Masquerade in Lodi
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In Lodi on the eve of the Bastard's Day, Penric is asked to check if a madman
who had just been saved from the sea by fishermen. The man is confused because
he got a demon from a dying dolphin. Soon after Penric makes his diagnostic,
the man flees the hospital and hides in the city. Penric seeks the help from
Chio, the local saint, a young woman living in an orphanage, the only kind of
person who can free the man from its demon. They manage to identify the man
as Ree, the son of a local merchant who was at sea with his cousin Merin. They
eventually find Ree hiding in a warehouse, fighting Merin who is trying to
kill him. After Penric has immobilized the two men and Chio has returned the
demon to its god, Ree reveals that Merin had thrown him overboard because he
suspected him of stealing.
The Orphans of Raspay
On his way back home to Orbas, Penric's ship is boarded by pirates and he is
taken prisoner. He befriends two orphan children who also are prisoner. On the
island of Lantihera, controlled by pirates and slavers, Penric manages to keep
the two children safe, and takes them with him when he escapes. He first
rescues the sailors from his ship form the jail where they were waiting to be
sold as slaves, but afraid of the sorcerer, they flee the island without him.
Penric then wreaks havoc in the harbour, sinking ships and burning buildings,
but with little chance of finding a ship on which to flee. He and the two
children are then saved in the nick of time by his brother-in-law Adelis who
was sent with a fleet to put a stop to the pirates' activities. Penric then
goes back home with the children and places them as apprentices in a house of
his order.
The Physicians of Vilnoc
Adelis asks Penric to investigate a mysterious disease that is killing a lot
of his soldiers. Penric can use his magic to help the sick get step-by-step
better, but the situation becomes desperate as the number of sick people
increases and the mode of contagion cannot be determined (a wild experiment
conducted by the only remaining army physician on himself proves it's not
transmitted by the fleas on the rats). Penric also sends letters asking
neighbouring cities to send sorcerers, but they remain unanswered. From a
nearby camp of Rusylli prisoners he learns the name of the disease to be the
blue witch. The arrival of Dubro, a inexperienced b fast-learning sorcerer,
provides help, but as Adelis comes back from an expedition the number of sick
soldiers increases again. During a desperate prayer to the Bastard, Penric is
bitten by a blue fly. He also discovers that the army parks just outside the
garrison sick and dying horses that suffer from the same disease. He then
understand that all horses must be screened and the sick ones must be killed
and burnt. This action and the sorcerers killing as many flies as they can
allows to stop the epidemic and for Penric to go back home.
