Strange Land (The Young Ancients Book 15)

by P. S. Power

  One of them, a woman, called out to her.

  "We'll get a record of the people outside, and see if we can recognize anyone as doing something odd later! The rest of you, capture the Revered one defeating the assassination attempt! I can get a live feed going on XLM." That was a big deal, it seemed, since everyone listened to the older, slightly gray haired, but lean, woman.

  Sara wasn't totally unused to the idea of wine making her head spin, but watching the racks of things move around while totally sober was a new one for her. The movement kept going on, even as the line of light green and silver flashing around her faded into nothing. She didn't want to make a mistake, after all. No one trying to surprise Tim with a colorful prank would have killed themselves like that. Causing their own head to explode.

  That meant the stakes were suddenly very high.

  She hadn't even stopped spinning, and was starting to feel a little sick about five minutes later, when there was a loud, but muffled thump. Another came about five seconds later, followed by a third shortly after that. Sara stopped, though the room still seemed to move for a bit, as the others looked around, wide eyed.

  "Bombs." This came from one of the men in the back. A large fellow that she realized wasn't Austran at all. He was dark skinned, and tall, dressed like one of those people, but the accent was wrong.

  Tim nodded.

  "That seems right, Mike. Everyone here has their shield on, but I think this must be an attempt to remove all the air from the living areas. We need to find and seal the breeches. We can't wait for the emergency response teams to get there. Everyone go now."

  Stumbling along after the rest of them, trying to make sure there was none of the nano dust left to come for her, Sara followed Tim at a slow jog. At first. He ripped away, moving a lot faster than a person should have been able to run, then lifted into the air a few inches and went even faster. Tor-shoes. That function, the ability to hover low to the ground and move without effort, was built in to all the new shields. It took a bit of focus to use, but she managed it, even while fighting off the wave of nausea that tried to overtake her.

  Flying after the younger man, even going low to the ground, was harder than it should have been, since her thoughts kept ranging out into different areas. First to Tor and then Trice. Were they safe? Did they even know what was happening? Ali flitted across her mind too, since the noble girl was a friend of hers, even if she was one of the main rivals for Tor's attentions. She was very sweet and kind, as well as a lot stronger than most people gave her credit for. Also a full builder already.

  A lot of the people there were wizards, and they had magic to seal the holes with, she knew. Not that she had access to that kind of thing at the moment. Most didn't. They had them at the magic shop though. It was just a thing that most had never thought about getting for themselves, she bet.

  Sara turned and used her Tor Shoes to reverse direction just in time for the sound to die down. That meant most of the air was already gone. It was a vast amount. It had taken months to build all of it up the first time, if you counted the whole construction of Harmony together. At best they had a day or two of air in their shielded spaces individually before people started to have their skin eaten off to keep them in oxygen. It would eat the parts they didn't need first, to make that happen, turning dead skin, then hair, into the needed material. The other things that came out and weren't alive were all recycled already.

  Calling it two days was probably fair for most people, if they'd had air when the automatic portion of things kicked in to protect them. That could be cleaned for a long time, after all.

  It wasn't just an attack on Timon Baker then, or even the Ancients. This was meant to kill everyone on Harmony. No matter who was doing it though, they had to know that almost everyone there was innocent of whatever it was they felt justified what they'd done. For a moment she nearly panicked then. Not for herself, or her friends. No, they and a lot of other people would be safe, sitting in her ship. She didn't have a lot of air, but they could make more. They had time for that. She couldn't protect a million people however. Not alone.

  "Except you aren't alone." She muttered that to herself, then charged the magic shop door. The people that were working that day seemed to all be kids. As in people no older than Terry was. Twelve or younger. There were five of them, and they all looked scared. It was a mixed group, too. One of the boys was so tiny she almost thought he was too young to be working at all, and nearly black he was so deeply brown. He positively hid behind a taller pale girl that seemed to be in charge. At least she passed Sara something, and then held a similar thing to her own throat. It passed through the protective barrier, so it was designed to do that sort of thing. Otherwise it would have been impossible to touch.

  The instant she let it come into contact with her own throat, Sara got the idea. It was a speaking device. Like what they used on the Space Fleet vessels.

  "Ma'am? What's happening?" This was spoken in Tellerand, which got Sara to pause for half a second. This girl would have to be a saint, to have made the device she was using work at all. The same was true with the shield.

  "We're under attack. It seems like three bombs or explosive magics have been used to make holes in the containment area, letting all the air out. We need to seal those up first. Then we're going to have to find someplace to store people while we get the air going here again. Can you five head up part of that? We need to make sure that everyone is evacuated safely to..." She had nothing, but the terrified and tiny Afrak boy, looking at the ground and shaking, spoke up.

  In Afrak, but everyone there seemed to get it.

  "Second City?"

  The one that Sam Builder had been putting together and that Queen Tiera still refused to call Samville. Sara had never known why, since it was a fine enough name, but she nodded at the tiny one while trying to get her communications device out.

  "Grab people and get them the tools they need." This came out in Tellerand, and was addressed to the tall pale girl. A giant for that place. Some of the men had been that tall, but no females. Then she switched to Noram Standard. "The rest of you get ready to do whatever we have to. In fact, load up all the magical items into cases. We can sort them out later, at need."

  It would be a mess, but having an extra bathtub might actually be helpful later. Who knew what they'd need? Toothbrushes and soap might be important in the next few days.

  The kids, bless them, did the work without a lot of hesitation, taking floating follow along chests from the racks and setting them to be perfectly sized to get through the front door of the place. The white stone of the walls was decorated with lights in this space, making the whole thing seem cheery, even while they stripped it bare.

  It took a bit to get Sam on the device, since it was clear that he'd been napping. The boy, who was looking very fine these days, if a bit sleepy, brushed at his blond hair.

  "Sam Builder, what's the emergency?"

  "The main city has been vented. An attack using some kind of explosives. Is Samville ready for visitors? Do you have air? We can start moving people over if you have anything at all." She was being assertive, but the man didn't think she was playing around it seemed, since he went pale at the implications.

  "We... have room for about a hundred thousand. I'll get everyone going on air manufacturing. Here I'd thought water was going to be the big issue. Damn. I don't know about the rest. Get ships up and have people start building up air reserves? If everyone works..." They might still not have enough time. The magics that did that kind of thing were limited. Though funnily enough, she had three of them on her, she realized. All of the food units that Tim had built could do that.

  Unfortunately those weren't available in the store she was in. The Tiera models were, and those could do a bit that way too, but they were all slower and smaller.

  Meant for home use.

  "We'll have people headed that way inside an hour. Not that I know where it is. Get ready." then she broke the connection, and w
aved to the kids.

  "Get to the docks with all of this. Tell everyone to start moving people that way, but not to push. Load up the children first. We have room for everyone. Keep repeating that part." It might not be true, but damned if she was going to be the one to start a panic.

  As she moved out into the main hallway, she nearly knocked into Tor and Ali, both of whom were moving with about fifty red robed people that seemed to be from Vagus. In the mix there were others though, in different clothing. The students from the magic school. Some of whom were from places she hadn't even thought about having that kind of thing, if they weren't just dressing that way for fun. Everyplace, in fact. Including Tellerand.

  Tor and Ali didn't have speaking devices, but they did have coms on them, meaning she was able to get in touch with Tor after a few confused moments.

  "Love! Get everyone to the docks. We're going to Samville. That and loading up all the jump ships we can set up and fill with air. I need to get with Tiera. Gemma has a ship... Gemma!" Sara had lost her in the mix somehow. Ali, who wasn't even on the communications unit with her closed her eyes and spun, pointing toward where the children were coming out of the shop with the first of the cases. The Squire leading them, looking ready to fight, if she had to.

  Brilliant. The girl had been there the whole time, Sara had just been too distracted to realize it.

  "Good. Get everyone that has anything air tight down to the docks!"

  Tor looked at the device in his hand, then focused, or so it seemed. After a minute standing out in the open, in a hallway filled with anxious people, he spoke.

  "This is Torrance Baker. There has been an attack on Harmony. Right now everyone should move toward the main docking area, and get on a ship, in an orderly fashion. We have enough room for everyone, but you'll all want to help make some air, if you get the chance. Many of you will be taken to Second City. Try to make certain that families get to stay together, and look out for each other. We have time to do this right. If anything new comes up, I'll pass the word to you this way." His voice came over not just the communications unit in her hand, but the other one she had in her pocket too.

  The speaking unit as well. After a moment, she realized that almost everyone was moving in the right direction.

  Tim's voice came from her com too.

  "We've got a major problem on the Southern side of the city. The explosion here was so large that a good chunk of the outer wall is gone. It will take a few days to rebuild it. The shield barriers aren't enough for it."

  Ali tilted her head.

  "Can we put a forest dome over it? The new shields that Guide made?"

  There was a low hiss, as Timon seemed to be thinking.

  "We might be able to do that. It's a big area to cover. That would be faster though. Can we get one of those over here?"

  A different voice came on then, which took her longer to identify, even though she knew it.

  "Guide is over helping Sam. I can get to his things, if he has any left here?" It was a deep and manly voice, that sounded calm and collected.

  Really, they all did.

  "Kolb? That will work. On the shelf under the wine cabinet." That had to be Guide.

  It took her a moment to realize that Tor had opened the communications device up, so that certain people could talk over it. Rewriting the magic, while standing there in the middle of the main walk area of a city under attack. In under a minute. It was the kind of thing that should have taken months of work, and probably ended in failure. There it was though, right in front of her.

  Sara looked over at Tor, and tried to make sure he could see her lips. She'd had classes in that kind of thing, so maybe he had too?

  "I'm heading up the evacuation at the docks then. Keep people moving that way. We should have this in hand then. Come on, all of you that are coming with me..." She waved, hoping Tor would repeat her words and get his students going the right direction.

  It turned out not to be needed.

  Ali waved at them all too.

  "You all heard her. Come on. Collect people as we go! Hurry!" There was no particular sound of panic to her words, but anyone not realizing that Alyssa Baker was a steel fist under the candy coating on the outside that practically begged to be eaten, wasn't paying attention. It was part of Sara's job to know that sort of thing however.

  They all moved off then, including Tor. For some reason she'd figured that he would have plunked down and started trying to build some miracle device that would save them all. Making air from nothing using only his will and a bit of dust from outside, or possibly creating a giant dome of force to... Do something she couldn't even imagine.

  The thing there was that they didn't really need that. After a moment, she saw him nod at her, even as they headed down the crowded corridor to her ship. It was the only one in at the moment, but Sara caught that Gemma was about to go and get hers set up too, by simply heading outside to the surface.

  That was the right plan, but also brave, considering that she didn't know for certain that the Tim-shield would protect her well enough to survive trying. It would, so Sara waved to her.

  "Captain Gemma is going to go and set up her jump ship. It's her first time..." She could set up a ship like that, and so could Tiera, most likely, but of the people they had there, she didn't know who else could manage it. Most of the people she could see were strangers after all.

  That didn't stop one of the men, who was from Vagus, and a mage, if his red robes could be trusted, from dashing over to the girl and leading her outside. Hopefully he knew what to do, since Sara had to get her own vessel ready.

  Hours passed then, with several ships being set to making dust and rock from the surface into air directly. Others didn't bother, growing to full size and taking loads of people over to Second City. No one else called it Samville, Sara noticed.

  She kept moving back into the city, making sure that everyone was able to get into an area that had at least some breathable air left. At about a half day in, exhaustion moving over her, she found a strange sight in a room on the third level. It was a huge space, but also filled with people that should have been sitting in a nice warm ship at the moment.

  They were all praying. Silently, since none of them had been patched into the communications device system like she was. It paid to have good friends, sometimes.

  These were people from Tellerand. All saints, but also all huddled together, counting on their god to save them. As if he weren't doing that already, by sending them people to help them out? She started to feel a bit upset by the idea, and that almost doubled when she noticed that Roget Smithson was there, leading them. A person that really should have known better.

  Well, she could kick his butt later, she decided. For the time being they really needed to either get the people gathered there out, or bring some air inside for them. It might be doable, if it was needed. Why that would be, she didn't know.

  Sara looked around, saw the fear on the collected faces, and wondered what was really going on inside their minds. Rather than yell at them, or threaten to leave them there alone, which is what she would have done in Noram, she decided to put her knowledge of these people to use and hope she just wasn't too far off.

  "Praise be the All High! I found you. Come this way. We have room on the ship, and people need your help. I'm surprised Roget didn't lead you all over yet." The instructions had been coming in, even if most of them had been in Noram standard...

  Actually all of them had been. Blanching a little, Sara started calling out directions in every language she knew. They were all the same, more or less, though her Vagish wasn't really up to it, and after she went the first time a soft female voice came on directly after her, saying what she wanted correctly.

  It was enough that the Tellerand people seemed relieved, and started moving then. That still didn't explain why Roget hadn't gotten them going, since these weren't people that were too slow to understand the air had gone out for a while. Sara was willing to bet that i
t wasn't him being stupid though. The man wasn't. That meant his, and possibly all of these people, had felt like their hands were tied for some reason.

  They were all in black, the ladies in dresses, and the men in jackets, trousers and black hats. The women mainly had their hair covered too, but not all of them did. Near the back was one man that was dressed in red and bright blue. Almost like he was from Noram. He was darker than the others too. Sara waved to him, not knowing who was who there yet.

  She pointed, not wanting to broadcast everything she was saying to the entire population of Harmony.

  First she went to Roget, her hand held out toward him, palm down. Pointing without being rude. The man looked sheepish, but reached out to take her hand. That didn't work with the shields on, but his being willing to showed that he was learning. She grinned at him for a half second.

  "Follow Ambassador Smithson to the docks. This other man will make sure no one gets lost." She spoke Tellerand for them, but the dark skinned younger man seemed a bit baffled by it, so she tried again in Noram Standard. That got his eyes to go wide.

  The common looking fellow nodded at her, then moved toward the back of the line of people that were leaving.

  Sara went out into the main walkway for that level and started calling out instructions again. She was going to need a lot of help, if they were going to find everyone that might be out of touch. Even there not everyone would have a communications device. Though thankfully most did.

  "Tor, or Tiera really, we have people in here still. Ones that either can't hear us or who are afraid to come out. We need an announcement from you Tiera, telling them not to be afraid. We also need a search crew to go from door to door. People that can speak as many languages as possible. I don't know what we're supposed to do if places are locked." Because scared people would lock the doors, wouldn't they? So would anyone just leaving their stuff behind for a while.

  She was about to write off anyone that they couldn't find, when Tor broke in.