Threading the Needle

by Joshua Palmatier

  As soon as they emerged into the sunlight, Morrell blinking and holding up one hand to shade her eyes, Raven commandeered a wagon, recently emptied, and they slid Cory inside. Raven steadied Morrell as she climbed in beside him, taking a seat near his head and shoulders, a few of the University students climbing in toward the back. Max jumped up and curled into Cory’s arm, laying his head down on Cory’s chest.

  “Take him to Logan,” Raven said to the wagon’s driver. “Have him look over Cory and Morrell, then see that she gets handed over to Janis.”

  Before he could snap the reins, Hernande hurried up, grabbing onto the side of the wagon. His normally stolid, contemplative expression cracked with a deeper, stricken emotion that Morrell couldn’t identify as his knuckles whitened.

  “What happened? Was it the quake?”

  “Part of the ceiling caved in inside the ley node’s chamber. Cory was trapped under part of it, but we freed him, and Morrell healed him as best she could. We’re taking both of them to Logan.”

  Hernande reached out to grip Cory’s arm, squeezing once, then turned to Morrell. “Thank you.”

  Raven motioned to the driver, who flicked the reins. The wagon jerked into motion, Morrell slipping into a more stable position. Behind, Hernande made to follow, but Raven caught his shoulder.

  “There’s something you need to see.”

  When Hernande turned with a questioning look, she added more, but Morrell was too distant to hear her.

  “We were working in the node chamber when the quake struck. The rest of the Wielders and University students are still down there.”

  Hernande almost ignored her, looking back at the wagon that carried his student as it jostled down the hillside in the ruts already worn into the ground from the recent activity. They were moving the supplies and animals to the caves first, and were nearly at the stage where they would begin shifting people, but the entire process would be worthless if the tracks from the wagons led the raiders right to the cavern entrances. He’d have to get the other students to work on cloaking the ruts in the ground, as well as hiding the entrances.

  But the thought slid away as the wagon carrying Cory jolted out of view, Morrell holding onto the wagon with one hand, keeping Cory steady with the other.

  “Why?” As the wagon vanished into the trees, he shifted toward Raven. “Why are they still there? Shouldn’t they be helping with the quake?”

  “They are. The quake woke the node. I haven’t had time to take a look yet.”

  “Woke the node?”

  “The ley is bubbling up through the center of the stellae.”

  “Visibly?”

  “Visibly. Which means there’s at least ten times as much ley passing through that node now, after the quake, than before.”

  Hernande began stroking his beard in contemplation. “Do you think the quake—”

  “I don’t know what to think yet. I haven’t had time to deal with it.”

  “No, I suppose you haven’t.” He looked back toward where the wagon had disappeared. Cory was in good hands. Morrell would take care of him. There was nothing he could do but hover and distract Logan.

  He motioned toward the cave and the rest of the men and women scattered about. “Lead the way.”

  As they trudged up through the remaining wagons, they ran across three bodies—a woman and two men—watched over by grim-faced Paul.

  “Was anyone else hurt? Was there any additional damage?”

  “I don’t know. It didn’t seem like it when we came up from the node cavern. I saw others injured, but none as seriously as Cory. His leg was crushed beneath one of the fallen stones. I honestly didn’t think there was anything Morrell could do. I didn’t even think we’d get Cory free. Not without cutting off his leg.”

  Hernande halted. “Cory’s leg didn’t look that bad.”

  “You should have seen it when we finally pulled him free. That girl is a miracle worker and she doesn’t even know it.”

  “She knows it.” Hernande started moving again. “She just doesn’t know how to deal with it yet.”

  They passed through the jumble of activity in the outer chamber, down the long corridor, then picked their way to the bottom of the node chamber. The ley surged up from the ground between the circled stellae, shooting up to waist height before falling back down again. Hernande noted that none of the ley penetrated beyond the outer circle cut into the stone floor. It must be a barrier of some sort.

  He was still fixated on the ley as Raven drew to a halt before the collapsed portion of the ceiling. She touched Hernande’s arm and pointed to the rockfall. “That’s the boulder Cory was trapped under.”

  The boulder was five times as large as Hernande had imagined, a significant chunk of the ceiling scattered around it in smaller pieces. But it was the sight of the blood that jolted him. The floor was covered with a dark stain around the boulder, a smaller pool a short distance away, where he assumed Cory had lain after being pulled free. He stepped forward, near where two students knelt, looking at an indentation in the stone’s base.

  One of them motioned toward it. “That’s where Cory’s leg was. Everyone else thinks we moved the boulder, but I don’t think so.”

  “If we didn’t move the boulder, then how did we get Cory out?” the girl protested.

  “I think it was Morrell.” The boy waved a hand at the small crack between the boulder and the floor. “I think she made the opening wider. Can she do that?”

  “Of course not. She heals people. We’ve all seen her. She can’t move stone. Right, Mentor?”

  “I didn’t say she moved it.”

  Hernande chewed on the end of his beard. “I don’t know the extent of Morrell’s powers, but she can certainly heal.”

  The girl sent a scathing look at her fellow student, as if Hernande had verified her claim.

  Hernande knelt down beside them. He traced the outline of blood on the ground. It was already drying, tacky now. He turned his attention to the boulder and the crevice at its base.

  He brushed the outside, the stone grainy and rough, then reached further into the hole.

  Inside, the rock was smooth, as if eroded by water.

  Or molded, like the stone of the buildings in Erenthrall created by the Wielders and mentors.

  He pulled his hand free, scrubbed it on his breeches, then stood. The students were waiting expectantly, but he shifted his attention to the node. “What do we know about the appearance of the ley?”

  “As I said before, nothing. We haven’t had a chance to study it yet.”

  Hernande gave Raven a steady look.

  She headed toward the circle of stellae in the center of the room. Hernande and the others trailed behind her. She halted outside the circle carved into the floor that Hernande had noted earlier. “Give me a moment. All of the Wielders—follow along, but stay out of my way.”

  The Wielders nodded. All of them tensed, eyes distracted and distant, signs that Hernande had learned long ago meant they were reaching for the ley.

  A moment later, some of the Wielders gasped.

  Hernande stepped forward. “What is it?”

  “The ley is strong. Coming from the north, although I don’t know from where. It’s not the right angle to be from Dunmara or Severen. Perhaps Ikanth? But even then . . .” Raven trailed off.

  “Where is it headed?”

  Raven remained silent long enough that Hernande almost asked her again. “Southwest.” The black-haired Wielder’s shoulders hunched forward. She drew in a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, while all around her the Wielders withdrew from the ley. Mareane stepped forward, one hand on Raven’s back. She murmured something, too low for Hernande to hear.

  “What happened? What did you do?”

  Mareane answered. “She tried to follow the ley line to wherever it led, but she
extended herself out too far. She could have lost herself.” She met Hernande’s gaze. “None of us are as strong as Kara, or even Artras. Raven has a hard time accepting that. That’s why she’s always so bitter.”

  Hernande didn’t respond, watching as Raven’s shoulders straightened. Hernande thought her eyes looked hollower than before, her skin sallow and haggard. But that could have been from the quake and Cory’s rescue, not just tracing the ley line.

  “I couldn’t follow it to its end. The next node is too distant.”

  “I didn’t expect you to. We may be able to find out where the line is coming from and where it’s going using the sands.” Hernande glanced at the ley. “The real question is, is it safe? Or do we need to abandon this cavern?”

  “It’s safe. Whoever built this node made certain they were protected. The stellae act as a shield, keeping the ley inside the circles here in the chamber.”

  “And can we use it? Kara said before there was only enough ley in the area to create a minimal network, enough for heating stones and some light to help us survive the winter.”

  “We can do more than that now. This isn’t as powerful as the Nexus, nowhere near as strong, but it’s ten times more than what we managed before. The entire ley structure in this area has shifted.”

  “Because of the quake.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  Hernande tugged on his beard. “It does raise a curious question, though, doesn’t it? Are the quakes causing the ley lines to shift, or are the shifting ley lines causing the quakes?”

  “Or neither.”

  “Consider the fact that we have not had a quake in this area of any significance since we arrived. Now, we’ve had one worse than any of those we experienced in Erenthrall since the Shattering, and this node—one that was dead before this—has now been awakened. I think it’s too strong a coincidence. The quakes and the shifting ley lines must be connected.”

  “Then how do we make it stop?”

  “We have to stabilize the ley,” Mareane cut in. “Which is what Kara has been saying since the beginning. But the only way to do that is by healing the distortion.”

  “So we’re back where we started.”

  “No, we’re not.” Hernande motioned to the node. “Now we have ley to work with.”

  “Hernande!” All of them turned to where Paul stood at the top of the scree. “We’re needed back at the Hollow. Bryce and Sophia want to talk.”

  Raven stepped closer to Hernande. “They’re going to want to halt the move to the caverns. They’re going to say they aren’t safe because of the quake. And they’re right.”

  “We can’t abandon the caves. Not without getting slaughtered by the raiders. I’ll make certain they realize that. You make certain you stabilize this node. We don’t want to have another quake like the last one. And we don’t want to lose our access to the ley now that we have it.”

  He began climbing up the scree, Paul waiting patiently at the top. The elder councilor grabbed Hernande’s hand and helped him up the last, steepest section. “We need to get some stairs built here, either with stone or using lumber. We can’t all be crawling over the fallen stone, especially once we’re ready to shift the rest of the Hollow here.”

  Hernande dusted himself off. “You still intend to move the Hollow here?”

  “The quake doesn’t change the arguments for why we need to move here. Unless there’s more going on.” He eyed the ley roiling inside the circle of stellae.

  “There is, but I don’t think it changes anything.” Hernande moved past him, down the corridor. Paul hesitated, then followed. “I’ll explain what we think happened—the ley and the quake—once we meet up with Bryce and Sophia.”

  Paul paused to pass on additional instructions and to put a group onto building stairs in the node cavern, then they hoofed it back to the Hollow, following the ruts created by the wagons. Hernande pointed to the worn ground and mentioned having the students from the University hide the tracks using the same technique they would use to cloak the entrances to the caverns. Paul agreed.

  They entered the Hollow from the west, passing the meadows where the shepherds were grazing the sheep, then the fields where the corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables from the earliest spring planting were beginning to flower. It would be weeks before most of it started in earnest—months for some of it—but the plants looked healthy. A few of the Hollowers were working the fields. Behind the produce fields, stretches of hay, wheat, and barley, already knee-high, bowed gently before the gusting breeze.

  The Hollow was bustling with activity, two wagons loaded down with supplies heading back up the path to the caverns, another three being filled, ready to follow them. Janis was in the garden outside the cottage with Morrell, Allan’s daughter sitting on a small stool picking basil. The girl looked exhausted and distracted, not even glancing up as Hernande and Paul walked past, but Janis waved and motioned that Morrell would be fine at Hernande’s questioning look.

  They paused long enough at Logan’s to look in on Cory. His student hadn’t woken yet, but Logan appeared unconcerned.

  “He’s recovering. I don’t know anything about this healing power of Morrell’s, but I’d guess that it takes its toll on the patient as well as the healer. I’ve cleaned up his leg, but Morrell didn’t leave me much to do. He needs time, that’s all. Like her. I’ll keep a watch over him.”

  “Find me when he wakes up.”

  Logan shooed them out of his cottage with assurances he would.

  They walked across the center of the Hollow to the meeting hall. As soon as they entered and Hernande’s eyes had adjusted to the shadow after the bright sunlight outside, he noted Sophia and Bryce at the far end of the hall in deep discussion with Claye, Braddon, and a tracker named Quinn.

  “Now what?” Paul muttered.

  “Let’s find out.”

  Bryce broke off as he saw them approaching, the rest turning as they came to a halt.

  “What happened at the caverns? We heard there were some collapses. And we saw what happened to Cory.”

  “Three deaths. Everyone else is shaken up, but we’ve already got groups cleaning up and others working on shoring up the corridors and ceiling in case there are any more quakes.”

  Sophia’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “You aren’t advocating that we abandon the caves?”

  “I don’t think we can afford to. Where else would we go? You’ve convinced me that we can’t stay here, not with any expectation of safety.”

  “And we may not need to concern ourselves with more quakes.” Hernande settled in a chair. “We believe that the quake was caused by a shift in the ley system. The node we found earlier, which was inactive, has now been awakened. There is ley running through it, strong enough that it’s visible. Raven and the other Wielders are attempting to stabilize it. If they can do that, and keep it stable, then we shouldn’t have any more quakes of that magnitude here.”

  “So the quakes are the result of the ley system reorganizing itself?”

  “We believe so, yes.”

  “Are we still able to use the cavern as a refuge?”

  “Raven assures me that the ley is contained. I can also use the Tapestry to make certain of that, as long as it’s not too strong. It’s one of the ways the mentors at the University aided the Prime Wielders in Erenthrall before the Shattering.”

  “I won’t be comfortable with the ley that close.”

  “Then you can sleep in the deeper cavern!” When Paul bristled, Sophia raised a hand to forestall him. “Don’t. You won’t have any choice in the matter. Bryce?”

  “She’s right. Tell them what you saw on the plains, Quinn.”

  Quinn—a foot taller than Hernande, with a rugged, pocked complexion—stopped fiddling with his bow. “There’s a force of about two hundred men headed our way. I spotted them during one
of our sweeps of the plains. They were camped two days’ ride from the edge of the hills yesterday.”

  Bryce took over. “This isn’t a ragtag group of bandits. There’s a core group of fighting men, with a few bands like the one that attacked us attached to them. They’re organized, with a base camp that they’re moving steadily in our direction. They have horses, swords, bows, and enough men to overwhelm this village within an hour, even if they act as stupidly as they did before. Based on what I’ve been told, they aren’t going to behave that way. This group has a leader, and he’s disciplined.” His gaze fell on Hernande. “We may need your students and their knots sooner than expected.”

  “If they are needed, they’ll be ready.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  “How long before this group gets here?”

  “Our best estimate is a week. It depends on how fast they move. We’ve seen two groups join them since we started watching—one coming from the northwest, another from the east. Every time a group joins them, they slow down.”

  “A week.” Paul looked at Sophia. “We’ll have to speed up the move to the caverns.”

  “We’ll manage. Keep a watch on this group. Let us know a day or so before they might arrive. We’ll need to harvest whatever we can, even if we have to reap the hay early and let some of the vegetables ripen in the caves. I don’t expect that they’ll leave the fields untouched if they attack.”

  “No, they won’t.”

  Sophia and Paul left, already discussing what work needed to be accelerated. Hernande waited until they’d exited the hall, even their shadows gone, before turning to Bryce.