by P. S. Power
Tor shrugged.
“Fifty-one now. She can do it. If she doesn't end up being a lot better than me in the end, I'll be surprised. She’s here for a reason you know.”
Trice took his hand, using her right one, the left being real looking and feeling, but not having the ability to feel anything yet. That had to be his next project he knew. Actually, since he had some time he should do it right now. The hand had been hard to make, but he didn't have a clue how to make something to do the work of nerves yet. If he went off to Austra and died though, he didn't want to leave her with a sub-standard arm. That would just be unprofessional of him.
For that matter he needed to make a right hand for Smythe of Westend, who was currently his boss in a strange back room fashion. A good guy, when he wasn't being a prick and trying to kill him. Well, he didn't have time to waste really, did he? Taking Trice by the hand, Tor got her to sit on the bed, Rolph took that as his cue to leave, a small smile on his face, letting Tor actually work for a bit.
The nerve pattern was a simple enough thing, once he captured the sense of the field. He already knew how to place feelings in a person’s mind, even physical sensations, so all he had to do was combine the two things, test it, then if it worked, rebuild the hand entirely with that added in. Simple. Trice had just been sitting and looking at him while he examined her pattern and his own, trying to distill the essence of what it was to be a nerve, so when he looked up she kind of sighed at him.
“Tor, not to be pushy, but I kind of expect a little more from my dates than just sitting on a bed holding hands. If you don't want to talk, fine, but at least-”
Tor kissed her, focusing on how her nerves responded to the action. When she sat back after a full two minutes she practically purred at him.
“Better, now for the rest?” With a tap on the sigil around her neck, after digging it out, she made her clothing vanish.
It took about an hour to kiss most of the rest of her body and for her to return the favor, but the time was well spent. Not only did he get a good sense of how nerve information was gathered and processed, it was fun. It wasn't sex, exactly, but he felt like he knew her a lot better now. They managed to get dressed just before the rest of everyone came in all at once, led by Rolph, since he had to get them through the door.
Ali stared a little as they sat on the bed and then nodded to them, walking over and kissing Tor, then doing the same to Trice.
“Good. I was worried for a bit, at least now you can help me with him Patricia. I love him, but he's a bit prudish.” She softened the words by sitting next to him and giving him a hug.
Tor tried not to laugh. By her standards it was just true, wasn't it?
Rolph stared at her for a half second, it was a funny look, but Tor didn't get why at first.
“Emergency Tor. County Cannor has been hit by a lot of flooding and needs help, I got it from… sources, but we've been requested to help by Countess Cannor as well as the King. By we, I mean the whole Lairdgren School. Apparently the word about the “Queen’s gift” to the school has gone out already. Funny, but when you say things like that to the King, he tends to take you at your word.”
Ah. That had Burks written all over, didn't it? His idea of “revenge” for Tor overstepping? Make it real and put them all to work. It was fair. Besides, people needed help, didn't they? Of course he'd do what he could. Tor climbed up quickly and grabbed his emergency chest. It had everything he needed to head out with, as well as things that might aid people, healing devices and all that. Everyone else just stood, waiting for some reason.
“Um, guys? Emergency? Shouldn't people be packing and assembling to fly out? Get with the instructors and all that? I don't know how many will be allowed to come, but maybe someone with red-hair should go and check with the Dean if he hasn't already?” Tor stared at Rolph, who shrugged.
“Sure, send me to do the dirty work. Alright. I guess I'll be back in about twenty minutes or so, with news one way or the other. Sigh I say, big, put upon sigh. But if we can't go, don't blame me. This is weird and my natural charm can only do so much.” Walking out, the large man threw a look at Tor. Didn't he want to help? Tor wondered and figured it probably wasn't just that. Maybe Tor was supposed to go chat up the Dean himself, but…
He had things to get ready.
People scattered and Tor went outside to get ready to leave. That he only had a vague idea where County Cannor was wouldn't stop him from trying to go, of course, even if he had to do it alone. Mary Cannor had kind of adopted his mom when she was a girl, since as far as they both knew her real mother had died in childbirth or some such. Real blood link or not, it meant she was his grandmother. Mary Cannor was also a bit of a loon and sometimes seemed to be missing a few steps in the process of life, but that didn't mean she and her people didn't need whatever bit of aid he could come up with. Plus the King had requested their help, so that kind of made the whole thing more important, didn't it?
Nearly eighty people stood with him in the commons, the gray stone underfoot slightly damp from an earlier rain, and the sky starting to darken early. More people came as they waited, running, carrying bags with them mainly, packs, and a few people seemed to have made their own on the fly by wrapping their belongings in bed sheets and tying them over one shoulder across their middles.
Clever!
Tor would have never thought of doing that on his own. His case would follow him, flying through the air, but these people had efficiently used what they had to make do, and in minutes, not the hour or so it would have taken him to make a box himself. He filed the information away for later. Who knew what would be important over time?
The Dean actually ran out, as did a whole host of instructors. At first Tor figured they were going to tell everyone they weren't allowed to go, until he saw that all of them had packs and flying rigs on too, including Hardgrove. He'd changed into military black and had sturdy work boots on his feet. Apparently he was serious about coming too, because the second time his famously long beard got caught on something, he pulled a cutter from his front chest pocket and made it nearly a foot shorter in a single efficient move. It looked slightly funny now, all flat on the bottom starting about an inch under his chin, but it was a sign that everyone needed to take this seriously if they were going. Not everyone was, of course, going anywhere. About a third were, which made Tor's heart sing a little. There was a problem, so people stepped up to help, even if it might be dangerous. Even if it would definitely be hard and uncomfortable.
Not all of them were fighters either. Ali and her roommate were standing by less than five minutes after Tor went outside for instance. They were young, but his wife had carefully gone through his other things and built a box of potentially useful items of her own. Sure, he'd probably have to remake them for the shops later, since a lot of them would be “lost” during the mission, they always were somehow, but as long as most of them helped someone in need first, he could deal with it.
They were only things, and he could remake them, it only took time and effort. He had effort in decent supply. Time less so, but that would work itself out. Tor reminded himself to focus on the important things first. Lives trumped objects and coin, every time.
Ali looked at him nervously when he walked over and gave her a hug, probably expecting him to tell her she couldn’t go. That would be foolish though. They needed the help and she’d already proved her worth, grabbing things he hadn’t even thought of and making up two floating cases.
“Good. You and Sherri can be in charge of the healing area. As soon as we put down, slap up a house for it and set up a hospital. We have healing amulets, you know how to use them?” He included both girls, Ali nodding, having used them a couple times if for minor wounds and burns. Sherri had no clue, but that was fine, Alissa could show her.
Kolb came and thankfully had a map, one oiled and folded to show the first part of the route. The flying would be dangerous, since it would take all night and that meant not landing until
morning, so he warned everyone to go to the restroom while they could. Blind night landings were possible, if you took it slow and settled to the ground over the course of ten minutes or so. Otherwise it would probably mean slamming into the ground. That was survivable with a shield, but wasn't fun.
On a trip like this it would be fastest and safest to simply fly all night, staying spread out and going high as possible the whole time. It got hard to breath if you went too far up, but keeping on that edge of that zone would let them tell for sure that they weren't about to hit the earth.
The flight was hard, pretty much the hardest he'd ever had and Tor had gone across the kingdom before alone, more than once. People complained, calling out their problems as they flew, most of them going unheard. They may not be as fast as an Austran craft, but they were flying about half the speed that sound traveled through the air. It made talking nearly impossible, listening too. Of course that meant he didn't have to listen to people whining about things that no one could do anything about, but it also meant that if anyone had a real problem it might be missed. Tor made a point of checking the field of each person for serious issues as they all flew. It was hard while flying, but worth the attempt. In the main people just had to go to the restroom, were pretty hungry and felt a little lonely and isolated. That they were part of this large group didn't impact everyone as sharply as it did most of the people.
It took twelve hours for them to be able to see, and another half hour to fly back towards land, since they'd over-shot and found the east ocean. A mere three hours later they landed in Cannor, it being well up the coast. The flooding was visible from the air as they moved towards the county capital. Canton.
They landed near a small building that had men and women running in and out constantly, that looking like a likely place to get started. From inside a shrill voice yelled, nearly screamed to be honest, a tense and angry sound. It was Mary, and what she was yelling… Made perfect sense.
“Get men over there now, we need boats, river rescue… And food, shelter. Tell everyone to open their homes. I know they don't want to! Do it anyway. This isn't a time for being selfish.” Exasperated and just edging towards panicked, she stopped as soon as Tor and Kolb stuck their heads in.
“Finally! Here's the situation.” Her words were quick and precise. Sane, and not just reasonable, but intelligent. Tor didn't let himself be taken aback by the idea.
She was needed, so she showed up. He could accept that. Even if her mind was a little sloppy about where reality was kept most of the time, that didn't mean she wasn't going to try her best when the situation cried for it. Right now it was, loudly and with a passion. So Countess Cannor made a point of being in charge.
Kolb drew directly on one of his maps, “I'll take a team of twenty here and sweep down the coast. We'll send a second group here,” his pen tapped the page firmly, showing an area that was nearly a murky brown now from what they saw from the air.
“Karen will handle that. Tor?” It was clear that he was supposed to say something useful and helpful now. Yay.
“Alright, Alissa and Sheri have the hospital already started out front. Magical healing, but if we have any real doctors around or people good with that kind of stuff, send them over please. I also think we should send teams down all the rivers. We have the people, and they can fly. Some of them are a little new to things like this, but if we can send some of the older kids along, maybe groups of four? Hopefully we won't lose too many that way.” Hesitating Tor took a deep breath and prepared to dive in, but Hardgrove walked through the door, obviously having been listening.
“We can send an instructor with each group of four. They may not be any better off, but at least they'll have someone to listen to in a pinch. If they can stay on task, this will work.”
He sounded confident, which made Tor feel better at least. It was a trick of course, because the man had to be near gibbering at the idea of sending young and largely untrained kids out like this. Tor was too, but decided that he needed to do his own bit of covering and nodded. He pointed at the map and went over the working groups again. The plan left him in one of the five man search groups, but that was fine. The really important work now would be done by the main groups and the girls with their hospital. Searching was more glamorous, but the housing and medical groups would be the big deal. Ali had grabbed all the houses meant for sale, the little cottage type, but they'd work, clean water, provide heat and be safe. They had a hundred of them and if need be, he could make more.
No… that wasn't right.
They could make more. He wasn't the only builder here.
Tor was tucked into a group with Wensa, Rolph, and two small boys that still had thick country accents, one clearly from the Printer area down south, the other from further north, near the center of the kingdom rather than the coast, but also on a Printer scholarship. Both were about fourteen and looked as exhausted as he felt. Still, one had the fortuitous name Guide and the other was Sam. Not Samuel. No last name. Just Sam. Both were builders, like him.
The search and rescue operation moved quickly, daylight being key, Wensa told them.
“We can barley fly at night and lights help but don't seem much good for searching large areas. Unless any of you can make something about fifty times brighter than a hand light that won't instantly blind the user?”
It was a throw away comment, but not a bad idea. The woman took off, flying about three hundred feet above the water, and cautioned them not to make a sound at all.
For a second Tor didn't get it, then he realized that it was so they could possibly hear anyone calling for aid or attention. Another good idea. Wensa seemed full of them suddenly. It was her job, as a Royal Guard, to know things like that. Or to figure them out in a pinch.
As they flew, Tor started working on the field they'd need. A focused light that only went one direction. Heh. Just a minor variation on a simple light. Brighter, but that wasn't hard, the first light he'd ever made was many times brighter than sunlight. No the tricky part was trying to focus on the field being made while flying and placing it on the tiny brown stone in his pocket. A natural stone that he'd picked up from the ground. It wouldn't look as good, but that would have to be suffered through. It was an emergency.
They flew and stopped a few times to investigate odd sounds, but didn't find anything. No people. Just a single dog that Rolph moved to higher ground, plucking it from a log in the swollen and dirty river below. It was scared, but didn’t try to bite him, just running away once it was on dry ground.
Nothing more happened, until about three in the afternoon when Guide noticed something floating along, waving at them.
“Help!” The voice was female and sounded stressed, though Tor couldn't imagine why that would be. Couldn't she just swim to the shore and climb out? It wasn't that he was uncaring, just that his focus was still on the light he was trying to make in his pocket. Everyone else was suddenly puzzled as to how to get her, but it wasn't that hard. Not difficult in any way. Really, half the people here had the equipment…
“Boat.” He said, his voice flat and dry, using his right hand to search down the front of his shirt for the right amulet. It got passed to Rolph, who'd seen and even driven one before, the smaller festival type he'd made for the last King’s week. It looked ridiculous in its bright purple and gold colors, but the woman didn't seem to mind when they powered up-stream towards her, gliding silently and then tracked her slow downstream progress.
Sam was the one that made the grab, and though he was a little small to pull her in alone, Wensa wasn't. In less than a minute the lady from the water was with them. Tor got her a healing device, then a temperature equalizer. Handing off one of the dozen he'd stuffed in his inner pocket. She went from shivering and freezing to nicely cozy in moments, her body temperature returning to a nearly perfect level all the way through at once. She looked like a drowned rat still, her dark hair, brown probably, black with wet and missing a few pieces of clothing that probably made h
er feel uncomfortable. They didn't have anything out there for that, since Tor hadn't thought to bring extra clothing amulets or even blankets.
They found a clearing and made a house for her, since they needed to get back to work, no matter that everyone was half asleep already. That gave her warmth and shelter for the time being and clean water to drink. Wensa had made sure that everyone knew not to drink flood water, no matter what. It was all contaminated. Always and in any flood, she let them know.
When darkness started to fall they pushed the time limit, planning to just land and make camp above the highest water line. It was a good plan, but the cries from the six people trapped on the roof of a small cabin got their attention before they could do anything restful. Of course.
It wasn't a kind thought, but Tor wanted to sigh at them. Instead of running to higher ground, they'd climbed up on their roof? Brilliant. Then again, they probably had a reason. It may not be a good one, but there had to be some thought that caused them to do something that stupid.
It was a full family, two parents, two grandparents, a boy and a girl, each of the kids holding an animal. The young man had a large dog, gray and black, that was growling, apparently having had about enough of this being wet and miserable stuff.
Tor couldn't blame him. Not at all.
The girl held what seemed to be a pig. Tor blinked, but that didn't change. It was still a pig. White and brown, about thirty pounds.
Pig.
Oink.
Hopefully a pet, because if it was just dinner, Tor was going to have to scold the people for being silly. At least the small animal was being well behaved. No growling at all. It just cuddled in to the girl for warmth and safety. Smart.
The field in his pocket, the new light for searching, was done, he guessed. It had a field that should be strong enough and last a couple of years, worked into stone, even if on the fly. The glowing sigil on it was a whole word, that just said “light” in his own fairly bad handwriting, it glowed a cheery and bright yellow though, so it could be easily seen in the dark. He hadn’t had time for something more creative.