Storm Warning - Mercedes Lackey [144]
“So—” Elspeth said slowly, after a long silence, “The good news is that this isn’t anything we caused, and it isn’t anything that the Empire is turning on us. The bad news is that this really isn’t a ‘mage-storm’ as such. Not yet, anyway. It was—was one wave, created by the real storm that is out of sight of the land. It swamped boats and wrecked docks, but the real storm still hasn’t come in yet.”
An’desha watched as the faces of all the mages around the table sank as they all accepted that conclusion. If it was not the truth, it was certainly the closest thing they had to the truth at the moment. No, it wasn’t a weapon, or anything they had caused. But it also wasn’t anything they could stop, any more than they could stop a real storm from sweeping in.
“I should point out that there may be a bright side to this,” Prince Daren said. “Kerowyn said it herself; the Empire relies far more heavily on magic than we do. The real mage-storm will hurt them far more than it does us.”
“True.” Elspeth chewed her thumbnail, a habit that made An’desha wince. “But it may destroy us all, Empire included. Well, there is one thing we can do, though whether it will do any good or not, I don’t know. We have to get warnings out to every member of the Alliance about this, so that they will at least know what this last squall was, that it wasn’t us, and that there’s worse to come. There is worse to come, right?”
She looked at Firesong for the answer to that.
The Healing Adept shrugged. “My guess is that there will be. An‘desha’s prescient dreams were terrible things, and I do not think this little ‘squall’ as you called it could account for them. There were ‘waves of mage-storms’ before, and if the reverse of the past is happening, these squalls will build into a powerful climax.”
“We have to collect every bit of information we can,” An’desha insisted. “We have to know every spot of disturbance in Valdemar. If we have a pattern, maybe we can deduce the next places that will be struck.”
“We—or, rather, the Tayledras—have another task before us first,” Firesong interjected grimly. “Which is why I plan to send a mage-message to my parents as soon as we are done with this meeting. We must get the best shields ever created around each and every Heartstone, including the one here beneath the Palace. If that is not done, we, Valdemaran and Tayledras alike, could all find ourselves facing rogue Stones, and the storms will be immaterial for we will already be dead.”
An’desha blinked in surprise as both Elspeth and Darkwind blanched. He had not thought there was anything that could rattle those two.
“Then Darkwind and I—all the Herald-Mages—had better get to work right now,” Elspeth said, pushing away from the table and standing up. “Anything else can wait.”
“I will help you, if you like,” Ulrich offered. “I believe that I may know some shielding techniques you do not.”
“We ssshall asss well,” Treyvan said, with a dry chuckle. “Afterrr all, it isss ourrr tailsss in jeoparrrdy, too!”
“Shall—” An’desha began to add his offer to theirs, but Elspeth and Firesong both shook their heads.
“I know that you dread another walk through those memories, ke’chara,” Firesong said quietly, “but if there is any more information in them, I wish you would look for it.”
“I will be sssending a messsage to k’Lessshya, forrr accurrrate copiesss of the chrrroniclesss,” Hydona told them. “Therrre may be morrre anssswerrrsss therrre.”
“Huh. Rris might even have something to add. But he’s so selfish with his stories!” Darkwind raised an eyebrow as a chuckle of nervous laughter