by Pam Uphoff
Jeremy snickered. "And that really could work?"
"That's where I get the power to do things like melt glass." He shrugged. "I think we can skip the witch tests. Hold your hands out in the bright sunshine, like you're holding a cylinder of sunshine, and then squeeze it down, like strangling, only what you are doing . . . old gods! You're doing it!"
Jeremy yelped and tried to get the sunshine off his hands, and Mikey laughed helplessly, and finally grabbed him and pulled a bit of power out of the heat of his body. The lights on the boy's hands flickered out and died.
"Mikey?"
"Looks like you've got some wizard talent, there. Now, everyone can do a bit of magic, but wizards are about ten times more powerful than someone with no power source abilities. Mages are, oh, three to five times that strong. And witches are probably double what most mages can do. Mind you, there's a range, between weak and strong for each group. And the old gods can outdo us all. Keeps us humble if nothing else."
"So I won't ever be as powerful as you?"
"Well, probably not, but I'm not really strong." Mikey frowned. "I'm stronger than I used to be. Constant use, maybe." They'd taken Foggy and the wagon, so Dan could use the tractor today, and the big horse pulled up to their house without directions. "Smart damn horse."
They unloaded most of the glass and took the rest to the Bennys', and sat out in the hay field beside the dead tractor, and chatted with Igor and Dan while Mikey charged the battery. The Kipper rode the big horse over, Dan junior in front of her.
"Mom says thanks for the jars, and she'll send some of them back with vegetables in them."
Mikey shuddered and got laughed at, and baled hay until the batteries died again at midnight.
He charged the batteries from the early morning breeze the next day, then with a list of desired herbs, took bottles and jars down to Lady Gisele.
The summer smells were a bit different, but still nearly magical in their ability to pull him in. She was talking to a young woman, but broke off when Mikey stopped outside her gate.
"Ah, just what I need." The women helped him unload and filled the work shelves with the new bottles.
He stared around his armful of glassware at the shelves of colored . . . stuff. Long shelves. Longer than the hut.
Mikey stared at her carefully.
The old crone cackled. "Aren't I exactly what you'd expect the Goddess of Health and Fertility to look like?"
"Health and Fertility?" He gulped. "Pretty much, I suppose . . . "
The girl nodded and looked hopefully at the old woman. She had classically beautiful features, but looked pale and unhappy. Mikey blinked as he realized who she was. Lady Sicily.
"Umm, my, well, I suppose he's not really my fiancé now, not after what father did to him. But you, can You help him?"
The goddess didn’t seem to have any trouble understanding what the girl wasn’t actually saying. "Oh, yes, stable boy verses noble, the usual result. Well, not the castration, although this is hardly a first. Umm, a regeneration spell for the gonads. Have to go all the way back and start with the embryonic development stage for that, I suspect. I'll have to think on it. That one will be a bit of a challenge. Good for me."
"Thank you, thank you." Tears, a hug, and the girl fled.
Mikey felt breathless, and took Vera's herbs home, along with a bit of quiet hope.
Last gave birth to a tiny girl they named Xanadu.
Marc tromped over to say that he'd seen wolves, but his brother Derrick argued that they must have been dogs, because there was a boy, a teenager maybe, with them.
Mikey slipped out that evening and sat out in the open, clearly alone, until the wild boy appeared at his side. "Something bad is happening. So we came closer. The pack won’t raid."
"If they get too hungry, come to me. I have meat dried, salted."
The boy looked suspicious and faded away. Mikey told Jeremy and Motivated, but no one else.
Chapter Five
1 November 2454
Scoone, North America
The little old lady looked littler than before. Mostly because of the contrast. A man built on Igor's muscular model, but even taller loomed over her. "This is that young mage I told you about." She took his list and started bustling around.
The man shifted and Mikey froze in shock. He recognized the general class partly from the height, but mainly a deep primal recognition. One of the old gods.
"Yes. War."
And with the same tendency to treat surface thought as if they'd been spoken out loud.
"How good are you at levitation?"
"I can almost float glass well enough that it can almost be used for windows."
"Hmm. Probably can't help us then."
Fortunately.
The god lifted his eyebrows, then smiled a bit. "Sorry, I forget that everyone doesn't know about the comet."
Mikey hesitated, a horrible thought returning. As he'd teased Motivated, the fireball that had destroyed New Miami . . .
"Yes, only we think this one is larger. Very dangerous, so we're trying to organize a good hard push and get it to miss."
Mikey nodded uncertainly. "Good idea, but I don't think I can do anything . . . do you know where it will hit?"
"The range of error is still larger than the World, so it may miss all on it's own. When it gets closer, we may have enough time to figure out more precisely and at least move it enough to minimize deaths."
Mikey nodded, hideously afraid. He had so much to lose, now . . .
The god nodded at him. "We all do. We must try our best to prevent this." He looked around into the hut. "I'll let you know, Gisele." He disappeared.
Gisele hustled back out, little paper packs in her hands. "I'll have something for that boy of yours, in another few months. I'm testing it on animals, right now."
He dropped spices at the Benny's and drove on up the hill. He parked the tractor in its usual spot and sat there staring into space for a long moment.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy's voice was sharp with concern. "You look awful. What happened."
Mikey took a shaky breath. "Good news, bad news, and too much time to think about the bad news.
"The bad news is that there really is a chance that a comet will hit the World and kill everyone that can't get out of the way. Year after next. At the solstice, just a few months, really. Fourteen months. The gods are getting together to try and steer it away."
Mikey put his head down and pondered a World that depended on the likes of the Golden Boy and Barry Virtue to save it.
"All right. What's the good news?"
"Lady Gisele is the Goddess of Healing and Fertility. Lady Sicily asked her if there was anything she could do to help you, by way of regeneration. She said today that she's testing something on animals."
"Sicily . . . The Goddess of . . . "
"So look forward to that." Mikey straightened. "After all, what are the odds the comet will hit Scooner, eh? And if we know ahead of time, we'll just haul ass down that pretty road, eh?"
"Yes. Exactly." Jeremy raised a smile. "Hopefully carousing all the way."
"Right. Nothing to be so damned concerned about." Mikey tried to smile. "So, let me show you some shielding spells."
"Just in case we need them? Good idea."
"The problem with shields is that the more things you shield from, the thinner the shield. So you can't shield for everything, because then anything can get through if it's even middling strong. So you generally pick the most likely threats and shield specifically for the top three – if you're strong enough. And you are. I don't know why everyone says wizards are weak."
"Wishful thinking? Or maybe the wizards hide how strong they are to avoid the sort of nonsense some mages and witches get up to."
"Never did figure out why mages and witches don't get along. It's like a tradition, but they forgot the reason." Mikey pondered. "I suppose this impact . . . Are comets hot? Let's see, to shield against heat . . . "
They
stored food as if expecting a decade long famine, and practiced shields all winter. And talked to the witches and practiced shielding with them, trying to see how large an area they could cover, and for how long.
Lady Gisele approved, and they worked on a three point shield. The Goddess could shield the whole settlement, briefly. The Goddess could hold one point herself, the Pyramid another and Mikey and Jeremy working together could hold the third point for almost two hours.
"We need two more magically inclined men. A minor Compass." Mikey gritted his teeth and tried harder. Longer.
Then they started trying to hold two shields at once: kinetic and heat.
"I don't think we'll need to hold the kinetic shield for very long. But there may be a wave of fire, and then forest fires."
"What about the air? Will we be able to breathe if the fires are worldwide?"
Gisele rubbed her wrinkled forehead. "A shield that could use the heat to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen . . . "
"I can use heat, and Jeremy can use fire. But how do you convert . . . You'd have to pull the carbon atom out of the molecule . . . " They talked over ways and means, and Mikey started teaching Jeremy the theories behind the fun spells, the methods for analyzing problems and testing possible spells.
It was a long spring, and the nervy wild boy moved closer. And admitted to a name.
Dace was a mage, and even had some training. Jeremy could hold up his point, when they tried to work together. Mikey cursed his father and his own lack of group practice, but it worked. Limpingly. They could hold a single shield for eight hours.
"We need one more mage. Just one more, so we'd have a minor Compass."
They stored so much food they were very nearly short. They killed wild cattle, salted and canned the meat, caught wild birds and rabbits, hoping they could release them in the spring.
And Lady Giselle handed over a small bottle that looked familiar. "Drink this on an empty stomach, and come and see me in two weeks."
Jeremy looked at it, then reluctantly shook his head. "What if it means my magic gets weaker? We can't afford that now. I'll try it when we're safe." He glanced skyward. "It's only another month, after all."
They almost became accustomed to Gods popping out of nowhere.
Mikey fled when he spotted the God of Art's upside down museum blocking the road outside of Lady Gisele's garden. He kept a wary eye out, but didn't see Peace.
The God of Just Deserts was the worst. Or the best, depending on one's point of view. His four dogs were infamous for doling out the instant karma.
They attacked Lord Valasi in public, stripped and humped him in the town square. Lady Valasi's nasty little dogs got eaten. Fights broke out all over. Several rapes, two murders. Dan got beaned by a whisky bottle and only Lady Gisele's immediate intervention prevent him from becoming the third murder victim. The God of War popped out of nowhere and told God of Just Deserts to get out of town, and not come near any of their collections of power while they were trying to divert the comet.
"Did you see that?" Mikey hunched his shoulders and glared across the square.
"And enjoyed every second of it." Jeremy sounded more angry than amused, though.
"No, not the dogs, what Lord Valasi was trying to do to get away from them. He’s a mage."
Jeremy frowned down at him—when had he grown so tall? "Valasi? Mikey, we can’t . . . " He turned and walked off a short distance.
Mikey just waited.
Jeremy stalked back. "Well, I said I’d do anything necessary to hold the shield. And I meant it. So let’s go talk to him."
Valasi snarled at them, swore when Mikey persisted. Finally said his father had been a mage, but that he, himself had never practiced.
"Pity. Gods aren't actually that much more powerful than a really strong Mage, and even a small Compass can beat one." Mikey smiled faintly. "Come to where the south road crests Butler Ridge at daybreak. We've got two days to practice coordinating and shielding so we can save the town if the gods can't save the world. I'll teach you how to fight a god, if you still feel inclined to do so, after the comet." He turned and walked away. Give the man the night to think it over.
Valasi was waiting, pacing, at dawn. He recoiled from the wild boy's unwashed scent, but seemed even more leery of Jeremy. But with four men the Compass soared.
Mikey felt drunk with power, when they finally stopped.
He perched on the back of the tractor and let Jeremy drive them home. Imp wasn't with the group of kids at Vera's, so they drove on up the hill. No Imp.
Mikey yawned and headed over the hill, too tired to try to reach Motivated mentally. Besides, he could use a hug. The next two days were going to be scary.
He looked up at a rattle of stones. "Motivated?"
"Mikey! I was coming around to collect Whirlpool."
"She's . . . I was going to come get Imp. I didn't see either of them at Dan's."
"But . . . "
They searched all night. No one had seen either of the girls since lunch.
Chapter Six
31 December 2455
Scoone, North America
"We can’t close the town off yet." Mikey stared at the old woman. "If they’re out there, they’ll die."
Her eyes were damp. "Possibly, if the gods can’t divert the comet. But so will millions of other people." Her eyes swung between the two men. "Think about Scandia, Mikey. All those people. Everyone you know, except the few who came here with you. Every single one of them is going to die. We must be ready to save the few who are here."
Jeremy nodded jerkily. "I know they’re all going to die. But Imp! Why now, where could she be? I searched Valasi’s place. I looked everywhere."
"I searched the houses he and his people have moved into. The girls aren’t anywhere. We had lunch with them, damnit. I thought they went with Dan, he’s sure they stayed home." Mikey wanted to barf, cry. Break something. He looked up into the sky. The pearly fog bank covered most of the sky. The comet was coming from sunward, the solar wind blowing the tail of the comet over the world. It was nearly midnight. Noon in New Tokyo, where one group of Gods and Mages were already trying to push the comet core. Dawn in Sahara, where the other groups would be starting. Did they need line of sight? At that distance did it matter? And if they failed, the people in Sahara had best be prepared to move their homes and people. Fast.
"I saw Dan, but no children. It was dark already, and I was arguing with Marty. Again." The old woman shook her head. "I’ll go home and pray that they can shift the comet. But if they can’t, if you four aren’t out on the south road and ready to hold your corner, then everyone will die here. Everyone. You have an hour. At the most."
Mikey wiped his face. Everything he’d left behind. The gods will protect it, they were talking about all sorts of things to try. Everyone won’t die. Not everyone. The gods will save people, when, if, they cannot divert the comet. Lots of people. He drew a breath like a sob. Old pals, old girlfriends, old clients and old enemies.
Mikey swallowed. "Let’s check at Valasi’s again, then we’ll pull back up the south road. We’ll be in position in an hour."
Jeremy’s fists closed. "They’ll divert the comets. Wherever the girls are, they’ll be fine."
Streaks of light shot by overhead, ominous heralds of the main body.
Valasi's place was empty. House, barns, sheds. Empty.
Dace and Valasi waited on the South Road. Valasi pacing, Dace jittering.
Mikey took the North Position, Dace South, as if he couldn't bear to have anyone between him and the wilderness. Valasi East, Jeremy West. Valasi glared across at Jeremy. Jeremy looked beyond him gazing up and searching the morning sky for something more than the dim sun. Rays of bright light flashed across the pearl gray light. Then a long slow-seeming fireball.
"We won't see the main body. If they can't divert the comet, well, it'll be hitting right about now." Mikey cut his left wrist, passed the knife to Valasi. "The ground shock, in probably fifteen mi
nutes. The blast wave in four something hours. We should hear about it . . . " He clutched his head at the searing mental scream.
"Mikey, Mikey! What is it?" Jeremy was holding his shoulders.
What was he doing on the ground? The pain was gone.
"You know. It's a good thing you three are all defensive sorts, with natural mental blocks. That wasn't very pleasant. The comet hit. It's time to get our shield up around the village." He climbed to his feet, and held his hands out to the other men. My little Whirlpool, Imp . . . He crushed the emotions, opened his mind again and pulled power from the wind rustling past them. He felt Gisele, crying, but determined. The witches, their pyramid strong and beautiful. They raised the kinetic field. Mikey pulled power from the wind striking it, felt Jeremy up above it pulling fire from a small pebble just before it hit. Absorbed the kinetic energy from the strike. And two more. Tiny, insignificant, pieces shed by the comet. And suddenly a shower, a torrent of molten pieces. Jeremy tried to take the fire and divert the power into the shield. Easy, you don't have to do it all. This must be . . . splash. Rocks that blasted back into space, and were pulled back to earth.
An incoherent mosaic of thoughts joined with his. The sudden pain of realizing the deaths of friends, relatives that he'd never had. Running with wild animals. A memory of holding a baby in his arms, and the pain of loss. Anger, pride, insecurity, temper . . . shame.
Concentrate. Hold. Relax and lean into the shield, hold it on the ground. Just concentrate on the shield.
The ground started quivering, tried to throw them into the air, break their grips. He was never sure how long they held the shield. Long enough for two deadly waves of super heated air to pass. Long enough for a dark pall to fade into true night. Long enough for Valasi to collapse, for Dace to panic and run away with his wolves.
