Even if he’d discovered her disappearance this very morning, and left for her last location, it would still take him the better part of the morning to reach Stillwater Dam. And from there, hopping on Jumping Clouds, it would still take him at least two days to reach Nanashi Isle. And that’s if he flew through the night. It might be safer to say that he would be here in three days.
Master, on the other hand, could be anywhere in the world at this moment. He didn’t stay at home for long stretches of time, especially not now when most of his students were grown up and out of the house. He could be very close to her or completely on the other side of Mander, for all she knew.
Would the help she needed even arrive before the volcano blew?
Sevana spent the next two days investigating. In those two days, she learned the basic structure of the island, the volcano, and more about the goddess sealed inside. She wrote it all down so that she could hand it over to Master when he arrived. He had poor oral retention and did better reading things. It would also save her from repeating it twice, if Aran arrived before Master did. She simply hated repeating herself.
Bright and early on the second day, coming in with the morning sun, was Jumping Clouds. Sevana heard it as it sailed in, the sound like giant fluttering wings and snapping sails in the sky. There was nothing else like it in the world. She left her breakfast cooling on her temporary work table and sprinted outside, lifting a hand to shield her eyes.
There it was! It was coming in hot and fast and only then did Sevana question: had she ever thought to teach Aran how to land? She remembered teaching him to fly…but landing?
In this crowded street, and with so many houses stacked almost on top of each other, there was no place to land. Sevana realized that in a split second, swore, and ran up the street and over, heading for a “clear” spot that she knew of. It was sandwiched between the fishing docks and the base of the volcano, a rocky area that people couldn’t farm or build on. It was barely wide enough to give room for a landing, but it should still be doable. If Aran knew how to land, of course. Otherwise he’d miss it entirely and she’d be short a flying device.
He must have seen her from above, as he rotated the ship three times, slowing its speed down, and then dropping almost directly in the clear area. It made a grating sound that sent a shiver up her nerves. He hadn’t punched a hole in her hull, had he?!
There was no time to think about it as Aran hopped off and ran for her. “Sevana!”
She put up two placating hands. “I’m alrigh—oomph!” Her words were literally knocked out of her as he grabbed her up in an embrace strong enough to cut off circulation. Gasping in air, she tried to struggle back a little. Just an inch.
Aran wasn’t having it. Into her hair, he demanded hoarsely, “You’re alright?”
“Of course I am.” It felt a little awkward, but she had to try something to soothe him, so she pulled an arm free and stroked the back of his head. Strangely, the gesture worked almost instantly and half the tension racing through him drained out. She absolutely had to remember this trick. “Well, I have a volcano on my hands, but other than that I’m fine.”
Slowly, reluctantly, he stepped back a few inches so he could look her properly in the eyes. “What happened, exactly?”
“There’s a very long, involved story, but I have a feeling you didn’t eat or rest while flying to me.” She didn’t need his confirmation to know she was right. It was impossible to make that kind of time without skipping all meals and sleep. Even without knowing the logistics, it was obvious from his general state. He looked like something the dog dragged in and then abandoned. “Come back with me, I’ve got breakfast waiting, and I’ll tell you.”
Shaking his head angrily, Aran tried to drag her toward the ship. “We’re leaving.”
Sevana dug in her heels, literally, and pulled him the other direction. “Of course we’re not!”
“You don’t help your own kidnappers,” Aran snarled, his aura turning more vibrant and red.
Once, only once, had she seen angry Fae. Their aura had done something similar to this, only more intensely, and what had followed had not been pretty. To see Aran that enraged honestly scared her right down to her marrow. “Aran. They brought me here without asking, yes, but I was the one that chose to take on the job and stay.”
The muscles in his face twitched with repressed anger. “You chose to stay.”
“I did, yes. Because I can’t ignore what’s going on here. It has far-reaching consequences, far beyond this island. I need to stay and help them find a solution.”
He closed his eyes, shuddering under the weight of his own emotions. “So you’re telling me that I can’t be angry with them?”
“You can be angry all you want,” she responded honestly, “just don’t level the place I’m trying to save.”
For some reason that made him snort in laughter. Throwing his head back, he stood in place for several moments and breathed heavily. When he lowered his head again, he was calmer. Not calm, but not livid anymore either. “If you were going to stay, you should have called. Sellion.”
Oh dear. Hearing that name out of his mouth was never a good thing. “Well, I tried, and fried two Callers in the attempt.”
“Ah,” Aran said in understanding. “We do need to do something about that.”
“We do, yes, but the way you said my name there makes me worry. By any chance, did you report to Aranhil that I had been taken?”
“Of course I did.”
Sevana felt a brewing headache start in the base of her neck. “Please tell me that his Caller and yours are still charged? So that we can prevent him from riding off to war on my account?”
“I believe we can contact him.” Aran couldn’t seem to help himself. He brought her in again, but this time the hug was gentle, and he swayed a little from side to side in a more relieved and happy manner. “If you were not alright, I would not have tried to stop him. I would be joining him.”
“Pfft. What are you saying?” Sevana grinned into his shoulder. It was hard not to feel very loved right now. “You’d be leading the charge.”
“I would,” Aran admitted openly and without any remorse. “I suppose we should call him now.”
“I’d prefer that, yes. Before things get truly heated up. Also, we might need his help in subduing this volcano.”
Aran drew back and gave her a look that expressed extreme doubt and exasperation. “You expect him to help your kidnappers?”
“Arandur.” Sevana tried to be patient as she knew that he was severely sleep deprived, but it was hard. “If we don’t fix this, it will have a direct effect on the Fae living near here. Not to mention your cousins, the Unda.”
“Oh.”
“Oh is right. So help me call Aranhil. We need all the help that we can get on this one.”
Sevana’s King of the Fae was not at all happy that she chose to stay and help her kidnappers either, but once she explained what was going on, Aranhil did agree that the situation was too dangerous to ignore. He promised to contact the Fae living nearby and alert them to the problem so they could make preparations.
While speaking to him, Sevana carefully did not touch the Caller. Aran had devoured her breakfast while she spoke, but Sevana did not begrudge him the food. She wasn’t all that hungry and the man had skipped two days’ worth of meals getting to her. If he wasn’t Fae, he likely would have been half-faint by now.
When the Caller was still, she commanded, “Call Master for me.”
Aran obediently said, “Call Tashjian.”
It took a moment for the Caller to come to life, then it shifted over into Master’s form. He was sitting, dressed in some of his favorite traveling clothes of loose britches and a poet shirt, which meant he was en-route to somewhere. “Arandur! You found her!”
“He found me,” Sevana drawled. “And before you ask, I’m fine. I have a volcano hanging over my head, but I’m fine.”
Master slumped in on himself in abject
relief. “Thank all mercy for small favors. Well, sweetling, you’ve gotten yourself in over your head this time.”
“I would like to take this moment and remind you that I did not volunteer for this. I was voluntold. There is a difference.”
“You’re still in over your head,” Master said with a pointed look.
He did have her there. “Why do you think I called for help?”
“It’s wise of you. Although it does scare me that my usually fiercely independent girl is calling for help. It bodes ill.”
“Love you too, Master.”
Chuckling, he went on, “So explain to me in detail what’s going on.”
“I’m not sure we have enough magic in this Caller for that,” she hedged, staring at said Caller in worry. “First tell me where you are and when you’re expected to be here.”
“You need to tell me where you are first, sweetling.”
He didn’t know? She looked to Aran for explanation, as she would have thought the two would’ve kept in contact while searching for her.
“I didn’t dare use up the magic in the Caller until I found you,” he explained. “And it’s hard for me to gauge how much power is in this thing.”
Good point. Although she did wonder why Milly hadn’t reached him yet. Maybe he wasn’t near anything reflective? “I’m at Nanashi Isle.”
“That makes life a little easier. I just passed Sondack. I plan to pick up what I need and fly from home.”
If he was past Sondack, then he was likely hours away from home. Good, that was actually perfect, as it would give her a chance to give him a list of things she needed. It was easier to pilfer his storerooms than try to make things up here with limited resources and tools.
Considering how little communication time they had, she gave him only the bare bones of the situation. “There is a phoenix, a minor deity of this pantheon, sealed away in the volcano up here. She’s supposedly deep asleep, although I have doubts of this after watching the volcano for three days. Things shift and settle again without any real rhyme or reason.”
“A sealed phoenix?” Master rolled his eyes. “Have they lost their collective minds?”
“Funny, that was my first thought. Anyway, the volcano is degassing, and judging from the collections I’ve done, it’s changing from day to day. Sometimes it has more carbon, sometimes more hydrogen, or more sulfur, and then it will flux back to what it was the day before. I think she’s not as sealed in there as everyone believes. Now, because of political reasons, no one is willing to talk about taking her out of there. Also, for power reasons, it doesn’t seem quite possible. The Jade Emperor was the one that stuck her in there and no one here has the power to overrule what he has done. Or at least, if they do, they won’t own up to it.”
Master frowned deeply, heavily in thought. “This does not sound good at all. What’s the size of the volcano?”
“It’s a cinder cone, about 900 feet tall.”
“So, not the largest of them. Well, considering the small size of Nanashi Isle, that shouldn’t surprise me. You say it’s degassing?”
“Regularly. Almost constantly. There’s vents around the top, too. It’s also showing signs of bulging around the top and the slope on the sides is expanding a little, but only an inch every few days. It gives me hope that we can solve this before it actually explodes.”
“Those are good signs, yes, although it worries me that you’re seeing obvious signs of bulging already. I’d say we have about two weeks, three at most, to solve this problem.”
That was her estimate exactly, but what worried Sevana was that it was only an estimate. They could be wrong. They could be very, very wrong and a lot of people would die if they weren’t right.
“What can we really do about this?” Aran asked the two of them. “If we can’t move the phoenix out of there, then doesn’t that mean the volcano really will blow?”
“Her presence is severely agitating matters. I think that volcano was meant to be dormant for a few centuries more. Without her presence in there, it would have been safe to ignore the area. We truly do need to do something about her. Sweetling, you can’t convince them to move her?”
“I don’t think this is something that I can argue with them about. It’s not just a matter of protocol but power. They literally don’t have the necessary power to overturn the decision. We’d have to get a more powerful deity in here to do the job, and I don’t have the connections to pull that off.”
“Then we have to find some way around it. The ash cloud alone from this volcanic eruption would destroy far too much territory. Alright, I’ll think of possible solutions and bring anything that I think might be handy with me. For now, keep investigating. They might know something that will help and aren’t thinking it important enough to share. Strangely, this occurs to me more often than not.”
It often happened to her, too. Why was that? “We will. Master, bring any fallen pieces of star, as much as you can. I have a feeling that we’re going to need it.”
He pursed his lips off to one side. “You have an idea already, don’t you?”
“A very, very vague idea. I’m not at all sure it will work and I can’t do the experiments I need to verify it one way or another. Get up here quickly.” Staring at the Caller itself, she realized in concern that it was running very low on magic. “Take a mirror with you. Milly can relay messages for us when the Caller—”
The white statue lost its shape of Master and reformed itself into the default setting of a somewhat shapeless humanoid figurine.
“—dies,” she finished in aggravation. “Curses. I had a list of things I wanted him to bring.”
“Milly will have to tell him.”
Yes, she would. Fortunately, the woman now knew which mirror Sevana was near, so she should be able to deliver the message to Master fast enough for him to pack what she wanted. Tapping the mirror a little to make a knock-knock sound, she called, “Milly.”
As she waited for the other woman to reply, she turned and really looked at Aran. As a tracker, the man was of course used to staying up all night if he needed to, but two days and two nights in a row was stretching things mightily. Now that his belly was full, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. Frowning, she pointed to the futon folded up and resting in a corner. “Go sleep.”
“I don’t need—” He cut himself off as he yawned.
Sevana gave him a Look. “I promise to wake you if the volcano blows. For now, sleep. You’re so tired you’re actually swaying while sitting.”
“It’s a skill,” he defended mildly.
“Ha.”
His eyes crinkled up at her obvious disbelief and he capitulated silently with a shrug. There was enough space to lay out the futon against the back wall, which he did, then rolled into it. His eyes were closed before he could even cover himself with a blanket.
“What am I, your mother?” she asked him in amusement as she threw the blanket over him and moved his head properly on top of the pillow. His greasy head. “When you wake up, mister, I’m going to insist on you getting a bath.”
For now, she supposed she should see what she had on Jumping Clouds. Maybe she’d get lucky and some of what she needed would be on there. Snagging the mirror, she skipped out the door, calling for Milly as she went.
Sevana’s memory of what she had stored on Jumping Clouds was rather murky, but she had a notion that she had things on board that might help. If nothing else, more tools and another change of clothes would be welcome. While Aran slept, she skipped over to it and did a thorough raid on her own storage cabinets below the main deck. It turned out she had more in there than she’d thought.
Happy with her finds, she bundled it all up and headed back for her impromptu workshop. As she walked, a faint voice came from her pocket. Pulling it free, she looked into the small hand mirror. “Milly, did you talk to Master?”
“I did,” the woman confirmed, shifting anxiously from side to side. It made it look like she was bobbing
her head to some internal tune. “Master asks, he has dwarven mountain stone, fairy’s kiss, and dragon’s breath. Do you want them?”
“Yes,” Sevana said promptly and secretly bounced on her toes in glee. Those were precisely some of the elements that she had hoped to have for this job. Not that she was sure she’d need all of them at this moment, but the possibility in her mind called for them. “Tell him to get all of the leprechaun gold he has as well.”
“Anything else?” Milly’s head turned as she went sideways, ready to take off in a moment’s notice.
“No, go.” Pocketing the mirror, she looked up, only to find Da-Chin hovering nearby, clearly waiting on her to stop speaking. “What is it, Da-Chin?”
“Artifactor, forgive my interruption, I wished to know if there is anything we can do to help you?”
Which was the polite way of demanding an update. Sevana didn’t blame him for wanting one, it was just deuced difficult for her to say she didn’t really have one. “My Fae brother, Arandur, arrived this morning.”
Da-Chin’s eyes grew very wide in his face. “He is Fae?”
“He is, yes.” Sevana had a feeling that when Aran woke up, he was going to get quite the welcome from awed villagers. Better him than her. “I called my Master just now and he’s gathering supplies before coming directly here. I expect him in about two days. Prepare lodgings for both men, will you?”
“Ha-ha,” Da-Chin gave an immediate bow.
Their version of a ‘yes?’ Sevana judged so from his tone. “Da-Chin, I need to examine this phoenix sealed in the volcano more closely. She’s the lynchpin to this whole problem. Is there any way to get closer to her?”
“The Jade Emperor created a tunnel through the mountain to place her inside. But he sealed it again immediately.”
Of course he had. Sevana growled a choice word under her breath. Well, even if he hadn’t, it wasn’t like she could waltz through a tunnel while the volcano was active. Aran probably could have, though. It was him that she had been betting on.
The Canard Case (The Artifactor Series Book 4) Page 6