Not knowing quite what he was looking for, Keff gazed slowly around at the crowd. The children were openmouthed, as usual, to be in the presence of one of the mighty overlords. Most of the older folk still refused to look up at Chaumel. It was the younger ones who were sneaking glances, and in a couple of cases, staring openly at them the way Brannel had.
». . . Nokias has sent me, Chaumel the Silver, to announce to you that you shall be given greater freedoms than ever in your lifetime!» Chaumel said, sweeping his sleeves up around his head. «We the mages will be more open to you on matters of education and responsibility. On your part, you must continue to do your duty to the magefolk, as your tasks serve all Ozran. These are the last harvests of the season. It is vital to get them in so you will not be hungry in the winter. In the spring, a new world order is coming, and it is for your benefit that changes will be taking place. Embrace them! Rejoice!»
Chaumel waved his arms and the illusion of a flock of small bluebirds fluttered up behind him. The audience gasped.
«No! It's a lie!» A deep male voice echoed over the plainlands. When everyone whirled right and left to see who was talking, a rock came whistling over the heads of the crowd toward Plenna.
With lightning-fast gestures, the magiwoman warded herself. The rock struck an invisible shield and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Keff saw the color drain from her shocked face. She was controlling herself to keep from crying. Keff pushed in front of the two magifolk and glared at the villagers. Some of them had recoiled in terror, wondering what punishment was in store for them, harboring an assailant. The male who had thrown the stone stood at the back, glaring and fists clenched. Keff hurtled through the crowd after him.
The farmer was no match for the honed body of the spacer. Before the panicked worker could do more than turn away and take a couple of steps, Keff cannoned into him. He knocked the male flat with a body blow. The worker struggled, yelling, but Keff shoved a knee into his spine and bent his arms up behind his head.
«What do you want done with him, Chaumel?» Keff called out in the linga esoterka.
«Bring him here.»
Using the male's joined wrists as a handle, Keff hauled upward. To avoid having his wrists break, the rest of the worker followed. Keff trotted him along the path that magically opened up among the rest of the workers.
«Who is in charge of this man?» Chaumel asked. A timid graybeard came forward and bowed deeply. «Even if there is to be change, respect toward one another must still be observed. Give him some extra work to do, to soak up this superfluous energy.»
«Is this what the new world order will be like? If we allow the workers more freedom of thought, there will be no safe place for me to go,» Plenna said to Keff in an undertone with a catch in her voice. He put an arm around her.
«We'd better get out of here,» Keff said under his breath to Chaumel.
«It would have been better if you'd pretended nothing had happened,» Chaumel said over Keff's shoulder. «We are supposed to be above such petty attacks. But never mind. Follow me.» Though he was obviously shaken, too, the magiman negotiated a calm and impressive departure. The three of them flew hastily away from the village.
«I don't understand it,» Chaumel said, when they were a hundred meters over the plain. «In every other village, they've been delighted with the idea of learning and being free. Could they enjoy being stupid? No, no,» he chided himself.
Keff sighed. «I'm beginning to think I put my hand into a hornets nest, Cari,» he said under his breath. «Have I done wrong trying to set things straight here?»
«Not at all, Sir Galahad,» Carialle reassured him. «Think of the frogs and the power blackouts. Not everyone will be delighted with global change, but never lose sight of the facts. The imbalances of power here, both social and physical, could prove fatal to Ozran. You're doing the right thing, whether or not anyone else thinks so.»
When they returned to Chaumel's residence, another visitor awaited them. Ferngal, with a mighty entourage of lesser eastern Mages, did not even trouble to wait inside.
The underlings covered the landing pad with wardings and minor spells of protection like a presidential security force. Chaumel picked his way carefully toward his own landing strip, passing a hand before him to make sure it wasn't booby-trapped. He set down lightly and approached the black chariot on foot.
«High Mage Ferngal! How nice to see you so soon,» Chaumel said, arms wide with welcome. «Come in. Allow me to offer you my hospitality.»
Ferngal was in no mood for chitchat. He cut off Chaumel's compliments with an angry sweep of his hand.
«How dare you go spreading sedition among my workers? You dare to preach your nonsense in my farmsteads? You have overreached yourself.»
«High Mage, I have not been speaking to your farmers. That is for you to do, or not, as you choose,» Chaumel said, puzzled. «I would not presume upon your territories.»
«Oh, no. It could only be you. You will cease this nonsense about the Core of Ozran at once, or it will be at your peril.»
«It is not nonsense, High Mage,» Chaumel said mildly but with steel apparent in his tone. «I tell you these things for your sake, not mine.»
Ferngal leveled an angry finger at Chaumel's nose. «If this is a petty attempt to gain power, you will pay heavily for your deceit,» he said. «I hold domain over the East, and your stronghold falls within those boundaries. I order you to cease spreading your lies.»
«I am not lying,» Chaumel said. «And I cannot cease.»
«Then so be it,» the black-clad mage snarled.
He and his people lifted off from the balcony, and vanished. Chaumel shook his head, and turned toward Keff and Plenna with a «what can you do?» expression.
«Heads up, Keff!» Carialle said. «Power surge building in your general area—a heavy one. Focusing . . . building . . . Watch out!»
«Carialle says someone is sending a huge burst of power toward us!» Keff shouted.
«An attack,» shrieked Plenna. The three of them converged in the center of the balcony. The magiwoman and Chaumel threw their hands up over their heads. A rose-colored shell formed around them like a gigantic soap bubble only a split second before the storm broke.
It was no ordinary storm. Their shield was assailed by forked staves of multicolored lightning and sheets of flaming rain. Hand-sized explosions rocked them, setting off clouds of smoke and shooting jagged debris against the shell. Torrents of clear acid and flame-red lava flowed down the edges and sank into the floor, the ruin separated from their feet only by a fingertip's width.
The deafening noises stopped abruptly. When the smoke cleared, Chaumel waited a moment before dissolving the bubble. He let it pop silently on the air and took a step forward. Part of the floor rocked under his feet. Keff grabbed him. Two paces beyond the place they were standing, the end of the balcony was gone, ripped away by the magical storm as if a giant had taken a bite out of it. The pieces were still crashing with dull echoes into the ravine far below. Plenna mounted her chair to go look. She returned, shaking her head.
«It is . . .» Chaumel began, and had to stop to clear his throat. «It is considered ill-mannered to notice when someone else is building a spell, especially if that person is of higher rank than oneself. I believe it has now become a matter of life and death for us to behave in an ill-mannered fashion.»
«Ferngal,» Carialle said. «Using two power objects at once. I have both their frequencies logged.» Keff passed along the information.
«Sedition, he said.» Chaumel was confused. He appealed to Keff. «What sedition was Ferngal talking about? I have talked to no one in his area. I would not.»
«Then someone else is talking to them,» Keff said. «Nokias mentioned something similar. We'd better investigate.»