Come in.
She closed the door and leaned against it, one foot on a door panel. She had learned to walk and stand with a cocky jut to her hips. He had to rein himself in so his gaze didnt constantly stray to inappropriate places on her person.
You all right? she asked.
No further news on the Inquisitor. But it does not mean they cannot tighten the noose in the meanwhile. He tossed aside his uniform jacket and his waistcoat. I have to go to rowing practice.
A boy well enough to attend classes was well enough for sports. Fingers on the top button of his shirt, he waited for her to vacate his room.
She gazed at him as if she hadnt heard him, as if he werent headed out for a few hours on the river, but to some distant and perilous destination.
All about him the air seemed to shimmer.
Then, abruptly, she turned and opened the door. Of course, you must get ready.
Mrs. Hancock was in the corridor, making sure the boys were in bed for lights-out, when Titus placed one last piece of paper under the writing ball. The machine clacked. He waited impatiently for the keys to stop their pounding.
The report read:
The Inquisitor has yet to regain consciousness, but the latest intelligence has her responding better to stimuli. Atlantean physicians are optimistic she will continue to make headway. Baslan is rumored to have already scheduled a day of thanksgiving at the Inquisitory, so confident is he of his superiors imminent recovery.
He jumped at the knock on his door.
Good night, Your Highness, said Mrs. Hancock.
He barely managed not to snarl. Good night.
Of course the improvement in the Inquisitors condition and Framptons new belligerence were related. Of course.
He looked through his mothers diary again, but it was blank. He paced for a few minutes in his room, angry at himself for not knowing what to do. Then he was inside the Crucible, running down the path that led to the Oracle.
It was night. Dozens of lanterns, suspended from trees at the edge of the clearing, illuminated the pool.
You again, Your Highness, said the pool, none too pleased, as he showed himself. Flecks of golden light danced upon her darkened surface.
Me again, Oracle. He had visited her many times, but she had yet to give him any advice.
Her tone softened slightly. At least you seem sincerefor once.
How can I keep her safe, my elemental mage?
The pool turned silvery, as if an alchemist had transmuted water into mercury. You must visit someone you have no wish to visit and go somewhere you have no wish to go.
An Oracles message remained cryptic until it was understood. My gratitude, Oracle.
The pool rippled. And think no more on the exact hour of your death, prince. That moment must come to all mortals. When you will have done what you need to do, you will have lived long enough.
In the distance, obscured by rising dust, an army of giants advanced, as if
an entire mountain range was scudding across the plain. The ground beneath Iolanthes feet shuddered. Boulders wobbled; pebbles hopped like so many drops of water on hot oil.
The wall that she had been building, from quarried blocks of granite originally intended for a temple, would have enabled the townspeople to attack the vulnerable soft spots atop the giants skulls. But the wall was nowhere near completion.
The giants bellowed and banged enormous hammers against their shields. Shed already stuffed cotton into her ears, but the clangor still startled her. Ignoring the din as best she could, she focused her mind on the next block of granite. It didnt look particularly impressive in size, but it was five tons in weight. With the greatest difficulty, shed managed to roll a three-ton block end over end to the base of the wall. But she couldnt even lift a corner of this block off the ground.
The prince had assigned her three stories. In one, she needed to produce a cyclone to protect a poor familys crops against a blizzard of locustsbut she could only come up with breezes. In another, she was to part the waters of a lake to rescue magelings whod been stranded at the bottom in an ever-shrinking air bubblehad it been real, shed have lost a great many magelings on her watch. And the wallthis was her sixth attempt at erecting the wall; she had yet to stop the giants.
Now when she woke up in the morning, the pain in her hands extended all the way to her elbows. She tried not to imagine what it would feel like when that same swollen sensation took over her entire body.
She kept on doggedly at her task until a giant hefted the very same granite block above his head and hurled it into the marketplace, setting off a long chain of screams.
She sighed. And they lived happily ever after.
No more giants. No more boulders. Instead of the deafening roar of battle, rain fell steadily and softly. She was back in the princes room and
His hand was clamped over hers on the Crucible. His head rested on his other arm, his face turned toward her, his eyes closed. In the gray, watery light, he looked as tired as she felt. And thin, his face all angles. Granted, his was a remarkable bone structurechiseled, one might saybut no one so young should be careworn to the point of gauntness.