The Finger of God: a Thalassia novel

by Patrick McClafferty

  Hedric reached over and took Alexandra by the hand. “We need to take a walk outside, where we can be alone.”

  Benjamin frowned. “It’s cold out there, and I believe it just started to rain.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ll be back.”

  “Hedric, where are we going?” Lexi was trying to pull her hand away.

  “Where do you think? Medin, we need to talk. Informal would be fine.”

  The stars were wheeling over the grassy slope, and Hedric let out a long breath.

  “What seems to be the problem?” Medin’s calm baritone did more than anything else to settle his nerves.

  He didn’t have the time to be subtle. “Unless we do something, every man woman and child on Pangea is going to be killed—again.”

  “But the plague…”

  “It’s not the plague, Medin. It’s something else, something out of the Blight, I think, where the starship crashed.”

  “Oh. How bad is it?”

  “Ten thousand have died in New Boston alone in the past three or four months.” Hedric took a deep breath, and tried to swallow the ash that was in his mouth. “How many refugees can Medin hold?”

  Medin was silent for the better part of a minute. “I could accommodate three or four thousand immediately. Thallia said that she can handle another two thousand, also immediately.”

  “What do you mean by immediately, Medin?” Hedric interrupted, his throat sore. “Today, this week, this month, this year?”

  “This second, Hedric.” Medin said quietly. “In two weeks I’ll be able to handle an additional eight thousand and Elysium another four. In a month we could handle every man woman and child on Pangea.”

  Hedric found himself sitting on the grass. “The problems are,” he said slowly. “I don’t think we have a month, and we have no what to do about the monsters.” He felt Alexandra’s warm arm move about him. “We’ll start by evacuating the orphans. If we have more time we’ll move on from there.”

  “I will notify Mister MacKennit and have him activate the Crisis Center. When do you think the first children will arrive?”

  “Probably tomorrow, or as soon as I can get to the orphanage.”

  “Very good, Hedric. By tomorrow I can have a facility ready to handle several thousand children. Would you like to go back now?”

  Hedric ran his hands through the soft green grass, and wanted with his whole heart to stay. “Yes, I suppose.”

  Benjamin Harrison looked up from the map filled table. “Well.” His voice was mocking and without hope. “What miracle have you cooked up for us in the space of thirty minutes?” Dolores frowned at him, and the colonel looked momentarily embarrassed at his bad manners.

  “How many children do you have in the orphanages—right now?”

  The colonel blinked. “Probably eighteen hundred. Why?”

  “Find me five hundred widows. I’ll send them along to help take care of the children. I can evacuate all the orphans and the women to a secure location tomorrow.”

  “But…” Colonel Harrison looked stunned. “How?”

  “Never mind how. Have your staff work all night if they have to. Get those widows and the children to one or two central locations, and have somebody come by at first light and pick me up. I want to get all the orphans out in one day.” He looked down the long table, to where the D’Tril and the fairies were now sitting together. “I have a job for you.” His smile made the fairies cringe. “We need intelligence. We HAVE TO find out what’s going on, and what is coming at us. I would suggest that half of the fairies and one of the D’Tril fly over the mountain to the east of the harbor, and turn north northeast, toward Dimsdale. The other half of the fairies and the other D’Tril head due east, toward the Blight. Find out what you can and head back here as fast as your wings will bear you. We need that information, but we also need you alive. Don’t take unnecessary chances.” He rubbed his aching head with his hands, and as a result his voice was muffled. “Once we know what’s coming we can figure out how to defend the city.”

  “Saving this human city will defeat the monsters?” Hedric lifted his head to answer Captain Zanna’s question.

  “If this city falls, there will be no one else to stop the monsters, he said slowly.

  Zanna nodded once. “We will go.” She looked down at her thin green dress. “It would be nice if we had armor.” There was a sudden sparkle and clinking on the table, as a pile of diminutive metal armor appeared out of nowhere. Zanna jumped back, pulling her miniature knife from somewhere beneath her clinging dress. “What is this?”

  Alexandra was laughing. “I believe that you ordered up some armor?”

  The fairies and Red had all departed, looking tough and efficient in their new armor. Medin had even been wise enough to create a set for Blue.

  Colonel Benjamin Harrison sat staring at Hedric.

  “I’m not going to turn into a dragon, or disappear in a cloud of smoke, Ben.” The young man said wearily.

  “What are you?” The colonel replied as if Hedric hadn’t said a word.

  “Just a man, Ben. Just a man.”

  Harrison’s eyes narrowed. “A man couldn’t do in a month what you have done in a single evening.”

  Hedric sighed. “Okay. I’m a man with connections. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “I’ll have to know eventually.” Benjamin looked as tired as Hedric felt, and his hands seemed palsied as he filled and lit his long-stemmed pipe. Blue clouds wafted toward the ornately paneled ceiling.

  “But not tonight, Ben.” He pushed back his chair and slowly got to his feet. “It has been a long day. We should get back to the ship and get some sleep.” His grin was crooked. “Tomorrow will probably be longer.”

  Benjamin Harrison set his smoking pipe down on a plate and rose, also smiling. “No.” “What?” Hedric frowned, and Ben’s grin widened.

  “I said no. I have a vast number of unoccupied bedrooms in this mausoleum, and a score of housekeepers who are becoming fat and lazy from lack of work and too much food. You will all spend the night. In the morning, after breakfast, I will arrange coaches to take you wherever you wish to go.” He waved to an unseen housekeeper, and an older woman with graying hair tied back in a severe bun stepped into the room. “Please take our guests to their rooms, Madeline.” The stiff woman nodded politely, and turned to Dolores, Alexandra and Hedric, raising one bushy eyebrow in a silent question.

  Captain Isenhart opened her mouth to speak, but Lexi raised her chin and spoke first. “Two rooms will be fine, Madeline. One for my mother and one for us.” A flicker of a smile crossed the colonel’s face.

  Chapter 15

  Both Colonel Harrison and Captain Isenhart rose to their feet as the young couple made their way down the long winding staircase from the bedrooms on the second floor. Alexandra, looking almost regal and far older than her chronological age wore a long dress of dark gray with subtle white piping. Her low boots had practical short heels, the dark leather soft and well-polished. Around her neck hung a silver chain supporting a silver gryphon.

  Descending alongside his betrothed, Hedric’s clothes were similar in cut to Colonel Harrison’s military uniform, but in black and silver, with knee high black leather boots. Over Hedric’s heart was embroidered a silver gryphon.

  “Good morning, Alexandra, Hedric.” Benjamin gave them a short bow. “I hope you slept well?” Lexi smiled and hugged the grim faced colonel, and then her mother.

  “I didn’t see you bring any extra clothes when you arrived.” He turned a look on Dolores, and his face softened. “Dory was able to wear one of my wife’s dresses. Where did you get yours?”

  Hedric gave the man a flat look. “The answer might disturb you, Benjamin.”

  The colonel returned a look that was just as flat. “Eventually, lad, you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on.”

  Hedric glanced first at Lexi, and then her mother, before turning back to the colonel. “You’re right, Benjamin. You
deserve no less. I will tell you everything, tonight over dinner. In the observatory.”

  Overhead, Hedric heard the jingle of the reins, and the carriage lurched over yet another pothole in the rough cobblestone street.

  “I’ve had all the orphan children and seven hundred widows brought to three empty warehouses along the quay. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “I hope I do too, Ben.”

  Dawn’s reassuring voice echoed in the depths of his mind.

  He replied dryly.

 

 

  There was a light laugh in his mind.

  The first warehouse was huge, but with almost a thousand women and children crowding the building it felt small. “Everyone!” Hedric called out in a huge voice. “Please listen to me. I am going to send you all someplace safe. There are no monsters there, and no fighting. If things go well you will all return to New Boston one day. If things do not go well, you will all be safe.”

  “Is it very far?” One woman called out.

  Hedric chuckled. “Further than you could imagine.”

  “So, it will be a long voyage.” The voice sounded scared. “We’ve all heard what happens to people who try to take ships out of New Boston.”

  “Actually, it will be a very short trip.” Hedric looked at the heavy beamed ceiling. “Is everything ready, Medin?”

  “Everything is ready, Hedric.” He heard Benjamin start in surprise behind him at the disembodied voice. “The Crisis Team is standing by.”

  “Everyone!” Hedric called out again. “Please stand up and move to the center of the room.” He watched for a moment. “There would be good.” Pointing as a spot, he smiled at the crowd. “Have a good trip. Now Medin.” There was a vast flicker and the crowd vanished.

  “What!” Benjamin Harrison pushed to the center of the room. “Where did they all…?”

  Hedric held up a single finger for silence. “Medin,” he said quietly, “did they all make it?”

  “Oh course they all made it.” The baritone voice sounded mildly insulted. “A few children started crying, several women began laughing, and Selene and Rhiannon are in their element, taking all the credit. Again.”

  “As long as the women and children are all safe, I don’t care WHO gets the credit.”

  “You would say that.” The voice in the air said dryly. “How long until the next group are ready?”

  “How far to the other warehouse, Benjamin?” He asked the stunned colonel.

  “Ah, both warehouses are together, about a mile from here.”

  “Twenty minutes to half an hour, Medin.”

  “Very good. The receiving area will be cleared by then, and we will be ready for the next load.”

  “Good.” He turned to the others around him. “Shall we go?” Dolores Isenhart pulled on the colonel’s arm to get him moving, and then held onto him grimly.

  A smaller group than the first, the seven hundred women and children clustered around and calmly waited their deliverance. After the crowd vanished, Benjamin Harrison was shaking.

  “I think that we’ll wait right here.” Captain Isenhart told Hedric softly, as she held the wild-eyed Benjamin’s arm in something like a death grip. “Our friend needs to calm down a little.”

  Hedric smiled and took Lexi’s hand. “I will leave him to your gentle ministrations, then.” He gave her a wink, before the warehouse door closed behind them.

  The last seven hundred were probably the best behaved of the lot, with the exception of one small tow-headed girl of about five, who stood weeping in the center of the room. Both Hedric and Alexandra knelt in front of her.

  “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Lexi’s voice was gentle.

  “Miss my mommy an daddy.” The little girl sniffed. Hedric looked up and caught the dark eyed stare of a woman standing nearby. She looked at Hedric gravely, and then slowly shook her head.

  “What’s your name, little one?” Hedric asked, touching the girl’s fine blond hair.

  “Molly, sir.”

  Hedric smiled and took her hand. “Well, Molly, do you like to swim?”

  The blond hair swept his hand as she nodded. “Yeah, I swim good, but Mommy said it is dangerous. There are monsters in the water.”

  “Would you swim if it was safe, and there weren’t any monsters in the water—or anywhere else?”

  Her blue eyes widened. “Yeah!” She exclaimed, somewhat breathlessly.

  “Well, Molly. Today will probably be pretty busy, and tomorrow. The day after that, though, you can probably go swimming.”

  “Don’t lie to the child.” The dark eyed somber woman had come up to them, and stood glaring down at Hedric.

  Hedric stroked the blond hair of the girl one more time, and stood. “It’s no lie.” Disbelief flickered across the woman’s eyes, and something like hope. “Everyone! Please cluster together in the middle of the room.” There was a shuffling of many feet. “That’s good. Medin, we’re almost ready.”

  “We’re ready on this end, Hedric.”

  “Good. As a favor.” He said quietly, as he looked down at the little girl. “There’s a little blonde girl here named Molly. She would very much like to go swimming. Could we do something for her?”

  Medin chuckled and the crowd looked around in some confusion. “I will speak with Logan MacKennit myself. He has two adopted children, and they both swim like fish. I’m sure they would love to take Molly swimming.”

  “Thank you, my friend.” Hedric winked at Molly. “Anytime you’re ready.” The air flickered, and the crowd was gone.

  “Everything all right?”

  “Yes, Hedric, everything is all right.” There was a momentary pause. “Logan himself has discovered Molly, so I believe she is in good hands now.”

  Hedric felt a brief, irrational stab of jealousy, and swallowed it down. “Thank you, Medin. I’d like to invite you and Thallia to dinner tonight in the observatory, if you would like.”

  Medin cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Hedric. Thallia and I are on the Crisis Team, and will be busy with the children, but thank you for the invitation. Some other time, perhaps. When you wish transport just ask and, of course, dinner will be whatever you desire. Have a pleasant evening.”

  Outside the large, somewhat rundown warehouse it had begun to rain; a fine soaking drizzle that made their bleak day that much colder. The cobblestone streets turned black and slick, and suddenly Hedric wished for a coat of any sort. Next to him, Lexi shivered. It was only a few hundred feet to walk to the carriage, but in the biting rain, it felt like miles.

  The coach was waiting in front of the first of the smaller warehouses, and Hedric opened the door gratefully, and helped Lexi up the small steps. Benjamin Harrison took one look at the two soaked and shivering young people, and pulled two blankets out of a compartment under the stiff seat. Looking at their pale faces, he draped the blanket over their shoulders.

  “For two miracle workers, you certainly take piss-poor care of yourselves.”

  Hedric would have laughed, but his teeth were chattering too hard. Finally he mumbled. “You’re right, Benjamin. Alexandra and I are soaked to the bone and need to change into something dry. We’ll go ahead to the observatory, change, and meet you and Dolores back at the estate in… an hour? We will bring you to the observatory where we can talk, and then have dinner. Informal dress, please. Does that sound good?”

  Colonel Harrison frowned, but Dolores Isenhart smiled, and spoke right up. “That sounds fine, Hedric. We will see you in about an hour.”

  There was a flicker. “I am
so sorry, sir.” Medin said contritely as they arrived. “I didn’t anticipate rain. You and Miss Alexandra should get warm, by all means. Rather than just warm clothes, this might be more appropriate.”

  They were suddenly standing on the far side of the observatory, well beyond the kitchen and bathing areas. Before them sat a large, probably ten foot in diameter, pool of steaming water. Surrounding the pool, and cutting it off from the rest of the observatory, was a thick cedar hedge.

  “What is this, Medin?” Lexi asked slowly, sticking a single finger into the warm water.

  “It is a hot tub, Miss Alexandra. The temperature is the same as your blood, and it will restore your body warmth. I’ve been told it feels exceptionally good.”

  “But—what do we wear in the tub?”

  “Why, nothing, miss. I thought you understood that.”

  Lexi stood, turning red, and then, quite deliberately, began to strip off her clothes. She paused as the dress hit the floor in a sodden heap and turned to Hedric, her hands on her hips. “Well, what are you just standing there for? Are you going to join me or not?”

  Hedric flushed to the roots of his hair and began to unbutton his shirt.

  “Welcome to the observatory.” Hedric and Alexandra stood arm in arm, smiling at the older couple.

  Captain Dolores Isenhart gave them a dry look. “You are late—by a full hour.”

  “I, uh…we…” Hedric floundered, face turning scarlet.

  “We were busy, Mother.” Alexandra commented in a nonplussed voice, just the faintest smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

  “Grkkk!” Colonel Benjamin Harrison croaked, staring up at the golden Thalassian rings that arched in magnificence over the entire structure.