"Well, I am rather hungry," Agmar said with a grin. "Thank you."

"Sure thing, friend," the man said back.

Agmar nodded and smiled at the man before heading off to the Surf and Sleep. 'Just off the docks' did not sound restful enough for tonight.

Like inns everywhere, the Surf and Sleep had a sign hanging over the door. Enough people were literate that the name written at the bottom of the sign was sufficient to mark the place, but it seemed some unwritten rule that inns were supposed to have some sort of picture for their sign. Taverns were the same way, of course. In the case of the Surf and Sleep, the sign showed a four-posted bed floating on blue waves.

The building itself was a simple rectangle, two floors with one of the few slate roofs in the town. It had a covered porch that offered a rickety wooden rocking chair currently claimed by a fat tabby cat.

He stopped for a moment to scratch the lazy cat and found his first new friend in town.

The cat purred noisily at him while he scratched, followed by a long stretch when Agmar took his hand away. The cat's claws extended as he stretched his legs, rolling slightly onto his back as he did, and he yawned his boredom. He proceeded to stand up and hop heavily to the ground, the chair rocking back and forth as his weight left it. Agmar and the cat looked at one another for a moment, before Agmar turned and headed through the front door of the inn, the cat following curiously, a pace behind him.

The small foyer appeared empty as he entered, the light dim with only one of its lanterns currently lit. He noticed a door leading off to his left, where the main dining hall appeared to be, and stairs were in front of him, just beyond the counter, leading up to the second floor. There was also a hallway alongside the stairs, leading further back into the first level of the inn. Behind the counter, rows of numbered hooks with keys dangling on them topped small boxes for messages to be slipped into. As he leaned up against the counter, he noticed that the stool was empty, but a young man, about 13 years of age, was propped up on the floor snoring, his hand still marking the page he'd been reading in the book lying on the floor beside him. Agmar didn't see a bell to ring, as some inns tended to have, so he cleared his throat loudly instead.

The boy woke with the expected start, flinging the book under the desk with a reflexive jerk. He stood up, stammering his apologies while trying to straighten out his wrinkled tunic.

"How can we help you, sir," he eventually asked.

"I will be needing a room for at least three or four nights. Past that we shall have to wait and see."

"Excellent, sir. That would be fifteen kruppers a night, and then I can show you to your room. Do you have bags?"

"No," Agmar replied, reaching beneath his dark gray cloak for the specified coins. They were bronze, and named for some Lord Krupper, whose face the coins bore. He handed them to the boy five at a time. He noticed he was running low on them. He would have to get change from some more valued coins if the town was still here later.

"Thank you sir." The boy put the coins into a small locked box from under the counter, after making a notation in a ledger. He then took one of the brass keys off of its hook, and turned back to Agmar.

"Breakfast and Dinner are included with the room. Lunches are available, but at an extra charge. Breakfast begins at sunup and is available 'til midmorning. Dinner is usually available starting a little before sunset. Meals are served in the dining hall, right behind you there." He pointed at the doorway Agmar had noticed before. "Although meals can be brought to your room if arrangements are made in advance. If you'll follow me sir, I'll show you where the bathing facilities are on the way to your room. Might I carry your bag for you sir?"

He shook his head at the boy. "Lead on, I've got the bag." The boy turned and started up the stairs, periodically peering over his shoulder to make sure Agmar was following. He continued to talk on the way up, explaining that clothes could be laundered for a charge, and messages could be left at the front desk.

The baths were wood tubs separated from each other by folding dressing screens. There were four in the room. There was a fireplace on one wall with a giant cauldron of hot water. The boy pointed out the pump for refilling the cauldron, and buckets for taking hot water to the tubs.

"You can also pull that rope over there if the fire needs stoking, or if there's anything else needed. It rings a bell in the kitchen, so there's always that chance that right before meals it might take someone a few minutes to come up," the boy explained.

Then the boy led Agmar to his room. The room was nice enough, although not overly special. It was a single room, with a large bed taking up almost half of it. There was also a desk with a small chair, and a dresser with a small looking glass. A tall window stood open, letting in what was left of the daylight. There was a candleholder and fresh candles on the desk.

After confirming that Agmar had no questions, the boy handed over the key and left. Agmar set his bag down on the floor at the foot of the bed and just sat for a moment. He was hungry, but he decided he really should have a bath before dinner. It had been quite some time since he had had that luxury last.

He leaned forward and unlaced the leather cord that kept the largest portion of the bag closed, and rifled through its contents until he'd found a set of clean clothes to change into. He hadn't noticed soap or towels in the bathing area, so he pulled those items and a pair of shoes from the bag as well. He gathered his pile up in his arms and went back down the hall.

The room was still empty of others when he arrived, and he claimed one of the tubs close to a wall. He sat briefly to undo the laces on his thick leather boots, before pulling them off of his feet. He turned each of them over as he did, and small pepples and dust fell out of them onto the floor. He pulled the woolen socks off as well, before beginning to bring buckets of water from the pump to the tub. By the time he had it about half full, he was feeling extremely worn out. Seeing that the room was still empty, he quietly muttered a soft incantation and the large caudron lifted off it's hook and floated over the tub. He muttered some more, and it tipped and poured about half its contents into the tub before floating back to its place on the hook. With a small grin, he finished undressing and stepped into the now steaming tub.

He settled into the tub, which was just large enough for him to settle into comfortably. He focused his mind briefly on the pump handle behind him, and it began pumping water directly into the cauldron. He liked to leave things as he found them.

Shortly after the pump finished its work someone else entered the room. He listened to the movements. He could feel in his mind precisely where this person was, even with the privacy screens blocking his view. He heard the bucket dipping, and footsteps, and pouring, and then the process repeated itself. He considered looking over his shoulder at the cauldron behind him to see the person, out of curiosity, but he decided not to.

The next few days were going to be hectic. While he was somewhat hungry for human contact after having spent a fair amount of time away from civilization, he also wanted time to relax quietly first. Supper would not be so far off yet.

He had spent three months in the ruins of an ancient library. There he had found the answer to a set of bizarre sighting and incidents. There he had learned that events that had happened three times before were in fact part of a long cycle. It happened every two hundred years, at the second full moon of spring. That full moon was three nights off. Tomorrow or the next day the fishermen would notice the first warning sign. Of course they would not recognize it for what it was.

The other bather was at the next tub. Agmar heard undressing, and heard the person slip into the water. The comfortable sigh that followed belonged to a woman.

Something about the realization that there was a woman in the room with him, suddenly made him remember the soap. He reached over and picked it up. Lathering his arms, he reviewed in his mind the types of signs that he'd read about as leading up to events such as the one coming. He made a mental note to find the pregnant women in town first. A common sign was children being born early, or with demon horns or tails. In one instance all the pregnant women had given birth at once, all babies being born stillborn - even the ones who would have been old enough to be delivered at that point. He would not have wanted to be the midwife at that one, and hoped that something along those lines did not happen here. Other signs included crops suddenly dying, all milk going sour, and other such indications. In most cases, it seemed to occur over a large area, with multiple instances of the same problem.

In many places, the people would point fingers at the "newcomer" to town as having brought it down upon them. Especially if they knew he was a wizard. Agmar intended to hold that little piece of information to himself until he needed it, planning to pass for a scholar for the moment. Just because he'd needed magic to decipher the runes at the library, didn't make him any less a scholar for those last three months. And he'd certainly been around enough of them to know what they were like.

Realizing he'd just washed the same arm three times, he returned his attentions to getting the dust and dirt of the road off of his skin.

The sounds of the woman getting out of the water brought him back from more wandering. He hadn't even been particularly thinking about anything. That had been happening to him more and more often of late. He needed to relax. He promised himself that if he was still alive a week from now he would do just that.

He waited until he heard the woman dressing before he started out of the water himself. She finished up, and the door closed behind her as he was putting on his soft black shoes. Cleaned and dressed he was ready for supper, which would be available by now.

He dropped his towel and dirty clothes in his room before heading down. The dining room was not quite full, but full enough that there were no unclaimed tables. The crowd was mostly merchants and ship crews and travelers. The locals would be at their homes. With enough strangers in the room, nobody noticed one more.

Without taking the time to count them, he guessed at about thirty guests eating. Six were women, and he did find himself wondering which one had come and gone without a word. He picked one of the tables with more conversation, and selected one of three empty seats asking, "Is this seat taken?"

"Fine by me." The man sitting next to the empty chair shrugged. Agmar sat down in the chair and took a moment to survey those at the table as he grabbed one of the cups sitting upside-down in the center of it, and filled it from the large pitcher of water.

This particular table sat eight. He realized early on that it was unlikely that the woman sitting here had been in the bath earlier, as she was the wife of a local merchant. She and her husband were here conversing with a cargo ship captain and two of his crewmates. Another captain was also at this table, although his ship apparently did more passenger carrying than cargo. He had easily joined into the conversation, however, sharing his own stories of rough seas, pirates, and the occasional sea beast. The cargo ship captain had recently run into problems getting though a rocky pass, when a sudden storm came up. His ship had been dashed lightly against some rocks before they could drop sail, and had leaked some. They'd been able to patch it enough to get them to where they could have proper repairs done, but they'd lost an entire shipment of tea in the process. Some of the talk following his account revolved around the logistics of getting the boat fixed and the loss taken off the ruined tea.

Agmar listened quietly as he ate the dinner that had arrived early in the tale. It was a fillet of fish, served in a lemony sauce with some spiced rice and carrots. He hadn't had fish in some time, so it was a welcome change. He noted that the other man at the table, who'd agreed to Agmar sitting there, said nothing at all. He was a bulkier man than the others, who sat stroking his thick beard when he wasn't eating. He had his back to the wall, and seemed to spend as much time surveying the room as he did listening to the conversation at the table.

The rest of the table talk was the unremarkable conversations of visitors to a not overly large town. Agmar rather enjoyed it. There was some of the inevitable sharing of gossip--goings on in distant courts, the difference in prices from one land to the next, and the like. He listened to the stories of travel hardships, neither knowing nor caring how much of it was truthful.

Eventually he decided he had sat growing tired long enough, and excused himself quietly. His leaving did not seem to have any impact on the group. He had always been more comfortable on the occasions that he was able to remain anonymous.

He took the stairs gently out of habit, reducing the creakiness of them. He heard the stairs creak behind him with some one else's footsteps, but he did not look back. He went in his room and the footsteps continued. Two rooms down, he decided, feeling around with his mind out of habitual curiosity.

He undressed and climbed into bed. It was of only average quality, but was still the most comfortable place he had had to sleep in several months. Sleep came easily and he dreamt of the unknown woman in the bath.

Chapter 2

She turned and served each of them a portion of the scrambled eggs before turning her attention to the sausages she had sizzling on another burner of the large iron wood-burning stove. She shook the pan handle slightly, to turn them a bit, as they needed slightly more time cooking. She turned to pick up the empty basket from the breakfast rolls off of the table, when she realized someone was at the front door, at the other end of the house. It wasn't that she could see the door from here. She just knew. But she'd learned long ago to not mention such things, especially in front of the very men currently present in their house. People were superstitious around here, and tendencies towards magic were simply not acceptable. Turning to place the basket on the counter, she resigned herself to waiting for the sound of the door knocker before moving to go answer it.

3...2...1... she found herself counting down to the inevitable knock at the front door. Nice of him to wait until the sausages were done. She picked up the pan and rolled the sausages onto a plate.

"I'll get the door," she told them as she set the plate on the table. They were still working on their eggs, talking as they ate. Jacob Bentz was complaining about something. She ignored it. Jacob Bentz was usually complaining about something.

It was a man at the door. He was tall, in his thirties, although he was either already bald or he shaved his head. He was dressed respectably enough, though: black breeches tucked into polished black boots, with a brown jacket over a white tunic. There was white scrollwork embroidered on the jacket collar, and it had polished brass buttons. If he was a priest, he was out of his habit. Unless he's a wizard, a quiet voice inside her offered. Still, the bald head seemed odd on someone who wasn't old.

"G'morning," she greeted him cheerfully.

"Indeed, good morning. I am looking for Master Mordan. I understand he is the mayor here." The man's voice was soft yet powerful, as if his voice was too big for his body, and he was being intentionally quiet. It was as if his voice was like Big Willin's strength. Big Willin was the strongest man in town, but awfully clumsy and a bit slow, so he was always careful and deliberate with everything he did.

"Well, I guess he is, but nobody calls him that," she explained.

"Oh, and what do you call him?"

"Well, I call him father," she said with a smile, "but pretty much ever'one around here just calls him Avern, 'cause that's his name."

"I see," the odd man replied. "May I speak with Master Mordan?"

"Well he's actually in a meeting right now, which will likely last beyond breakfast, but if you come back later on I'm sure he'd be happy to speak with you." Lynna smiled politely, realizing her father wouldn't want some stranger barging in on their breakfast.

"This is, in fact, a matter of some urgency and importance, miss. I would not recommend it wait. I was told he was meeting with several significant people of this town, who will also be interested I what I have to say. Please inform Master Mordan that I need to speak to him immediately."

He stood there with such a look of conviction on his face that Lynna thought it might take half the men in town to move him from the front stoop if she tried to send him away. Reluctantly, she nodded and closed the door behind her to go find out if her father would speak to him.

She stopped, uncertainly, in the door to the kitchen, looking at the men sitting around the table. After a moment, she tried clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Yes Lynna? What is it? Who was at the door?" Her father looked slightly irritated at the interruption.

Lynna was struck by embarrasment at the realization that she had not even remembered to ask the man's name. She started to stammer some explanation, but he stepped into the room from behind her.

"Excuse me, Master Mordan, gentlemen. My name is Agmar," the man said matter-of-factly, as if that explained everything. "I have been studying an event that happens every two hundred fifty years. I believe it is going to happen here within days."

The men at the table looked past Lynna at the stranger in a confused silence. She stepped out of the way, uncertain what was going on.

"The first time the events were written down in several of the towns it happened at," this Agmar offered. "The last time, a few people wrote more detailed accounts. The accounts, in a number of towns as the event moved across the map, were almost identical. This year it begins here, proceeding inland."

"You're interrupted our breakfast to tell us some strange--what, astronomical event?--is about to happen?" Jacob Bentz complained, gesturing with a forked sausage. "The full moon is a couple nights off, I suppose you're suggesting that there is a werewolf in town, or something preposterous like that?"

"Three nights off, and I am not talking about something as banal as a full moon or an eclipse, or a comet," the man said, stepping forward. "If the patterns hold true, then you have already heard complaints about farm animals behaving oddly--violently--and crops failing suddenly and without apparent cause. Today your fishermen will return and complain that every fish pulled from hook or net was dead before leaving the water."

Lynna watched the faces at the table change from confusion and annoyance to concern. Some of what she had overheard earlier had been about suddenly turning crops, and normally gentle cattle attacking each other. Old Widow Jana had been attacked and killed by her chickens...

"Gentlemen," Agmar continued, "I would dearly love to be wrong, but you will unfortunately see that I am not. Tomorrow pregnant women will all give birth at once, whether the babes are ready or not, and believe me, none of them will. Do I have your attention yet? Because I have not the time to wait for you to see the signs and then agree with me only later. Because from there is where it gets worse. Which of you is responsible for the town watch?"

"That would - I am." Captain Alder looked somewhat more rattled than the others at the table, and Lynna suddenly remembered that his daughter was pregnant with his second grandchild. Myrha had already had two miscarriages trying for this baby, and was still a month away from full term.

"Now wait just one minute!" Lynna's father stood up, banging his fist against the table for emphasis and causing the remaining sausages to bounce on their plates. "Who the hell do you think you are, barging in here prophesying doom and destruction without an invitation? I'm the mayor of this town and you'll not be giving orders to anyone without my say-so first. You'll kindly explain who you are and how you come by such information."

"I told you already, that my name is Agmar. And I did not realize that an invitation was necessary prior to prophesying doom and destruction."

Lynna tried to be invisible against the wall as she watched her father's face growing red with indignation as Agmar continued.

"I am not, however, prophesying. I am relaying to you the findings of a detailed study of texts left behind over the course of the last several hundred years. I am one of those who were recently translating and studying said texts and, having passed briefly through this town once before, I recognized it being at the forefront of this event. I then chose to come and warn you and offer my assistance. Perhaps you would prefer that I leave you to tend to the impending doom and destruction yourself?" Agmar raised one eyebrow, his gaze seeming to take in everyone at the table.

Captain Alder put his hand on Avern's arm, stalling him from another outburst. "Maybe you could explain to us what exactly is coming? What is this event you keep referring to?"

There weren't any empty chairs in the room, so Agmar leaned forward on the table, looking around at them with bright eyes. Lynna was transfixed.

"I seldom bandy about with words. There is a force of some kind. What, I am still not quite certain, but a force nonetheless. It is very old, and it is more inhuman than you can imagine. It moves slowly in a straight line around the world, circling once every two and a half centuries. Most of the time it seems to be asleep, but with the full moon it wakes, and sees the world around it with malevolence."

Agmar stood up straighter now, and the men at the table paid attention to nothing else. "It has no control over its course across the map, but there are some things it can control. It can control the emotions of the feeble of mind: the very sick, the insane, animals and beasts. It creates in them an anger, a rage that the force has no other way to express."

"It is an evil force, and that evil can corrupt anything which lacks strength with which to resist. It can twist the unborn, it can wilt plants and crops, and it can kill lesser animals with whatever abruptness or slowness it wishes. It can also manipulate directly anything not awake. At the height of the full moon it can make inanimate objects move, and control sleeping people as puppets."

"In three nights," he continued, "with the moon at its fullest, the force will be directly above this town. The edges of its effects are already arriving, and it is not even completely awake. In three nights, this town and the countryside around it will as good as come alive--with every intention to kill every living thing. Sleeping townsfolk will walk out of their homes and kill everything that moves. You will be unable to wake them, and only complete destruction will stop them."

He looked around at them, and Lynna could not see his eyes from where she stood, but she could see the looks on their faces. She was not reassured by what she saw. "This is what is coming. There are some precautions that can be taken. There are things I can do to help you. If you wish me to leave, do say so, and I will gladly get out of the path of devastation."

"Can't it be stopped?" Allek Gannen's voice was barely a whisper. Of the five men at the table, he was the youngest, having only inherited the inn upon his father's death the previous year. He seemed to be doing reasonably well at running the inn, however, and had been making some improvements as of late. He'd also just married his wife Rachel, four months prior.

"In all the records that have been researched, no means have yet been found with which this menace can be destroyed. For the moment, gentlemen, the best we can do is try to weather the storm." Agmar took a slight step back from the table, as if giving them room to come to their decision. Lynna was starting to think this man was rather arrogant, and was surprised by him casting an almost suspicious glance over at her immediately after she thought it. She felt a chill run over her at the possibility that he could have heard her thoughts.

But if he can, then he's got a secret too. Which had better mean he won't tell mine. She tried to think it directly at him, but there was no change in his expression to indicate that he had heard her.

The men at the table, exchanged glances, as if trying to communicate silently to one another, and Lynna saw her father sit back down in his chair, his expression now slightly pale.

"I believe we will require your assistance, Mister, um - Agmar. However," Avern raised a finger, "that doesn't mean you can usurp our authority here." His hand swept to indicate the other men at the table. "The people of Eagle's Harbor won't take kindly to a stranger telling them what to do, so things will have to go through us and with our approval. Is that clear?"

"You can rest assured, Master Mordan, that I have no interest in usurping anyone's authority. When I am done here I will have only a short time before I move on to the next town before the next full moon. The last thing I can afford to do is stay and run a town." Agmar shook his bald head slowly as he finished.

Lynna was struck with the realization that however bad things got here, he would just have to walk into another room like this one and have this same conversation all over again. If this evil couldn't be stopped, would Agmar just have to keep travelling, helping each town in whatever way he could? She wanted to say something comforting to him, but she could not find the words.

"So what can we do," Bruckert Tallet asked, always the practical one. "What can you do to help. You've said you help some, how is that, exactly?"

"Yeah," Jacob Bentz added, his face all scrunched up with concern, "if we can't stop it, what are we supposed to do?" He sighed, as if he had already decided they were all already doomed. Lynna had a sudden image of him afterwards, selling replacements to anything broken or damaged by the coming evil. In the image--she didn't call it a vision, when she had those they were far more vivid and powerful--he wasn't complaining as much as he usually did.

"Well, for one, a sense of calm and order must be maintained. If the townsfolk panic, things will only escalate quicker and the force itself will find it easier to work its rage upon them. I, myself, have been attempting to outline possible plans of action to prevent some of the worst from happening. I also have some level of medical abilities which I can hopefully offer to the pregnant women tomorrow. Those babies closer to birth may be able to be saved." He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, which he unfolded and placed before them on the table. "These are the precautions I have deemed necessary, listed in order of urgency. As you will see, the first order of business should be to tie up and otherwise confine all animals in town, along with those within a two mile radius of town. It would also be wise to identify all pregnant women as soon as possible, and prepare them for what is coming tomorrow."

"What's this about identifying the strong of mind?" Captain Allder asked, pouring over the list.

"We need to know who will be unaffected. Those who are stronger of mind stand a better chance of resisting and can be of use in restraining the others during the third night. They will need to stay awake, to make sure the others stay tied down to their beds so they cannot rise and kill."

"And how are you gonna determine who's smart enough for that?" Jacob Bentz's complained.

"It is not about intelligence, sir. It is about will. I have ways of my own to determine who shall be able to resist. However, I shall need a chance to meet everyone in order to identify them conclusively." Agmar pointed his finger at one of the lines on the paper, apparently indicating where that activity was listed.

"In the process of that," Agmar continued, waving off Jacob before he could complain, "We can take the pregnant women and see which of them might be ready to give birth today. I do not know how many that will be, but the babies will be better off born early than not born at all."

"And you expect us to do all these things without anyone panicking?" Allek Gannen asked incredulously. "What are we supposed to tell everyone?"

"--And what of all this rope? Who's going to pay for that?"

"--There are a lot of strangers in town off ships, what do we tell them?"

Agmar cleared his throat and a silence fell over the room. Lynna had never seen the group so...shut up. "Gentlemen. One thing at a time. You cannot keep the townsfolk calm if you cannot lead them by example. Everything on that list is achievable. All of the details can be seen to." Agmar straightened up, looking taller and seeming somehow more authoritative.

He looked at Jacob, saying, "I would suspect that providing rope, among other things, to protect your customers would be a wise business decision. As for what to tell people, that I have only the truth to offer. I suspect that the responsibility for actually telling them falls upon you," he said, turning to look to Avern.

"Also," Agmar continued, looking at Bruckert, "I suggest you get everyone else off those ships, and keep them anchored slightly away from the docks. The water will get rough when the creatures within it start fighting. Those ships will take enough beating without letting them be dashed against the shore or docks as well. And their crews would be safer here with us to look after them. Perhaps you can ask them to bring some rope ashore to supplement what is available here."

Lynna saw her father take a deep breath, gathering his wits about him. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. Syred, gather your reserve men and send them to the outlying homes to gather people into town together. Also have them make sure that the animals out there are tied up. I'll call for a general town meeting just after lunch, with as many people as can attend by then. Bruckert, send your boys out to bring in Jacobs and his two sons, will you? I know they planned on staying out for most of the week to check the nets they have further out. The rest should be back in later today and I'll hold another general meeting again tonight. I'll continue to hold meetings twice a day to inform and reassure people that we have things in hand, so let's make it at least look like we do. Those of us here now will meet tonight after dinner to compare notes on how things are progressing."

"We will not, however, mention anything about tying anyone up as of yet. People will panic if we start looking at everyone as a potential menace. Let's take it one step at a time. We'll get the pregnant women together, along with those women who've been midwives. I suppose they'd know best how to make a baby come out ahead of schedule, although we'll end up scaring the hell out of them explaining why." Avern looked suddenly over at Lynna. "Lynna, can you gather the pregnant women and midwives at the Surf and Sleep?"

Lynna was startled at the sudden inclusion, surprised her father thought she could help with this. She nodded, hoping her own fears weren't showing on her face, and proud he thought her capable enough to be assigned a task. Avern gave her a quick smile before turning to Allek.

"The Surf and Sleep is needed as a headquarters Allek, although I'll have to ask the other inns, such as they are, to help provide accomodations for the extra people we're going to have in town from the ship crews and outlying areas. Start double-bunking people as you need to. Jacob, Allek and the other innkeepers will likely need more food supplies as well as the rope. I don't expect you to take a total loss on more than the rope, but bulk discount on the rest would be appreciated, and likely remembered by those you give it to. Agmar, if you're present at the meetings and have a chance to talk to people before and after, will it allow you to determine who's strong-willed enough, or whatever?"

"Enough for the exceptional. The rest can be sorted later," Agmar replied. Lynna could not help but wonder what his criteria for sorting them would be. "I think my next step, however, should involve preparations at the Surf and Sleep." The others nodded; either in agreement or just understanding. They all had things to do as well.

"Lynna, if you would come with me, please?" Lynna started a little at being addressed by the man, suddenly knowing more was coming. She gulped and nodded, before practically scurrying to the door.

Outside he paused at the street, and she turned, wondering is he was confused or lost. There must have been a questioning look on her face, and he inclined his bald head and caught her eyes with his own pale blue ones.

"So tell me, what have you learned to do so far?" he asked.

"Your pardon?"

He smiled, a calming, reassuring smile. "You have an awareness that other people do not. Perhaps it is recent, perhaps it has always seemed that way to you. Either way, no doubt you never talk about it. That's always the case in towns like this. But you can feel things, and possibly do things, that you cannot explain. Answer my question, and as time permits I will answer yours."

Lynna looked around nervously, to see if anyone had been close enough to hear him. She saw Mrs. Hartford, two houses down, hanging laundry on her clothesline as several children, too young for schooling yet, played around her feet. Further down she could see Mrs. Anders beating a rug on her front step. With most people fishing, working or at the schoolhouse right now, the town was reasonably quiet. In a few hours it would start bustling more, as the mothers and the elderly came out to buy groceries and run other errands about town, some just going for walks or socializing with one another. But right now, they were cleaning up after breakfast and still preparing for the rest of their day. The weekly breakfast meeting that Lynna's father held usually was a bit later than normal for breakfast, as Allek Gannen had to make sure the people at his inn were being attended to before he could leave.

She looked back at Agmar, trying to study his eyes for some clue to what her answer should be.

"The kind of things you're suggesting are dangerous, Mr. Agmar." She finally said. "If you are implying that I -"

"I'm implying, young lady, that you are capable of manipulating the forces of magic. And just call me Agmar, please." He had lowered his voice, and leaned in towards her slightly. Lynna felt both reassured and intimidated by him in one swift moment. "I know that you are capable of it, Lynna, I am just trying to assess how capable you are at it, and if there will be time to teach you anything that could be useful in the next few days."

"Teach me?" Lynna asked, incredulously, her eyes growing wide. "You would have us both killed!" She found herself glancing around again, furtively.

Agmar sighed, shaking his head, and started walking again, slowly towards the area of town the inn was at, his hands clasped together behind his back. He stopped a moment, looking back, as if waiting for her to follow, before continuing on, and she found herself moving quickly to catch up. Although he walked slowly, his stride was longer than she had realized.

He stopped short a bit shy of the Surf and Sleep, and his bald head turned until he faced her once more. There was a deep, far away look in his eyes. She could not help but find it a little creepy, and at that moment she could have sworn the wind stopped completely.

"About me the will probably find out before this is over. Quite possibly it is the only thing that can save them. I can also show you how to conceal it. You think it over, but do not wait long to make your decision."

He turned back to the inn, and as he took the first step up to the porch the wind came back. A shiver ran through her, and she looked around worriedly. People were going about their daily lives. Chickens pecked at the earthen streets, Rosal's dog was sitting panting outside the cobbler's window. No one had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

"Mister Agmar!" Allek Gannen's voice called out from behind as Agmar was reaching for the door. Lynna turned and managed to not laugh at the fat innkeeper huffing and puffing in a rolling run down the street. "Wait for me, please!"

"I just wanted to let my girls...know what was going on...before you started setting up," he said between heavy inhales once he caught up to them. "You understand...so as not to confuse 'em and all."

"Of course. Just let us know when you are ready." As Allen rushed inside nodding, Agmar stepped onto the porch and seemed to look around at the floor for a moment, before shrugging and taking a seat on a the rocking chair. It creaked loudly as he started to sit down, and he raised an eyebrow as he lowered himself more cautiously into it. Lynna stood by awkwardly, as there weren't other chairs on the porch, and she found herself kicking at the wood with the toe of her shoe.

"So, how many are there?" He suddenly asked.

"What?" She looked up, startled again. "How many what?"

"Pregnant women."

"Oh." She counted the ones she knew to herself quickly. "At least eight. Although it's likely more. Prob'ly twelve?" She shrugged. "I guess we'll find out, assuming they're willing to say."

"They would be better off saying so now than dealing with it tomorrow." Agmar replied bluntly, a frown on his face. "I don't suppose many of them will be very close to giving birth either."

"I know of three who should be due sometime this next month. Will they be alright?"

"Hopefully." Agmar had a distant look on his face, and though his eyes faced down the street towards the docks, she could tell he wasn't seeing anything in his view. She finally sat down on the step to the inn, realizing she hadn't even taken off her apron before leaving the house. She smoothed the wrinkles away with her hands, flicking away breadcrumbs from breakfast.

"Alright, Mister Agmar, you can come on in and get started now," Allek said when he eventually came out.

Agmar and Lynna stood in unison and followed him back inside. Tables in the dining room had already been moved aside to clear some open space.

"I'll have my boys bring down some extra mattresses to put on the floor, after my girls have given it a good proper mopping. It sounded like you wanted to get started right away. How long 'til you need hot water and all?" he asked, wringing his hands nervously when one of them wasn't pushing his straw blond hair out of his eyes. It needed cutting, and tended to fall forward. All Lynna could think of was what was she going to tell all those women....

"Some of them will take some time, I think. Their chances will be best if it is all finished before sunrise tomorrow. The sooner we start the better." He turned then to Lynna, and she gulped a little despite herself. "Lynna, if you could bring them one at a time, I think that would be best, rather than in groups. Start by telling them that there is a medical man from out of town who wants to check on the health of all the coming babies. There is nothing untrue about that, and is perhaps the least worrisome explanation we can offer until your father has had time to speak to the town en masse."

"Master Gannen," he said, turning back to the innkeeper, "is there an herbalist in town?"

"Well I reckon Jacob might have whatever you need at the store. But if he doesn't, I'd check with Margaret Gretch. She and her daughter Elsa are the ones the town folk are most likely to call on if something ails them. I know she has herbs brought in sometimes by the ship captains, and what she doesn't buy she grows in her garden or in pots in the house. She's also fond of mashin' up bugs and stuff - "

"Could you have someone fetch Mrs. Gretch and her daughter here please?" Agmar interrupted the nervous young inkeeper before he launched into any more description. "Their skills will be needed. And if I may have pen and paper, I'd like to make a list of the herbs we shall be needing. What the Gretch household doesn't have, Mr. Bentz shall need to supply."

"Yes, of course." Allek bobbed his head in agreement and scurried off. Lynna could hear him nearly yelling instructions at people as he went, and she sighed, realizing that his staff was already alarmed from the preparations, and now more so from his tone.

"Excuse me, Agmar?" she asked tenatively.

"What?" He appeared irritated, as if he'd expected her to be gone already.

"Which do you want first? The one's closer to term or the ones still early into their pregnancies?"

"Oh." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "The ones closest to term, please Lynna."

"Right." She nodded at him and turned towards the door, going through the list of known pregnant women in her mind. Once she was outside, she headed towards the other end of town to her friend Emilee's house. She knew Emilee was only a couple weeks away from her estimated due date. At least she'd known Emilee for almost her whole life, as she was only three years older than Lynna, and it would be easier for Lynna to keep calm with her around.

Well, soon I won't have to worry about letting slip to Emilee and Josh that their baby is a boy, she thought to herself. He's so close to being born that he'll have to be alright coming out early, won't he?. She crossed her fingers hopefully as she hurried down the packed dirt road in the bright morning sun.

Emilee's house was a cottage at the edge of town. Josh was on the roof smoothing out the thatch and he waved down to her with a cheerful smile. She put on a smile and waved back, not bothering to call out a hello. His hearing was not very good; he wouldn't hear her anyway.

At the door she knocked with a musical rhythm, although she wasn't sure where she had heard it before. Emilee answered the door with a white apron inadequately covering her huge belly. She had always been a petite girl, and the swollen belly often made Lynna giggle. Today it did not.

"Heya Lynna," she said with an awkward hug.

"Hiya, Emmy. You busy?"

"Not pressing stuff. Why?" Emilee asked, pushing fine red hair off of her freckled face.

"There's a medical guy from out of town, and he wants to check all the pregnant girls and make sure you're healthy. Father said he could," she added for good measure."

"Oh. Okay. I don't mind getting out for a bit," Emilee said, reaching behind her to untie the apron.

"Here, let me get that," Lynna offered. She took the apron and folded it, running it back into the kitchen. Walking back past the little bedroom it occurred to her that her friend was going to need other things. There was no way to explain that without saying too much. She resigned herself to being sent back for stuff later.

Something else occurred to Lynna, as she came back into the front room and they started out the door.

"Should we ask Josh to come too? In case there's any interesting news?" If Emilee was going to have her baby today, she'd want Josh to be nearby.

"No, no. Let's leave him. I feel just fine, and he's been worried about getting that roof fixed before the baby is born, so I don't want to interrupt him." She turned and waved up at her husband, giving him a big smile, and he stopped his work momentarily to wave back, smiling and blowing her a kiss in the process. Lynna watched her friend's smile get bigger, and she touched her heart with her hand, followed by her pregnant belly, in response to Josh. She turned back towards the center of town and the two of them moved down the road.

"Where are we headed?" Emilee asked.

"Oh, he's at the Surf and Sleep. Mr. Gannen is letting him set up in the front dining hall," Lynna replied.

"Well, I'm sure he won't need much time with me. I just visited Margaret yesterday, as this little one has been kicking me a little more thoroughly as of late, but she says that it's normal to feel harsher kicking at this point. It means the baby's getting stronger." She smiled and patted her stomach fondly.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, each of them seemingly lost in their thoughts. Lynna spent the time mulling over the events of the day so far, and how she was going to approach each of the women she knew were pregnant. Especially those who's babies weren't likely to survive if they were born today. She wondered what Agmar's plans for them would be, although she suspected he was planning to help them to miscarry. The glow on her friend Emilee's face left Lynna horrified at how those women would react to Agmar's "solution" if that was the case. She hadn't realized she was outwardly frowning, however, until Emilee reached over and touched her arm.

"Lynn, what's troubling you today? You look worried."

Lynna gulped and tried not to look her friend in the eyes, for fear she'd just spill the whole morning's events out. She felt awful about deceiving Emilee.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you later," was the best response she could manage.

They arrived at the Surf and Sleep without further conversation. Emilee's glow continued, and Lynna tried to pretend to look like she was not worried.

Emilee looked caught off guard at the rows of mattresses in the dining hall. Agmar walked forward and met them. Lynna introduced them.

"You must be expecting to check all the expecting mothers in town," Emilee observed, looking around her.

"There have been problems in other towns," he explained. "Some people just think it is a disease, but I would rather take more precautions than less. If I can help babies stay healthy, then I think I am doing a good thing. Would you not agree?"

"No, I guess that makes sense."

"Please, sit down," he said, offering her his hand to help her lower herself to a mattress. "Lynna, we will want a moment alone before you bring the next mother, please."

"Okay, sir," she said reluctantly. Emilee was her friend, and Lynna wanted to be there to comfort her, to help however she could. But, of course, he was right. Privacy would be good for her. She frowned and turned to start outside again.

As Lynna headed towards the hallway outside the dining hall, she was nearly knocked over by Margaret Gretch, who pushed her way into the room looking angry. Margaret's daughter Elsa followed close behind, and gave an apologetic smile to the astonished Lynna. Lynna paused, having never seen Margaret Gretch get angry before. She was known for her patience and bedside manner when treating an injury or disease. Close behind Elsa was Allek Gannen's youngest stablehand, Mitch, who's arms were full of parcels and burlap bags.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Margaret roared at Agmar. "I don't know who you think you are mister, but you won't go near any of the women of this town after your little list of herbs here." She waved it in his face, followed by holding up a glass jar that was too far away for Lynna to tell what it might be. "What the hell did you think you were going to do with this? Have the women in town miscarry?" Emilee gasped and backed away from Agmar, her hand going protectively over her stomach. Agmar's face was dark and angry.

"Margaret Gretch, I presume?" He said flatly.

"You're damn right I am. Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Agmar, Madam. I have been given permission by the mayor to see to the pregnant women of this town. I am attempting to insure the healthy birth of as many of their babies as will be possible."

"Then why the baristroot?"

He sighed, and closed his eyes a moment, clearly frustrated. When he opened them, he noticed Lynna still standing there.

"Lynna, go and bring the next woman please. We've only so many hours to work with here."

With some reluctance, Lynna turned her back on their exchange, heading out the door. As she left, she could hear Margaret questioning Agmar again, still angry. Lynna wondered how he would explain it to her as she headed towards Lady Mary's. The next woman expected to give birth after Emilee was one of Lady Mary's "girls", who was unmarried and did far more in the beds than she did making them, despite Mary's continued declarations to Lynna's father that their work at the inn wasn't scandalous in any way. Though everyone knew what went on there, even Lynna's father turned a blind eye most of the time, as Lady Mary and her girls were one of the reasons many ship captains picked this town over others to dock at. Lynna wondered if any of the other girls at the inn were pregnant right now that either didn't know it yet or hadn't said anything.

She stood for a moment, trying to let her mind settle. Eagle's Harbor was a quiet, boring town. News moved quickly through it, and it wouldn't be long before she got to girls who had heard rumors, and Lynna would have to come up with something better to say than just a visiting medical man.

Mitch came out of the inn behind her, grumbling. He tended to be heavy on his feet, and his shoes clomped down the porch steps.

"Hey, Lynna, you're still here," he observed. "What's the big thing that's going on? And who is that Agmar fellow? He sent me out of there to talk to Miss Gretch--and I've never seen her like that, neither."

"Um," Lynna stumbed, "Father's going around letting people know what's going on. He might call a town meeting or something. I'm not even sure I understand it all. He can explain it better than I can," she said, hoping to dodge the subject.

"But I have more errands I need to run, so I can't talk now. I'll be back in a few minutes. Then you can let me know what you've heard by then."

"Okay," he shrugged, frowning. He was a nice boy, strong and polite, and cute with his curly red hair and freckles, but he was not the smartest boy in town. Turning, she smiled, remembering the way Winda explained that he was no different than any other boy in town. Winda didn't like most of the boys in town, and she liked to speak her mind.

Lynna looked back over her shoulder at him briefly as she walked away. It looked like he had found a loose railing post and was inspecting it. Lynna knew better than to judge people on any one thing. Some were smarter than others, some stronger than others, some prettier than others, but in the end they were all people with feelings and worries and fears. They were just like her, even if they couldn't--they were people, just like her. She rounded a corner and quickened her step just a little.

Chapter 3

As she sat there, the sunlight streamed in through the glass of the windows nearby, with their heavy curtains pulled open to allow the daylight in. She basked in its warmth, knowing that she'd pull them closed before the sun had set to keep prying eyes from disrupting the privacy of those who would come to enjoy the evening. There was almost always at least five clients at all times during this point in the year. Most chose to sleep on their ships or one of the other inns, but when certain ships came in from the sea she knew who to expect. She suspected that she actually pulled in more profit than Lloyd or Allek, but neither were willing to discuss the subject. Lloyd, at least, acknowledged her right to run a business, but Allek found her choices distasteful at best.

She could hear the sounds of Marcus quietly cleaning and stacking bottles and glasses. The man was meticulous, another quality that she appreciated in him. Her girls tended to be a bit sloppy when it came to keeping the place orderly, but she didn't push too hard on that issue as she knew that their talents were elsewhere. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and listening. Beyond Marcus, she could hear the sounds of pots and pans being rattled in the kitchen, presumably cleaning up from breakfast and possibly preparing for lunch. She could hear the ocasional footsteps as one girl or other moved across the wooden floors of the inn, along with the occasional creaking board.

Of the forty bedrooms the inn had, 10 of them were used by the staff as quarters, and one was her own. Of the remaining twenty-nine, however, she knew that only 7 of them were currently occupied. Six of those were sailors who'd decided to spend their nights here during shore leave, taking advantage of the "discount" that it gave them on their entertainment costs. The seventh, however, was someone getting an early start, and if she listened hard enough, she thought she could hear him enjoying his time with Leet, who'd been happy enough to leave the chore of washing sheets to someone else while she accomodated his needs. It was rare to have customers before noon, generally, excepting the ones who stayed over.

The sound of someone coming up the step, caused her to open her eyes and adjust her dress as she stood up to greet them. She tugged lightly at her low neckline, making sure to maintain the appearance that her bosom could escape it at any time if she weren't careful. She knew it wouldn't, but they always seemed to think it might, based on the way their eyes always seem to end up there. She licked her lips and smiled at the door as it opened.

The smile, however, faded and her brow furrowed as she saw the Mayor's daughter Lynna entering with a nervous and wary look on her face. Mary was surprised to see the girl, as her father was one of the most pious people she'd ever met, and it was unlikely he'd want his daughter ever setting foot on the lawn, much less in Mary's inn itself. She waited, head cocked, while the girl approached somewhat timidly.

Finally the knock came at the door. With Marcus looking on from across the room Mary opened the door, trying to conceal her confusion at the girl's presence.

"Good morning," she offered the girl.

"Good morning Miss Stewart," Lynna said awkwardly. The girl looked around the room, trying--and failing--to be discrete about it. The girl had never been good at concealing her reactions to things, and Mary smiled at the thought of just how many things here could probably shock the girl.

"Um...is Aleena here?"

The girl kept observing the room. Curiosity showed in the girl's eyes. Perhaps she expected the room to be filled with debauchery, with coupling on every chair and couch, and perhaps a row of naked forms on display. Maybe the girl even expected to see girls in chains. Mary had heard quite an inventive variety of speculations by folk who had never stepped inside her building, and most likely would refuse to if invited to inspect it. Some of the suggestions had actually been very creative. A couple she had even used...

"Well, unless she's learned to fly I suppose she probably is. Come with me, and you can tell me why you're asking about her while we look for her," Mary said, dragging it out a little. "Surely she's here somewhere." Mary was looking forward to seeing the girl's reactions, to see how far her curiosity would take her.

Whenever Mary and the girl had crossed paths in town she had not seemed as judgmental as her father. Maybe the girl was actually just tolerant by nature. Perhaps, given her age, she was inherently curious about anything her father would disapprove of. There was nothing going on to corrupt the girl, but Mary decided to let her hear just enough to know what was going on. She expected it to prove rather interesting.

Mary indicated that Lynna should follow her, and closed the door behind her once the girl had stepped all the way into the room. Mary turned her back on the girl, and gathered the skirt of her dress in one hand.

"Follow me then, young lady." she said, in a tone she had found worked well in getting her girls to tend to their chores. "So what is it you want with Aleena then?" She could hear the girl taking a deep breath before answering, and wondered if the girl wasn't, perhaps, more pious than she had guessed. She led the girl upstairs, and started down the hallway of the rooms that were currently rented out.

"There's a medical man in town, and my father has given him permission to inspect the pregnant women to make sure their babies are doing okay." She said it all in a rush, the way some of her girls did when they were lying about their whereabouts. She'd had the occasional troubles with one or two of her girls sneaking off to the boats to make some extra cash, instead of arranging it through her. That practice was dangerous, Mary knew, and she'd heard of instances in other towns where the boats took off with the girl still aboard but then she'd never been seen again. Mary simply refused to allow her girls the risk of becoming a pirate captive or sold off into slavery, which was what the rumors were on what happened to such girls.

Mary stopped and turned to look Lynna in the eyes, and realized that there was more to the girl's nervousness than the sounds of Leet and her client moaning and the creaking of the wooden bed beneath them. Admittedly, Lynna's eyes had grown wide as saucers and were drawn to the door behind which the noises came from, but her hands were wringing the sides of the apron she had tied around her waist.

"What is he looking for?" Mary asked her, seeing her eyes snap guiltily back to Mary's face.

"What?"

"What is this medical man looking for? Why does he want to look at Aleena?"

"Well, she's pregnant. He's checking on the health of her and her baby."

"Is there some danger to Aleena and her baby's health then?" If there was some sort of disease going around, Mary certainly wanted to know about it. The last time a plague was going on, two towns upshore, she'd lost four girls from men on boats stopping here after they'd been exposed. Of course she'd heard that worse had happened on the boats they'd served on. At least she had the luxury of being able to quarantine if she knew in time.

"Well..." She looked uncertain of what to say, and the look on her face suggested there was much more to say. "It's only the babies that are at risk right now, and he's making sure that that's fixed before anything else could go wrong."

Lynna was still holding something back, although Mary suspected she was hedging the edges of the truth in what she said. Leet was getting louder, and the girl looked distinctly uncomfortable, so Mary continued down the hallway to the next flight of stairs leading further up.

"There's something you're not telling me. I can tell. So out with it girl, I haven't got all day."

The girl swallowed hard, and Mary wondered if the girl was trying to make something up.

"He's checking all the pregnancies. Some kind of trouble is coming, so there's reason for concern. My father is going to be gathering everyone together pretty soon to talk about it." She hesitated then, and Mary leveled a look at the girl's eyes. Either she was making it up, or trying to avoid saying something. Either way, there was more to it.

"Um, Miss Stewart?" Lynna asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

"Are there other girls here that you think might be pregnant? It really would be good if I could bring all of them. I know about Aleena, but might there be others?"

"There might," Mary conceded, "but until they choose to say something, that's their business and not yours."

"Um," Lynna started, furrowing her brow anxiously, "there is trouble coming, and Agmar thinks that all the babies might be in danger. It's important."

"Oh, and this Agmar is the medical man?" Mary raised her eyebrow skeptically. "And is he the one who says trouble is coming? Enough trouble for our friendly mayor to gather the entire town to talk about?"

Lynna nodded. "And the people within a few miles of town. There have been signs of what's coming, but nobody knew they meant anything until Agmar pointed it out. I think my father feels we're better off preparing for the possibilty of trouble, rather than ignoring it and suffering for it."

"What signs? What kind of trouble are we expecting?" Plagues and sicknesses were usually preceeded by symptoms, not signs. Mary realized, too late, that she'd pushed a little too hard on the girl, who was obviously frightened herself, as she saw Lynna's eyes get wider and blink as if she was holding back tears.

"I don't know exactly what's coming. I'm not sure I understood everything he said, but it doesn't sound good." She took a breath and continued. "I think someone is going to come tell you soon anyway, since they're bringing in people off the ships too, and they will need places to stay."

Mary realized that the girl's fear was rubbing off onto her, when she didn't immediately get upset at the prospect of the mayor potentially ordering her to open the doors to the rooms to people at no charge. She highly doubted that this was a profit situation, although if any of the sailors thought that her girls might work free of charge, they would have another thing coming. She supposed she might make up what she lost on the rooms in cost for the girls' time if her rooms were full to overloading with lonely, fearful sailors. She'd have to make sure that there were some rooms that didn't get filled, as business would be slower if everyone was doubled up. Most men who wanted time with her girls, wanted to do so in privacy.

"I think I'll just come with you and Aleena, then, and speak to this Agmar myself." She turned and led the girl down the second flight of stairs at the back of the inn, returning to the first floor again. She led Lynna to the kitchen, where she knew that Aleena would be, as her duties while pregnant had grown lighter over the months and she now mostly sat in the kitchen helping the cook prepare meals by slicing vegetables and kneading bread. Both she and the cook, Genla an elderly woman who the girls all seemed to turn to when they needed advice, looked up when they entered.

"Aleena, I need you to come with me. Genla, I'm going to be gone for a bit. There's a man visiting town who's seeing to the pregnant women, and I'm going to go with Aleena to speak to him. If you could make sure none of the other girls leave during my absence, I'd appreciate it. I may need to speak to them all when I return."

"Very well." Genla nodded briskly before returning to the loaf of bread she was slicing. Aleena stood up silently and took off her apron, hanging it over the back of the chair she'd been sitting on before coming over to join them.

"So, where is this man then Lynna?" Mary asked.

"They've let him set up in the dining hall of the Surf and Sleep."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Of course they did," she sighed. "Let's get moving then.

On the walk through town Mary put pieces together in her head. I s'pose she's gonna tell me there's some damn prophesy or something. This Agmer felluh is probably looking for babies with goat legs or something. That used to happen, right? Still, Mary did not see anything that seemed like signs. Sailors and fishermen were an even more superstitious folk than the townsfolk, and she hadn't heard anything from them. If they were worried, she'd know. They'd talk about it. They always talked.

Yet she had to concede that there was a tension in the town today. Old Man Jonkin's dog--normally placidly sitting on his porch panting in the sun--growled at them when they walked by, and then went back to gnawing at his foreleg. That leg was bleeding, Mary noticed with some alarm.

The streets were quieter, too. She looked first one way then another, but there were no children out playing. She saw garlic nailed up over Widow Lonna's door. The fishermen sometimes claimed that she could see the future, and that she had carved out her own eye so she would only have to see half of it. A silly story, Mary thought, but Lonna's porch was conspicuously empty of her rocker and ever-present basket of fruit.

After a moment she saw other people again. They were all gathering outside the Surf and Sleep. Mary's stomach grew heavy seeing Avern Mordan pacing on the inn's little porch. He really was gathering the town. She looked behind her and saw that Captain Alder's watchmen were leading groups of people this way from other directions.

Mary steeled herself as she approached. Although she was, by nature, a social person, she also knew that a good majority of the people living in this town did not approve of her choice of profession. There were a few of the men, however, who were carful not to take their criticism of her too far, for fear she would identify them as having graced the doorstep of her inn at the dark hours of the night, seeking solace in the warm arms of one of her girls. She had sworn the young women to secrecy and that was the one rule they knew was unbreakable.

Not all of those men had been unmarried at the time that they visited. Mary was not going to be blamed as the cause of their indiscretions, should their wives find out. But she did keep a mental list of who those men were, should she ever need to call in a favor. Especially Avern Mordan. The line between them was a thin and shaky one, as he openly criticized her. But he was the only man in this town she'd tended to herself when she discovered him half-drunk and weeping on her doorstep on the tenth anniversary of his wife's death. Whenever their eyes met his look was one of hard warning and regret, although today it was tainted with worry. Mary shivered despite herself. Avern was not one to let worry show on his face. He was usually the rock that the little community flocked around, safe in the assumption that he had everything under control. Today, his voice conveyed confidence, but his eyes told her a different story. She pushed through the crowd, and into the inn. She'd deal with this Agmar person first, then she'd find out what Avern had to say.

Inside the dining hall, there were mattresses laid down on the floor, and the tables and chairs had been mostly cleared from the room. She saw Margaret Gretch hovering over Emilee Rayton, who was curled up on one of the mattresses, in tears. Mary wondered idly where Margaret's daughter Elsa was, as the girl was always shadowing behind her mother, quiet but alert.

Standing with his back to them, looking out the window with a frown on his face, was a bald man Mary hadn't seen before. She went to him directly, giving a short nod to Margaret, who had noticed their arrival. She saw Lynna rush over to see to her friend, and the man turned, having noticed the movements off to the side of him. She watched his frown melt away to a more pleasant expression, and her eyes narrowed with the realization that he would be harder to read. He'd had need to learn to read people as she had.

"You must be Agmar." She stated pointedly.

"And you must be Lady Mary," he said in a deeper voice than she had expected from his thin face. It seemed the voice of a taller man, and his pale blue eyes were piercingly inquisitive.

"Lynna has probably told you enough to make you curious and vaguely concerned--suspicious, perhaps," he proposed. "Then you saw the gatheing crowds, and now you know to be concerned, but not what about."

"Look, Mister Agmar, I don't know what you--"

He interrupted her with just the simplest raising of his hand. "Please just call me Agmar, and I will not spend the next week or so calling you Lady Mary, and things can be just a little bit easier. Trouble is coming to this town, Mary. It is trouble that will affect everyone, although some more than others. It is not something that can be hidden from, or avoided."

"Now," he continued, "there are a lot of things that I am going to have to do. Some of them will not be pleasant. For right now, it is very important that I see all the women who are pregnant, including those who have not told anyone yet. I think that you know who those women are, Mary. You can either help bring them here, or I can tell you what will happen to them if you do not, but I can assure you it is not something you want to think to deeply about."

"Perhaps you can also explain the part where my inn is apparently going to be commandeered, as well?"

"That is something you can discuss with Mayor Mordan. He is handling the logistics of bringing people in for safety. I have other matters to attend to right now." He stepped to one side, getting a better look at Aleena, who'd been practically hiding behind Mary. He smiled and held out a hand to her.

"And what is your name, young lady?" he asked her.

"Aleena." She sounded frightened, and Mary took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. This was the girl's first pregnancy and she'd been an emotional disaster throughout, despite the fact that she was normally reasonably assertive. 'Headstrong' was the word most people tended to associate with her, but the pregnancy had managed to turn her into a timid, and frequently weeping, frightened girl. Mary was just hoping she'd spring back once the child was back, although she knew it sometimes took a few months for a new mother to re-adjust. There were already three children who lived at her inn with their mothers. Proving that the herbs Margaret provided were not entirely infallible.

"Aleena, why don't you pick one of the mattresses to get comfortable on, and Margaret will take a look and see how you and your baby are doing right now, alright?"

Aleena looked over at Mary, and she gave the girl a nod and gestured towards the mattress furthest from them, while giving her hand another quick squeeze. Aleena moved off and went to sit on the mattress. Mary lowered her voice and looked back at Agmar.

"What exactly are you planning to do to them?" She locked her eyes with his, almost daring him to try to lie to her.

"Those who can, need to give birth today." he answered, in an equally low voice. "Or else their children will not have a chance of living at all, except in some cases as mutated versions of babies, almost demonic in nature, who will die an early death. Assuming, that is, that they do not kill the mother trying to claw their way out over the next two days."

Mary felt her jaw drop open, and she shuddered involuntarily at the imagery that came to her mind.

"But - how?" She shook her head, not knowing what could cause such a thing.

"An ancient evil is about to move across the world, Mary. It cannot be stopped, and it holds no visible shape but through the evil molds of those within its path. Especially those who cannot resist it. Animals are the first affected. I have heard that some woman has already been killed because her chickens attacked her. Tomorrow, any child who has not been brought out into the world will change within its mother, and that evil warps and twists their minds and bodies to its enraged will."

She looked over at Aleena, who did not appear to have heard. Margaret and Lynna were helping her get comfortable. Aleena was not good at hiding her expressions of late, and her expression now was not what it would be if she had heard.

"How do you know all this," she stumbled over saying.

He responded with some explanation about studying old texts, but she heard little of it. There's more to this than twisting babies, she realized. Mordan was preparing for the worst, obviously. Standing in the room full of mattresses, and his simple statement that mothers needed to give birth today had a heavy impact on her.

She looked around, seeing the expression on Margaret's face finally. Margaret was one of the most rational folk in town, not superstitious like the fishermen and visiting sailors. While sometimes argumentive, once Margaret saw the logic in something she understood. Today Margaret looked afraid. She was trying to conceal it, but she was afraid. What did he say to her?

"What can I do," she eventually asked.

"Whomever is pregnant needs to deliver today." he told her, still speaking quietly. "Otherwise they will give birth tomorrow, and it is unlikely they will want their babies at that point. It would be too late for the infant, and some mothers would definitely not survive the delivery. If I am understanding correctly, the most likely to be pregnant and not know it or not say it are going to be the young ladies in your employ. If you bring them here, Elsa Gretch and I can do some tests to be sure. Margaret will be busy with delivering, although I will be helping there as well. There is also the matter of a need for rooms for those coming in off the ships docked here, but you should discuss that with the Mayor. I have been given only limited authority on such matters."

"Not - " she reached for words as a realization hit her as she looked over at Aleena and Emilee. "Not all of the babies are far enough along to survive being born." She practically whispered it, her heart knotting up in her stomach.

"Those pregnancies will need to be resolved as well." he replied flatly.

"Resolved?"

"Ended." He turned away from her, looking out the window again instead. "There is no better alternative, I assure you. I wish there was."

"I understand." She could think of nothing else to say. She did understand his reasoning, but knew that the mothers who would have to willingly miscarry would not. "What are you telling them?"

"As little as possible. For those who can deliver safely, we are giving them herbs that will help encourage their babies to come out naturally. I have not yet decided how to handle those who bear children that are sure not to survive. Margaret does not seem to know of a good way to tell them either."

"The people in this town are stubborn enough as it is. I know there are ways that can force a miscarriage. It's unlikely you will find many who are going to be willing at all. Perhaps if you just give them something and explain it afte