The Dam
Alison
Early the next morning, Keir brought Charlotte to see the garden he and Alison had made into a memorial for her inside of Alison’s hedge maze.
The summer flowers were putting on their absolute best show: great blue globes of massive hydrangeas filling the shady corners; sunny white daisies with yellow centers and sweeping stems of bright pink cosmos near the bench; pale pink roses that scaled the garden walls, twining dramatically with deep purple clematis; the elegant tea rose Alison thought Keir had pruned to death in the spring standing front and center, blooming wildly with massive flowers of a delicate peach shade; and tall spires of catmint and lavender filling the ground underneath it all, absolutely covered in bees.
They brought Charlotte to the rock they had painted with her old name. Keir knelt to remove it, but she stopped him.
“Leave it,” she said. “That part of my life is over. Let it stay buried here in this beautiful place.”
They left her there with a book she had brought to read. Alison watched her exhale as they left, watched the tension drain from her shoulders, felt the peace of the garden working its magic and bringing her the closure she deserved.
After a pleasantly uneventful ride into Fossholm, Alison and Keir made their way around the Midsummer Festival, taking in all the sights and sounds of celebration.
There were buffet tables full of summer delights: fire-grilled meats and platters of mouthwateringly ripe fruits, bowls of fragrant punch, and even a station serving treats chilled in an enormous ice box. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as the feast in the fairy forest, but Alison enjoyed a cone of ice cream as they walked past groups of musicians playing lively tunes; lawn games of badminton, cricket, and croquet; competitions to lift heavy stones and throw logs a great distance; and children with painted faces, laughing and running around a great bonfire where the wicker man had burned the night before.
The courtiers walked among the common folk, and although the royal family had their own separate tent to gather in, Alison spotted Prince Idris and Rinka walking near the river.
“Why don’t you introduce me to the prince?” Alison asked Keir.
He looked at her, confused, but slowly understood her meaning. “Of course,” he said. “Let’s meet his lovely companion as well.”
Rinka looked so pretty in her cream-colored day dress, her red hair tucked under a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off her face.
There were others around, and so they made their false introductions before Alison asked Lady Rinka if she’d like to take a turn with her about the river.
Arm in arm, the ladies walked until they were a distance from the other festival-goers.
“Well?” asked Alison. “Tell me everything.”
Rinka caught her up at length about her time in the manor: her grand chambers and her new beautiful clothes which arrived by the day, the fancy dinners and evenings of entertainment, and her harrowing introduction to the royal family and the better encounters that followed.
“And Idris?” asked Alison. “Is he treating you well?”
“Very well,” said Rinka. “He’s…”
Alison noticed the blush on Rinka’s grey cheek as she turned to look at him.
“It’s just for the summer,” said Rinka, sounding as though she was trying to convince herself as much as Alison. “But I’m having a wonderful time.”
“I’m so glad to hear it,” said Alison.
Keir and Idris approached them once more. “It’s time for the demonstration,” said Keir. “Is everything ready?”
“I hope so,” said Alison. She hoped the korrigans would come through.
A crowd had gathered on the opposite side of the drive from the main celebration. There was a narrow stream there that met the river south of town, and a dam had been constructed across it from concrete, widening the stream behind it into a pond.
“The future of Herot’s Hollow, if we’re unsuccessful,” said Gwenla as she walked over to join them.
The dam allowed a small amount of water through an opening at the top, which sent it streaming into the low creek bed beyond like a fountain. There was also a blocked opening at the bottom in front of a round pillar which was currently stationary.
On the other side, they had set up a table with a music-player on top of it. It was the kind that ran on ‘lectrics in Arcas Dyrne, with a great box beneath it for amplifying the sound. A long cord ran to a box near the top of the pillar.
The king approached, flanked by Lord Ainsley and a pair of dwarves. Keir gripped Alison’s hand when he saw his father.
“I should have spoken with him before you found Charlotte,” he said. “I’m not sure I can do it now without resorting to violence.”
“There’s no rush,” said Alison. “I imagine he’s so preoccupied with cozying up to the king, he won’t even notice you here.”
She was right—Lord Ainsley did not appear to spot his son in the crowd.
“Your majesty,” he began with a bow. “Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for gathering here today to witness a most extraordinary sight. I bring you the future of Wilderise—plentiful ‘lectric power for all, generated for free from our own natural resources. Andsaz, if you please.”
“Andsaz? Of Andsaz Industries?” asked Alison. “That’s my former employer.” Alison had known her employer was involved in construction works among their many other ventures, but it had not occurred to her that they might be involved in the Wilderise modernization scheme.
“He must have driven that other one off. Or the vine did, I suppose,” said Gwenla. This was indeed a different dwarf than the one Lord Ainsley had brought to town a few months prior.
Andsaz went over to the demonstration dam and moved a lever on the side. The water ceased flowing from the top and began to flow at the bottom instead. As the water reached the pillar, it began to turn. Then there was a whirring of gears followed by a crackle of sound from the music-player.
The slow, distorted sound of a brass band playing a march began. The tune shifted in and out of pitch before finally settling into the recognizable tune of Loegria’s national anthem.
“Bravo!” shouted the king. The crowd echoed the cheer.
Alison looked at Gwenla nervously. “Any minute now…”
As the song continued, it began to speed up. Andsaz fumbled with the lever and the gears before running over to the music-player, trying to understand what could be going wrong.
“Just a little bit too lively there,” he yelled to the crowd over the music, which was climbing higher and higher in pitch. “Just bear with me a moment…”
Alison saw what was happening. The water coming through the base of the dam was rushing far too fast. The pillar was spinning wildly, looking like a top about to go flying off a table.
“That’s it!” said Gwenla. “Look—”
Andsaz shouted as the music-player made a loud booming sound, smoke rising from the box below. Then there was a series of loud cracks, almost like the sound of the royal family shifting form, but the king had not changed. He was backing away from the dam, his livid eyes on Lord Ainsley, who leapt over the creek bed to help Andsaz in a panic.
Moments after his jump, water began to shoot through the cracks which were now visible in the dam wall. “It won’t hold,” yelled Idris. “Run!”
The crowd ran in a panic, stumbling up the bank as the dam burst behind them. Alison turned back to look as a surprising amount of water—an unnatural amount—rushed forth in its collapse, tipping over the music-player and sweeping Lord Ainsley and Andsaz off their feet.
And then just as quickly, it was over. The water receded, leaving Lord Ainsley and Andsaz drenched but unharmed on the ground among the chunks of broken concrete and shattered ‘lectrics from the music-player.
“They came through!” said Gwenla and then caught herself before anyone heard her speaking of the korrigans, who had undoubtedly been responsible for the sudden surge in water level. “The duke and the industrialist,” she clarified. “Everyone is alright.”
Everyone did seem alright, if a bit shaken, except for the king. “Merelor!” he shouted at Lord Ainsley, shaking water off the bottom of his cape. “What kind of fool do you take me for? You said it was guaranteed. No way to fail.”
“Your majesty, I’ve never seen anything like it. Andsaz operates several of the greatest dams in Loegria—”
“Save it,” said the king. “We’re going with the coal mine and power plant. I won’t waste any more time on this.”
“Of course, s-sir,” stuttered Lord Ainsley as he rose, dripping, to his feet. “I’ll send for the great mining families at once.”
“See that you do,” said the king. “I want to break ground by the end of summer.”
“Coal mine?” asked Gwenla, incredulous. “What have we done?”
They gathered afterwards in the inn at Fossholm—Alison, Keir, Gwenla, Idris, and Rinka—taking a private room at the back to avoid being overheard.
“I was right the first time,” said Gwenla. “Back when we first heard of the plan to build the dam. I said we should just let it go—knew that’s what Lady Willana would have done—and then I went and got caught up in yet another foolhardy scheme. And now instead of an extra lake, the entire countryside will be coated with soot.”
The innkeeper brought over a bottle of whisky, which Keir poured into glasses and passed around. Alison hadn’t yet developed a taste for the stuff, but she took hers anyway.
She needed it at the moment.
“We just need to convince the king that this area should be preserved,” said Rinka. “Idris, your aunts and uncles are reasonable people. Do any of them have the king’s ear?”
“Not really,” said Idris. “Not once he’s put his mind to something. Well, Ceri might, but good luck convincing her.”
“I read a book once on land conservation efforts in the New World,” said Keir. “The native humans there led a campaign against goblin strip-mining with the help of a man from Wilderise. They published a series of articles about the wild beauty of the lands there, gaining support among the elvish settlers and eventually establishing outstanding areas of beauty as parks to be kept free of development.”
“Lady Sibba suggested something along those lines using my poetry book,” recalled Alison. “Perhaps we could add an essay or two about the value of conserving land for future generations to the pamphlet.”
“Will it be ready soon?” asked Rinka. “If we can get it out in a couple of weeks, I can try to figure out who we need to convince.”
Gwenla sighed. “I suppose it can’t do any harm. At worst, maybe it will help you make a name for yourself, Alison.”
“I’ll head back and finish up my drafts as quick as I can,” said Alison. “Weyland won’t take long to add them to his illustrations. Keir, do you want to write the essays? Since you’re the most familiar with the subject?”
“I’ll ask Lady Sibba to help,” said Keir. “Two voices are better than one.”
“The only way I can see this working is if we get Ceri onboard,” said Idris. “I’ll see what I can do to mend the fences with her, but Rinka, you may have more luck.”
Rinka looked uncertain of that, but she didn’t protest.
“Here we go again,” said Gwenla. “Let’s hope this time we don’t convince him to bring in a bulldozer and push the entire Hill Country into the sea.”