The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 03

"Charlie Hopper and Mary Malone are Colonels now," said Harold, shaking his head.

"I know those names," said Sam with surprise. "From the Carcosa Campaign."

"Uh-huh. They were the commanding officers of the company that included the Mages. The charge that broke the Carcosan lines, with us as the spearhead, was their brainchild. I still have nightmares about that ride," Harold shuddered. Last to emerge were a short, almost bald, swarthy man in black topcoat and grey trousers, and a much larger woman with wavy blonde hair that cascaded halfway down her back, a medium-sized nose, and a pair of bright blue eyes that surveyed the growing crowd with interest. She was wearing a navy-blue blazer with a colourful crest embroidered over her heart, a generously filled-out sky-blue blouse, a navy-blue dress that went below the knees, and sensible black shoes over dark blue stockings. They looked around, then seemed to check themselves and turned to look straight at him. "And they know I'm here," he sighed.

"You know them too," said Miranda. "The woman is a real stunner, even at her age."

"Ooh, catty," snickered Sam, ignoring a glare.

"Lakash Moto is a Healer, the head of the Order of St. Thrimble, and my boss," replied a resigned Harold. "Dana Magnussen was one of the Engineer Mages in our unit and looks like she may have gotten herself into the Magic School at some high level. If they aren't looking for me, I will eat my staff. We should settle the bill before things get interesting." Anna magically appeared and Sam and Miranda paid up, waving aside Harold's attempt to contribute, so he provided a generous tip instead. He saw Leila and Marcie make their way to the front of the crowd, with Leila engaging the luminaries and Marcie looking at the window and waving at him. He smiled and waved back at her, then ducked away from the window to grab his staff.

"Judging by your reaction, you and Dana have some history together that probably didn't end well," said Miranda, earning raised eyebrows from Sam and a sharp look from Harold. "I was on Town Council for a long time, Harold," she continued, undeterred. "I learned how to read people."

"Whatever you do, don't play poker with her," Sam warned with a rueful grin, getting a glower.

"Come over and play cards with Marcie sometime," the Healer complained, waving to attract Anna's attention. "She will clean you out every time. Teach her bridge, maybe that will get her under control." Miranda perked up.

"Maybe I will. Even though Kim Blandford was my nemesis on Council, she and her husband Greg had many great games with me and my partner. Ever since Greg passed away, we've had a hard time finding a fourth. Everyone says that we play like barracudas," she added somewhat plaintively.

"You'll get lots of tomatoes from her garden this year," he replied as Anna approached. "And in case you're wondering, Dana was the one who taught me the Soil Decontamination spell that I used on Kim's garden. Thank you very much for the lovely brunch," he said to Anna. "It's time for me to skedaddle. They may know that I'm here, but there's no reason for me to make it easy for them," he said with an impish grin.

"You got rid of her blight problem?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Don't drool, Sam. Her tomatoes aren't THAT good."

"Liar. You're always first in line when Kim sells them to the General Store."

"Could you lead me through the kitchen to the back door?" Harold asked Anna as the other two continued bickering happily. Then there was a great crash from the kitchen, followed by a heavy thud, an explosion of profanity in a male voice that raised the eyebrows of everyone in the room, and a piercing scream from a woman. "Aww, crap. Maybe I won't be needed for this one," he said resignedly. A floridly mustachioed man in a white chef's uniform, complete with the puffy hat, staggered through the door, bleeding freely from a nasty gash on the outside of his left forearm.

"That sounds like the call for a Healer if I've ever heard one," said Sam dryly as Miranda went pale and hastened for the exit to the lobby. Harold sighed and hustled to the table nearest the kitchen door, where the man had plunked himself into a chair and one of the wait staff had quickly removed the white tablecloth so that it wouldn't get stained.

"I'm Harold Moser, Senior Healer of the Order of St. Thrimble," he introduced himself, laying his staff on the floor. "I'll fix that up for you." Worried faces peeked from the door as he summoned his Magic, tapped the chef's shoulder, said some words and made a corkscrew motion with his hands. Sam, who had moved closer for a front-row view, saw a turquoise and green band appear around the upper arm and contract hard, immediately reducing the flow of blood to the floor to a trickle.

"Wow, it doesn't hurt now," exclaimed the man. "I'm Chef Ralph. A container of cooking oil suddenly sprang a leak, getting some onto the floor. Petra slipped on it and dropped a bunch of plates, then I tripped over her and fell into the shards and sliced my arm on one of them." As he had been talking, Harold had filled the gash with a Sterilize spell, then started pinching the edges of the wound from one end to the other, Healing it up as he went, while slowly loosening the Magical tourniquet.

"Don't worry, you'll be as good as new," he said cheerfully. "Compared to the stuff I've seen, this is little more than a big scratch." To finish off, he Cleaned the floor and the chef's clothing.

"Wow, thank you very much!" said the chef, standing up rather woozily as the rest of the restaurant staff applauded. He was only five-foot-eight and not as strongly built as the average for the area. "I owe you big time!"

"After that totally delicious shepherd's pie, I'd say we are even," he replied with a grin. "But it looks like you've got some more customers to feed," he continued, indicating the crowd that had appeared in the entrance.

"Papa! Your friends are here!" piped Marcie, escaping from Leila and running through the tables to collide with her father, who scooped her up and turned around to finally look at the visitors.

"Hello, Harold," said Dana in her mellow contralto voice, unchanged after all the years. "Did you miss me?" His ocean-blue eyes were locked on her ice-blue eyes, but he was looking hundreds of miles and two decades past her, watching his lover, sparring partner, Valkyrie, teacher, student, and friend slowly pulling away from him as the ship she had been on had left the pier in Carcosa. The work of the Engineers in aiding the Carcosans in rebuilding and repairing long-neglected or destroyed infrastructure had been finished, but Harold and his fellow Healers had still been sorely needed and had remained behind. His heart had sailed out with the tide, seemingly lost forever, until the woman who moved to stand beside her had helped him to find it again.

"Yes, Dana. I did miss you," he replied, his voice quietly filling the silent room as he held his daughter tightly in his arms and shifted his gaze to Leila.