Four Summoners Tales Part 4

"He doesn't have a dog in this fight," Dobbs said.

The doctor flinched and Dobbs flushed. "That didn't sound right," the blacksmith said. "But they know what I mean. He hasn't lost anyone. His wife lives. His daughter lives."

"Foster daughter," Doc Adams said, correcting him.

"It's the same thing," Preacher said. "While you all know how I feel about the loss of our children, I would not dare match my grief to yours. So I take and concede the point. However, my having not lost anyone means that I'm the only one who can see this clearly and-"

"Preacher?" Mayor Browning turned to him. "I'm going to ask you to step outside. We want to hear what these gentlemen have to say."

Preacher forced a nod. "All right then. I will remain silent-"

"No."The mayor met his gaze. "I don't believe you will. I am asking you to leave. Please don't make me insist."

Preacher looked into the mayor's face, the set of his jaw, the flint in his gaze. Dobbs rose to his feet, squaring his thick shoulders, as if he were a tender of bar, ready to throw an unruly patron through the door. Doc Adams shrank back, taking great interest in a mark on the wall.

No one here would take Preacher's side.They wanted to hear what the men had to say.They needed to. His job was to counsel them to make wise and spiritual decisions, but if their ears were stopped, he must leave them to make their own mistakes. He could hope they'd hear the lies for what they were but, at worst, they would lose only coin and pride.

"All right," Preacher said. "If anyone needs me, I'll be home with my wife. Good day, gentlemen."

Browning

Preacher left without argument.Which the mayor took to mean he wasn't as strenuously opposed to the idea as he pretended. Their preacher was an odd duck. A fine enough man-he just had odd ideas. City ideas. Dobbs thought him soft, and while it was true that he wasn't like the men who'd lived out here all their lives, the preacher held his own. He just spent more time in his head than a man ought to.Worried more than a man ought to.

That was, Browning decided, what had happened here. Preacher felt obligated to object to anything that might smack of dark arts, but it was only a perfunctory objection. A strong perfunctory objection, Browning would give him that, and yes, the man had seemed genuinely upset, but . . . well, he'd left, hadn't he? If Browning wanted to see that as a sign that his protest lacked conviction, then he could and he would.

Besides, this wasn't the dark arts. It was faith. Eleazar was right-the Lord Jesus Christ had raised a man from the dead. It was right there in the Bible. That made it a miracle. A gift from G.o.d, not the Devil.

"Go on.Tell us more," he said when Preacher had left. "Thank you,Your Worship.We can return the living, but only if they have been dead four days or less, like Lazarus. I presume there are children that meet that criterion?"

"My son," Browning blurted.

There were others, of course, but in that moment, he did not even pause to consider them.They did not matter. His son-his only child-lay dead twenty feet away, behind the wall. What would he give to see the boy alive again? There was part of him that dared not even ask the question because the answer terrified him.

"And my granddaughter," Doc Adams said. "And Mr. Dobbs's son and-"

"My daughter died five days ago," Dobbs said. "Is that-"

"No," Eleazar said softly. "It is too long."

"Like my grandson," Doc Adams said. "Gone a week now."

Eleazar nodded.

"My daughter was wee still," Dobbs said. "My wife can have others. My son was growing into a strong lad. If you could return him . . ."

He said it so casually, Browning marveled. If you could return him. As if asking for a simple favor. If you could bring a pie on Sunday, that would be lovely. Browning knew Dobbs loved his boy. But it was not the same as his own situation. Dobbs had two other children and apparently planned others to replace those lost. Browning's wife had lost their first two in infancy, to influenza. She was past the age of bearing more. Without their son, they had nothing. No child. No grandchildren. No great-grandchildren. Only the two of them, growing old in their loneliness and their grief.

"Tell us more," Browning said again.

"There is a price," Doc Adams said. "Surely there must be a price."

Eleazar looked uncomfortable. "Yes, I fear there is. I cannot perform this miracle often. That was the stricture given by the Lord Jesus Christ.We must be very careful imparting our gift, so as not to disrupt the natural order of things. I search out tragedies, such as yours, where it can be of most use. That means, however, that there is a cost, to allow my a.s.sistant and me to live frugally and continue our work."

"How much?" Dobbs asked.

"My normal rate is a thousand dollars for a resurrection."

Doc Adams inhaled sharply. Dobbs looked ill. Browning began quickly calculating. He had money and a few items he could sell.Yes, he could manage it. When he looked at the faces of the others, though, he felt a slight pang of guilt. A thousand dollars would be near impossible for them. Men at the mines bragged of earning that much in a year.

"Most of us would not be able to afford that," Browning said, quickly adding, "Though a few would sc.r.a.pe it together."

"Understandable," Eleazar said. "And while that is my fee, normally I am performing a single resurrection, so I require an exorbitant amount, as it is all I may earn for a year or more. However, as there are multiple resurrections required here, I did not intend to charge so much for the good people of Chestnut Hill. How many children would there be, if price were no object?"

"Seven," Doc Adams said. "I p.r.o.nounced seven poor children dead in the last four days."

"Then my fee would be three hundred dollars apiece."

Doc Adams exhaled in relief. Browning knew he could afford that with ease. He glanced at Dobbs as the younger man counted on his fingers.