Chapter Sixteen
Tor
Rather than visiting the farms and villages, Tor and Pel had spent the last few days helping out near the river, shoring up the embankment that was struggling to keep up with the sheer amount of rain.
Tor knew that Alossa was farther south than Tond, but he hadn’t expected their weather to be quite this radically different. Alossa had… a perfectly normal amount of rain. Yes, there was occasional flooding, but it was nothing like this.
The Great River was rushing down from its source in the mountains between Tond and Bessar in a frothing rush.
According to everyone Tor and Pel talked to, it had never been this bad before, and it was straining the embankments that had always ensured the water flowed smoothly away from the towns and villages.
They were working side by side with the villagers and farmers to build it up and strengthen the existing stonework when, with a creaking groan, the embankment burst asunder.
Tor was driven back several steps by the sheer volume of water hammering against the shield he’d flung up, a shimmering, translucent mass through which he could see the dark water.
He grounded his shield into the dirt at his feet and stretched it out along the embankment as far as he could reach, worried that his shield preventing the water from getting out here would only weaken it elsewhere.
If the fields flooded, the people wouldn’t eat. If the villages or the farms flooded, people could die today.
There was a stunned moment where no one seemed to understand what had just happened, and then a ragged cheer went up, and everyone rushed forward to get back to work.
Inch by laborious inch, Tor used the shield to push the water slowly back to its path so the others could mend the embankment instead of trying to build a new one.
Sweat trickled down his brow, but he concentrated on the flow of the water, watching it rush by his shield, because that meant his magic was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing.
He made sure the shield was higher than the existing embankment, and everyone scurried around him, rebuilding the stonework, bracing it with stout tree trunks and branches, and making it higher still.
Tor kept the shield up until they were certain that it was enough to keep the water from flooding the area, and then he pulled it back into himself. He listed slightly sideways until Pel got an arm under him, and then he managed to straighten up under his own power.
“I’m fine,” he assured the man.
Pel just shot him a look, and Tor maybe leaned on him a little bit after all. The farmers and villagers came to thank him profusely, and Tor assured them that it had been his pleasure, and he was so glad he’d been here to help.
They headed back to the castle after that, Tor barely able to climb onto Melody. Pel watched him like a hawk.
“I’m fine,” Tor tried again.
“You don’t look fine.”
About to snap, Tor reined in his tongue. Pel knew a bit about what Tor could do, but he’d never seen anything like this. He was worried, not insulting Tor.
“Are you saying I don’t look good?” Tor asked with a pout.
Pel rolled his eyes, but as Tor had hoped, the teasing made him relax a bit.
“Seriously,” Pel said with a little huff.
Tor couldn’t help but smile. “Seriously, then, it was a more extended effort than I’ve made in a while. Water creates a lot of pressure.”
A glance at Pel showed that he was now looking at Tor incredulously.
“How many times has this happened to you?”
“Oh, nothing like this,” Tor said, waving the thought aside.
“When we were younger, Var and I figured out that the shields could be used underwater. We could breathe and everything. There wasn’t anything deliberately attacking the shield, but the pressure of the water did the same thing eventually. ”
And hadn’t their mother been upset about those experiments when she’d realized.
Pel huffed a breath. “The more I get to know you, the more surprised I am that you survived to adulthood.”
“Hey,” Tor protested with a laugh. “We were curious lads, that’s all.”
“I think ‘fools’ is the word you’re looking for,” Pel said tartly.
This just made Tor laugh more.
Pel made a disgruntled noise, but he said, “We were lucky you were here.”
“The embankment was nearly enough,” Tor pointed out.
Pel shot him a scathing look. “I don’t think ‘nearly’ counts when it comes to flooding.”
“It sounded better in my head,” Tor agreed.
Pel’s face softened, and he laughed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to snap. I’ve been asking the King for several years to invest in the embankments, but he hasn’t been listening.”
“I’d be happy to explain what happened today,” Tor offered.
Pel’s smile stiffened. “He would probably listen better if it came from you.”
Tor made a face. “Oh, I didn’t mean—”
Grimacing, Pel said, “No. Sorry. Again. That was particularly ungracious of me, and I know it’s not what you meant. The truth is that it would be better coming from you—not a recommendation, mind, because he doesn’t like those, but something that lets him think that it’s his idea. I mean—”
Tor shook his head, cutting him off. “Nope, I totally get it. I have a brother who thinks he’s never wrong. He is, in fact, right most of the time. But that makes it extra hard to try to prove him wrong. Sometimes you have to present things in just the right way, right?”
Pel laughed. “Yes, something like that.”
They arrived back at the castle, soaked and dirty. The stable hands gaped at them.
“What happened to you?” one of them wanted to know.
“Embankment burst,” Tor said.
The young woman’s eyes widened with alarm.
“It’s all right,” Pel hastened to add. “The High Prince was able to catch the water in a shield and push it back to its course until the rest of us could brace the embankment. Should be stronger than ever, and I think the rain is actually lessening, finally.”
Tor hadn’t really noticed, being so wet already, but now that Pel mentioned it, it was more of a drizzle than a downpour, and the clouds seemed a little bit lighter and not quite so ominous.
The stable hand insisted on being the one to take care of the horses, and Tor was really too unpleasantly wet to put up much of a fight. Pel seemed equally unwilling to argue, and they made their way inside, Tor now horribly aware of just how much he was squelching.
They headed first for the barracks, where Pel shared the news about the embankment and asked for two dozen volunteers to patrol and stay down there, working with the farmers and villagers to inspect and be ready to brace any other areas of the embankment quickly.
“Those of you who are Illustrious would be especially useful if you think you can Mantle the embankment if needed.”
The request was made without tone of any kind, and Tor was glad to see that no matter what Pel felt about magic and how he was treated, when it counted, he was willing to use every advantage.
“Don’t overextend yourselves,” Tor added.
“It was a tremendous amount of water when the embankment burst. But if you’re willing to Mantle a section of the embankment even for a few minutes at a time, that will give it a bit of a break.
Or if there’s an area that needs repair, it could give the workers precious minutes to finish.
But make sure there’s a runner who can get back to me quickly if needed. ”
They gave nods of understanding, looking at him with even more awe and respect in their eyes than they usually showed, and then they bundled up before heading out into the rain.
Just inside the doors, someone was waiting for them. They had a long scar down the side of their face, but they weren’t dressed like a guard.
“Tramili,” Pel said, sounding relieved. “Make sure everyone knows no one was hurt.”
He went on to explain about the embankment and ask for baths, as well as give permission for anyone who lived near the river to go home to check on family or friends.
“Certainly, Your Highness.” Tramili sounded completely unruffled by the near disaster.
Tor realized, suddenly, that almost no one called Pel by his title here.
They continued, “I’ll ensure that there’s a schedule. Thank you for the update.”
Pel was just opening his mouth, probably to say that people were more important than schedules, when they offered a short bow and turned and walked away.
“I like them,” Tor said, smiling.
Pel’s gaze flickered from watching Tramili’s retreating back to Tor, and his face softened. “I don’t know what we’d do without them. They keep everything organized—and they’ll make sure those baths are delivered quickly, so you’d better get up to your room.”
“Call for me if you need anything,” Tor requested.
Pel gave him a playful shove.
“Go get cleaned up and warm, and you can see about being a hero again after that, all right?”
“Get cleaned up yourself,” he admonished.
Pel rolled his eyes, but then they were heading their separate ways.
Tor tried not to worry as he headed for his room.
They’d stayed until everything was stable.
Tor couldn’t actually watch an embankment day in and day out, certainly not one the length of the Great River in Tond.
If there was a problem, they’d call for him.
Assuming Pel was right about the weather, they were hopefully past the worst of it.
The bath was indeed filled with alacrity, at least half of the folks who brought buckets adding in an extra bow and thanking him for what he’d done.
By the time the bath had been filled, it felt like half the staff must have been through to thank him.
It had been a long time since anyone had done that, and he couldn’t decide if it was because they didn’t see Tor like that in Alossa anymore or because he hadn’t done anything worthy of being thanked for in quite a while.