Beyond the Prophecy (6 page)

Vatar blinked and set aside the blade he’d been working on.
The prickling sensation between his shoulder blades usually foretold danger,
but he couldn’t see any reason for it here, at the farm. The twins were playing
noisily in the courtyard. Nothing to worry about there. Thekila and Theklan were
in the house, working on Theklan’s lessons. And it was Jadar’s naptime. There
shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about there, either. What could it be?

As if in answer to that question, a brief vision of a towering
wave splashed across his vision. Vatar shuddered. He
hated
waves of any
kind, but especially big waves like this one. Even with the bay only about two
miles away, though, it’d take a monster wave to reach them up here, on the hill
above the coast. That thought was some comfort.

He stumbled and spread his feet wide for balance as the
earth shook under him. The tremors had all but ceased since just before the
Festival more than a seven-day ago, but this was the strongest yet. As soon as
the ground stopped trying to throw him off his feet, Vatar dashed into the
courtyard and swept up the twins. He sprinted for the house and almost collided
with Thekila and Theklan coming out. Thekila carried little Jadar, loudly
proclaiming his displeasure at having his nap interrupted. Arcas, Elaria, and
Caslar stood irresolutely behind Thekila.

Thekila shook her head at Vatar. “It’s safer outside until
we’re sure the shaking is over. Sometimes more quakes follow after a big one
like that.”

Vatar struggled against the desire to run as fast as his
heart was beating. Every instinct screamed to get his family into shelter.
Safe. Something crashed inside. He swallowed hard and nodded. Right. Away from
things that could fall on them. Under the tree? Maybe not. Not out in the
pasture where the horses were running wildly around the fence line. His eye
settled on the Dardani hut in one corner of the yard, left over from last
spring’s exorcism. Its leather roof had been removed for storage, but the sod
walls still stood securely. “The hut?” His voice sounded like a bullfrog’s
croak.

Thekila looked that way and nodded, easing her clutch on
Jadar. “Yes.”

Vatar didn’t set the twins down until he’d stepped into the
shady interior. Even then he kept hold of their hands. He swallowed again.
“That was the strongest yet.”

Thekila let out a shaky breath. “It was.” She looked up at
Vatar. “You had a . . . premonition about it, didn’t you?”

Vatar twitched his shoulders as if he still felt that
prickly sensation. “Not exactly. I had that old feeling of danger. But then I .
. . saw a wave. Not an earthquake.”

“Earthquakes can cause waves,” Thekila said. “But sometimes
the wave doesn’t come immediately. There may have been—or maybe will be—a wave
following this. You should warn your father. There may yet be something he can
do to at least get people out of the way.”

“You’re right.” Vatar drew in a breath and let it out
slowly. Again. And once more before the calming exercise gave him the ability
to focus enough to reach out with his mind.
“Father!”

“
Vatar. What is it? Are all of you safe?”

“Yes, Father. We’re all right. But—”

“Then I need to go. We’re evacuating the Palace—”

“That’s just it, Father. Right before the earthquake I .
. . saw a wave. A giant, towering wave.”
Vatar shuddered again just at the
memory.

“A Fore Seeing?”

“I . . . think so. I had my danger sense just before
that.”

“Lords of creation! They’re evacuating the children to
the western end of the island. I
have to go!”

~

Vatar paced around the farm, inside and out, setting minor
things to rights. A couple of earthenware plates had broken in the shaking, but
nothing worse than that. That wasn’t the cause of his restlessness.

What was happening in the city? Had his warning to Father
been in time? He felt he should be down there helping, but what, after all,
could he do? If it was a problem in iron or steel, he’d know what to do. Or a
runaway horse. Even a cattle stampede. He might be of some use if it were a
problem of magic—though likely Thekila would be better at that. But water and
waves were not anything he dealt with well. Still . . . There were bound to be
things that could be done on dry land. Tasks that needed strength, or even just
another pair of hands.

He turned to Thekila. “I’m going down to see if I can help.”

“Of course you are,” she answered, handing Jadar off to
Elaria. “I’m coming with you.”

“Where are we going?” Theklan asked.

“The Fasallon are evacuating Palace Island in case there’s
some kind of wave following that last earthquake. We’re going down to see if we
can help,” Vatar said.

Theklan looked around the courtyard where he’d been picking
up apples that had fallen from the big apple tree. “I’ll come, too.”

Vatar and Theklan saddled three horses and they rode down
the hill. When they reached the Temple Gate and Vatar saw the number of people
milling about in Temple Square, seeking reassurance that couldn’t come from the
Fasallon, he signaled for them to stay on their horses. It was more usual to
dismount and leave the horses in the paddock outside the gate, but he judged
that trying to force their way through that crowd on foot would slow them down
too much. And he didn’t like the idea of Thekila being jostled, either. He led
them past the usual Temple entrance to a less-used gate that let into the
Temple gardens near the boat dock.

There was a lot of activity by the Temple pier. A half dozen
boats were out in the strait, either bringing a load of women and children
across from the island or, apparently, going back for another load. On shore,
people were sorting themselves out and either heading off into the interior of
the Temple grounds or being led into the labyrinth of the Temple structure. But
all seemed to be proceeding in an orderly fashion. There was no sign, either
here or on the visible portion of the island, of the kind of damage a massive
wave would have caused.

“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe that wasn’t Fore Sight after all,”
Vatar said.

“Or maybe what you saw simply hasn’t happened yet.” Thekila
pointed to an open area a little back from the pier. “There’s Boreala over
there. Let’s see if she needs our help.”

Boreala greeted them with a harried smile. “Of course we can
use more help. Besides the children, the first to be evacuated over here were those
injured during the quake. It’s my job to sort out the most urgent cases.” She
gestured to one side, where three men and two women lay on stretchers waiting
to be carried into the Healers’ Hall.

All but one women were groaning in pain. Their moans a counterpoint
to the wailing of children uprooted from their homes and not yet reunited with
their parents.

Thekila winced. “Theklan and I can help try to keep the
little ones occupied and calm.”

Boreala smiled. “That would be a help.”

“I can help carry a stretcher, at least,” Vatar said.

“I was just about to ask,” Boreala said. “Start with that
one over there.” She indicated the silent woman. “She’s in the worst shape.”

Vatar stepped up to the front of the stretcher. At a nod
from Boreala, a Healer’s apprentice took the back handles and they set off
toward the Healers’ Hall on the far side of the Temple.

Vatar was almost back to where Boreala was working when the
prickling sensation between his shoulder blades came back, stronger than
before. He’d only ever had a double warning once before. He’d ignored it, then,
not understanding about Fore Sight, and his best friend had died. That wasn’t
going to happen again. He took off running toward the pier, trying to determine
who was in charge there. He spotted a man who seemed to be directing the flow
of people debarking from the boats and, occasionally, changing the rowers to
give them a break.

Vatar went up to him. “You have to get more boats out
there.”

“Those are all the boats we have,” the man replied.

Vatar looked across the strait at the crowd of people still
on the stairs that led down from the main entrance to the dock. Still waiting
their turn. “Then send someone to get help from the fishermen or the
merchants.”

The man took a step back, eyes going wide. “I can’t do that.
What would the Caereans think of the Fasallon having to evacuate Palace
Island?”

Vatar shook his head. “You really think they haven’t noticed
that already. They’re not blind. We need their help or you’ll never get
everyone off in time.”

The man looked out at the unusually placid waves of the
strait. “I don’t see the urgency. Frankly, I think this whole thing is a waste
of time. I’d like to get my hands on whoever suggested this was necessary in
the first place.”

Vatar straightened. “That would be me. Based on a Fore
Seeing. Which I just had again a moment ago. There’s no time to waste.”

The man stood his ground. “I still don’t see any need to
hurry.”

Vatar chewed his lip in frustration. “No, but I do. Very
soon that island is going to be flooded by a monster wave.”

The man’s brows rose. “A monster wave? In the bay? I
sincerely doubt that. And involving the fishermen or the merchants would only
make them question the Sea Gods.”

“So it’s better for all those people to drown?” Vatar asked.
“Get more boats.”

The man pointed back up toward the Temple. “Even if I wanted
to, I couldn’t do that without Montibeus’s authorization.”

Vatar wanted to scream as he twitched his shoulders against
a third, even stronger, feeling of danger. “Well, it’s a good thing I can,
then.”

Vatar ignored the gate, he ran for the steps he knew led
down to the beach. Dragon’s Cove, they called it. The place where Tabeus had
slain the sea dragon. Vatar had spent a day and a night here—and on Dragon
Skull Islet, the largest of the sea rocks scattered in the cove—for his manhood
test six years ago. He did his best to keep from looking at the water now,
concentrating instead on his footing among the loose cobblestones of the beach.
He shuddered as he had to splash through the surf on the far side of the cove,
but then a wide sand beach opened before him.

The main fishing fleet, along with the merchant ships, would
be on the far side of the bay. Likely too far to be of much help now. But
smaller fishing skiffs were pulled up on the beach below the markets. Dozens of
them. Enough, if he was still in time. The tingling between his shoulder blades
was nearly constant, now. There wasn’t time to persuade the fishermen one by
one. Vatar climbed up on a point of rock that jutted into the beach and
shouted. “Fishermen! A giant wave is about to descend on us. Get your boats off
the shore and into the water. Your help is needed to evacuate the residents of
Palace Island before the wave descends.”

“Is this a warning from the Sea Gods?” a young man asked.

“Or a sign of their displeasure?” someone else shouted.

Vatar squirmed. He should have anticipated that these people
would immediately turn his warning into something to do with the Sea Gods. He
didn’t want to further the Lie by confirming that the Sea Gods had anything to
do with this. And he couldn’t explain how he really knew.

“Can’t the Fasallon rescue themselves?” a grizzled old man
asked.

Vatar breathed out. That was a question he felt much more
comfortable answering. “Most of the people over there are servants.” Vatar had
seen several of the members of the High Council among those already on this
shore, so that was likely true.

“Why don’t the Sea Gods rescue them?” another man called.

Vatar huffed. “I don’t know. Maybe the Sea Gods are busy
with greater things and rightfully expect us to deal with the things that are
within our power.” He looked at the waves for the first time since he’d leapt
down the steps to Dragon Cove. Were they getting higher? Was that just the
change of the tide? Or something else? “Tell me the truth. If a massive wave
does sweep this beach, are your boats safer here—or out there, beyond the surf
line?”

That seemed to do the trick. Dozens of men sprinted for the
boats and pushed them off into the water. Others ran farther up the shore,
spreading the warning. Good. Vatar watched as the fishermen rowed past the surf
and the beach emptied. Then, twitching his shoulders again, he climbed up
through the seaside market and beyond it to the third street trending back
north, putting several rows of buildings between himself and the sea.
Hopefully, this was far enough. He walked back toward the Temple compound.

Vatar knew when the wave struck. There was another tremor,
first. Not nearly as strong as the one earlier, but something gave way farther
out, beyond the island. He heard a distant crash like a landslide and then
moments later, the other crash of falling water. That one was too similar to
the one that sometimes haunted his dreams of a wall of water rushing down the
river bed, carrying off anything—or anyone—in its path. The flash flood that
had killed Torkaz and nearly killed Vatar. He shrugged that aside and picked up
his pace, eager to know if everyone had gotten to safety in time.

As he neared the Temple boat dock, Vatar saw his father
standing with Thekila. He hurried forward. “Father, did everyone get out all
right?”

“Yes. Thanks to you.” Father’s voice sounded weary. “We just
had time to get everyone to safety. The lower floors of the Palace are flooded.
It’s too soon to tell if there’s any structural damage. Unfortunately, the wave
seems to have been caused by some large rocks falling from the peninsulas that
guard the entrance to the bay.”

Vatar nodded. He’d heard the landslide.

Father continued
,  “
The
shipping channel is blocked. It’ll take a lot of work to shift those rocks—and
there’ll be no goods coming in until we do.”

“Maybe we can help with that,” Thekila joined in. “I can use
my Power to lift heavy rocks. I’ve done it before.”

Vatar bit his lip. Rocks big enough to block the shipping
channel might be too heavy even for Thekila. Well, they wouldn’t know that
until they looked. And this time he had no qualms about the rightness of the
action. “It won’t hurt to at least go look. Is there a way to get out onto one
of the peninsulas?”

“Yes,” Father answered. “Both of them, I think. But
certainly the northern arm can be reached from the Temple grounds.” He turned
to point. “Take the northern path away from the docks.”

Vatar nodded. “We’ll do that, then. And let you know.” He
turned to Thekila. “There’s enough light left. I don’t know that we can do much
tonight, but we could go have a look, if you like.”

“Why couldn’t we do much tonight?” Thekila asked.

“Well, there won’t be any light out on the peninsula, once
the sun goes down. Not like the city. Moonrise won’t be for hours, and it’s
only a quarter moon anyway. You said once that you need to see what you use
your Power on.”

Thekila grimaced. “Well, that’s true. I didn’t think of that.”
She sighed. “Let’s at least have a look. Then we can form a plan tonight.”

“Where are we going? What kind of plan?” Theklan asked.

Vatar turned to the boy. “The earthquake caused a landslide
at the mouth of the bay, which is what caused the wave. The rocks that fell
into the bay are blocking the shipping channel. Thekila and I are going to see
if it’s possible to use her Power to move the rocks.”

“I can help, too.”

Thekila put her hands on her hips. “You’ll be more use
staying to help here. You’ve barely been paying attention to your lessons. I’m
not sure you could lift a rock of any size. And even if you could, your control
is terrible. If you’d been studying as you should—”

Vatar put a hand on her arm. “Let him try. Sometimes, an
hour of doing something real is worth ten of practicing to no purpose.”
Even
if he can’t help, it may give him a reason to study harder,
he added
through their bond
.

Thekila drew in a breath.
You may be right. I didn’t
really learn to lift anything heavy until Quetza and I started learning to fly.
Then I had to learn—and fast.
She nodded to Theklan. “You can come with us.
We’ll see what you can do.”

Vatar glanced at the sky, judging the height of the sun
above the horizon. “We have no idea how long it will take to get out to the
peninsula. We’d better ride.”

The path leading northward from the docks was meant to be a
foot path, so they had to go single file. Unfortunately, the trail also hugged
the low bluffs just above the coast. After the first glance at the detritus
washed far up the beach, Vatar kept his eyes firmly directed between his
horse’s ears. Now that the urgency that had kept him by the shore earlier was
gone, the idea of that much water crashing against the solid earth made his
throat tight and his stomach feel like he’d swallowed a live bird. A very
agitated live bird.

“You know, if you’re going to help with this, you’re going
to have to look at the water. Right?” Thekila’s voice sounded sympathetic, but
Vatar caught an undercurrent of amusement through their bond.

Yes, and the true ocean beyond,
he thought
.
In
all his years in Caere, Vatar had avoided looking at even the bay as much as he
could. How much vaster and more turbulent would the ocean beyond be? Vatar
swallowed against bile rising in his throat. “Yes. But I think it’s better to
save that until I must. Otherwise, I might turn my horse around right now.”

Thekila did laugh at that. “All right. If that’s what makes
you comfortable.”

Vatar half-turned in his saddle. “What makes you think I’m
comfortable with any of this? I’m just doing what I have to.”

“No. You’re doing what you think is right,” Thekila said
with more warmth. “It’s not quite the same.”
And that’s one of the reasons I
love you so much.

That made the corners of Vatar’s mouth twitch up briefly, in
spite of the waves still running up the beach little more than a man’s height
below them.

The bluffs climbed as they wound away from the Temple and
the city, so that by the time they reached the point, they were high above the
bay.

Dismounting, Thekila frowned at the dark water between the
two points of land. “We’ll have to use Far Sight to see what’s there.”

Vatar swallowed hard. “I suppose we could climb down. Get
closer.” Getting closer to all the water was the last thing he wanted to do.

Thekila shook her head. “No. Or . . . at least not yet.
It’ll actually be easier to see from up here.”

She walked out to the edge of the bluff, Theklan right
beside her. Vatar drew a deep breath and followed. The water between the points
roiled. He concentrated on seeing what was underneath all that swirling water.
His breath eased. From underneath, the currents and waves were much less
obvious and disturbing. But the pile of rocks below the surface was impressive.
He raised his eyes and blinked to clear them of Far Sight. Now that he looked,
the scars on the opposite bluff were obvious. A lot of rock had fallen,
probably from this side as well. He reached for Thekila’s hand. “Maybe we
should step back just a little. These bluffs might not be very stable.”

She looked up, also blinking. “You may be right. But I think
we’ll have to risk it. Too much farther back and we won’t be able to see
anything.”

Vatar nodded reluctantly and concentrated on what was under
the surface of the water again. The rocks were jumbled together. Some small,
some bigger, and one that looked like half the cliff face. Even Thekila’s Power
would never be able to raise that.

Evidently she felt the same. “We could move the smaller
stuff, no problem. Even most of the larger rocks. But I don’t think there’s
anything to be done about that biggest one.”

Vatar continued to stare at that stone. It hadn’t survived
the fall unscathed. There were deep fissures in several places. They just
didn’t go all the way through. “Too bad we can’t break it up along those cracks.
Even in four or five pieces it still might be too much to move with Talent, but
it’d be easier for the dredgers.”

“What cracks?” Thekila asked. “Oh, I see.” After a moment,
she went on. “You know, it might be possible to force the rock to break on those
lines by dropping one of the larger rocks in just the right spot. What do you
think, Vatar?”

Vatar had been studying the cracks, sending his vision
deeper into the rock itself. “It might. I could try to guide you to the right
spot while you raise and drop the rock.”

“Well, let’s give it a try,” Thekila said

Vatar looked at the sky. Light wasn’t needed just for this
work. The ride back along the rough path on the top of the bluffs would be
dangerous in the dark, too. “It’s getting late. We’ll lose the light soon.”

“Just one try. We can’t plan unless we know what’s possible.
And I’ve never tried anything like this before.”

Vatar nodded. “All right.”

Theklan stepped forward. “Let me help, too. I can lift some
of those rocks. Dropping
them’s
the easy part.”

Thekila shook her head. “Not this time. Maybe tomorrow. You
can help by moving the smaller rocks out of the way.”

Thekila narrowed her eyes and a rock the size of her horse’s
head rose smoothly out of the water and up to the level of the top of the
bluffs. Vatar concentrated on the deepest and most likely fissure, sharing the
image with Thekila. She adjusted the position of the rock and then released it.
The rock struck the water with a tremendous splash, but almost immediately
began to slow down and slide sideways in the current. It struck the largest
boulder off target and with a tap that would have done little to enlarge the
fissure anyway.

Thekila sighed. “That’s it, then.”

Vatar shook his head. “If it just wasn’t for all that water.
. .” He glared at the bay for a moment. “What if I used my shield to move the
water out of the way?”

Thekila looked up at him. “Do you think you can do that? I
can’t move it with my Power. Water is too fluid.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried. The
problem is . . . the shield draws its Power from you. And if you’re also trying
to lift a heavy rock . . .”

Thekila nodded. “All right, Theklan. You’re going to get
your wish. You can drop the rocks. I’m going to use a smaller rock to mark the
exact spot I want you to hit. Do you think you can do that?”

Theklan grinned. “Sure I can.”

“All right then. One more try,” Thekila said.

Vatar looked out to the west where the sky was ablaze in
pinks and yellows. “That’s all we’ll have time for tonight or else it’ll be too
hard to find the trail to take us back, so make it a good one.”

Vatar closed his eyes and concentrated on his magical
shield. Shields. He’d need to make a kind of open-ended box to keep the water
from flowing right back. He’d never tried anything like that before. It wasn’t
as easy as it sounded—and it hadn’t sounded easy when he suggested it.
Eventually he had a very small part of the boulder exposed.

Theklan stepped forward, brows knit in concentration. The large
rock Thekila had used rose slowly and very unsteadily to a height just below
the level of the bluffs. Thekila used her Power to pick up a handful of white
sand from the beach opposite and use it to point to the exact spot the rock
should strike. Theklan bit his lip, adjusted the rock slightly, and let it
fall. It didn’t strike quite true. If there’d been a target painted on the
boulder, the rock would have hit the second circle. Respectable enough for a
first try, though Theklan grimaced and kicked at the rocky ground.

A loud crack echoed up from below and a piece of the boulder
fell away. It had worked!

Vatar and Thekila sagged to the ground at the same moment.
It had worked, but it took a lot of Talent. This was not going to be easy.

Vatar sighed and pushed himself up, offering a hand to pull
Thekila up, too. “We’d better get back before it gets too dark. We’ll need our
rest if we’re going to do much of that.”

Thekila nodded. “It’s a shame Quetza’s not here. She’s
almost as good at distant manipulation as I am.” She looked toward the
southeast. “You know, we could call her. She could probably fly that distance
in two days. Maybe less.”

Vatar thought of the frightened crowd in front of the
Temple. “No. The last thing the Caereans need now is a dragon—even a small,
friendly dragon—flying overhead. We’ll manage. It just may take us a few days.”