The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [131]
Sunset finds them still on the road in the middle of nowhere with naught more than grass and low hills as far as they can see. Just before the sun dips below the horizon, they make camp atop a nearby hill.
After supper while they are relaxing around the fire, James hears a rumble off in the distance. “Looks like a storm may be coming in,” he tells Miko.
“Great,” moans Miko as he stares toward the storm on the horizon. Shortly, flashes of lightning begin to appear. “What are we going to do?” he asks.
“Get wet I suppose, not much else we can do,” James says as he stares out across the grasslands. Except for the occasional tree, there is nothing which could be used for shelter.
Pointing off in the distance where two lone trees grew Miko says, “We could take shelter under those trees over there. At least we could stay dry a little bit.”
Shaking his head, James says, “Not in a thunder storm. Lightning can hit the treetops and travel down to the ground where we would be. People have died from being struck by lightning, I would rather get wet.”
Miko looks longingly at the shelter the trees would provide, but trusts in James’ judgment and stays put. “Maybe it won’t reach us until tomorrow,” he hopes.
“Maybe,” James says not sounding as if he believes it. “There’s a good way to tell, though.”
“How?” Miko asks.
“Watch the storm and when you see a flash of lightning, start counting slowly. Stop when you hear the rumble of thunder. Do it every time, and if you are able to reach a higher number the second time, then it’s going away from you. If on the other hand, your count is short before hearing the rumble, it’s coming toward you.”
Miko watches the storm and waits for a flash of lightning. Flash! “1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8.” Boom!
Miko looks over toward James who says, “Now, if your next number is a 9 then the storm is moving away, if it’s a 7 then it’s coming closer.”
“What if it’s the same?” he asks.
“Then it’s most likely moving across the horizon, neither toward nor away from you.”
“That makes sense,” Miko says and once again looks toward the storm. Flash! “1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9” Boom! Smiling he turns toward James, “It’s moving away!” he exclaims happily.
“Maybe,” concedes James. “However you should wait a few minutes before trying it again, some storms cover a wide area and the lightning could appear within different areas of the same storm.”
Miko sits anxiously by the fire, counting to himself in-between flashes. “James,” he says after several minutes of counting.
“Yes?” answers James.
“Couldn’t you do magic to make the storm not come over here?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” he replies, “but that would be selfish of me.”
“Selfish?” asks Miko. “What do you mean?”
“If I were to move that storm so it passed us by, then I could also be moving it away from farms that desperately need the rain for their crops to grow. That could cause hardship on people for my own comfort. No, I refuse to influence the weather for so selfish a reason as that.”
“Not many people consider others before themselves,” says Miko.
“I found that to be true where I come from too,” James agrees. “You have to live by your principles, in all things. If you don’t, then there is no limit to how far you may stray.”
“Yeah, I can understand that,” Miko replies.
Flash!
James looks over and can see Miko silently counting till the crack of thunder.
Boom!
“What’s the count?” he asks Miko.
“Still 8,” he replies, looking relieved. “Looks as if it’s going to miss us.”
“Whether it will or whether it won’t, we need to turn in,” James says as he throws a couple more logs on the fire to keep it going further into the night. “We still have a long ways to go.”
Miko settles down in his blanket, drawing it over him as he continues watching the storm. James lies there as well, thinking about Willimet and how Miko probably stopped him from doing something stupid. It isn’t long before Miko begins to snore. He looks over toward the storm, watching the lightning