Shaking off the speculation, I gestured to the flower. “May I?”
“Er,” he blinked like a man coming out of a bad dream and nodded jerkily. “By all means.”
I solidified the soil directly around the flower’s roots, lifting it cleanly out of the container, and laid it on a blank piece of paper nearby. Then I lifted all of the remaining dirt out of the pot entirely and spread it carefully over the desk. This was a tricky skill that I had picked up over my internship. So many times, I had to draw a diagram of what was happening, and what I planned to do. To help people understand, I had finally learned how to manipulate dirt and stone to the point that I could make a physical representation. It took a lot of fine control on my part, which wasn’t easy, but at least I could do it. Under my careful direction, the dirt formed into three distinct shapes, mimicking the bedrock that was under Hain.
There were gasps of surprise from both men, and I looked up to find that both of them were leaning over the desk, eyes wide with wonder at what was forming under their noses.
Well, at least I had their attention. “There are three very large pieces of bedrock that form up the foundation of Hain,” I explained in my "lecture voice," as Night called it. “This smallest piece is the one that you are currently sitting on. Now, at the moment,” I concentrated some more, and the line between that small "bedrock" piece started bubbling, “there is hot, liquid rock bubbling up from underneath the bedrock and forcing its way into the cracks. That molten rock is forcing your part of the bedrock away from the continent.”
“The reason for the earthquakes?” Small Rider guessed in a shaky whisper.
“Precisely,” I confirmed. At a glance at Elion’s face, I was relieved to find that he was following my explanation closely and wasn’t on the verge of fainting or having hysterics. That was a plus. “Patriarch Elion, I cannot accurately predict how long this is going to take, but my guess is that we have two to three months—certainly not longer. At the end of that time, this city will be on an island. That much I know with absolute certainty.”
He looked up, eyes solemn, a thousand ideas and emotions flitting over his face. “Can you reverse this?”
I shook my head firmly. There was absolutely no way I could make Mother Nature reverse something of this magnitude. I could no sooner halt the tide.
“What do you suggest?”
“Evacuation,” I answered firmly. “This is not going to be an easy or clean break, Patriarch. It will make all of your earlier earthquakes combined look like a minor hiccup in comparison. I have little hope that the city will weather this catastrophic break intact.” Seeing the consternation in his face, I relented a little. “I will, of course, do everything in my power to help you.”
He visibly pulled himself together, straightening his shoulders and lifting his chin in determination. “Thank you, Magus. I must call an emergency meeting of the city council and guard.”
I had sort of suspected that might happen. “Of course.”
“I will have a page show you to a room so that you might freshen up, and eat something. Is it acceptable for you to take a room here?”
I didn’t see why not, and it saved me from having to hunt down a room in an inn somewhere. “Night must stay in the room with me, if that is all right?”
He nodded immediately. “Of course, whatever you wish.”
“Then I gladly accept your hospitality.” It kept me close to the action as well, which was always a good thing. He was fairly vibrating with the need to go start things in motion. “Go, Patriarch. You don’t need to dance attendance on me.”
He gave me a grateful nod and bolted from the room at a run. I turned to Small Rider, who was watching me carefully. “You might want to return home and warn your people too. They’re going to feel the shocks of this as well.”
“I will send one of my men,” he agreed. “But first, we must see to you and Night. You are very tired and there is much to be done still.”
I was feeling rather drained, not from just the use of magic, but from the constant journeys over the past several months. I smiled at him in gratitude. “Lead the way.”
~*~
It was a mistake to lie down.
The same fresh-faced page that had shown me into Elion’s study had shown me to a room on the ground floor (in deference to Night). It was rather spacious compared to most rooms found in an inn. I’d washed up some, just to remove most of the dirt from the road, eaten a hastily prepared snack fetched from the kitchens, and made myself a little more presentable. Then, since no one had come to fetch me yet, I thought it wise to lie down and catch a bit of sleep while I could.
Bad idea!
Stars knew that I needed the sleep, but the nap didn’t help, it just made me groggy.
Night was nudging me in the side with his nose, mental voice very persistent and very loud. “Garth, get up. They’re ready for you.”
“Five more ‘inutes,” I pleaded. My mouth was so clogged with sleep it was hard to talk, and made my voice sound like it was coming from under a ton of cotton.
“Now,” Night insisted in exasperation.
Mental note: do something mean to him later. With a one-eyed glare at my four-legged pest, I grudgingly pulled myself up into a sitting position. When the world stayed relatively stable, I risked getting to my feet and pulling my boots on.
“Your tunic is wrinkled,” Night informed helpfully.
My glare in his direction silently proclaimed that I didn’t care.
He gave me a pointed look in return. “You look like you just rolled out of bed, too.”
“In this case, appearances are not deceiving.” I yanked open the door and nearly tripped over the page hovering just outside. Through sheer luck I caught myself on the doorjamb before I could fall on top of the poor boy. Oh yeah, I was tired if someone could sneak up on me like this!
Dressed in a large gray robe, he looked like someone’s kid brother playing pious knight. He was neatly pressed from tunic to shiny half- boots. I felt like a child, in comparison, to that meticulously groomed boy—the irreverent child that tracks mud in the house, no less. “Magus Rhebengarthen?” he asked uncertainly.
The question was hovering in his mind; I could see it clearly in his face. He never said it, but the words were clear as a bell—surely this can’t be the famous Mage!
I straightened to my full height and gave him a serious look. “Yes. Are they ready for me?”
With another dubious look he apparently decided to believe me, for now. “Yes, Magus. This way, please.”
I obediently followed him down the long, narrow stone corridor. Now that I was actually looking, the building was sharply reminding me of an old fort or castle renovated for the Order’s use. I couldn’t explain the narrow arrow slits in the walls or the hints of reinforced gates otherwise. Night’s hooves were a sharp counterpoint to my every footstep, making the hallway ring. The sound was rather annoying, actually.
At the very end of the hallway there was a large door, partially open. It was that the page led me through. The room on the other side was impressive in the terms of sheer size—I saw perhaps a hundred or more people standing or sitting throughout the room, and the place didn’t seem terribly crowded. Actually, you could probably cram another hundred into the chamber.
The people nearest the door looked up as I entered, took one look at Night, me, and the Mage crest on my left shoulder—and fell silent. Word rapidly spread about who I was to the rest of the room. Silence fell like a wave from me outward, until even the far corners of the room were as still as a mountain covered in snow.
I was the focus of everyone’s eyes, which is a remarkably nerve-wracking experience. I’m really, really not good with situations like this. Part of me wished that I had followed Night’s advice, and changed into something not wrinkled. Oh well. Lifting my chin slightly, I walked into the room, with as much confidence as I could muster.
Elion caught me before I could go more than a few steps and gestur
ed me toward the center of the room. “I have explained the situation to the city’s main leaders. Here we have the representative of every major guild, the Captain of the City Guard, the Mayor and the City Council. There are a few who have some questions for you.”
That last bit sounded more like a question, so I nodded agreeably. “I’ll answer any questions you have.”
“Excellent. This way, please.”
I don't like feeling uncertain. I don't do "nervous" very well either. I prefer ''confident'', ''composed'' and ''stubborn." I took the indicated place at the head of the table and watched as everyone sat down. I did my best to pretend the room wasn't really full of a hundred or so people. Their sheer numbers would make it just that much more difficult to build the type of rapport I’d need, to convince them of the grave crisis they faced.
It took a few moments to settle that many people at the table, but once everyone was in his or her seat, I was once again the focus of a legion of eyes. To get away from that, even briefly, I turned to look at Elion. "How much have you told them?"
"The basics of what you told me," he answered immediately. There was a slightly greenish cast to his skin that suggested he found this whole situation very unsettling. Well, who wouldn't, in his position?
"Ah. Very well, if you know the basics, are there any questions?"
A tall, very fit man in his late twenties stood at that point. He was in the dark grey uniform of the City Guard, but with the dark blue shoulder markings of captain. "I'm Captain Landis of the Jward City Guard. Magus, I am a simple soldier—I'm afraid I didn't really follow Patriarch Elion's explanation very well. The only thing I understood was that the ground under us is breaking apart. Can you explain exactly what is happening?"
"Of course, Captain." There was no handy plant this time with dirt that I could borrow. But the building was made out of stone, which was actually more suited to the purpose than dirt. I turned and carved out a chunk of stone from the wall—something that caused practically everyone to gasp in surprise. Without appearing to notice, I turned and set the stone on the table. Under my watchful eye, the stone melted and reformed into a small model of the bedrock under our feet. Patiently, I went through the exact same explanation I had related to Elion and Small Rider.
From beyond the door there was the sound of…barking?
The sound was just odd enough to completely distract me from what I was saying, and I glanced toward the door. Focusing, I could now discern about seven people rapidly heading in this direction. They all seemed to be following along behind a dog.
Before my mind could completely process this, the door (never completely shut) swung open so hard that it hit the wall, and bounced off again. A large brown dog, of some unidentified breed, was barreling in my direction, leaving behind a wake of wet paw prints and soap suds. Close on the dog's heels were several boys, also wet to one degree or another. Ah. Apparently they had been giving the dog a bath, when the creature had made a bid for freedom.
Unexpectedly, the dog skid to a halt and pivoted around to face me—wait a minute, it wasn't me he was looking at; it was Night. With a challenging bark, the dog leapt forward, charging Night.
Night took one look at this charging mad dog and reared slightly, whinnying in building panic.
Busted buckets, he's going to— "Night, calm down!"
My Nreesce either didn't hear me, or didn't care what I said. He bolted, running as fast as he could in the confines of the room. The dog, happily pursuing, kept barking and nipping at Night's heels. People were scampering out of the way, either leaping on top of the table or quickly diving under it. The boys were following the dog, yelling at each other and trying to come up with some quick way of catching the creature.
"Garth, help!"
Aw nuts! I wasn't quite sure how to stop this mayhem; at least, not without hurting someone.
Night wasn't going to idly wait for me to rescue him; he took matters into his own hands. With an equine scream of indignation, he bucked, kicking out at the dog with his hind feet. Of course to do that, he had to put his front feet on the ground at the same time—which put a rather sizeable hole into the floor.
Gah!
"Night, stop bucking!" I yelled over the din. "You'll destroy the floor!"
"Then get the dog away from me!"
If I could just get to Night, I could throw up my shields; the dog wouldn't be able to reach us that way—
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Captain Landis stand up on the table and lift his fingers to his mouth. A sharp whistle pierced the room, drawing everyone's attention to him—even the dog. He snapped his fingers sharply and pointed to his feet. "Briggs, come here."
The dog, after a startled moment, meekly slunk to the Captain's position and looked up with a rather shamefaced expression.
"Sit," Captain Landis ordered firmly. I saw quite a few people almost obey that command before they realized it wasn't aimed at them. When you become Captain of the City Guard, apparently you learn how to bark out orders so that people automatically obey.
I gave the Captain a thankful look, which he acknowledged with a wry smile. "Night, are you all right?"
"Fine. The dog never managed to actually bite me." He lowered his head slightly to look at the holes he had left in the floor from all his bucking. "Sorry about the floor."
"Fortunately it's made out of stone, so I can fix it," I sighed. Concentrating, I started smoothing out all of the holes and restored the floor to its original condition.
"I'm terribly sorry about this, Magus," Elion apologized with a hard look at the cowering novices. "I'll deal with this personally."
When I was younger, we'd had a dog that hated having baths—in fact, I could remember chasing a wet dog a few times myself. I smiled at the memories and shook my head. "Don't let it bother you, sir. I've been in their position before. No harm done."
"Just look at the state of this floor!"
Huh?
Turning, I took in the latest interruption to the meeting. A wizened old woman, slightly stooped and wearing a pristine grey robe, stood just in the doorway. She was scowling down at the soapy paw prints, and her foot tapping. "I knew it was foolishness to let that dog in here. Elion!"
The Patriarch jumped, for all the world like a guilty novice. "Mistress Esme, I had nothing to do with this—”
"Stars, I know that!" she snapped with a brief eye roll to the heavens, as if praying for patience. "Get all of these people out of here so I can get this room cleaned."
"Yes, Mistress Esme," he answered quickly. "All right, I think we know everything we need to about the situation. Let's start making evacuation procedures for all of our areas and meet again tomorrow morning to discuss plans more in-depth."
I looked from wizened old cleaning lady to towering Patriarch and just had to wonder—who exactly was in charge here?
~*~
I fervently wished that the dog would break in again.
The meeting had started an hour ago, shortly after breakfast, and I’ve been arguing ever since. First I had to convince a few dozen people that, yes, the city would really break apart from the mainland, and, no, I was not powerful enough to stop that kind of natural force. What did they think I was—a demi-god?
That took about an hour to pound and re-pound into their skulls.
Then we had gotten to the fun part—how to react to the situation. I had always wondered why the government was so slow to act on things, but after sitting in this room for the past hour, I now knew. It’s nearly impossible to get a hundred people to agree on anything. I felt like we were going around and around in circles, and I would have welcomed anything to break us out of the rut we were in.
The discussion had by this point degenerated into a shouting match. Sighing, I rubbed my temples, trying to subdue the twinges that were trying to break out into a full-blown headache.
“QUIET!”
Captain Landis was on his feet, glaring at the three people who had been shouting at each oth
er. Under his fierce expression they meekly sank back into their seats.
I’m really beginning to like this man.
“Instead of arguing about the best course of action,” Captain Landis stated in a tone that allowed no room for argument, “I suggest that we let Magus Rhebengarthen tell us how he is capable of helping in this situation. After we know of his abilities, we will have a better idea of what our options are.”
Finally, someone was speaking sense! “Thank you, Captain.” I smiled at him, trying to silently tell him how thankful I was that at least one person in this room had kept a cool head. From the smile he gave back to me, I think he understood. Considering that he had to deal with these people on a regular basis, he probably did. Turning back to the room at large, I pitched my voice so that everyone could hear me. “Let me be very clear on this. I cannot stop this break from happening. I can help you move the inhabitants of this city. I can try to delay the break to buy us more time, if we need it. But this situation will happen, and there is nothing that I can do to prevent it.”
“How can you help us move?” one guild member inquired doubtfully.
“I can make the road smooth and hard,” I answered promptly. “That will prevent any wagons from getting stuck, and it will ensure that everyone makes good time.” I had learned this trick about a month ago. Really, I should have realized that I could do something like this earlier, but it seemed like such a waste of power when it was just lil' ole me traveling. Fixing the road hadn’t occurred to me until I helped a whole village change locations, and their wagons kept getting stuck in the muddy road.
A few people brightened at this prospect. “What else?”
I spread my hands helplessly. “My power does not lend itself to the common uses of magic. I’m limited to things of the earth. Once we get to the new site for the city—” and I had no idea where that would be “—I can help there. I can create new roads, build temporary structures to serve as housing, and help to put in sewer systems, water systems, plant fields and things like that.”
Jaunten (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 21