~*~
When I entered the War Room I was met by three beaming women. I resolved right then and there that no matter what plans were made, I’d smile and say that it was fine. It would be suicide to say otherwise with them in this jovial mood.
“So what have you come up with?”
Chatta waved me closer, gesturing to a large piece of paper that had a rough sketch penciled on it. “Here’s what we’re thinking. We’ll have the guests sit here,” she gestured to a huge blocked off area near the bottom, “and both of us will come in from either side, you coming from the direction of Chahir, and me from Hain. We’ll both be escorted by our parents.”
So far, I liked it. “Alright.”
“And behind us will be both monarchs, who will be leading the other twelve.”
Now she was starting to lose me. “The monarchs I understand—that’s clever to bring them in together like that—but the twelve people?”
“The twelve are going to be a mixture of our closest friends and family.” Chatta gained momentum and enthusiasm as she explained, nearly bouncing on her toes. “When they get to the center, everyone will spread out into a circle around us, and some from each side will exchange places, symbolizing how we are blending both of our heritages.”
Now, that I really liked. My friends and family were so much a part of my life that I couldn’t imagine not having them as part of the ceremony. “Which twelve?” I asked curiously.
“Well, for my side I have Shad, Aletha, Kartal, Roha of Del, my parents, Small Rider, Trev’s parents, Asla, Jenna and Hayel D’Auch.”
That seemed like a pretty interesting mix. “Only about half of those people are from Hain.”
“I know,” she sighed, expression a bit vexed. “But for them to exchange places and stand with the right partner, it has to be this way.”
Right partner? But there were at least two couples that would be mixed up in her list…it took a moment for the light to dawn, but when it did, I gave her a suspicious look. “Are you playing matchmaker?”
“I have to give Xiaolang a boost somehow,” she defended herself primly. “Besides, most spouses meet their future wife or husband at a wedding. Maybe Asla will get in the right mood this way.”
I tried not to gawk at her, but it took a second to scoop my jaw off the ground and reattach it. “And how did you know about those two?”
She gave me quite the look for that. “I have two eyes, Garth. They both work quite well. I’m a little surprised that you noticed, though.”
“Yes, well, I had some rather interesting conversations with both of them,” I admitted a tad ruefully. Did nothing escape her notice?
“And you didn’t tell me?” Chatta demanded, flinging both hands up in the air.
“Or me?” my mother added mildly.
I spread both hands in front of me in a gesture of surrender. “Not my business.”
My mother and Chatta exchanged a long suffering look. “He’s hopeless,” my mother observed to my future wife with a groan.
“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll take him anyway,” Chatta soothed her.
Great. Now they were comfortable enough with each other to tag-team me. When did that happen? I cleared my throat and gave them both a sour look. “Moving on…so have you decided who’s on my side?”
Chatta picked up a list and read them off quickly, “Your parents of course, Xiaolang—I assumed you still wanted him as your best man? Good—Kaydan, Cora, Raile Blackover, Sallah with her husband Aral, Don, Helen, Krys and Jarod.”
Some of those people were closer to Chatta than me, but then she had people on her side that were closer to me than her. I assumed that the right people would exchange places and make that more evenly balanced.
“I like your choices. Judging from your sketch, though, do we have a big enough building to host the wedding in?”
“Well…there’s a bit of a problem with that,” she admitted. “Nothing in Del’Hain is going to be large enough.”
I’d been afraid of that. We’d run into that problem earlier, before En-Nelle of Tain had stuck her nose in, and they’d been searching for a solution for the past few days without any good results.
“But I’ve thought of the perfect building,” she continued, giving me a set of puppy eyes.
I had a bad feeling. “And where is it?”
“Coven Ordan.”
I blinked at her several times, just sure she was pulling my leg. “You mean that amphitheater they have?”
“That one,” she agreed readily, not losing her pleading look.
“Chatta, it’s not wise to take the whole wedding party to Coven Ordan by earth path,” I protested in growing alarm.
“No, I mean, can’t you borrow the amphitheater and bring it here?” Hastily she added, “Sallah can take it home with her after we’re done with it.”
As absurd as the idea initially seemed, I had to admit that dragging a building to Del’Hain was a lot easier than taking the guests to Coven Ordan. After all, buildings don’t panic. “I think I’d better talk to Raile first before we start planning that part.”
“Oh, that’s fine, I already asked him,” Chatta answered airily.
Of course she had. Why wasn’t I surprised. “Alright, since you’ve clearly worked out the details already, when am I supposed to go pick it up and where do you want it?”
She grabbed the front of my shirt in both hands and gave me a quick kiss. “You’re wonderful.”
“You always tell me that when you get your way,” I responded dryly, trying to suppress an idiotic grin. I liked it when she kissed me.
She laughed and didn’t refute it.
L-Nolita was shaking her head, more in wonderment than anything else. “I can’t believe you’re willing to do it. My husband would have told me that I had to think of another solution.”
I just shrugged. Buildings were better than people in my book. Besides, it would probably be another weird story that got blown out of proportion to add to my already ridiculous reputation. “I don’t mind, really. When do I need to go get it?”
“Tomorrow?” Chatta gave me hopeful smile. “I need to start decorating. If you get it to me by tomorrow, I’ll leave you alone for three days so you can actually plan the Academy.”
“Deal.” One building, coming up.
~*~
The next morning, I went to Coven Ordan to pick up the amphitheater. I tried to time it so that I wasn’t too early but early enough to talk to a few people, check up on a few things, and still get the building back in plenty of time for Chatta to start decorating.
I went straight to the amphitheater first, wanting to get a feel for how difficult moving it would be. Moving anything on the earth path was easier, granted, but it was still a pretty large building. It was going to take some effort on my part.
When I reached it, I got my first surprise for the morning. Sallah was waiting for me, standing near the entrance, and the amphitheater was already separated from the bedrock and ready to be moved. It had to be her handiwork. “Sallah, you didn’t have to go to the trouble,” I protested and waved a hand to indicate what she had done.
“Nonsense, I needed to get a good look at how it was put in there since I’m the one putting it back,” she responded with an easy smile. “And good morning to you too, cousin.”
“Good morning,” I returned dryly. “Well, since you know about the building, I assume that Chatta contacted you at some point or another to tell you about the wedding.”
“She certainly did. Yesterday, actually. We’re all quite excited to be part of the actual wedding party.” Leaning forward slightly, she lowered her voice to a confidential tone. “I’m glad that she’s pairing up Hayel with Don. He’s had an unholy crush on her for ages but has never made a move. Chatta got to know Hayel quite well this past winter, and she said the interest is mutual, so we’re hoping the wedding will get those two in motion.”
Ah-ha! So that was the other couple that Chatta was matchmaking. Sh
e never did explain why I had Don on my side. Now I know. “Leave it to my fiancée to use her wedding to match up other people…. Actually, question for you. I know it’s been a couple of months but with everything else going on I’d put it out of mind. How’s the exiled queen doing?”
“Noisy,” Sallah answered with a roll of the eyes. “She’s completely pinned, powerless, and she doesn’t like it one bit. It’s not a challenge to keep her locked up here, though. A few of us put our heads together and made an automated system that delivers food to her three times a day and cleans up after her. At first she had an absolute fit with all of the magic but she’s gotten used to it by now. Don’t look so troubled by this, Garth. We prefer to have her here whining than in Chahir stirring up trouble.”
That…was a definite point.
She inclined her head toward the amphitheater. “We can talk more later. I think you need to get this building to Chatta. She gave me an idea of what she wants to do to decorate it, and frankly, I’m not sure if all of that can be done in one week. She needs all the time she can get.”
So her decorations were that extensive, eh…somehow I wasn’t surprised. “Right.”
“Tell her I’ll come later today to help,” Sallah added as I gathered up magic around me, preparing to move the building.
I gave her a casual salute in acknowledgement as I sank into the ground, the amphitheater coming with me. The first few minutes, I had to focus, as I wasn’t accustomed to going down the support pillar of Coven Ordan. There were some major ley lines in the pillar that I had to dodge and dodging anything with a building in tow was not an easy task. It was like trying to hop rope with a fifty-pound ball and chain attached.
It wasn’t until I was well clear of Coven Ordan, on the familiar path through Chahir, that I realized I was going to get more than I bargained for. Part of the stone built into the amphitheater, as I had learned previously, was connected to a stone monument on the Isle of Strae. The first time I had touched it left me reeling and a bit dazed.
The sensation was magnified times ten when it was in the earth.
I wasn’t even touching any part of the stone, and already I felt the effect it was having on me. It was like I was being drawn in two different directions at once. Part of me answered the native stone from Coven Ordan. The other part was pulled toward the Isle of Strae, where the majority of the stone had been harvested. I was constantly being bombarded by strange sensations and odd power fluctuations. To say it was disorienting would be a vast understatement. Embedded in the fabric of that stone were…impressions, faint echoes of the past. In this quiet space under the world’s surface, I could feel those echoes clearly. What was frustrating was that I could only feel, not see those faint impressions from the stone. It probably had something to do with how I sensed magic. It felt like I was trying to identify something by touch alone in murky water. I was torn between trying to focus on it harder, or ignoring it altogether for my sanity.
Finally, about the time I reached the Blackover Mountains, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to surface and take a break.
I walked away from the building, giving myself a little distance, rubbing at my arms and shoulders in an effort to still the tingling sensation in my skin. What was with that stone? I knew that Raile had explained that it was altered by all of the magic it had soaked in during the last great battles on the Isle, but still…! The stone reminded me somehow of the Jaunten genetic inheritance. There wasn’t any true memory associated with it, but I could feel the age and vibrancy, as if it were somehow alive. If stone could talk, I was sure it would reveal quite a history to me, but even Earth Mages couldn’t chat with rock. I wondered idly if the Gardeners could.
This wasn’t good. At this rate, I’d be distracted at a critical moment and bumble right into a ley line, which would get me fried. If that happened, my fiancée would be really mad at me.
The only thing that I could think to do was to put up a shield around it. I turned and went back to the building, putting up the most dense and tight shield that I could manage around just that section of stone. The shield half-worked. It wasn’t nearly as distracting as it was before, but I could still clearly sense it. Worse, I was still above ground at this point. Would the shield become even less effective as soon as I was back on the earth path?
Moving the amphitheater had sounded so easy this morning. So why was it so much harder now that I was actually doing it?
Deciding that I really didn’t want to risk it, I left the amphitheater where it was to head back to Coven Ordan. I had friends and family there, and I was not too proud to ask for help.
Instead of building a bridge for myself to get back into Coven Ordan, I went straight back up the support column. I headed for Sallah and Aral’s house as soon as I broke the surface of the street. Aral was the one who answered my knock, genuinely puzzled to see me.
“Garth, what are you doing here? I thought Sallah said you already left with the amphitheater over an hour ago!”
“I did,” I responded wryly. “I ran into some trouble, and I am going to need some help getting that beast back to Del’Hain.”
Aral nodded as if he understood exactly what was happening, and opened the screen door to let me in. He turned over his shoulder and called out, “Sallah, Garth is back and he needs our help.”
Sallah emerged from the kitchen, carrying baby Anna in her arms. She was a perfect miniature image of her mother, with her beautiful black curls, and those transfixing green eyes. She smiled at me, and held out her chubby little arms indicating she was all in favor of being held by another one of her army of adoring fans. It wouldn’t be very many years before the boys would be knocking on the Bender front door. “Garth, what happened, is everything alright?” Sallah looked worried, as she handed the baby to me.
“That building packs a real punch above ground, but it really hits its stride when you get it down on the earth path. I only made it as far as the Blackover Mountains before I had to resurface. I tried putting a shield around it, but you can still feel the emanations above ground, which means it won’t be much help underground. So, I thought I’d come back here to get some help.” I looked questioningly at them.
Aral and Sallah exchanged glances, and nodded together at the same time. “Of course we’ll help you, Garth!” Aral gave me an easy smile, as if I had asked to borrow a hammer instead looking for help wrangling a rouge building. “Why don’t we sit down and have something to eat, and you can fill us in on what happened.”
As we ate lunch, we discussed what we were facing once we got the building underground again. Aral listened intently, then commented, “It makes sense that the emanations would increase once the stone was in more direct contact with the earth. Did you notice if there was any difference when you passed closer to any ley lines in the area?”
“To tell you the truth,” I admitted, ”I really didn’t notice, I had my hands full just trying to stay on course and keep the noise in my head down to a dull roar.”
“I bet if all three of us were to wrap it up, and layer our shielding, we could move it more comfortably between us, and still get it safely to Del’Hain before midafternoon,” Sallah stated with a confidence I wished I felt. She hadn’t been underground with it like I had.
“Sounds good to me,” I said.
“Alright, let me drop Anna off over at Don’s and we can head out.”
Aral and I waited in the front lawn chatting about shielding techniques while we waited for Sallah to come back. Ten minutes later she came back, and with barely a “ready?” for warning, I felt Sallah reach out with her magic and take us down. It was an odd sensation for me. It was the first time I had ever traveled the earth path as a passenger. It was nice. I could definitely get used to having someone else chauffer me around for a change.
The time seemed to pass quickly as we talked and caught up with each other’s lives. About an hour into the journey I felt us slowing, and looked at Sallah as she brought us up about a stone’s throw f
rom the building.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked, open to anything they had to say. We walked around the structure, trying to find the best way to transport it, without getting ourselves too beat up in the process.
“I think we should try securing it from three separate points,” Aral ventured. “It would be like a triangle, if we each overlapped our hold on it. We could overlap our shields too; with them touching they would be stronger than if we put them in a single layer.” He looked at us to see if we had any other thoughts to add.
“One of us will have to steer, while the other two hold, but it should work alright,” Sallah said. “Let’s try this slowly, until we get a feel for how it is going to handle, and if the echoed harmonics of the stone are going to be a problem with concentration.”
“You steer, Sallah, and Garth and I will hold the interval of the linked power webs. We should try to make our shields as dense as possible, so less of the residual power will leak through to us.” Aral shot his wife a kiss, and headed off to position himself on the far side of the building.
“I think he’s right,” I added my vote of confidence in her abilities. “I’ll go pick out my spot and be ready to link up with the two of you. Because we will have our magic woven together, we shouldn’t have any problems talking back and forth. Let me know when you are ready to begin.”
I wasn’t really nervous, just excited at trying out something new. This was different a different type of merging than what we had done weeks before. Then it had been more a channeling of power. But this, this was not so much giving power as sharing and linking. The power flow between the three of us would be equal. I bet there were accounts of Mages working together to solve a problem like this in the books we had found hidden under the Library in Chahir. I would have to look that up when I got a few minutes I didn’t know what to do with. For now we were on our own, and the three of us would have to rely on each other to get this done. I could feel Sallah and Aral starting to draw on their powers, so I reached within to summon mine. I had no trouble matching my output with theirs, and the shield began to form around the building. When it was all meshed together we slowly began to sink into the earth.
Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 27