The Ship Who Won (39 page)

him-Vemi, what are you doing out here?"

Below them, clinging to the parapet of Chaumel's landing pad, was his chief servant. As soon as the magiman

angled in to touch down, Vemi ran toward him, wringing

his hands.

"Master, High Mage Nokias is here," he whispered as

Chaumel rose from the chariot. "He is in the hall of antiq-uities. He has warded the ways in and out. I have been

trapped out here for hours."

"Nokias?" Chaumel said, sharing a puzzled glance with

Keff and Plennafrey. "What does he want here? And

warded?"

"Yes, master," the servant said, winding his hands in his

apron. "None of us can pass in or out until he lets down the

barriers."

"How strange. What can frighten a high mage?"

Chaumel strode through the great hall. The servant,

Keff, and Plennafrey hurried after him, having to scoot to

avoid the tall glass doors closing on their heels.

The silver mage stood back a pace from the second set

of doors and felt the air cautiously. Then he moved forward and pounded with the end of his wand.

"High Mage!" he shouted. "It is Chaumel. Open the

door! I have warded the outside ways."

The door opened slightly, only wide enough for a

human body to pass through. Chaumel beckoned to the

others and slipped in. Keff let Plenna go first, then followed with the servant. No one was behind the door. It

snapped shut as soon as they were all inside.

Nokias waited halfway down the hall, seated on the old

hover-chair, his hands positioned and ready to activate his

bracelet amulet. Even at a distance, Keff could see the taut

skin around the mage's eyes.

"Old friend," Chaumel said, coming forward with his

hands open and relaxed. "Why the secrecy?"

"I had to be discreet," Noldas said. 'There's been an

attempt on me at my citadel already. You've stirred up a

fierce gale among the other mages, Chaumel. Many of

them want your head. They're upset about your threats of

destruction. Most of the others don't believe your data-they do not want to, that is all. I came to tell you that I

cannot consider giving up my power. Not now."

"Not now?" Keff echoed. "But you see the reasoning

behind it. What's changed?"

"I do see the reasoning," the Mage of the South said,

"but there's revolt brewing in my farm caverns. I can't let

go with violence threatened. People will die. The harvest

will be ruined."

"What has happened?" Chaumel asked.

Nokias clenched his big hands. "I have been speaking to

village after village of my workers. Oh, many of them were

not sure what I meant by my promises of freedom, but I

saw sparks of intelligence there. The difficulties began only

a day or so ago. My house servants report that, among the

peasantry, there is fear and anger. They cry that they will

not cooperate. It is stirring up the others. If I lose my ability to govern, there will be riots."

"Its only their fear of the unknown," Chaumel said

smoothly. 'They should rejoice in what you're offering

them, the first high mage in twenty generations to change

the way things are to the way things might be."

'They cannot understand abstract thinking," Nokias

corrected him sternly.

"I will go and talk to them on your behalf, Nokias,"

Chaumel said. 'Tve done so for Zolaika. Its only right I

should also do it for you."

"I would be grateful," Nokias said. "But I will not appear

in person."

"You don't need to," Chaumel assured him. T and my

friends here will take care of it."

The farm village looked like any of the others Keffhad

seen, except that it also boasted an elderly but well cared

for orchard as well as the usual fields of crops. A few lonely

late fruit clung to the uppermost branches of the trees

nearest the home cavern. Nokias s farmers were harvesting

the next rows yield.

The Noble Primitives glanced warily at the three "magifolk" when they arrived, then went about their business

with their heads averted, carefully keeping from making

eye contact with them.

"Surely they are wondering what brings three mages

here," Keffsaid.

'They dare not ask," Plenna said. "It isn't their place."

Chaumel looked at the sun above the horizon. "It's close

enough to the end of the working day."

He flung his hands over his head and the air around him

filled with lights of blue and red. Like wiU-o'-the-wisps the

sparks scattered, surrounding the farmers, dancing at them

to make them climb down from the trees, gathering them

toward the three waiting by the cavern entrance. Keff,

flanking Chaumel on the left, watched it all with the admiration due a consummate showman. Plennafrey stood

demure and proud on Chaumel's right.

"Good friends!" Chaumel called out to them when the

whole village was assembled. T have news for you from

your overlord Nokias!"

In slow, majestic phrases, Chaumel outlined the events

to come when the workers would have greater capacity to

think and to do. "You look forward to something unimaginable by your parents and grandparents. You workers will

have greater scope than any since the ancestors came to

Ozran."

"Uh-oh," Carialle said to Keff. "Someone out there is

not at all happy to see you. I'm noting heightened blood

pressure and heartbeat in someone in the crowd. Give me

a sweep view and I'll try to spot them."

Not knowing quite what he was looking for, Keff gazed

slowly around at the crowd. The children were open-mouthed, as usual, to be in the presence of one of the

mighty overlords. Most of the older folk still refused to

look up at Chaumel. It was the younger ones who were

sneaking glances, and in a couple of cases, staring openly at

them the way Brannel had.

"... Nokias has sent me, Chaumel the Silver, to

announce to you that you shall be given greater freedoms than ever in your lifetime!" Chaumel said,

sweeping his sleeves up around his head. "We the mages

will be more open to you on matters of education and

responsibility. On your part, you must continue to do

your duty to the magefolk, as your tasks serve all Ozran.

These are the last harvests of the season. It is vital to get

them in so you will not be hungry in the winter. In the

spring, a new world order is coming, and it is for your

benefit that changes will be taking place. Embrace

them! Rejoice!"

Chaumel waved his arms and the illusion of a flock of

small bluebirds fluttered up behind him. The audience

gasped.

"No! Its a Be!" A deep male voice echoed over the

plainlands. When everyone whirled right and left to see

who was talking, a rock came whistling over the heads of

the crowd toward Plenna.

With lightning-fast gestures, the magiwoman warded

herself. The rock struck an invisible shield and feU to the

ground with a heavy thud. Keff saw the color drain from

her shocked face. She was controlling herself to keep from

crying. Keff pushed in front of the two magifolk and glared

at die villagers. Some of them had recoiled in terror, wondering what punishment was in store for them, harboring

an assailant. The male who had thrown the stone stood at

the back, glaring and fists clenched. Keff hurtled through

the crowd after him.

The farmer was no match for the honed body of the

spacer. Before die panicked worker could do more than

turn away and take a couple of steps, Keff cannoned into

him. He knocked the male flat with a body blow. The

worker struggled, yelling, but Keff shoved a knee into his

spine and bent his arms up behind his head.

"What do you want done with him, Chaumel?" Keff

called out in the linga esoterka.

"Bring him here."

Using the male's joined wrists as a handle, Keff hauled

upward. To avoid having his wrists break, the rest of the

worker followed. Keff trotted him along the .path that

magically opened up among the rest of the workers.

"Who is in charge of this man?" Chaumel asked. A timid

graybeard came forward and bowed deeply. "Even if there

is to be change, respect toward one another must still be

observed. Give him some extra work to do, to soak up this

superfluous energy."

"Is this what the new world order will be like? If we

allow the workers more freedom of thought, there will be

no safe place for me to go," Plenna said to Keff in an

undertone with a catch in her voice. He put an arm around

her.

"We'd better get out of here," Keff said under his breath

to Chaumel.

"It would have been better if you'd pretended nothing had happened," Chaumel said over Keffs shoulder.

"We are supposed to be above such petty attacks. But

never mind. Follow me." Though he was obviously

shaken, too, the magiman negotiated a calm and impressive departure. The three of them flew hastily away from

the village.

"I don't understand it," Chaumel said, when they were a

hundred meters over the plain. "In every other village,

they've been delighted with the idea of learning and being

free. Could they enjoy being stupid? No, no," he chided

himself.

Keff sighed. "I'm beginning to think I put my hand into

a hornets nest, Cari," he said under his breath. "Have I

done wrong trying to set things straight here?"

"Not at all, Sir Galahad," Carialle reassured him.

"Think of the frogs and the power blackouts. Not everyone will be delighted with global change, but never lose

sight of the facts. The imbalances of power here, both

social and physical, could prove fatal to Ozran. You're

doing the right thing, whether or not anyone else thinks

?y

SO.

When they returned to Chaumel's residence, another

visitor awaited them. Femgal, with a mighty entourage of

lesser eastern Mages, did not even trouble to wait inside.

The underlings covered the landing pad with wardings and

minor spells of protection like a presidential security force.

Chaumel picked his way carefully toward his own landing

strip, passing a hand before him to make sure it wasn't

booby-trapped. He set down lightly and approached the

black chariot on foot.

"High Mage Femgal! How nice to see you so soon,"

Chaumel said, arms wide with welcome. "Come in. Allow

me to offer you my hospitality."

Femgal was in no mood for chitchat. He cut off

Chaumel s compliments with an angry sweep of his hand.

"How dare you go spreading sedition among my workers? You dare to preach your nonsense in my farmsteads?

You have overreached yourself."

"High Mage, I have not been speaking to your farmers. That is for you to do, or not, as you choose,"

Chaumel said, puzzled. "I would not presume upon your

territories."

"Oh, no. It could only be you. You will cease this nonsense about the Core of Ozran at once, or it will be at your

peril."

"It is not nonsense. High Mage," Chaumel said mildly

but with steel apparent in his tone. "I tell you these things

for your sake, not mine."

Femgal leveled an angry finger at Chaumel s nose.

"If this is a petty attempt to gain power, you will pay

heavily for your deceit," he said. "I hold domain over the

East, and your stronghold falls within those boundaries. I

order you to cease spreading your lies."

"I am not lying," Chaumel said. "And I cannot cease."

'Then so be it," the black-clad mage snarled.

He and his people lifted off from the balcony, and vanished. Chaumel shook his head, and turned toward Keff

and Plenna with a "what can you do?" expression.

"Heads up, Keff!" Carialle said. "Power surge building in

your general area-a heavy one. Focusing . . . building . . .

Watch out!"

"Carialle says someone is sending a huge burst of power

toward us!" Keff shouted.

"An attack," shrieked Plenna. The three of them converged in the center of the balcony. The magiwoman and

Chaumel threw their hands up over their heads. A rose-colored shell formed around them like a gigantic soap

bubble only a split second before the storm broke.

It was no ordinary storm. Their shield was assailed by

forked staves of multicolored lightning and sheets of flam-ing rain. Hand-sized explosions rocked them, setting off

clouds of smoke and shooting jagged debris against the

shell. Torrents of clear acid and flame-red lava flowed

down the edges and sank into the floor, the ruin separated

from their feet only by a fingertip s width.

The deafening noises stopped abruptly. When the

smoke cleared, Chaumel waited a moment before dissolv-ing the bubble. He let it pop silently on the air and took a

step forward. Part of the floor rocked under his feet. Keff

grabbed him. Two paces beyond the place they were

standing, the end of the balcony was gone, ripped away by

the magical storm as if a giant had taken a bite out of it.

The pieces were still crashing with dull echoes into the

ravine far below. Plenna mounted her chair to go look. She

returned, shaking her head.

"It is ..." Chaumel began, and had to stop to clear his