by Tom Larcombe
* * *
Rynn stood and stretched, her body stiff from sitting motionless for an hour or more. She could hear the children downstairs, arguing about something.
We should probably send them someplace else when the attack is happening, she thought. I wonder if Anne would take them all down to her trailer for the duration?
She checked on Michael and found him still asleep. Then she went downstairs to see what the fuss was about. By the time she got there, the argument was no longer in progress, but Eugene and Andi weren't down there with the rest of the children.
“What were you all arguing about a few minutes ago?” she asked. “It was almost loud enough to disturb something I was doing.”
Cindy looked up at Rynn.
“It was Eugene and Andi making most of the noise. They were saying we needed to figure out how to help you fight the raiders you've been talking about. I told them that if you wanted our help, you'd tell us what you wanted us to do. I also told them I thought we shouldn't be fighting. They didn't like that very much and got angry with me.”
Just what I need, a couple of teenagers in the middle of a firefight, trying to 'help', Rynn thought. Well, when I see them I'll tell them they're going elsewhere before the battle starts.
“If you see them, tell them to come talk to me, alright?”
“I'll do that. Do you want us to help?”
“No, definitely not. We'll want you on call though in case we need a healer. I'm sure we're going to, but I don't want to risk you getting shot. Michael would heal you, but if we're still fighting, that would leave him vulnerable. I'd much rather have you safe and out of the way so you can help us after the fighting is done.”
Cindy nodded, obviously relieved.
“I hoped you'd say something like that. I really don't want to fight. I will if I have to, but if I can avoid it, I don't want to go through something like that again.”
“I don't want you to either and I'll do what I need to so you aren't in another fight if it's at all possible.”
“Thank you Rynn,” her voice broke as she spoke.
Rynn looked closer at Cindy. The young girl seemed exhausted and close to tears.
“What's wrong? I mean aside from the obvious,” Rynn asked.
“I keep dreaming of that fight we were in on the way here. The one where Eugene used his Voice. I keep seeing the charred corpse and the man whose gun blew up in his hands. I can't sleep without dreaming about it and after I've had that nightmare I can't get back to sleep. This was supposed to be a safe place, but Michael was already attacked and now we're going to get attacked again. I don't know if I can take it. I keep wondering what's going to happen next, whether I'll be the next charred corpse on the ground, or the next person with massive burns from lightning, or what else might happen to me.”
How am I supposed to handle this? Michael at least just needs reassurance more than a psychologist. But this? I can't lie to her and say that it's completely safe, that none of that will happen. She'd know I was lying and it wouldn't help a bit.
“I can't say that none of that will happen Cindy, but what I can tell you is that I'll do my best to make sure that it doesn't. I'm sure that Michael would say the same, as well as just about everyone we've met here in Crystal Beach so far. I don't know if that helps at all, but that's all I can promise. I promise to do my best to make sure that you stay safe here.”
Cindy took a deep breath.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let that all out. You've got so many other things to worry about that I didn't want to bother you with my irrational fears.”
Not as irrational as you might think, but I'm not going to tell you that.
“Here's a thought. It might sound stupid or childish, but let's get you one of those nightlights we've been making. Keep it glowing in your room all night. It might help, and it can't hurt.”
“If you think I should. I mean, it's little kid stuff, but... I stopped feeling all that grown up when I saw some of the stuff that happened while we were on our way here.”
“Like I said, it can't hurt and it might help. I don't know of anything else I can do to help you with that problem right now, so let's give it a try. What's your favorite color?”
* * *
* * *
Chapter 14
Michael woke to find himself in his bed. His clothes were still on and, underneath them, his skin was itchy and suffocating. He didn't remember anything after wolfing down a plate of food the day before after he'd created the trenches.
I bet Rynn put me to bed, he thought. That would explain why I'm still dressed. Somehow I can't see her undressing me before putting me to bed.
After a quick shower he got dressed in fresh clothing and went down to the kitchen. It was still early, just past dawn, but Rynn was sitting at the table. She looked up when he entered the room.
“Michael,” she said, “there's bad news. I think the raiders will be here today. I checked their location yesterday and they were already over the river, with their vehicles.”
He shook his head.
“Crap, I'll have to get word to Dan right away. I was hoping he'd have at least one training session for the guys that'll be using the Garands.”
Rynn smirked.
“Don't worry about that. They had one last night. They were up here scouting out the trenches and borrowing your firing range.”
“They couldn't have fired many rounds. I'm pretty sure that would've woken me up.”
She shook her head.
“Nope, they were out there for more than an hour. You just slept through it all.”
A hint of worry flashed across his face, but Rynn just chuckled.
“That might be because a certain Wizard with some talent for air worked out a spell to soften loud noises and used it in your bedroom.”
Michael looked impressed.
“On the fly?”
“Oh no, I worked that spell out years ago. It just took me a few seconds to put it up in your room. You were starting to stir a little before I did and I thought you'd need your sleep if the raiders showed up today.”
“Oh, thank you then. I feel a lot better now than I did when I came back in from doing the trenches yesterday.”
“You're welcome. Now get some breakfast into yourself before you run off to talk to Dan. You're going to need all the energy you can get today.”
Michael sat down and started in on breakfast. He glanced over at Rynn, who was drumming her fingernails on the table. When she looked down and abruptly pulled her hands into her lap, he saw that she'd left indentations in the table top.
“What's wrong Rynn, something's obviously bothering you. Is it just the raiders?”
She sighed.
“Eugene and Andi are what's wrong. They took off last night and I haven't seen them since.”
“They're nowhere in the house?”
“Not that I could find. The worst part is that they were talking about helping us fight the raiders just before they disappeared. Cindy told me about it.”
Michael's head sank into his hands and he stared at his unfinished breakfast for a minute.
“What do they think they're going to do?” he said.
“If I knew that, I'd probably know where they are.”
The kitchen went silent for a minute until Andrew walked in.
“There you are Michael. Did you get those ball bearings you sent the boy down for?” he asked.
Michael's head snapped up.
“Which boy, Eugene?” he asked.
Andrew nodded.
“Yeah, he came by Pete's just before I left last night. Said you needed as many half inch ball bearings as I could come up with quickly. But then when I got back, you were asleep.”
Rynn was scrabbling through a bag on the floor.
“Damn!” she said. “Now I know what he's planning to do, just not where.”
Michael looked at her and gestured for her to continue.
“You know that smaller art
ifact I showed you yesterday? The one you rejected because you wanted the increased range of the larger one? The smaller one is missing and Eugene was sure it used half inch ball bearings for ammunition.”
Andrew looked back and forth between Rynn and Michael.
“Dad, two of the kids are missing. They were saying they wanted to help us fight just before they disappeared. Evidently, they took one of the magical weapons we discovered in the cache, and it uses the ball bearings he asked for as its ammo.”
Andrew sank down into a chair.
“I should've known something was up. I offered to bring the ball bearings home with me when I came back, but Eugene said he'd wait while I found them. He had Andi with him also, is she the other one that disappeared?”
Rynn nodded.
“And we think the raiders will be here later on today,” she said. “So we can't spend much time trying to find them.”
“I'll go look for them,” Andrew said. “Don't know what I can do if I find them, but I'll give it a shot.”
“Take one of the rifles with you dad, we don't know when the raiders will get here. I think they're going to attack the mine directly, but they might also come in north of town.”
“I'll do that. If I find them, I'll try to talk them into coming back here.”
“No, try to get them to go to Anne's trailer. Everyone from here that isn't fighting will be down there,” Rynn said.
Michael wolfed down the rest of his breakfast.
“I've got to go tell Dan to round up the men who'll be fighting and get them up here. We'll have some vehicles standing by to move them to the north road if we need to, but I've got a gut feeling the raiders are coming straight at us here.”
Andrew nodded.
“Trust your gut Michael. It's gotten you into trouble in the past, but it's been right more often than not.”
Michael nodded to his father and told Rynn he'd be back as soon as he could.
* * *
Michael drove into town more quickly than he normally would. With little chance of there being other traffic on the road he felt he could take the chance.
There's not much time before they get here, I need to get to Dan as soon as I can. After I tell him they'll get here today I need to go look for the kids also. I don't have time to be careful.
Dan told him he'd have the defenders up there within the hour, so Michael stopped for a moment.
Where would they be? They wanted to help us fight, but evidently something Rynn did clued them in that we wouldn't let them. Where would they have gone after they knew that?
Michael tried to remember if they'd been around when the discussion about where to defend the town from took place.
I'm just not sure, they might've been. So I'll go check the north lines, they'd have heard that Rynn and I intended to defend the mine itself. So they could be on the north lines and not have us there to send them to safety.
When Michael got to the north lines, he found three of the veterans there, still digging out a little of the trenches. Luke, Matt, and Jake hopped out of the trench when he pulled up.
“What can we do for you Michael?” Jake asked.
“Two of the kids we're watching took off last night. Right before that they'd told Rynn they wanted to help us defend the town and been turned down. I was wondering if you'd seen them around here.”
Luke's mouth twisted into a sneer when he heard Rynn's name.
“Figures she wouldn't be able to watch a bunch of kids even,” he muttered softly.
Michael's temper flared.
“Wow Luke, I never knew a man as old as you who still acted like he was in single digits,” Michael said. “I'm guessing you don't have any kids, probably not even married, right?”
Matt and Jake were trying really hard not to laugh at this point. Luke's face went dark red and he took a deep breath, as though he were about to yell at Michael. It took barely a thought for Michael to tease a bit of the fluid in Luke's stomach into his throat. The tirade he'd been about to release turned into a cough followed by loud belch.
Luke spat fluid from his mouth and made a sour face. He grabbed the canteen off his belt and swished his mouth out before spitting the water onto the ground.
“So, did you see the kids?” Michael asked, aiming his question at Matt and Jake this time.
Jake looked at Matt, who shook his head.
“Sorry, we didn't see 'em.”
“Well keep your eyes open for them if you would. But more importantly we think the attack will be coming today, so be doubly alert. Dan should get word, and some more men, to you soon. I just came from his office.”
“Will do. Good luck with finding those kids. Teens in a firefight, I can't think of a worse recipe for trouble,” Jake said.
He obviously has kids of his own, Michael thought.
He hopped back into his Jeep and, with a wave to the men at the trench, headed back into town.
I can't believe this, I'm supposed to defending the town, but I can't even find a couple of kids. I suppose I could if I go home and use magic for it, Earth would show me where they are, but I don't dare use up any of my energy, not if the wizard leading the raiders is as strong as Rynn said he was.
Defeated, Michael headed back to the mine. He shook his head.
I'll start setting up the defenses and hope dad finds the kids. Like we needed anything else to worry about right now.
* * *
When he arrived back at the mine both Rynn and his dad were gone. Bobby was rounding up the non-combatants that were still there in preparation for taking them to Anne's trailer. As he stopped to speak to Bobby for a moment, the first of the defenders pulled up. Dan, Bill, and two others got out of the police car they'd arrived in. Dan walked over towards Michael while Bill took the other two out to the trenches and started pointing things out to them.
“I put Bill in charge of the trenches,” Dan said. “I hope you don't mind, but he's had the most actual experience in combat.”
“That works for me. I'm going to be concentrating on their own wizard, so I wouldn't have time to pay attention to the trenches. Wouldn't know what I was doing anyhow. I've never actually led men in combat.”
Bill shook his head.
“Never thought the day would come when I'd be involved in conversations dealing with wizards and magic in a serious fashion. Knowing something exists is a lot different from casually talking about it, you know what I mean?”
Michael chuckled dryly.
“If you only knew. You know the reason they put me here was because that's what I wanted, right? Everyone to know about wizards and magic? Now that I'm having second thoughts about that, here we are casually discussing it. Life's funny sometimes.”
Bill nodded.
“Unfortunately it isn't the 'hah-hah' type of funny very often. It's always the 'gotcha' kind of funny.”
Now it was Michael's turn to nod.
“Well, I'm going to drive up to the north defensive point now,” Dan said, “make sure things are set there. You should have more men showing up here any time now.”
“You go, I've got a few preparations of my own to make also,” Michael replied.
Dan got back in his car and drove down the hill. Michael settled in on the rock near his garden and sent his thoughts out to the stream and the area beyond the trenches.
Now if I can just get enough water a couple of feet under the ground out there I can bog them down when they try to come in, he thought.
His skill with Water Magic had returned quickly once restored to him. Now it was stronger than it had ever been before. Evidently strengthening his Earth Magic while the Water wasn't available to him had strengthened both. It took a bit of effort, but not much time, to coax a bunch of water to flow out under the area he anticipated the attack to come from. Now it would only be a few seconds work to convince that water to rise and make the ground out there a veritable bog.
He stood and stretched, then stopped suddenly as he felt a touch on
his mind. It took a moment before he recognized it as Calvin, but when he did he opened it to the crow.
A picture formed in his mind of the mouth of the mine entrance. There was something bright in the lower corner of the entrance.
Calvin? What is that? Did you see who put it there?
The answer was a moving picture, where the bright thing was not there at the start, but slowly pushed into its current place by something deeper in the mine entrance where there was no light.
That can't be related to the raiders, can it? How would they get in there? he thought.
Thank you Calvin, he thought to the crow.
Michael had a few more preparations he wanted to make and at least one was near the mine entrance, so he headed that way. He saw Calvin first, the crow was sitting on the mining office roof, staring at the mine entrance. When he got in sight of the entrance himself he could see the object the crow had told him about.
Several quick, long strides confirmed his suspicions as to what the object was. A crystal, as long as his forearm and just as big round, rested on the ground just inside the mine entrance. When he got to it, he could tell that it was completely filled with energy as well, although without the ward to keep it from seeping out it wouldn't stay that way for long.
I've never seen them pull a crystal this large out of here before. Where'd it come from? And who just put it here? I wonder if they're related to the fae? Gerry did say there were some larger ones on their way. I can't do anything about that now though, one thing at a time.
Michael picked up the crystal and started back to the house. On the way he noticed that there were several more men in the trenches already and another car was pulling up as he looked. Dan had mentioned he was going to dole out some gasoline to those defending so they could get where they needed to be. Evidently he'd also requested them to carpool since it looked like each vehicle pulling up carried four or more men.