He stared at her as if the answer was perfectly obvious. “She has no bearing on this. It is the volcano that must be stopped.”
Sevana rolled her eyes to the ceiling and prayed for patience. And not from the god in front of her. “Cheng-Huang. You don’t find it an amazing coincidence that the very year that you put a god inside a volcano, it starts acting up?”
Frowning, he denied, “She is sealed and in a deep sleep. This cannot be her doing.”
“It’s likely unwitting on her part,” Sevana agreed with as much patience as she could muster. Which wasn’t actually much. “But think for a minute. Fire from the Eternal Flame is an eight in power. And that’s captured fire, not connected to its source anymore. If I threw that in there, it would spark a volcano for a day and make it active. We’re talking a living, breathing, phoenix of deity level that’s trapped deep inside of a volcano. It didn’t occur to you idiots that putting her in there would make the volcano eventually blow?”
Cheng-Huang opened his mouth to retort, froze, and then subsided into a deep and troubled frown.
No, apparently it really hadn’t occurred to him. Sevana resisted the urge to go find the nearest hard surface and start banging his head into it. “Now, the next question is, is it really impossible to break her out of there with your own power? Put her somewhere else?”
“We have neither the power nor authority,” Cheng-Huang denied readily. This part, at least, he was clear on. “And the Jade Emperor is currently away and unreachable. We tried for many months before giving up and asking you.”
There had been very little ‘asking,’ but whatever. “So we absolutely have to solve this on our own. Lovely. This is the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever encountered.” And it was so typical at the same time, that the person who caused the problem to begin with had gone elsewhere so that he didn’t bear the consequences of his actions. Why did that always seem to be the case?
Pointing to her tools, he demanded, “How do these help you?”
Going on the offensive, was he? “I have to measure something in order to come up with a counter to it, don’t I? Alright, this is all I need for now, you can go back to what you were doing.”
Cheng-Huang was not a person used to being dismissed. With a huff and glare, he disappeared in a snap.
Sevana spun on her stool and went immediately to work. As much as she would dearly love to get the Caller made first, other things took priority. She had to get measurements of that volcano first, otherwise it would delay matters severely. In essence, getting a level built for this wouldn’t be very trying at all. After all, her far-see lenses already had a built-in telescope, and partnered with a measuring wand, it would instantly tell her the height differences on a set point. All she had to do was create a set point for the wand to recognize.
Part of the materials needed for a Caller went to a marker. The very base element of a Caller was a piece of ore from a fallen star. With a wand, she carefully carved out chunks of it, each piece long and thin so that it would be easy to stake it in the ground. That done, she snagged everything up, threw it into her bag, and then collected her skimmer outside. It hummed to life as she threw her leg over it.
Da-Chin scurried over before she could lift off, looking more than a little panicked. “Artifactor, you are leaving?”
“Just to the mountain,” she assured him, feeling a pang of sympathy for this worried old man. She didn’t want to scare him because at his age it would likely lead to heart failure. “I’ve got to get measurements of what’s really going on up there before I can work on a solution. While I’m gone, find me a mirror and put it in that room—” she’d call Milly if she couldn’t get the Caller to work “—as well as a meal. Those idiot deities of yours yanked me out of bed and then didn’t feed me all day.”
Relieved that she was working already, Da-Chin bobbed a bow at her. “Of course, of course, I will see to it.”
“Be back in a bit.” Sevana kicked off and into the air. She first angled her way toward the top of the volcano, where it was giving off visible gases. The skimmer was set to protect her from outside elements, but she honestly wasn’t sure how effective it would be against volcanic gases. After all, she hadn’t thought of this situation when she designed the settings. Hopefully it would at least partially protect her, as she absolutely had to get a direct sample of the gases.
The situation was tricky because the extreme heat of the gases being released was no joke. And getting close to the vents in order to get the sample was dangerous in its own right. Worse, she risked botching this on the first try by contaminating the sample with regular atmosphere. So she would have to hover inside the gas for a moment and stopper the bottle there before moving.
Sevana fully expected to feel like a broiled lobster after this.
Reconsidering, she angled a little downward instead. She’d get the gases last. Yes, that would be better; that way she wasn’t trying to work while impersonating a lobster. Decided, she headed down to the top of the slope. It was far enough away from the vents to avoid any real danger, close enough to give her good readings. Up here it felt like a sauna and her armpits quickly soaked through and started sticking to her.
She really would need a quick bath by the time she got done up here. Thank heavens she could just set the system up and then go back and not have to make this trip again.
Landing carefully, she angled the skimmer so that it wouldn’t automatically slide down the slope. It was a very steep angle up here. In fact, she had to crabwalk sideways to be able to move without tripping headfirst. She winced a little as she went down on her haunches. The slight ache in her muscles was worse than usual today. It made her feel twice her age. Grumbling under her breath, she shifted forward—she didn’t dare kneel—she drew her pack around and dug out the first set of wand and far-see glasses.
This was a little tricky because the glasses had to be angled just so and the wand had to be on the same level—otherwise it couldn’t measure either distance or angle correctly. Sevana cast about for a few minutes before finding a nice, sturdy rock. It wasn’t the right height, but a quick slicing spell took off the top and after that it was perfect. Setting things up, she cast the spell carefully to link it to a particular fallen star shard. When it was set, she then linked it to the journal, which was also successful.
Sevana breathed out a sigh of relief. After what had happened with the Caller earlier, she was very afraid that her magic was just going to be wonky today, no matter how careful she was. But apparently it was going to behave for now. If it would just last until she had this done, the gases collected, and the new Caller made, she wouldn’t complain.
Getting up, she hopped back on the skimmer and went to the next location, repeating her actions there. It was a large volcano, and just six levels wasn’t really enough to do the job with, but it would give her an adequate enough idea. She would just have to make do for now.
Once the top part was set up, she went to the base of the volcano and carefully aligned her shards. It took a little finagling to get the angle right, but she knew the instant that she did, as the journal started giving her readouts. Satisfied, she hopped back on her skimmer and once again flew to the very top.
This time she had a better sense of just how hot it would be and braced herself for it. To her relief, though, the skimmer shielded her from the worst of the emissions, so she could at least breathe while hovering just on the edge of one of the vents. Her hair was soaked through with sweat at this point and the smell…ugh. As expected of a volcano, it smelled strongly of sulfur—or as she liked to think of it, rotten eggs. Carefully, she scooped up two vials of the gases before stoppering them and stowing them back in her pack.
Then she took out of there like a mouse with a cat on its tail.
She went lower in altitude almost immediately, escaping the volcano’s plumes, and the air dropped in temperature by several degrees. By the time she reached her impromptu workroom again, it felt like it was at least t
wenty degrees cooler than it had been near the top.
Da-Chin hovered near the door, weight shifting from foot to foot. Sevana barely had the skimmer a foot from the ground when he leapt forward and demanded, “What news?”
“I don’t know anything yet,” she responded in exasperation. “I barely got my measuring system set up. We’ll have to monitor things for today and see what changes. Then I can predict just how much time we have to work in.”
That was not the answer the old man wanted. Fortunately, the woman beside him had more sense. Or at least more patience. She elbowed him out of the way and bowed. “Artifactor, I am Ling-Ling. I have prepared a meal for you inside.”
Ling-Ling looked to be of an age close to Da-Chin, although she was not quite as stooped around the shoulders. From the way that he rubbed his ribs and glared at her, but didn’t retort, she was either his wife or his sister. Only someone family could get by with that kind of casual abuse without a spoken protest.
“I am very ready for a meal,” Sevana stated as she got off. “Is it possible to have a quick bath as well?”
“There is a spring nearby that is designated for the villagers. I will lead you there, if you wish.”
Sevana weighed food versus a bath for a moment but the truth of the matter was, she stank so bad that she couldn’t really face food at the moment, even though her stomach was rumbling at her. “Bath first.”
This must have been the right thing to say as Ling-Ling gave her an approving nod. “I will lead you. You have clean clothing?”
“I do.” Sevana strode through to the workroom, grabbed her clothes, and gingerly held them away from her body to avoid getting them smelly. As she came back out, she found Da-Chin still looking very worried although he didn’t say anything to her. “Oh cheer up, man. It’s not going to blow today. Or even tomorrow.”
Da-Chin’s head lifted. “You can solve this?”
That she didn’t know. “Even if I can’t, I have Fae friends that can.” One of them was likely coming after her even as she spoke. “Nanashi Isle will not fall victim to that volcano. One way or another, we’ll keep the people safe.”
Or so she hoped. In the end, it might come down to an emergency evacuation.
Sevana rethought her idea of leaving a note for Master in his workroom. It initially had sounded like the best plan, but she had not taken into account two things: First, nothing could be found easily in Master’s workroom. Nothing. Even a pink elephant could hide in there. It might take years for him to find her letter. Second, with her missing like this, he likely wouldn’t step foot into the place. He’d be off searching for her.
Delivered letters would likely not reach him. Worried, she decided to try making another Caller, so she could at least tell him her location.
Of course, Sevana had used up all of her luck while setting up the level system on the volcanic slopes. The minute that she sat down to craft a Caller, her magic flared up again and there was a strange hiccup in her spell, so that instead of materials, she was left with charcoal. Well, the piece of fallen star was more like twisted, burned metal, but essentially charcoal.
Disgusted, she threw it all in the nearest waste bin and went back to her backup plan: Milly.
Her hosts had brought in a vanity mirror, barely large enough to see her own face in, and propped it up on the table. Sevana gave a quick double tap with her index finger and called strongly, “Milly.”
She didn’t get an immediate response and she hadn’t expected to. Even if Milly was somehow in this general area and heard her, it would take a while to get to this particular mirror. Sevana would likely have to call for the woman dozens of times before getting any results.
While waiting, she pulled out the two vials of gases and set them up on the table. Thanks to her box lens, she could analyze these without any real trouble. She was set to dig back into the problem when a strand of wet hair dangled along her cheek. Wet hair dripping along her exposed skin, or down her back, bugged the daylight right out of her. Huffing a breath, she scooped it all up and used a straight pencil to capture it on the top of her head in a messy knot. There, that would do.
Now, back to gases. Holding the lens up to her eye, she carefully activated it and gave the vial a good look. It looked like a combination of carbon, sulfur, and hydrogen gas. She wrote down the ratios in the journal and then sat back, lips pursed. Was this normal? Having never worked in or with a volcano before, Sevana had only the basic understanding of how they worked. She knew enough to know that bulging along the top was a very bad sign and that degassing was a good sign, as it meant some of the pressure was letting off before the volcano could just explode.
“Milly,” she called absently, still thinking. So was the volcano going to explode imminently soon or not? The signs were very conflicting. Going by the bulge, they had bare days. But the degassing indicated that it might take weeks. Sevana really hoped for weeks, as she needed all the time that she could get for this problem.
“Milly,” she repeated, even as she flipped a page in the journal, going to where her measurements for the slope were recorded. All six of her diagnostic wands/far-see glasses were working perfectly so that she had six sets of numbers to work off of. Sevana was very glad for the baseline. It would make it easier for her to tell when things were about to go drastically wrong. It was also a relief, as apparently whatever her magic was doing, it wouldn’t mess with spells already in motion. Although seeing her incantations have hiccups in them twice in two days was unnerving to her. Just what new problem was developing with her magical core this time?
Shaking her head, she mentally focused back on the more immediate problem. Volcano aside, what was she supposed to do about the goddess trapped inside of it? No one seemed to be of the impression that she could be removed from that spot, that they literally did not have the power to overturn the seal, but Sevana wasn’t convinced of this. Likely they hadn’t even thought to try. Of course, she could hardly waltz inside an active volcano herself to take a look. Not even a Fae could pull that off. The question stood, could any of the minor deities that had called her here go inside without danger? Hmm. “Milly.”
Knowing the full attributes of the goddess in question might be the best next step. All she had been given was a rather sketchy description and that wouldn’t help much. She also needed an exact accounting of how many people were on this island, how long and deep it was, and what it would take to get everyone off in a hurry if it came down to an emergency evacuation. Although it did beg the question of where to evacuate to. The size of this volcano guaranteed that if it blew, the ash would be very far reaching. It would impact most of the mainland’s coast. At least.
The more she thought of the consequences, the more an icy tendril curled around her spine. No, if they could, they absolutely had to stop it from blowing. Or at least find some way to contain it. The backlash of this was going to be far too erroneous otherwise. “Milly.”
“Sevana!”
Her head snapped around, a smile unconsciously stretching across her face. “Milly. That was amazingly quick, I thought I’d have to try all evening.”
“I was already looking in this general area, thanks to Arandur’s hint,” Milly explained. She nearly vibrated in place, she was so agitated. “He and Master Tashjian are simply beside themselves with worry.”
Considering her rude kidnapping, Sevana could hardly blame them. “If Aran knew enough to point you in this direction…wait, how did he know? Master?”
“Yes, he called him first thing.”
Now that figured. Somehow (Sevana wasn’t sure by what means), Aran had become her keeper. If they couldn’t find her on the first try, the next person they called was the Fae tracker. Sevana couldn’t fault the system, as most of the time, Aran truly did know where she was. “So then are both of them on their way here?”
“I’m not sure. I know that Arandur is, he’s following some sort of magical trail that is leading its way to you.”
Magical tra
il? Sevana blinked at her. Was a divine’s power close enough to magic that a Fae could see it? Now that was a fascinating little nugget of information. She would definitely have to ask more questions of Aran when he came. “Milly, my magic is acting up more than usual. I’ve now fried two Callers. I can’t seem to contact Master on my own. Tell him I’m on Nanashi Isle and that I need him and every tool that he can think of that might stop or contain a volcano.”
Milly’s eyes flew wide. “Nanashi Isle?! How did they transport you over such a great distance overnight?”
“Divine magic apparently doesn’t have the same limits.” Sevana gave her a grim smile. “Believe me, I want to figure that out too, but later. My first priority is the volcano. The situation is desperate enough to make three minor deities kidnap me in the dead of night and drag me here, but I don’t have the tools to do anything about this.”
Milly looked at her closely. “Can you work magic at all right now?”
“Just diagnostic tools, as all I have to do with those is flick them on with a hint of power. Anything that requires a steady stream of magic being fed into it is completely impossible. I fry anything I try it with.”
“Oh dear,” Milly responded faintly.
Sevana was of the opinion that it needed stronger curse words than that, but let it pass with a flick of the fingers. “I need Master immediately. Call him for me, and tell him what he’s heading in for.”
“I will,” Milly assured her before disappearing in a snap.
Hopefully the other woman had been keeping track of the men even while searching for Sevana and would be able to relay the message quickly.
Idly stroking a finger against the journal’s blank page, she frowned down at it. Aran was already on his way, was he? How? He knew how to operate Jumping Clouds, so he could be flying toward her. If it came down to a race between her flying devices and a chellomi’s top speed, they would be dead tied in speed. But a chellomi couldn’t cross country like the crow flew, either. It would be faster in the long run to take Jumping Clouds. Is that what he’d decided too?
The Canard Case (The Artifactor Series Book 4) Page 5
