Free An Embarrassment of Riches by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Page A

Smiricti Detrich, Counselor of Praha, on this, the twenty-third day of May in the 1269 th Year of Salvation,
    My dear Master Apothecary,
    I wish to secure from you such nostrums and potions as you have to treat obstinate flux. I fear that all of my household must succumb to it unless you have a means of treating it unknown to the physicians of the city. One of my slaves, an older man with a habitual cough, has already died of it, and all but two have shown some signs of it. The servants in the household are also afflicted, and that gives me cause for concern, in that it may soon reach my family and me.
    The city is afraid the wells may have been poisoned, which would account for the spread of the sickness. If you have some means of determining if this is a justified fear, I and the other Counselors would be most grateful. We would provide you a stipend for any work you might do to improve the quality of the wells, if they are truly the source of the contagion. As the apothecary to Episcopus Fauvinel, we are certain you have the ability to produce a cure for whatever it is that is making so many in Praha sick.
    If you would be good enough to call upon me at my house, I will discuss all the aspects of the current outbreak that I have discovered, including the spread of it, and the nature of the miasma that may be spreading from the wells to the people. In the meantime, Episcopus Fauvinel has authorized the priests in all the churches of the city to offer Masses of healing, and encouraged those who are well to show their Christian charity and visit those who are suffering from this affliction. Although there have been few deaths among those contracting the illness, we, the Counselors, have declared that a pit for burial of all those dying of it should be dug and consecrated outside the walls, so that no lingering infection may spread from those interred.
    My servant will bring me your answer, and if you require it, will guide you to my door.
    May God bless you for your help to those in need.
     
    Smiricti Detrich
    Counselor of Praha (his mark)
    by the hand of Frater Ulric

4
     
    The contents of the banded coffer glittered in the morning light; more than two hundred jewels lay in the ornate chest, polished and shining with all the glory of a rainbow, colors repeated in the Persian carpets on the floor, making the rest of Rakoczy’s workroom appear drab; at the far end of the room, the athanor was heating, making ready for the production of still more jewels.
    “You aren’t going to give them to the Konige all at once, are you?” Hruther asked as he watched Rakoczy close the lid. He spoke in the Latin of his long-ago youth. “It’s one thing to give the Konige’s Court a banquet, but so many jewels at the same time? The Episcopus has already remarked on your wealth, and not flatteringly.”
    “Of course I will not give all these to her at once: she would just expect more and grander the next time she summoned me to wait upon her, and more banquets with more jewels as well,” said Rakoczy in the same tongue as he set the padlock in the slots in the two hinged iron bands. “No, I shall give them out judiciously, enough to satisfy Konig Bela that I am upholding the terms of my exile, and to keep the Konige well-inclined toward me but not so much that Otakar decides that he, too, should have his own share of what I provide.”
    “You’re certain it would come to that?” Hruther asked, and knew the answer as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
    “Think of Cyprus, old friend.” He regarded Hruther levelly, recalling seven hundred years before and his three years there, when he had been faced with the increasing demands for jewels from the island’s ruler.
    “I take your point,” said Hruther, nodding slowly.
    “I would not like to have to make caskets and caskets of jewels every month again; that one time was sufficient.”
    “Even though you could do it,” said Hruther with a suggestion of amusement.
    “I