have been obvious from the start. He was just a troll after all. Could he even blame her for saying those things? They were all, well most of them, true.
Oh hell yeah he could.
Now that he knew how their royal society thing worked, how people weren’t supposed to make fun of other people if they showed interest in them, how very deeply these ideas were held, and worse, that Trice herself had never said things like that about anyone else, even the old Count that she hadn’t wanted to marry, who she always spoke of in respectful terms, even to her friends… Yes, he could blame her for it. It didn’t make him feel any better, so he dropped into a meditative trance, using flying as his focus. Trying to measure the control of his left hand as perfectly as he could, the residual tremors having been making his flight more than a little shaky so far.
Shaky or not the crew of eighteen people got to the fires before dark. Just because it was close and looked to be the biggest place around by far, they stopped at a walled city. Lines of men and women were surrounding it, digging and sweating as the fire line moved towards them. They landed well back of this line, behind the people that desperately fought, near a clutch of people that stood shouting at each other.
“We can’t hold the line, we need more people, we have to get some water on this thing or we’ll lose the Capital.” The man looked old. Around eighty or so, and had rough workman’s hands which he waved under the nose of a much younger, but still old looking man, who must have been in his forties or so. The second man was huge. Not just big like a royal, but so big that when he spoke things clenched inside Tor in fear.
“How do you suggest we do that? Bucket brigade? We could try working hand pumps out here, but that would take half a week, if we’re lucky. Burying the fires more certain anyway. We just need more people.”
“Da!” Gary yelled running up to the older men. He jumped in front of the giant and gave him a quick hug. “I’ve people from school, all fighters except, well, him… but he’s…”
“Gary! Good to see you boy! We can use all the help we can get. But, um, we aren’t taking children on the fighting line yet. Things are desperate, but we won’t throw lives away.” At first he looked at his son, which Tor thought was a trifle unneeded. The kid was more than big enough to handle a shovel. Then he realized that the man was looking at him too. Great, this crap again, Tor thought.
He had half a mind to tell the giant to go fuck himself and just leave, but instead took a deep breath to calm himself and dropped into an even deeper, calmer mental place. Or tried to anyway.
“Fuck you.” He said, the words just slipping out. Yep, he’d lost it, telling Counts to go do anything was a bad plan in general and really, no one wanted to be cursed at, did they?
“I have magical water pumps, earth moving equipment, and other things you wouldn’t even know to ask for to fight your damn fire. If you don’t want my help then fine, but insult me right now and I will be forced to kick your ass.” Tor stalked over to the man, everyone staring at him like he was crazy, except the old man, who chortled.
“Good! Let’s get the pumps set up and people on anything else you’ve got kid. Don’t mind Scotty here now, he’s just confused as to what needs to be done.”
Tor laughed, if a little weakly and popped the top on the main chest, listing things off as he set them on the ground around the chest. No one anything for a second, then ten, but the old guy started yelling at them.
“Move! Get the gear and figure out how to use it! Basic activation? Can you show us how to use it fast?”
Tor grabbed an earth moving rig first and showed them all how it was done as fast as he could. Right hand pointing at the ground, left hand directing the stream of earth. Then handed it off to Davie to try, giving the giant a dirty look as he did.
Kid indeed.
The water pumps would take a reservoir or river to use, and for best effect people that could fly, so he asked Karen to be in charge of that, since he knew her, and she was used to acting as Kolb’s second in command. At least as far as Tor went. He pointed at the giant that was Gary’s dad, who would be easy to see if nothing else, and told him to get the temperature equalizers to the front line. The people on the ground would need whatever help they could get them, even if it was just to help keep them from getting too hot.
Kolb, who had actual experience with the air stilling devices, owning one himself, headed up that section, Tor hadn’t been sure that it would work, but it was at least as effective as the earth moving devices, which seemed to be getting the job done at about a hundred times faster than a single man with a shovel. They only had twenty of those, and fifteen of the air stilling devices. It would be tight. Yeah, it represented the equal to about three and a half thousand new people coming out, and it really might not be enough, Tor realized. All they could to was fight as hard as possible.
After about twenty minutes, Karen and her team headed into town and had water roaring out in thick streams that they sprayed at the fire from the air. That worked too. Still, even with all that the fire was tenacious. As it got dark, not too long after that, Tor looked at Gary, who stood uneasily, as if he wanted to help fight the fire himself. He should have been. Tor wanted to himself, but given his health knew that would be stupid, but Gary? He had everything needed. Health, strength and courage. These people were underselling him by a lot.
No children on the fire line… Well, there were other things of use to do.
“Gary. We’re going to need light soon. I have some things that will work, but I don’t know how to deploy them. Here, see the controls?” A few seconds of tapping earned a nod from the large kid, which Tor hopped meant he got it.
The boy stood for a minute, eyes closed, then, without saying anything, he took all the light plates, using both hands for them, headed back towards the wall of the city and bobbed over it, flying. Fifteen minutes later groups of men, women and children boiled out, each one holding one of the lights. Ah! Tor never would have thought of that. They could just stand back and light things up, but also move to where it was needed. Brilliant.
It was probably a royal thing, thinking of getting help from other people like that. Tor wouldn’t have at all. He probably would have just stuck the lights to the wall of the County capital, which had a name it turned out. Rossalynd.
Almost no one slept that night, the fire slipping past them again and again, no matter what they did. That wasn’t such a big deal, each time someone would simply use and air choke, or bury the new patch of smoldering grass with dirt, until somehow, the fire jumped the twenty foot wall and got inside the city.
The scene outside the city was surreal, eerie even, smoke blowing across them in silent waves, the fire making a constant roar that sounded a bit like the ocean, but not, all at the same time. People wanted to run in to save the city, but the old man wouldn’t let them. Losing the external fire line lost the city too. Karen, floating in the air above everything turned her pumps spry towards where the first blaze had begun, but it just couldn’t reach. Not even a tenth of the way.
“Got anything in your box of tricks for this boy?” The old man said grimly, his eyes tired. He sounded defeated, like they’d lost already.
Did he? What did he have left? Temperature control plates wouldn’t matter at all, and the fire wasn’t going to be poisoning anyone right now, so that was out. There were some cups that would cool or warm beverages and while a cool drink sounded nice right then, it wouldn’t put a fire out. The only thing he had left were the set of twenty building air dryers he’d put together for Ellen Ward. Making the buildings, or the fire, drier wouldn’t help.
But…
“I think I might. Um, here…”
The dryers weren’t meant to carry a lot of water at once, but they could carry some for a while, sending water to where ever the second plate was for collection. If that was over, near, or on a fire itself… He didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Tor told the old man what to say and got him to scream out instructions. Old as he was, his voice carried a lot farther than Tor’s did at the moment. Tor took two of the plates and flew them in, over the city and held them as Karen and one of her friends, Petra he thought, used their pumps to hit the drying portions of the plates directly.
It worked, the loose streams of water that collected in the air hit him hard, like a torrential rain, in two streams each about three foot across. They slapped at him, the water focusing on each hand sized copper plate, making them slippery, and trying to rip them from his still weak grasp. His right hand shook, aching from the strain, the plates trying to push apart, slick water building up between them, but he held on. Just barely, an act of will more than real physical strength, and got the first fire out by just hovering over it for a while. The second one was
