along with most all the buildings. Three houses on the southwest hillside had been preserved, though the hillside had been nibbled away right up to the doorstep of the lowest. The only attempts at clean up, it appeared, had been half-hearted harvesting of firewood from the wooden tangle that had once been Plentiful.
They worked their way along the valley edge, approaching the houses in the open. They stood off and announced their presence.
A ragged group of people, heads hung in shame, slowly poured out of the buildings. Owen didn’t see Arise Faith among them. Half of them were children, two were old women, and the rest adults young enough to be unmarried and uncertain of what they should be doing.
Nathaniel immediately set down his pack and opened it. He pulled out a small bag of flour from Happy Valley. “Looks like you could be using this.”
One of the young men stepped forward. “We don’t want no charity nor no trouble.”
“Ain’t charity, boy, just common sense. I am plumb tired of carrying this weight. It would be a sin just to throw it away.” Nathaniel advanced a few steps, set the bag down, then retreated. “We would trouble you for word of friends who passed through-Count von Metternin and Hodge Dunsby. Prolly came through two-three weeks ago.”
One of the women came forward. “They did, and they were most generous. They said they would send help.”
“And I am sure they will. We is in from the west, so we don’t got much to share, but we’ll share it all.”
The rest of the expedition offered their supplies, too, which amounted to a pound and a half of flour and two of beans. It wasn’t much, but the old woman found scales and weighed it all. She made Owen write down an account of what they’d been given. She solemnly promised that it would be repaid a hundred fold when Plentiful got back up and going.
Owen made her a copy of the bill of lading, then signed it. “You’re going to stay here and rebuild?”
“Don’t really have a choice.” She folded the paper with skeletal hands. “When God scoured the earth with a flood, He did it so mankind could rebuild. His message for us can be no clearer. Look.”
Owen followed her quivering finger as she pointed to the survivors. It took him a moment to recognize it, then he understood. “Two by two.”
“That’s right, seven men, seven women. Most are too young yet, but they will grow into God’s plan.” She slipped the bill inside her apron. “Suffering is a terrible thing, but knowing we are doing God’s work is a comfort.”
She walked away and Owen closed his journal. He went to return it to his pack and found Ezekiel Fire standing off and alone. “Something the matter, Steward?”
“Every so often, when new people found us, they would have a letter or two for me from Arise Faith. I never met the man, but he offered me the blessings of holy fellowship-then proceeded to tell me why my followers and I were damned.” The small man stared down into the ruined valley. “My people succumbed to the whispers of an idol and were rightly consigned to Perdition. But these people, they did nothing, and the flood wiped them out-the flood that revealed the ruin that poisoned my people. The citizens of Plentiful believe they are part of God’s plan. I believe I am as well. I daresay we would be judged to hold our beliefs with equal strength, yet one of us is wrong.”
“Didn’t you suggest the mind of God is unknowable?”
He turned back toward Owen. “True. Mr. Woods objected. I find it easy to see why now.” He looked at his empty hands, then shook his head. “Do you wish to know the worst of it, Captain Strake?”
“Sure.”
Fire’s eyes blazed with an intensity Owen hadn’t seen before. “With what God has showed me, I know I could clear this valley with the wave of a hand. I could raise crops-not the false manna you saw conjured through demonic instruments, but food that would sustain both mind and soul. I could ease their pain and make life easier for them. I could grant them the prosperity that their agony has certainly entitled them to.”
Owen folded his arms across his chest. “Why don’t you?”
“Because He has not given me leave to do so.” Fire glanced at the ground again. “I do not know if it is to punish me by having me know that were I a better person He would allow me to relieve their suffering, or if it is because He has need for my gifts to be used elsewhere, to greater effect. In Scripture, the Good Lord blessed those who believed without ever seeing a miracle. Is it thus that these people who so need a miracle will be blessed? My failure to please Him pains my soul. If you will excuse me, I must pray.”
Owen nodded and left Fire in peace. He worked his way higher up the hill and found Nathaniel standing with Kamiskwa, overlooking the valley. “I can’t begin to imagine how much help these people need.”
“A fair bit of it. Our supplies won’t go far, I’m afraid, but they will do until help gets here.”
“How long do you think that will be?”
Nathaniel shrugged. “I reckon Hodge and the Count done made it back to Temperance a week ago. If Hodge got together some help and started back fast, they could be here in another week or so, ten days at the outside.”
Makepeace came trudging up the hill and slung his pack at their feet. “I reckon I’m going to stay here, help out a bit. I feel the calling to do it. Onliest things left in there is the tablets, demon broth, and the wolf pelts. Sell mine, send supplies: seed, nails.”
“You summering out here, then?”
“Most like.” He smiled easily. “When you see help coming up, tell them to go faster.”
“Will if we do, but ain’t likely.” Nathaniel stared off east. “Ain’t going back the way we came up.”
Owen frowned. “But I thought the Prince said…”
“He did, but Kamiskwa here, he’s itching to get to Saint Luke, and I can’t blame him.” Nathaniel sighed. “And given what the Shedashee might know about what’s on the other side of them mountains, I ain’t thinking the Prince is going to mind if we make a stop, and you fill a journal with notes.”
Chapter Thirty-one
28 May 1767 Prince Haven Temperance Bay, Mystria
Prince Vlad caught the rope Count von Metternin tossed him as the Kessian guided his canoe to the Prince’s dock. Vlad dropped to a knee and steadied the canoe as the smaller man got out. The Auropean had become quite skilled at maneuvering the craft and made no pretense of hiding his smile at that fact.
Vlad stood and nodded. “Neatly done.”
The Count tied the aft off, then stood and straightened his robin’s-egg-blue jacket. “Thank you. Two months in the wilderness and I have learned a great deal.”
“You’re looking much more yourself as well.”
Von Metternin laughed, running a hand across his clean-shaven jaw. The lower half of his face remained pale, where his beard had covered it. He’d also had his hair cut back from when the Prince had first seen him, four days previously. While he now looked quite presentable in conventional clothes, Vlad thought he caught a hint of wistful nostalgia for his wilderness outfit.
“The truth is, I should still be outfitted for travel, and heading back up to Plentiful with Hodge, save that my first duty is to you and the Princess.” He bowed briefly. “I apologize for dropping the satchel with you and then vanishing, but there were the supplies to be organized.”
“No apologies necessary. Between what you had there and what I brought back from Happy Valley, I have been quite consumed.” He waved the man forward. “Come, I can show you.”
They’d made it halfway up the lawn, when Vlad turned and stopped his friend with a hand to the chest. “Before I show you what I have learned, I need you to understand something. I trust you implicitly. What I will share with you not only has implications for our nations, but carries well beyond that. What you will learn today will forever change your vision of the world. Wait-don’t say anything yet. It may also put you in grave danger. Men who have a stranglehold on power seldom like to feel their grip loosening, and panic when their prey has escaped.”
Count von Metternin smiled carefully. “Highness, I cannot express my gratitude and pleasure in what you have said. And I would answer you the same way no matter what. But you must remember that I was in the mountains. I have seen the Antediluvian ruins. I cannot forget it, and I shall not rest until I understand what it
