Duty

by P. S. Power

  “That does sound fair, actually. The scope of this fire sounds huge. I need to see if I can get with Terlee. That’s Countess Thomson, my sister. Adopted, but the family doesn’t count it that way. Just to be clear, I’m the adopted one.” The man moved to make that connection, while Albert tried to bother Sam. There was no answer at all, for the first minute, then a pre-recorded message played.

  The man’s face had the word message over it, in bright red letters.

  “I’m not in or able to get to my handheld for the time being. Please let me know who to get back in touch with. Thank you.”

  There was a pulsing sound then, meaning he was supposed to stammer at the object in his hand then. As if he was going to do anything else, not being prepared. It was annoying, though he didn't let that show. At least he tried not to. He kind of thought he might be coming across as rather stressed and a bit pissy, truth be told.

  “Albert Benoist. Fire in Thomson. Any aid would be appreciated. Right now, we have a few volunteers from the Moon, ships at Second City. Magics from Afrak coming. I’m en-route to the fire line.” Then he got off the device, since he couldn’t think of anything else to tell the man.

  It wasn’t until he’d broken the line that saying something like hello, or possibly goodbye instead of just barking information might have been in order. The other man was the Ancient of Noram. All of it. That was a bit like being the King’s boss or manager. Angering the man by being rude to him was a poor idea, given that.

  He nearly got back on with him, to apologize, except that Captain Gerent moved over toward him, his hand shifting as he went shoulder to shoulder with Albert. Really it was more hip to shoulder, but the idea was the same. The man was sharing the call to the Countess with him. The face was familiar, without being a person that he knew at all. She looked a lot like Comp and Tamu did. Taman Baker, as well, given that, since those three all shared the same face. This one was different though. Prettier, if that was possible.

  There was a similarity to Tiera Havar, as well, he thought.

  Albert just tossed off a bow, since he was a bit agitated, the trip already feeling too long. Interestingly, that was matched on the other side of the device, even if he’d gone low.

  “Lord Benoist? I’m Tamerlane Thomson.”

  He waved all of that away, nodding.

  “Albert, please. Captain Gerent already got you up to speed?” He sounded to terse and abrupt, the accella pushing at him, finally.

  The lady on the other end of the device took a deep breath and nodded, her head held high.

  “He did. Thank you for your aid, in such a timely fashion. We put the word out here, but no one has been able to do anything as of yet. Which is normal enough, truly. I’m not attempting to slight the others. This blaze came out of nowhere… normally we have weeks of warning before such a thing is even possible. This just… Happened. After a rain. One with no lightning.” Her eyes narrowed then, to share her suspicions.

  Gerent answered.

  “Set, you think?”

  After a moment of silence, there was a nod. Then a look to the side and a whisper.

  “It nearly has to be, brother. Too many things such as this have been happening of late. In the wrong places, as well. Not that we don’t still have to fight this one. Three towns are in danger. We might have to write one of them off. It’s horrible.” She hunched into herself, then stood straighter. “I’ll be going to fight it myself, inside the hour. Not that I can add much, that way.”

  The woman, who looked delicate, even if she was probably a giant in her own right, made a hard face then. One that spoke of being willing to die before she let others do that in her place.

  Thinking about what Erie and Doretta the High Servants had spoken of, Albert nodded.

  “We, hopefully, will have thousands of men and women coming in to fight this, shortly. We need to set up food for them. Water as well. I have some Tiera made food units with me for that. The High Servants were tasked, by me, with seeing to that. Before they ran away. I mean, they actually ran away from the task… I…” He was upset about it, he realized. Almost as much as when the man had tried to steal on of the Tam-cars from him. “Sorry. I was just thinking that we should organize part of the volunteers to that end. We need healing amulets as well. Everyone fighting this thing without a shield will need to be treated for smoke inhalation damage. I have one healing amulet.” That didn’t sound like enough, suddenly.

  Rather than insist she grab a shovel herself, the lady looked away, then nodded.

  “I’ll get some from my brother. How many do we need, do you think?”

  Ideally, one for each person, he thought. Instead of saying that, he shrugged and shook his head.

  “Call it twenty? We’ll deal with whatever we can get, of course. I’ll be setting up a transport hut near the fighting line. Thomson Fire One. As soon as that’s up, Farlo Ross is coming through it, with her gear. Tell your brother to be ready two minutes after he sees the name come up? If he’s near something… if not… Um… Get with Captain Gerent here?” He had no right to demand anything of the man. A wealthy and powerful one, clearly. If nothing else, his sister was a Countess. Adopted, sure. They seemed close though. More than Albert was with his own brother or sisters.

  The giant man simply nodded.

  “That will work. I’ll stand by for that, Terlee. We should be landing in… Time on that, Dorgal?”

  The man at the controls turned to look at the Captain.

  “Jumping… Now.” The window, which had shown the Earth looking a lot like a small coin, suddenly showed almost nothing else at all. It was all the blue, green and white planet, suddenly. Albert jumped, then took a breath, to hide being scared by the sudden appearance of something that massive.

  The black-haired man started them moving, fast, before saying anything.

  “We should be over Thomson and landing in… Two minutes. Call it eight to be on the ground in the correct location? We need guidance getting in. I can see the smoke, but that doesn’t place us at the correct portion of things.”

  Gerent was on with the Countess, so Albert used his own device to get with the Count, moving over to where the pilot was. The giant man, sweating even more now, answered, breathing hard and coughing. As if he didn’t have a shield on at all.

  Albert simply called out then.

  “Terlee? Get with your brother and ask if he can borrow shields for the people here as well. I don’t know how we get around the law on that. We’ll figure it out. He can get them from Harmony or Second City, if we return them, later.”

  Then he looked at the man in his hand.

  “Count Thomson, we should be landing in a few moments. We need directions to your location. Um… I don’t know how to do that. Here, the pilot.”

  Holding his hand out, the man at the controls simply touched the arm of his nice, rather comfortable looking, chair.

  “We’re glowing bright blue for this, Tovey. Let me know when you can see us. We should be coming in from the south.”

  There was peering and searching with some calling out. Finally, in the distance there was a commotion, with the Count pointing at the sky.

  “We have you, King Dorgal. It looks like you’re about ten miles to the south and… Call it seven to the east?”

  They kept talking, until the Count shouted.

  “There. Come straight down. That will be about a quarter mile from the fire. I’m heading that direction now.” Unlike most of the others, the man didn't get off the device, just running with it in his hand, shaking. Albert didn’t bother looking at it, just digging in his black case, making sure he was going to have a transport pod in his hand, the tile for it, as soon as he was outside.

  Then he moved to stand by the wall, Captain Gerent pushing in, touching it.

  “As soon as we’re safely down, I’ll make a door here. You have a plan?” He pointed at the tile in Al’s hand then.

  “I do. Can you get with Comp? Farlo Ross as well, so she know
s to stand ready. Thomson Fire One.” The man seemed to understand him, even if it was half in secret code.

  The big man yelled at his own hand, if politely, compared to what Albert had managed that day.

  “You hear that Terlee? Stand by. Ross is in first, then we do the rest.” He tabbed off, and did his part, opening the wall just as soon as Dorgal the pilot, possibly the king of pilots, yelled.

  “Down! We’re on the ground!”

  The wall dropped, and Albert ran then, pushing into the smoke, his shield turning on instantly, to protect him. He had to turn it off, in order to set the hut up, but managed to name the thing, and get out of it, fast enough. Before the tall blond man got there, even. As he puffed over, jogging gamely, Gerent and Dorgal both moved out to meet him. For some reason they all tried to bow, which got Al to simply snap at them.

  “We don’t have time for that! Get ready. We should have a few people through this thing shortly.” Everyone looked at him then, no one growling at him for being improper, though it was probably going to come later that day. He really needed to be more polite. It didn't matter if they took five seconds to bow and be polite. Probably.

  It took nearly a minute for Farlo Ross to come through, with another thirty seconds being devoted to getting her own emerald green floating case out of the thing. It was large, compared to the one that Albert had, which really would make it harder to manage. He leapt in and helped her with it. That meant struggling with it, both of them working to get it out of the way.

  As soon as the door closed on the shining red hut, it opened again, showing a man trying to come out, with a similar case. Tor, this time. Wearing a bright red robe, like a mage of Vagus.

  He bowed, going about a quarter of the way down. Farlo did the same thing, which meant they all had to do it. Albert rolled his eyes though and stood up, almost instantly.

  “Farlo, you have the fire fighting gear? We should have at least a few volunteers coming in. I asked for thousands. We’ll see what we actually get. They should have shields. Tor, we need to get what you have out onto the fighting line. You have healing amulets and some shields? I don’t know how to get around the law here on that one. The volunteers from the Moon… Well, they’re with me, so that should work for them. I suppose we can say that the people here are as well? Does that work, do you think, Count Thomson?” He was just making things up, babbling, as if being with him was a thing at all, in the real world.

  Which they all seemed to understand.

  The Count actually growled a bit.

  “Unfortunately, that won’t work. This is a law of Noram, not simply one of my own County, or I could relax it for the time of the emergency. It’s why I haven’t worn my own shield, since my people cannot, if they aren’t sworn to me or of noble birth.”

  Albert blinked for a moment, then felt the blood running from his face.

  “Right. Right… I… Don’t know what to do then. I can’t order laws to be changed. Or, well, I can of course. I simply don’t want to press in if there’s another way. What do we do?”

  Tor simply shrugged. Then he pulled out a handheld and tapped a name.

  As soon as a face showed up on it, he spoke.

  “Hey Tim. Albert Benoist wants to give away a few thousand shields that you made. As gifts, from your own hand. You’re good with that, right?” There was no hint of explanation at all. Just the few lines being spoken.

  The other man, who seemed youthful, answered instantly.

  “Given by my hand, as gifts, free and clear of all restraints. Always, of course, for Mr. Benoist.”

  Albert blinked then bowed, even if it wouldn’t show on the device. As far as he knew the man on the handheld had never met him at all. Certainly not by name. If he’d come into the club, it wasn’t as if they’d have talked at length. Yet here he was, giving away thousands of shields, without even asking why, or who Albert thought he was. Tor hadn’t even mentioned the emergency. Yet, there the man was, Timon Baker, possibly the most revered wizard in any world, agreeing to part with high magics without issue or question. Probably guessing that no one sane would ask for such things, unless it were truly needed.

  Everyone else got that, and bowed as well, even if they didn't have time for it.

  Tim, the generous man, looked up at Tor.

  “A fire… in Thomson? I think that’s the edge of Tovey’s head, anyway. I can be there as soon as I have transportation. What’s needed for it.”

  Al, still bent in half, spoke.

  “Comp put out a call for volunteers. We need them, as well as any magic that might be available that could help. Thomson Fire One is the pod name for this location. I’ll set up two and three as well, if we have that many coming in.” He had five of the things, after all.

  “Do it, Mr. Benoist. I’ll be there in… Seven minutes. Trice!”

  The line cut, as the door to the little hut closed on its own, a person coming out of it twenty seconds later. Three of them, actually.

  Two young men, who were both tall, being about seven feet, with light hair and blue eyes and a very tiny woman. She was adorable. Also, the Countess Thomson. Terlee. She moved to her husband first, and hugged him, then she passed those out to everyone else there.

  Except Albert, leaving him free to start trying to get people moving.

  “We need a way to move people to and from the fighting line. I don’t want anyone left there for too long. No more than two hours. Then we pull them back for rest, food and healing. Drugs as well. I have a bit of those. I’ll call in for more. I hope we get some volunteers in. As soon as possible we need to heal everyone on the fire line and get them a shield. New gear as well, from Farlo.”

  The woman nodded, then waited as Al got out half a dozen Tam-cars.

  “I need this all back, in the end. If at all possible. I can’t really replace it all.”

  Interestingly, Tor laughed at the words.

  “Ah… I shouldn’t say, but I bet you can. Still, it’s best not to let people steal whenever possible. It’s a horrible habit to start people on. I can drive one of these.” He loaded up in the first vehicle, making it full sized, pulling away toward where people were fighting, off in the distance, taking the healing amulets and shields with him. The rest of them started to do the same thing, until Al waved at them.

  “We need half of you here to take people to the fight. We need a base set up. This is close to the fire, but we don’t want to be too much further away. Let me…”

  He used a magical house for that, making a sleeping barracks, with showers and an indoor food area. That way people could eat, without the full brunt of the smoke hitting them. The complex took up most of a small meadow. One that had already been well singed, so smelled like he was sticking his head in the cooking fire.

  More people came then. At first it was a small enough trickle. Ten and then twenty, coming out of the booths in ones or twos. Then it sped up, once he had the other pods put up. After that there was a nearly constant flow of Tam-Cars, done in blue and brown for some reason, moving to and from the fire.

  It was at least a thousand times worse than the one in Ross had been. The giant trees, once lit, were torches. They didn’t burn out, either. Not unless put out, using water or magic. Albert worked with Terlee, since she was actually good with the food units. Much better than he was, as it turned out. The only trick there was that they needed to make food that was easy to eat. He fell back on his sandwiches and wraps, with the lady instructing him on how to make them better by the simple expedient of making one herself, then forcing him to eat it, so he’d know what to do.

  Then she made other things, including tiny handheld treats, pies and sweet biscuits, all wrapped in carry paper, since it really was a good idea. It kept bugs out of the food, if nothing else. After they had enough of those for the time being, they worked on canned drinks. Then, hoping that a tiny Countess was an adequate guard for all the magics, he worked his way out to the fire line, passing things out, making trips every hour or
so, back to resupply.

  He had to get drugs in, which Jeffery brought for him, without needing to be asked. It was a lot of stuff too. The big surprise there was that Erie and her friend, Doretta, both came as well. Dressed up in their white robes. They were working, taking orders from Tamerlane, when Albert rode back in with a load of fighters from the line, who were getting their half hour meal break.

  Tiredly, he waved at them all.

  “There you are! Thanks, Jeff. I’m out of everything drug related, already. Before you ask, I didn’t take them all myself. Really, I could use another accella about now. Which, well, I think it makes me into a bit of a jerk, to be honest. I just start screaming orders at people. Sorry about that, everyone.” He was speaking to Countess Thomson most directly, who politely waved the idea away.

  Erie smiled at him, bobbing in place, while the other one in white robes made a rather disgruntled sound.

  “No doubt. Worse, when we called in to complain about it, the High Servant Commander told us that you can actually order us to do things like that! I mean, taking away our holidays and everything. I didn't know you even knew the man. He told us that if we didn't obey your every order, he’d have us put to death.” She didn’t seem happy to hear that.

  Since it was clearly a joke, Albert simply smiled.

  “It’s a special situation. We have drugs to keep you awake, so it’s like a party, that way. Us here don’t get to sleep until everyone else does, so fortify yourselves.” He did that, instantly, which got Jeffery and Terlee to do the same thing, as if there was a real plan in place that required them all to go without rest.

  That got the two annoying High Servants to do the same, after everyone else went. Then the Countess bowed toward them all. They did it back, including Jeff, though he needed to be prompted, being from Austra as he was.

  “Thank you. All of you. I can’t believe that so many have come from far off places, just to help us here in County Thomson. I won’t forget who made that happen, either.” She looked at Albert then, as if it were all his fault.

  Which was probably more or less true, this time. He’d run around yelling and giving out enough orders to take part of the blame. At least if things didn’t work. Instead of acting proud of his part in things, he took a deep breath and nodded.