by Tim Susman
How far away is the sea? Kip asked Nikolon.
Perhaps an hour away at your current pace.
Thank you, Kip said. Is there a town along the shore?
Yes. If you move to the south, you can avoid it. But there is a road that has a good deal of activity on it.
Thank you.
Forty minutes later, they crested a hill, and their long morning shadows pointed down to a small seaside town. To either side of it stretched the road that Nikolon had been talking about, a well-worn path along which several horses cantered. Beyond that stretched the shimmering blue and foaming white of the sea, and within its vast expanse, Kip saw for the first time in his life the Road, the Great Feat of sorcery that allowed people to walk from England to the New World.
It glittered on the surface of the water, far out beyond the whitecaps, a crystalline line that curved and vanished into the horizon. Just on the other side, a mere two months walk away (a little less by horse-drawn cart or barge), lay New York. The line of the Road wavered in the sunlight such that at any moment Kip thought it might vanish into the endless blue of the ocean, but no matter how long he stared, it remained.
The immensity of this Great Feat overwhelmed him. Here was a dream that Master Bolden had pulled into reality with a spell over a century ago that remained solid and real, supporting thousands of emigrants every year. A small black blotch, clearer in Nikolon’s vision than his own, was probably the first of a series of small inns that had been licensed and built along the road to provide shelter for those who didn’t bring their own.
Coppy had taken passage on a ship to come to the New World, but hundreds of Calatians had left England over the last hundred years to seek their fortunes, as had thousands upon thousands of humans. Kip kept staring at the beautiful ribbon snaking out over the water and his throat tightened with longing. To create something like this that would endure even beyond his death, that would enrich so many lives… “It’s beautiful,” he said.
“It’s breathtaking.” Alice floated at his side, under her own power rather than Valkuni’s so that she had more autonomy. “One of two Great Feats not performed in wartime, I think you told me.”
“Yes.” Kip touched the fur on his paw.
“Why did it come about? What great need was there to walk to New York from here?”
She hadn’t had Master Windsor’s history lessons, and now Kip tried to remember. “Nobody knows. Master Bolden died soon after casting it. The official record says that he felt an overwhelming duty to please the Crown, but that could also be propaganda.”
Malcolm, next to them, said, “More likely the King threatened his family. William hated the Catholics and we always thought it wasn’t New York but Ireland that was on his mind when he ordered this Road. A lovely fence, and as cruel as any spike-topped iron, it is.”
“A fence?” Kip turned to him.
Malcolm gestured to the north. “You know what lies that way, aye?”
“Yes.” Kip blinked again at the Road. “Oh.”
“Aye, ‘oh.’ That Road cuts off Ireland from the rest of the world. ‘Oh, it’s no worry,’ say the Royals in Windsor. ‘You can trade through our bonnie port of Bristol.’ And so we do, for we must, and the British take a pretty fee for the privilege, for they can.” He paused. “I suppose properly it’s ‘they do,’ not ‘we do,’ for I’m an American now, but the Irish still comes up in me when I see injustice like this.”
“I’d never thought of it,” Kip admitted.
“And why should you? Tisn’t your people they’re fencing in.”
“Not with this,” Alice said.
Malcolm inclined his head. “Fair point, aye.”
“The thing now,” Kip said, “is to get all of us from here to there.” He pointed out at the Road. “I’m inclined to rest here rather than risk the road and the beach and all. Can you keep us warded until we’re out over the water?”
“And beyond. That calyx magic fortifies one. I understand why it’s such an ingrained practice. Which doesn’t mean I approve of it.”
“None of us do,” Kip said. “But there are times when it’s necessary.”
He commanded Valkuni to lower everyone, then dismissed the demon. With Abel and Alice’s help, they spread the word that there would be a half hour rest before they set off again. Malcolm re-cast the wards with another dose of calyx blood, this one from Thomas Trewel.
“All right.” Malcolm reached for Kip’s paw. “The wards are up and strong as I can make them.”
“Thank you,” Kip said, clasping his friend’s hand in return. “Once we get to the Road, there should be less danger.”
After Kip had rested and felt capable of another binding, he summoned Valkuni and repeated his previous order. Keeping his passengers as low to the ground as he dared, he ordered the demon to move the group down the hill, across the road when there was a large enough gap, and then out over the water. The crash of surf could not drown out the gasps and exclamations of wonder at the waves below them and the thick briny smell, the small fishing boats so different from the barges on the Thames. As the coast and the town receded from view, the Calatians settled into their flight, though a cry came here and there whenever someone saw a fish swimming below them. More than one reached down to their shadows dancing on the waves, trying to touch the water or perhaps catch a fish, but Kip’s attention stayed on guiding Valkuni out to the Road.
The air cooled down considerably over the water, and rushing along quickly through it made it seem cooler still. With their fur, the Calatians were all comfortable, though the foxes did put their ears back against the wind. Kip was wondering whether Malcolm was cold and if he could do anything about that when Broadwood finally woke up.
His shriek nearly broke Kip’s concentration, but fortunately practice had prepared him for any distraction. He turned to ask Alice to tend to the sorcerer, only to find that she’d already propelled her way over there. She engaged him in conversation and calmed him down, much to Kip’s relief. He had to keep his attention on Valkuni, barely talking to those around him and watching the glowing translucent expanse of the Road until it lay below them.
As they approached, he sent Nikolon ahead to see where there might be a large empty section where they could rest for a short time, and to his surprise, Nikolon showed him no travelers on the Road. Of course; there was a war on. Britain wouldn’t allow travelers to walk to their enemy. Still, there had been rumors of British troops on the road, and even if that weren’t true, there might be people who’d set out from New York before the war began. So he sent Nikolon oceanward looking for the nearest of those travelers. Malcolm’s wards were good, but it would be difficult to conceal two hundred Calatians on a hundred-foot wide span in the ocean.
Nikolon traveled for more than twenty minutes before encountering a traveler, and Kip judged that enough time, so he ordered Valkuni to set all of the people down on the Road. When they were all safe, he dismissed the demon and then knelt to put his paw to the Great Feat below him.
The Road itself felt like pure magic. What glittered in the sunlight was not the Road, but the layer of salt that crystallized out of the seawater that washed up onto it. Mixed with grime from the thousands of feet that had traveled over it, the salt nonetheless sparkled in the sun.
Around him, the other Calatians gazed around with similarly rapt expressions, at the Road under their feet, at the ocean just a foot below that, back at the just-visible shore, or up at the gulls wheeling overhead. Kip took a breath of the salt air, and then something about the gulls caught his eye.
Nikolon. That black bird among the gulls, do you see it?
Yes.
Get closer to it, please. Show me what you see.
His point of view zoomed up through the air, toward the birds, and past one gull and then another, neither of which registered his presence. Then he was face to face with a raven. He kept his eye on it, gathered magic, and gripped it with a spell, bringing it down fast toward him.
&
nbsp; Nikolon kept her view on it the whole way, from its startled look when the spell caught it to the fluttering fighting and finally resignation as Kip brought it face to face with him. “Good morning,” he said pleasantly.
The raven turned its head back and forth. He held it still with the spell, forcing it to focus on him. “It’s no use pretending this is just a raven. I’d like to know to whom I have the pleasure of speaking. Who was clever enough to follow us?”
“It did not take a great deal of cleverness,” the raven said in a voice Kip didn’t recognize. He had hoped it would be Albright, but now felt relieved that it was not. “Once we knew the calyxes were gone, there were only two places worth looking. There are ways to detect wards even if you cannot see what lies within, you know. Or, more likely, you don’t, apprentice.”
“Congratulations,” Kip said. “You’re too late to do anything about it.” He reached out to touch the raven’s wing.
“It is never too late—” The raven’s voice cut off in mid-sentence as Kip sent it to the small house he’d occupied during the Battle of Boston Harbor.
“Have a nice flight back,” he said mildly. Of course, the raven would be able to show the sorcerer where it was, and if he knew any basic translocation, he’d be able to go there and get it back, but Kip enjoyed having caused him some inconvenience.
That brief triumph over, he studied the Calatians still marveling over the Road. Anger flared in him at Jackson’s complication of his plan. If they’d simply had two more sorcerers, they could have sent all the Calatians to New Cambridge by now.
“What was that?” Alice hurried to his side.
“A raven. We’ve been spotted. It seems sorcerers can detect wards, even if they can’t see inside, so they found us moving out here.”
“You didn’t know that?”
“No,” he said, “but Jackson should have. Come on, we should move them farther down the Road. The sorcerers have seen where we are.”
Alice’s ears flattened. She scanned the Road in either direction. “Are they coming?”
“Perhaps.” Kip stopped and thought. The sorcerers must have only just found them. “But we should keep moving.”
He called Valkuni again and bound him, and once again had him carry the Calatians down the Road, faster this time. They could deal with a little wind; the important thing now was to meet up with the American ship before the sorcerers caught them. He had Nikolon split his time between looking for more ravens and looking at the Road ahead for travelers and nearby ships.
They flew over a small group of weary-looking people on foot around two horses with carts, and a pair of people on horses. Twice they passed barges being towed along the Road. No ships evidenced themselves, but no British sorcerers either, so Kip felt safe stopping two more times to rest and dismiss Valkuni.
On their fourth flight, Nikolon spotted a three-masted frigate far ahead of them on the north side of the Road driving an impressive bow wave before her. Through the demon’s eyes, Kip saw that the flag fluttering from the mast did resemble the one he’d been shown back in Boston at the battle; more convincingly, the men aboard the ship wore American uniforms, and he recognized Callahan, the tall translocational sorcerer from the American military sorcerers’ division. No other sorcerers were visible on the boat.
At the next break, when Kip could spare the concentration, he sent Nikolon to speak to Callahan. “We’re perhaps two hours away,” he told the other sorcerer. “How long have you been sailing?”
“I haven’t been with this ship the whole time,” Callahan said. “I brought Dapper out here a few days ago, but we had a ship along the Road just in case. Dapper’s been speeding it toward you, and now the other thing’s done, I’m here for support.”
“Other thing?”
“Oh aye, you’ll find out about it soon enough.” Callahan smiled.
The urgency of their plight pressed Kip past his curiosity. “You’re not warded, though?”
“No. We have a few cannon to protect us. When we bring your cargo aboard, your man can handle the wards, aye?”
“Of course.”
Callahan looked around Nikolon. “Any sign of the British?”
“They know about where we are.” Kip told him about the raven. “I haven’t seen a raven since then, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a ship come up. Watch the waves,” he said, remembering the ripples on the Savannah River.
The sorcerer did not seem at all perturbed by the information. “We’ll see you in two hours then. How do you plan to do it?”
“I can just lift the Calatians onto the ship.” Through Nikolon, he looked around the frigate. “Is there room for two hundred aboard?”
“There will be. Broadwood and I can send back some if it’s too crowded.” He gestured. “British ships rarely come north of the Road. Too much ice.”
“All right,” Kip said. “I’m going to get us on our way. We’ll be there soon.”
When he brought his awareness back to himself, Malcolm and Alice stood in front of him. “It looked like you were communing with your demon,” Malcolm said, “so we decided to leave you to it.”
“Our ship is about two hours ahead.” Kip checked the group of Calatians, who by now had gotten used to the Road. Many of them still wandered to the edge to sit and look out over the ocean, now unbroken by any sign of land, but at least two-thirds of them walked about and talked and shared food as if they were in a meadow or town square.
Kip found Abel and told him how close they were and had him gather everyone to be transported again. Another hour with Valkuni took them close enough that some of the Calatians (not the foxes, though) could see the American ship from their location. Broadwood could too, well enough to translocate himself there to greet Callahan and start making arrangements for the Calatians. Those who could see the ship spread their excitement to the others, and many questions circulated, mostly centered around whether the ship would have food and drink and of what kind. Kip, still worried that the British would intercept them, took as little rest as he dared before summoning Valkuni again.
He had reached the point where he could distinguish sails on the frigate with his own eyes when Nikolon warned him, Ravens approaching, master.
He switched to Nikolon’s point of view only for a moment, only long enough to see two ravens wheeling around in the air. Were they inside Malcolm’s ward? It was hard to say. He asked Valkuni to hurry, but already most of the Calatians had their eyes squeezed shut against the wind and Kip himself couldn’t keep his eyes from watering. He could see through Nikolon’s eyes, but it would be useful to have everyone alert and aware, so he didn’t dare go much faster.
Next to him, Malcolm said tersely, “Ravens,” and Alice, ears perked, looked around.
“I see them,” Kip said. “I can’t do anything but get us to the ship.”
“Shall I blow them away?” Alice asked. “Never mind, I’ll do it.” She summoned magic, and a moment later the high whispering of air elementals cut through the hissing wind.
Kip focused on the ship, keeping the Calatians over the Road in case something happened. Soon he would have to take them out over open water, but not yet, not quite yet. “If you can find the ship, wherever they are…” He let that sentence hang.
“Something’s testing my wards,” Malcolm said.
There was nothing Kip could do to that, or very little, except to keep moving. Then a black shape flitted back into their field of view, and Alice gasped. “They’re being translocated!” she said.
And then something else happened. A dozen of the Calatians broke away from the group and flew south of the Road. Valkuni! Kip snapped. Retrieve them!
Master, my power is spread too thin. The stray Calatians slowed but kept their momentum away from the group. They comprised a beaver, an otter, a family of mice, one polecat who was reaching out to the main group, and now they were all crying out, reaching back. The Calatians over the Road reached out to them; some tried to swim through the air, to no
avail.
Another dozen were pulled away, maybe more. Two foxes went in this group and Kip didn’t know whether either of them was Abel. He had to watch them go, grimly set on saving the ones Valkuni could keep hold of. He still had most of them. “I’m trying to get them,” Alice said next to him.
The American frigate loomed closer, ten minutes or less now. He couldn’t see the British ship—but he could detect the ward, even if he didn’t know what was inside. Mark where the Calatians disappear, he told Nikolon, and stay over that spot.
The stolen Calatians remained visible, paralleling the others over the water south of the Road but moving faster; the British clearly had no regard for comfort. Alice cried out in frustration. “They’re too strong,” she said.
“Too far.” Kip gritted his teeth. If only he could get these to the frigate, keep them warded, then he could fight. “Keep those ravens out of here.”
“I’m trying with physical magic. I’m sending Hoosh at the water to try to blow the British ship away, too.”
“Good.” As soon as the Calatians reached the British ship they would try to get another batch, he was sure. And then he took his eyes off them for a moment and when he looked back, he couldn’t find them. There, Nikolon, did you mark it?
Yes, master. There are ripples in the water as well.
Thank you. He diverted across open water, making the Calatians gasp and hold each other as they sped toward the frigate. Sure enough, another dozen or so were wrenched away, but Valkuni had more strength spread among fewer bodies, and this time all that happened was that the dozen slowed and hung over the water as the rest reached the frigate. Kip was about to set them down when the great wooden ship burst into flame.
Men on the ship shouted; Calatians screamed above the flames that attacked the sails and sprang up from the hull, the inferno raging around them. Kip couldn’t manage two demons and also devote any attention to fire, so he ordered Valkuni to set the Calatians and sorcerers on the deck and then dismissed the second-order demon. Nikolon, he ordered, keep me levitated where I am right now.
