the wall leading out of the city.  There was a new gate being built there.  It was of heavy stone.  Gerard led them to the workmen there and they explained to Carly what it was they wanted her to do.  There were two things. First there was the large city gates to be hung.  Then there was a large stone that needed to go across the whole gateway.  It would cap two largers stones on either side.  The workmen had fabricated the huge gates.  They were laying near to where they needed to be hung.  Carly could see the huge hinges.

Carly walked into the gateway.  She could see where the capstone would go.  Workmen on ladders pointed out to her where the capstone would hook into the wall and hold everything in place.  They also pointed out how the gates were to be hung.  The gatea would go first, since they would drop into the hinges.

Gerard told her that she would need to call on the greater magics to lift these huge things.  She knew that.  What she was not sure was how to hold the things and then move them.

"Are you ready for me to do these things?"  Carly asked.  "Yes." Said the workmen and Gerard.

"I am going to practice with the gate first.  I want to be sure that I am able to pick these up and move them."  Carly visualized the crystal droplet.  She used that to look at the gate.  She touched the gate and then asked for it to be lifted a few inches and then set down again.  Very slowly the gate rose a few inches and then settled again.  "Good." she thought.  She walked through the mental steps to lift the gate, rotate it, move it into place and then set it gently into place.  When she was ready, she stood back and faced the gate.  She closed her eyes to be sure of the gate one more time, and then she began.  The gate rose up about ten feet, then very slowly it rotated to where it was upright.  Then carefully she moved it into place above the hinges and then slowly settled the huge gate into the hinges.  There was a groan as the hinges took the weight.  The gate was perfectly in place!  A small cheer went up from the crowd.  She repeated the same process for the left hand gate.

Now for the capstone.  It was many times heavier than the gates and it fit very closely into the space alloted.  It was going to be a tight fit, with no room for error.  Carly touched the capstone.  She lifted it a few inches and then settled it again.  She went and stood facing the gate.  There were workmen on either side to tell her how close she was.  She began.  She lifted the stone slowly, slowly, until it was higher than the gate.  Then across the road, and then back into the gateway.  The workmen signalled her to raise it up a bit, which she did.  Then they had her move it over the gate onto the two gatestones.  The workman was gesturing with his two fingers to show she had only a couple of inches to lower the stone.  She carefully let the stone settle.  There was a slight grinding sound and then a sound almost like a sigh and the capstone was in place!  Carly shook her hands to release the tension.  She did not realize how afraid she had been.  The magic had taken care of everything, but she was still afraid that she would drop these things.

"Shall we go complete the next task?"  Gerard asked.  "Yes.  What is it?"  Carly asked.  "Let me show you."  Gerard said.  The walked away from the gate and down a slight incline until they came to a solid stone bridge.  They walked across the bridge, and Carly could see that it was dry underneath them.  She looked upstream and she could see that the river had been blocked off so that it flowed around the bridge.  When they got to the other side of the bridge, there was about twenty yards before the road was cut by the diverted river.  "What do you want me to do?"  Carly asked.  "I want you to unblock the river and let it flow into its old path, and then I want you to fill in the diverted river bed so that the road can go through again."  Gerard explained.  There was a workman, probably the foreman, standing next to Gerard.  He was nodding his head.  "Should I unblock the river first?  I can see the piles of rock and dirt that are supposed to go into the diverted riverbed.  You want me to put them back?"  Carly stated.  The foreman nodded again.

Carly faced upstream.  She instructed the magic to remove dirt and rock from the left side of the dam and move it towards the right.  There was a rumbling sound and the river started flowing again.  Then she asked for the remainder of the dam to move to the right and fill the diversion stream bed.  This happened next, with a rumble and splashing.  Then she went to the end of the road where there were large piles of rock and dirt.  She used her magic to sweep these piles into the riverbed.  She did that on the right side of the road as well.  Now the whole diversion streambed was filled with rubble and dirt.  She leveled everything, leaving the roadbed higher than the sides.  "Is that how you wanted everything?"  she asked the foreman.  The foreman nodded, then said.  "That is  exactly right.  Thank you very much.  You have saved us a lot of labor and a certain amount of danger.  Thank you."

Carly and Gerard walked back towards the new gate.  They went through and found their carriage waiting for them.  They were just getting ready to go when there was a commotion.  "Heal me.  Heal me."  they heard.  Carly could see a small crowd of people standing nearby.  The man who was crying out seemed to have white eyes.  When the man stepped closer Carly could see that he had cataracts.  Carly looked at Gerard.  "Do we have time to stop for half a candlemark?"  she asked.  Gerard said that they did have time.  Carly went over to the blind man and led him to the side of the road.  There was a small wall there.  She had him sit down and then she started healing him.  It took only a quarter candlemark for the glow to fade and the healing to be done.  Carly noted that this was much faster than before.  She wondered about it.  The man was overjoyed.  He kissed the hem of her skirt and then kept bowing to her.  Eventually, Carly went back to the carriage, then she and Gerard rode home.

At dinner that night Carly wore her new dress that she had gotten from Marie, because Marie was coming over for dinner again.  "Carly, most people are very happy with your healing, and the works you are doing.  But there is a slight problem that had come up.  A group of physicians has pleaded with the King to have you stop treating people.  It appears you are taking their clients and healing them, thereby depriving the physicians of what they perceive to be their rightful income."  the Baron said.  "Should I stop?  Is that right?"  Carly asked.

"The physicians are not able to cure any of these people.  They make money as long as the people remain sick and keep coming to them.  It is the physicians who are in the wrong."  Marie said.

"None the less, they are a powerful lobby.  The King has been asked to do something.  He cannot ignore the case."  the Baron said.

"I take it they do not mind if I treat the poor.  It is just their rich clients they do not want me to treat?"  Carly suggested.

"You are right.  It is their rich clients that the physicians are trying to hold onto."  Marie said.

"I am not charging the people who come to me.  They are giving me things of their own accord.  I enjoy healing people and seeing them well."  Carly said.

"I think their complaint is that you are actually healing these people.  So much so that they have no need for physicians."  Marie said.

Conversation drifted to other subjects and then Carly found excuses to leave the Baron and Marie alone.  She practiced her future seeing.  She was starting to recognize some of the people in the visions.  She did not know their names, nor their duties, but she knew she had seen them before.  Maybe she could describe some of them to her father and ask him if he knew any of them.

The very next day as Carly was greeting a new patient, there were shouts and curses, then Carly heard things hitting around her and her patient.  Someone was throwing eggs!  Men ran out of the house and chased away the physicians, for that was who was causing the trouble.  Neither Carly nor her patient was hit with eggs, but it had been a close thing.  Her patient said that one of the men had been his own physician.  Her patient said he was going to ask the King to do something about the physicians.  Carly healed the man, and he was very grateful.

Carly was treating another patient when there was a knock at the door.  There were a messenger from the King.  Carly was to appear before the King in the morning.

Carly wore her same white gown with white underskirt that she had worn before.  Again the Baron accompanied her.  There was the same walk through the palace, but this time they were escorted to the King's court.  There were ministers and courtiers on both sides.  Carly was led to the front, in front of the King.

"Your healing has been causing a bit of problem it would seem.  You are too successful in treating your patients.  It seems like once you heal someone, they stay healed, and do not any more require the assistance of their former physicians.  What do you have to say for yourself?"  said the King.

"Your Majesty.  I have been blessed with the gift of healing magic.  I do not know where it comes from.  I barely know how it works.  I have been happy to heal people, because they are in such pain, and their lives are often so tragic, that I can hardly refuse them.  Does your Majesty want me to stop helping his people?  If you say so, I will stop.  But I would like to continue helping the poor."  Carly said.

"I do not like to condemn someone who is honorable and successful, someone who is truly helping others.  I feel that it it the physicians who are at fault here.  Do you have a suggestion for what I should do?" the King asked.

"I would not presume to tell the King what to do."  Carly responded.

"Quite right.  So here is what I am going to do.  For the physicians who are truly healers, I want them to continue helping others.  If the physicians are merely quacks who do not have healing powers, they are going to be banished unless they find alternative occupations.  Any physician caught aggitating will be thrown in jail."  the King said.  "Further, I now appoint you as the Royal Healer, in charge of all other healers in the city.  You will be responsible for removing the fake healers.  I will give you a staff to help you."  the King concluded.

Carly was shocked.  She did not know what to say.  How was she going to do what the King asked?  Could she do what the King asked?  She looked around her, and then back at the King.  The King had a kindly smile on his face.  He gestured to one of his ministers who came to Carly and the Baron and led them do a room nearby.  There were three people there.  One introduced himself as the Chief Constable.  He was going to find the physicians and healers and bring them in for testing.  One other introduced herself as the Healer responsible for the King's health.  She was really in charge of the healers in the Palace.  The third person was head of the King's Guard.  He was going to make sure that the people who failed the tests and did not find alternative work would be banished.

The Chief Constable already had a list of the physician in the city.  When they made the petition to have Carly stopped, they had to identify themselves.  Now they were going to be stopped - unless they were true healers.  "We already have five physicians in custody.  Can you test their skills?" he asked.

Carly turned to the King's Healer.  "Do you mind if I test you first?  I want to be able to tell what a true healer is like.  I know you are a good healer, since you take care of the King.  I want to see how you repond to testing?  The King's Healer was shocked for a moment, and then she agreed.  "What do I have to do?"  She asked.

"I am going to try to use the greater magic to show me how strong your gift is.  I will ask for a red glow according to the strength of the gift.  Would that be all right?"  Carly asked.

Carly instructed the greater magic to cause the Healer to glow according to her healing gift.  Then she "pushed" to start the magic.  The Healer glowed bright red.  It was almost too bright to watch.  Then Carly tried this on the King's Guardsman and he did not glow at all.

"I think that will work then. Shall we go test these physicians then?"  Carly suggested.

They went to the opposite end of the palace, through a door and into another building.  They entered what was part of the Guard's headquarters and found five physicians waiting.  There were several men watching them.  Carly faced the first person and asked him if he was a healer.  He said he was.  She tested him and he glowed red.  The next man said that he was also, but he did not glow at all.  Carly tested the other three and they each had some ability, though none of them were as good as the King's Healer.  Carly asked what would happen to the man without any healing skills.  They said he was going to go back to work as a cooper. 

==== End Nov 1  39,900 words about 80 pages

Carly and Gerard came to the Guard building the next morning.  The Chief Constable had all the rest of the physicians brought there, so that Carly could test them.  She went through the group, one by one.  She found six who had no skill.  These had to register with the Constable and promise not to practice as healers.  The Constable was going to keep checking on them.

"I wish I had greater skill as a healer.  I try very hard but I am still a weak healer."  Carly heard one of the woman healers say.  Carly turned to the woman.  "Do you not use the greater magics when you heal?"  Carly asked.  "No. It all depends on my own strength, and I am not strong."  The woman said.  Carly looked at the woman, and then closed her eyes and used her crystal sight to see the woman. She was darker than she should have been.  "Do you mind if I try something?"  Carly asked.  The woman nodded and Carly touched her shoulder.  She turned bright green with the healing glow.  In a few moments the green changed to gold and then continued glowing.  A few long moments then and that faded.  Carly tested her again for healing strength, and she tested much higher than earlier.  "You must have been tired.  Once you were healed generally, then your healing ability improved." Carly explained.  Several other healers were watching Carly do this, they asked her to heal them as well.  This Carly did, until she had healed the whole group.  It took quite a while, but the healers were more able after that.

Carly healed those "physicians" with no healing skills.  They did not gain healing skills from being healed.

There was a message waiting for Carly when she returned home.  She was requested to work on the road again, which connected to the bridge and gate.  Carly did not have patients scheduled today, so she and Gerard went to help.  They rode the small carriage through the town, through the new gate, across the new bridge, until they came to the end of the new road.   It ended at a small forest.  The same road foreman was waiting for them.  He explained that they were hoping that Carly could remove the trees from the path of the road, and remove some of the rocks.  "Where do you want the trees to go when they are pulled up?"  she asked.  "There doesn't seem to be any place for them."  she continued.  The foreman indicated a place to the side of the road, just before the forest.  It was far from the trees.  "I will try, but I am not sure how this will go.  They walked closer to the forest.  The trees to be removed were all marked with an X chopped into their bark.  Carly looked at the first tree with her crystal sight.  The tree was strong and the roots went deep.  She was going to have to use earth magic to release the roots, and then she had to pick up the tree and lay it down where it was supposed to go.  "I guess I am ready.  Is everyone out of the way?"  she asked.  The foreman nodded.   The foreman went and pointed to the first tree.  Carly put tension on the tree to hold it up, and then used earth magic to loosen the rock and soil under the roots.  She "pulled" up on the tree and lifted it out of the soil.  Then she moved it down the road to the clear space and laid the tree down.  It was surprisingly quiet, just the sound of loose soil hitting the ground.  The foreman indicated the next tree and Carly pulled that one out the same way, then laid it down next to the first tree.  In this manner, Carly removed about forty trees.  There was a long line of trees lying next to the road now.  Carly and the foreman walked into the forest to the end of the new road.  There was a small hill there, made up of huge boulders.  Beyond the hill, there was grassy meadows the foreman said.  Once he was past the boulders, then he could make the road go as straight as an arrow for many miles.  Again Carly followed the foreman's instructions.  He would point out a boulder, and she would move it to an open space beside the new road.  She lifted these boulders very carefully.  She never faltered as she was moving them.  She did not drop the boulders, but placed them gently into the open area.  In a couple of candlemarks she had the road cut through the hill and onto the meadow beyond.  Only one boulder gave her problems.  It was a huge stone embedded in the ground, held there by other stones.  She had to use a combination of earth magic and sheer force to pull the stone out of the ground.  There was a huge crack and the stone split in two, the part above the ground she moved to the open area.  The rest the foreman said his men could handle.

"Do you need more help soon?" Gerard asked the foreman.  "Not until we reach another small forest and a stream on the other side of the meadow.   If you are available, we would appreciate the help."  the foreman answered.

Carly was very hungry at dinner that evening.  It was just her father and Gerard this evening, so she was not shy about eating enough to satisfy her hunger.

"You should have seen Carly moving those huge trees and the rocks today.  It is really amazing the control and strength she has."  Gerard said to the Baron.

"I wonder why I have been given these gifts.  I know that I am helping people wherever I can; but I feel I should be doing more."  Carly said.

"You are doing enough.  Just take each day as it comes."  the Baron said.

Carly used her magic to see into the future again.  She had learned how to follow a single individual to see what was happening with them.  She followed the King and she began to see some of the people who stayed near the King all the time.  She tried to look forward as far as possible, but the King's future became murky after a few months.  When she tried to see her own future, it was also faded and unclear after a few months.  She tried Gerard and that was the same.  Maybe that was as far as anyone could see the future.

There was a message in the morning as she was eating breakfast.  There were two people waiting at the church for healing, could she come today to help just those two people?  So after breakfast, she and Gerard rode to the church.  Carly saw a line of people, apparently with minor complaints.  Gerard greeted Jean cheerfully.  He seemed to be very happy to see her.  "Please come inside.  They are waiting for you."  Jean explained. 

The first man was accompanied by his wife and children.  He had been crushed by a wagon.  His back was broken and his legs did not work.  It was a fairly recent accident, the man still had wounds on his arms, legs and back where the wagon had cut and bruised him.  He was in a great deal of pain.  Carly could see the strain on his face and the tension in his muscles.  She used her crystal sight to look at the man.  There was a dark spot in the middle of his back along the spine, and his legs had been crushed as well.  Even if she cured his back, the legs were broken, so she would need to heal those as well.  Carly was surprised the man had survived.  Carly decided to heal the back first, then the legs and then generally.  She started with the back.  It glowed bright green.  She let it go at its own pace for a while, and then she tried to hurry up the healing.  The man cried out in pain!  So that is what set the pace - the healing went at a pace where the person would not be in too great pain.  It was half a candlemark before the back was healed.  The man was restless now, the pain from his legs was reaching his brain now.  Carly touched his arm and asked for healing for the pain.  The man seemed to relax a bit.  Then Carly healed his legs.  She asked Gerard to straighten one of the legs which was at an odd angle.  The leg slid back into the right place and there was a sigh from the man.  That took more than half a candlemark.  Finally, Carly healed the whole man.  You could see the wounds close up and the redness and bruising disappear.  The man stirred around and then sat up.  He put his feet on the ground and then stood up.  He knelt on the ground and put his head to the ground in a deep bow to Carly.  "I can never thank you enough.  I thought my life was over.  I was so worried for my wife and children.  What would they do without me?  I haven't been able to provide for them, we are nearly starving.  But now I have my health back, I can continue driving wagons again."  he said.  Carly gave the man's wife four gold coins, and told the woman to buy food, and feed her man now, just after the healing.  The woman and children were crying, they were so happy.

The next man had been shot with an arrow when he was in the army.  It had pierced his shoulder and now the arm hung lifeless and useless.  Could she do anything for him?  Carly healed the shoulder and restored life to the arm.  She could not easily replace all the wasted muscle.  She told the man to eat after the healing and then to use the arm carefully until it built up strength again.  This the man could do.  He was swinging the arm around, flexing his fingers and moving his hand.  He had a great smile on his face. He knelt and kissed the hem of Carly's gown.  When he left, Carly could hear him talking to the people in line outside, "She healed my arm. It was dead and she brought it back to life.  Look, I can move my hand and fingers and arm.  They were dead, now they are alive."  he said, loudly to anyone nearby.

There was an old woman with a bad cough.  Carly healed that and healed her heart as well.  There was a child with a scraped knee.  She healed that.  The rest were people with minor complaints that Jean and the other healers could handle.

Carly checked the strength of Jean's healing abilities, and then she healed her to be sure she was strong.  Carly checked the other healers there and healed them too.  The King had made her responsible for all the healers in the city.  She should not forget the healers that helped the poor.  Jean promised to talk to other healers in the city who were not physicians.  Jean promised to bring them all to the church to be checked and healed.  Carly had people coming in the afternoon for healing, so she wanted to hurry home.  Gerard seemed reluctant to leave.

There was a carriage waiting in front of the house when Carly returned.  The carriage was early, but Carly went up to it and greeted the woman there.  She was sitting hunched into a corner of the carriage.  Her hands were like claws, twisted and lifeless. The woman's face was sunken and hollow, she seemed to be in great pain.  Footmen from the carriage carried her into the house, to the sitting room.  Carly looked at her with her crystal sight and saw that all her joints were black with sickness.  Carly started healing immediately.  From the beginning something was wrong.  The sickness seemed to be resisting.  "What happened to you?  Do you know anything about the sickness that you have?"  Carly asked the woman.  "I was fine until a few weeks ago and then overnight I was like this.  I think I have been cursed."  the woman said.  Carly had never heard of such a thing.  She went to find Gerard.  "Gerard, I have a woman, whose sickness is resisting.  She says she was cursed. Is that possible?  What do I do?"  Gerard came with her to look at the woman.  She told them a story.  "I was supposed to marry a man, but his mother objected.  He is old enough to be on his own, so I do not know why his listened to her objections.  After a while he decided to marry me in spite of her objections.  Almost immediately after that this sickness came on me, and I have been this way ever since.  It is like I have been poisoned."  she related.  Gerard used his healing powers on the woman, and met the same resistance.  "You will have to overcome the resistance to cure her.  I do not know how strong you will have to be.  If you use too much power it could endanger the woman."  Gerard said.  "I will try."  Carly said.  She drew up her magic and gave it clear instructions to heal the woman over any resistance.  If the woman was in danger then the healing should stop.  Then she began the healing.  This time the color was green and yellow together.  The colors swirled about each other and seemed to fight.  Carly kept increasing the pressure and increasing the pressure until there was a ringing sound, and then a ripping sound.  The woman gave a kind of grunt and closed her eyes.  Carly could tell she was still breathing, but she seemed to be asleep.  Carly increased the pressure again and there was a ringing sound again and then silence.  The yellow seemed to fade and the green grew stronger.  Swiftly the darkness withdrew from her bones and joints.  Swiftly the woman was healed. In another quarter candlemark, the green faded to gold, and then faded altogether.  The woman's face was not longer hollow, but healthy and full.  Her hands had untwisted.  She relaxed in her sleep.  Carly decided to let the woman sleep for a while.  She sent a message to the footmen that their mistress was healed and now sleeping.  They were content to wait.  They sent a message home.  In a couple of candlemarks the woman woke.  She was feeling much better, fine in fact.  Carly sent her home.

In the meantime, Carly had healed a man with a bad heart.  He was grateful and left her still more gold.

"I am bothered by that woman's sickness.  If she really was cursed, then there was someone who did the cursing.  Could it have been the man's mother, or was it someone the mother hired.  Is this person likely to do the same thing again.  Will I have to keep healing the woman?  How do we find out?"  Carly related.

The next day the woman returned.  She had her footmen bring a chest into the house.  It was very heavy.  "I wanted to come and thank you in person.  I was very tired yesterday and could not do this properly, so now I want to reward you.  When I returned home yesterday, my fiance was waiting for me.  He was very happy to see that I was healed.  He wanted me to know that his mother had just died.  It was very strange, since she was not sick.  But she was suddenly stricken.  Her hands became twisted.  Her face went all hollow and sunken  She cried out as though she was in great pain.  There was a loud ringing sound and the mother fell to the ground, dead. 

Gerard was standing there as the woman related this story.   "The mother was actively cursing you.  She had invested her own life force into the curse.  When Carly broke the curse, it sprang back on the mother and killed her."  Gerard said.  "You mean I killed the mother?"  Carly asked.  "Yes, I guess you did.  She used her own life to power the curse.  When you destroyed the curse, you destroyed her."  Gerard said.  Carly looked stricken.  The woman laid her hand on Carly's arm.  "But you have given me back my own life.  I am sure I would have died if you had not cured me."

Carly was silent at dinner that evening.  Gerard explained to the Baron what had happened.  "There are evil people in the world.  You have mostly met good people so far, so you have been lucky.

When Carly looked into the future that evening, the murky time was much closer.  It wasn't just that she was looking too far out.  There seemed to be something coming that was making the future vague and uncertain.

In the morning, she met with all the healers of the poor from the city.  She checked them all for healing skills.  There was no one who did not have some skills.  Carly healed them all to give them extra strength.  They took the opportunity to talk about the needs of the poor and the problems that healers had, taking care of the poor.  One thing that seemed to be a common concern was that the poor needed food.  Carly explained to the healers how she called on the greater magics when healing.  She explained that she did not use her own power to heal, but used something outside herself.  Some of the more senior and powerful healers said they would try it.  They understood what Carly was saying.  Maybe the senior healers could heal like Carly healed, if they could just find the way to tap the greater magics.

When she returned home, Carly sent a message to the King to tell him that she had met with all the healers in the city, and she had tested them all.  She said the one problem with the poor was they did not have enough food.  Carly did not propose a solution, but simply informed the King that was a problem she had uncovered.

In the afternoon Carly and Gerard went to meet the foreman again.  This time the man, in great humility, informed her that he was the King's Architect.  And, he was tasked with strengthening the city's defenses.  Could she help?  "Of course I will help.  What do you need me to do?" Carly asked.  The "foreman"  showed her a long line of heavy blocks of stone that had been laid outside the city walls.  Carly was supposed to fit them into a new wall.  They had to fit so close there was not cracks and no mortar.  Carly followed the Architect's directions and, after a long afternoon, she completed the new section of wall.  "Is there danger to the city?"  Carly asked.  "I do not know.  The King is anxious and has us working on the whole city wall and interior defenses.  He is gathering men from the countryside, and gathering food and supplies.  We are digging new wells for water."  the Architect said.

"I should help with the defenses.  I wonder what the King wants me to do?"  Carly asked Gerard.

==== End Nov 2   43,100 words  about 86 pages

Each day, Carly went to to a different section of the city wall.  Sections that had weakened with age she replaced with new, strong blocks.  In some cases she pushed the old walls over to clear the way.

"The neighboring King has been trying to expand his kingdom.  He has tried to his north and was beaten back.  He has tried toward the sea and failed there.  Now he is trying us, to his south.  He will attempt to lay siege to the city to extort gold, and to gain concessions of land."  Gerard told Carly.

"Why doesn't that King try to occupy lands in our kingdom."  Carly asked.

"He does not have enough men to occupy land.  He has just enough men to lay siege, but he is not strong enough to take the city.  Mainly he will prevent men from working the fields, and he will stop commerce with other cities.  We can survive a long time with a siege of the city, but it is costly to business.

"Why not stop him before he enters the kingdom?  Could we do something to keep him from entering the kingdom at all?"  Carly asked.

"Our spies tell us that he is preparing his men.  They will probably march within the next week.  It is a few days to the border.  We would have to leave now, with a large force to be able to stop him in time.  And we would have take enough supplies for the assault.  If we lost there, the city would be undefended."  Gerard answered.

"Is there anything I could do?  Could I move rocks in front of them to stop them?  Could we set fire to their supplies?  Could I put a shield in front of them so that they have to turn back?"  Carly asked.

"There is a narrow valley they have to go through in order to enter the country.  It is heavily forested and there are plenty of rocks.  There is only the one road through there.  If you were to block the road, they would have to unblock it, or turn back."  Gerard said.  "I think we should go see the King."

Carly was nervous, as she always was, when she went to see the King.  Gerard explained about blocking the oncoming army.  The King was very interested, but worried about endangering his most powerful mage.

"We can go with a light force.  We will take extra pack animals with supplies.  If we get into the hills above the valley road, we will be far from the force and we will be able to see their army.  We should be safe enough.  Besides Carly is powerful enough to shield us from arrows and spears.  She is probably powerful enough to destroy the entire army, if that were necessary."  Gerard said.

The King turned to his General.  "General, can you provide a force to escort them to the valley?  Send your best me to protect her.  Let us hope that she is successful."  the King said.

Carly was very busy getting ready.  She selected sturdy clothes and boots.  They were riding horses, so she picked out split skirts and riding clothes.

It took them several days to get to the border.  Carly actually enjoyed sleeping in a tent.  She kept an eye on the weather.  It was going to be clear until they returned to the city, unless she was greatly delayed.  The climb up the hills above the valley was difficult.  There were no roads there, just narrow pathways.  But eventually, Carly and Gerard stood looking over the valley they had discussed.

"There is only the one road coming through here.  It is not enough to block just the road.  If there is space on either side, they will just go around a block.  I need to build a wall all the way across the valley, and then we will probably have to defend it when they get here."  Carly explained.

There was one place where the valley narrowed to only about a hundred yards.  That is where Carly was going to build her wall.  Gerard helped her to spot reasonable blocks and stones to use.  She began immediately stacking rocks across the road.  Even one layer would block a wagon, but the opposing army would only need to build ramps to get over that.  Carly continued building the wall, but she knew that she would have to defend the wall, and have to find some way to drive back the army.

Carly had built a wall about ten feet high from one side of the valley to the other.  She kept adding stones to it.  She and Gerard and her protective force were on the hill alongside the road in front of the wall.  That way they could see the army when it came, to see what it would do.  They waited about half a day, before they heard sounds of wagons, horses, and marching feet.  The army slowly made its way into the valley and came to a halt in front of the wall.   The men and horses spread out alongside the road.  The wagons continued until they were stopped by the wall.  There must have been close to to a thousand men afoot and two hundred mounted.  Not a large force, but enough to stop commerce in a small kingdom.  Carly could see the entire army now. There were men looking every which way.  Some of them spotted Carly's group on the hills.  Carly was too far away for their arrows to be effective.  It was a stalemate.  If left alone, the army would simply move the rocks aside from the road, and then continue on their way.  It would be hard for men to move those rocks, but not impossible.

"I do not know how many supplies they have.  If they are delayed here, how long can they last?  Is there any way you can destroy their supplies?"  Gerard asked Carly.

Carly looked back down the valley to see that the rest of the army had entered the valley.  Carly could see clearly all of the wagons.  They were all made of wood, so Carly decided to burn them, as the fastest way to destroy them.  She started at the back of the line and started burning the wagons.  She set the entire wagon aflame at once.  The wagons burned brightly and hot.  Carly saw the men leaping from the wagons to get away.  She started the wagons smoking first to scare the drivers, and then set the wagon aflame.  She wanted to destroy the supplies, not kill people.  Drivers closer to the wall tried to move their wagons out of the way.  There was chaos as they raced off the road and tried to get away.  But Carly could see everything laid out like a chessboard.  She smoked and then burned every wagon.  Men cut away the animals pulling the wagons.  They tried to put out the flames but the flames were too intense.  Carly went back over the wagons again and again, burning them until there were just piles of rubble.  Then she started burning the spears.  The men holding the spears were getting burned and soon every man threw down his spear and stepped back.  Carly burned every spear she could see.

Their King was sitting on his horse watching all this.  There was nothing he could do.  He took out his sword and waved it to try to command his men to do something about the fires, but there was nothing they could do.  Carly took one of her steel rings and she unseated their King.  When he tried to stand she hit his leg and knocked him down again.  When he stood again, she set his sword on fire.  Finally their King held up a white flag.  He waved it and his men threw down their weapons.  In all this time, Carly said nothing.  Their King started towards his horse.  He held up the white flag and then mounted.  He turned his horse away from the wall and started back for home.  Perhaps this time he would learn to leave other kingdoms alone.

Carly, Gerard and their men watched the defeated army leaving.  Gerard sent men to watch them after they left the valley.  His men reported that the army was headed back.

"What should I do about this wall?"  Carly asked.

"I am not sure.  I am inclined to leave it."  Gerard replied.

"Don't traders and tinkers use this road?  Should we leave this open for them?"  Carly asked.

"A determined army could come and move the rocks aside.  If we leave the wall untended, that will only delay, not stop, an army.  Why don't you open the wall enough for traders to get through."  Gerard recommended.

Carly moved stones from the middle of the road, enough so that a single wagon could get by.  She left the rest of the wall as a testament to what had happened today.

Their ride back was uneventful.  Carly liked sleeping in a tent.  It was different.  And, now that they did not have an army to worry about, it was pleasant.

The King was astonished when they told him what happened.  He was overjoyed not to have to deal with an invading army, however small.  "What can I do to reward you?"  the King asked Carly.  "I am just happy to serve the King.  I am glad that this was all accomplished without bloodshed."  Carly replied.  The King gave her another estate near the city.  It too had rents, so she only had to visit it now and then to see how it was going.  Carly was a rich young woman indeed.

The day after her return, Carly met with the senior healers in the city.  There was a mix of physicians, healers from the palace, and healers of the poor.  Carly explained again how she called on the greater magics.  She healed some of them so that they could feel how the greater magic worked.  Out of the whole group, two healers went on to use the greater magic.  That left Carly with time for other things, but she still kept healing the poor and the rich.

One day Carly did not have any healing schedule, either at the church, or at home.  She was puttering with the plants in the sunroom, when one of the servants came to get her.  There was a young man, about her age, waiting at the front door.  He looked somewhat familiar.  When he introduced himself as Robert, he said that she had healed him of a sword wound, he was here to thank her.

"Yes, I remember.  It was a busy day, but I healed you, since it was something of an emergency.  I wanted to ask you who had stabbed you, and what was going on."  Carly said.

"It was really stupid.  I was trying to stop a duel between my cousin and a friend of his.  They are both young, and had got it into their heads that their honor was hurt, and it could only be handled by swords.  When I went to stop them, the friend ended up stabbing me with his sword.  That stopped the duel, but it hurt a lot.  I almost got killed for my trouble."   Robert said.

"Did they settle their differences?"  Carly asked.

"Yes, it was over a girl, of course.  The girl ended up going with someone else altogether.  So they made up."  Robert explained.  "I brought you a bag of gold, but I feel like I want to do something more.  Is there something that you want to do?"

"I have been here is the city for a while.  I have only met people much older than me, for the most part.  Is there some way that I could meet people my own age?"  Carly said.  She was surprised at herself, she did not realize how lonely she had been feeling.  All of her friends were much older.  All of them had to do with work in one form or another.

Robert smiled.  "I can introduce you to some of my friends.  There are many young people who get together for balls, hunts, dinners, games and the like.  You are certainly welcome to join us."  he said.

"I would enjoy that, I am sure.  Please tell me when you are going to be doing something, and I will come."  Carly said.

"We are getting together tomorrow for a hunt, would you like to join us for that?  We are hunting deer and boar most likely.  Usually the women go along for the deer and leave the men to the boar hunt."  he explained.  "We are starting out fairly early in the morning.  Would that be all right?"

Carly went along on the hunt the next day.  She woke before dawn and Robert was waiting for her.  They rode their horses through the city and out into the country.  They met five young people about their age.  Robert introduced Carly to everyone.  She hoped she would remember everyone's name.  They were going to be shooting arrows from horseback to make it more challenging.  They had beaters and servants to drive the game, and to prepared the game once it was downed.  Carly was one to actually hit her target.  But then, she rarely missed.  In the afternoon, after lunch, three men went out to hunt boar.  Carly went with them just to watch.  She loved being outside and riding again.  She forgot how much she loved riding.  When the men struck a trail, she was there right behind them.  Carly could hear the squeals as they chased a pig or a boar out.  Their pace slowed now as they went through the brush.  The men were shouting instructions to each other.  Then it went quiet.  Carly rode into a small meadow.  The three men were staring at some heavy bushes.  Apparently the boar had entered the brush here, it was too thick to go further.

"Well, that was a big one that got away."  Robert laughed.  The other men did likewise.  They were just enjoying the hunt.  Robert rode to the end of the brush tunnel where the boar had gone.  He was going to say something more, when the boar rushed out, slashed Robert's horse and ran across the meadow. It all happened so quickly no one had a chance to respond.  Robert was on the ground where his horse had thrown him.  He was all right, but his horse was down, one leg badly cut and bleeding.  "Oh, damn, that was a good horse."  He started to reach for his knife.  "Wait.  I can heal your horse.  Just give me a minute.  Would you try to calm your horse?"  Carly instructed.  Robert put his hand on the horse's neck to calm him.  Carly placed her hand on the horse's leg and started the healing.  In less than a quarter candlemark, the horse was good as before.  Robert helped the horse to its feet.  They rode home in a subdued mood.

The girls were excited to hear this story.  They all looked at Carly with new respect.  They knew she was the Royal Healer, and that she had healed Robert.  This was a more immediate thing that they saw she could do.  Carly stayed the rest of the day.  She had a good time.  Robert finally escorted her home before dinner.

Dinner was formal again.  And, again, the only person was Marie.  "I understand that you went on a hunt with some young friends today."  Marie inquired.

"Yes.  It was fun.  I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride.  We started out before dawn, it was a beautiful day."  Carly said.

"Did anything unusal happen?"  Marie asked.

"One of the horse was injured, and I healed it.  But we mostly rode, played some games, and talked a lot."  Carly explained.

"Do you know much about this young man?  Is it safe for you to go out with him?"  Marie asked.

"He seems like a nice enough person.  I guess I judged him on his appearance, his speech, and his habits.  He seems to be well bred and thoughtful.  He did not appear to be someone I would have to fight off.  And I am well capable of doing that."  Carly smiled.

"You fought off an entire army.  I expect you can deal with one young man."  Marie said. 

Carly was happy that Marie had confidence in her.  Carly did not know how she felt about Robert, but it was nice to have a friend.  In the coming days, Carly spent a lot of time with Robert.  One day they just played games in the garden of one of the friends.  Another day they just went riding in the country side around the city.  One night there was a dinner for a larger group of friends.  Everywhere she went, Carly was paired with Robert.  That seemed sort of natural.

Carly continued her healing in the coming weeks.  Many of the more difficult cases in the city had already come to her.  Now she was healing fairly ordinary aches and pains of the people nearby.  Carly did start something new.  She began healing the veterans with missing limbs.  Every day she spent two candlemarks trying to replace the limbs they had lost.  In some cases it took two weeks to heal the limb, but in every case she was successful.

One day, she was just finishing with a limb regrowth session when someone came to the door.  The servants answered the door and then came to get her.  There were two men there.  They had come to ask her if she could heal someone.  The person had come a great distance to see her, and was waiting at a nearby inn.  She said she would be happy to heal them, and she had time right now.  In about a candlemark they returned in a closed carriage.  They had to carry the man into the house and to the sitting room.  His arm and leg seemed to be paralyzed.  Carly guessed that he had a stroke.  Carly healed the damage in his head, and then healed the arm and leg, then generally.  The man was able to walk again.  He went down on one knee and bowed his head.  "You have given me my life back.  I am forever in your debt.  Do you know who I am?"  he asked.  Carly admitted that she did not know who he was.  "I am the foolish king to the north that you knocked to the ground.  You defeated my army without hurting a single person. I wanted to thank you for your forebearance."  Carly did not know what to say, then she said, "I am happy to heal you. I hope that our countries can be friends now.  Do you think that is possible?"  "Yes, I think that is very possible.  I will send an envoy to your King toward that end.  I just wanted to make a personal apology."

Carly told her father about the visit from the foreign king.  The Baron said that he would tell our King, and they would be waiting for the envoy.

Carly met Robert's family, and he met her father and Marie.  Things seemed to be going along fine for an eventual wedding, but the King intervened.  The King had someone that he wanted Carly to marry.  Lord Henry was of royal blood and he was a mage.  He was also older than Carly's father, but that did not seem to bother the King.  And the King wanted them to marry in the next few weeks.

As the days struggled by, Carly thought and thought to find a way to avoid marrying Lord Henry.  The days were running out.  Preparations were under way for the actual marriage and still Carly could not think of anything.  The King wanted more mages, and he was going to get them by breeding Carly to a mage.  As crude as that sounded, it did not bother the King. If only there were some way to create new mages, then Carly could marry whomever she wanted.  If only Carly could create new mages.  If only she could make Robert into a mage.  If only she could use her magic to change Robert into a powerful mage!

Robert was visiting when Carly came to this realization, so she decided to try to put it into effect immediately.  "Robert, I want to make you into a powerful mage.  If you become a mage, then we can wed and the King will be happy.  What do you say?"  Carly asked.  "I am willing to try anything at this point.  We are lost unless you can find a way out of this mess the King has created."  Robert said.

Carly called on her magic.  She outlined carefully what she wanted to happen.  She was very specific that she did not want Robert harmed.  She even went so far as to specify that the magery created would breed true, and then she "pushed" to start the magic.  Robert glowed a dark red, almost the color of blood.  Carly did not know how long it would take.  He glowed steady for a half candlemark, and then another.  Two candlemarks went by and then another.  Four candlemarks and he was still glowing.  Carly and Robert were getting anxious, but all she could think to do was to continue.  Five candlemarks and still no change.  When six candlemarks had come and gone, Carly was about ready to give up.  But she had come this far, she would continue.  Just after six candlemarks, there was a flickering in the deep red glow.  It changed to green and then it stopped.  Carly told Robert how to light a candle using magic.  She told him to just light the wick and not the whole thing, like she had done when she was learning.  She went over it a few times so he was sure how to do it, then he "pushed".  There was a small pop and the candle lit.  It had worked!

In the coming days, Carly taught Robert how to shoot arrows into targets, how to lift rocks, how to form water, and how to light fires.  It seemed that he was, indeed, a powerful mage.  Now, if the King would accept it.  Carly and Robert went to see the King.  Robert demonstrated his new powers as the King watched.  "You mean you can change anyone into a mage?"  the King asked.  "Yes, it seems so  And I asked for it to breed true as well."  Carly added.  "Could you create two more mages for me?"  he asked.  Actually the King wanted to make his current two mages more powerful.  This, Carly agreed to, and in the coming days she created two more powerful mages.  Since they already had the training, if not the power, they immediately were able to do what she could do.  They were powerful mages, but they were not powerful healers.

Lord Henry was somewhat put off, he was looking forward to marrying a young girl.  But he was happy to receive more powers from Carly.

Robert and Carly were married a few weeks later.  Many people came to the wedding.  Carly had affected the lives of many people.  They were grateful to her and showed that at her wedding.  There were gifts that filled the house.  Carly and Robert decided to move to one of her estates in the country.  She still came to the city to heal people, but she was content to become a dutiful wife and mother.  When the time came, she had several children and each of them "bred true" and became powerful mages and healers in their turn.

==== End Nov 3  47,100 words about 94 pages