Энн Маккефри - The Ship Who Won

Keff smote himself in me forehead. «I've been distracted. We have to stop them right away.»

«She's gone mad,» Nokias said. «I will go.» The golden chair lifted off the platform.

«I will help, Mage Keff,» Brannel volunteered, emerging from his hiding place.

«We've got to follow her, Chaumel,» Keff said, turning to the silver magiman. «Can you take us, too?»

«Not to worry,» Carialle said cosily in Keff's ear. «She's out here. In the snow. Swearing.»

«Carialle stopped her,» Keff shouted. Nokias turned his head, and Keff nodded vigorously. The others cheered, and Plenna threw herself into his arms. He gave her a huge hug, then dropped to his knees beside Tall. The other two globe-frogs had come out from beneath the console to aid their chief. They all acted alarmed.

«Can I help?» Keff asked.

«Big, big power, stored,» Tall signed, pointing to the battery indicator. «Made by them,» he gestured toward the departed Ferngal and his minions. «Must do something with it, now!»

«A glut in the storage batteries?» Keff said. He could see the dials straining. The others, who knew from long use what the moods of the Core felt like, wore taut expressions. «What can you do? Can you discharge it?»

Tall nodded once, sharply, and bent over the controls with the amulet clutched in his paws.

On the surface, Carialle's fins rested on an exposed outcropping of rock not far from the entrance. She watched with some satisfaction as Potria shook, then pulled, then kicked her useless chariot. Asedow lay unconscious on a snowbank where he'd fallen when his chair stopped. The pink-gold magess hoisted her skirts and tramped through the permafrost to his. It wouldn't function, either. She kicked it, kicked him, and came over to apply the toes of her dainty peach boots to Carialle's fins.

«Hey!» Carialle protested on loudspeaker. «Knock that off.»

Potria jumped back. She retreated sulkily to her chair and seated herself in it magnificently, waiting for something to happen.

Something did, but not at all what Potria must have had in mind. Carialle detected a change in the atmosphere. Power crept up from beneath the surface of the planet, almost simmering up through solid matter. Instead of feeling ionized and drained, the air began to feel heavy. Carialle checked her monitors. With interest, she observed that the temperature was rising, and consequently, so was the humidity.

«Keff,» she transmitted, «you ought to get everyone out here, pronto.»

«What's wrong?» the brawn's voice asked, worriedly.

«Nothing's wrong. Just . . . bring everyone topside. You'll want to see this.»

She monitored the puzzled conversation as Keff gathered his small party together for the long flight to the surface. By the time they appeared at the chimney entrance, clouds were already forming in the clear blue sky.

Plennafrey rode pillion on Chaumel's chair with the three globe-frogs clinging to the back while Keff and Brannel shared the gold chair with Nokias. Nokias's remaining followers straggled behind. The group settled down beside Carialle's ramp. Potria, her nose in the air, ignored them pointedly.

«What's so important, Cari?» Keff asked after a glance at Asedow to make sure the man was alive.

«Watch them,» Carialle suggested. The Ozrans were all staring straight up at the sky. «It's not important to you, but it is to them. In fact, its vital.»

«What's happening?»

«Just wait! You nonshells are so impatient,» Carialle chided him playfully.

«The air feels strange,» Brannel said after a while, rubbing a pinch of his fur together speculatively with two fingers. «It is not cold now, but it is thick.»

The crack of thunder startled all of them. Sheet lightning blasted across the sky, and in a moment, rain was pummeling down.

As soon as the first droplets struck their outstretched palms, Chaumel and the others started shrieking and dancing for joy. A few of the mages gathered in handful after handful of the cold, heavy drops and splashed them on their faces. Plennafrey grabbed Keff and Brannel and whirled them around in a circle.

«Rain!» she cried. «Real rain!»

Under his wet, plastered hair, the Noble Primitive's face was glowing.

«Oh, Mage Keff, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me.»

In the center of their little circle, the three globe-frogs had abandoned their cases and stood with their hands out, letting the water sluice down their bodies.

«Thank you, friends,» Chaumel said, coming over to throw soaked sleeves over their backs. «Look how far the clouds spread! This will be over the South and East regions in an hour. Rain, on my mountaintop! What a treasure!»

«This is what'll happen if you let the Core of Ozran run the way it was meant to,» Keff said. Plenna gave him a rib-cracking hug and beamed at Brannel.

«This welcome storm will convince more doubters than any speeches or caves full of machinery,» Nokias said, coming to join them. «More of these, especially around planting season, and we will have record crops. My fruit trees,» he said proudly, «will bear as never before.»

«Ozran will prosper,» Chaumel said assuredly. «I make these promises to you now, and especially to you, my furry friend: no more amputations, no more poison in the food, no more lofty magi sitting in their mountain fastnesses. We will act like administrators instead of spoiled patricians, eating the food and beating the farmers. We will come down from the heights and assume the mantle of our . . . humanity with honor.»

Brannel was wide-eyed. «I never thought I would live to be talked to as an equal by one of the most important mages in the world.»

«You're important yourself,» Keff said. «You're the most intelligent worker in the world, isn't he, Chaumel?»

«Yes!» Chaumel spat water and wiped his face. «My friend Nokias and I have a proposition for you. Will you hear it?»

Nokias looked dubious for a moment, then silent communion seemed to reassure him. «Yes, we do.»

«I will listen,» Brannel said carefully, glancing at Keff for permission.

«Ozran will need an adviser on conservation. Also, we need one who will liaise between the workers and the administrators. It will be a position almost equal to the mages. There will be much hard work involved, but you'll use your very good mind to the benefit of all your world. Will you take it?»

Brannel looked so pleased he needed two tails to wag. «Oh, yes. Mage Chaumel. I will do it with all my heart.»

«Shall I tell him now?» Plenna whispered in Keff's ear. «He can have my sash and my other things when I come away with you. Tall Eyebrow already has my belt.»

«Um, don't tell him yet, Plenna. Let it be a surprise. Uh-oh, Cari,» Keff subvocalized. «We still have a problem.»

«I'm ready for it, sir knight. Bring her in here.»

«Now, friends,» Nokias said, wringing out one sleeve at a time. «I am enjoying this rain very much, but I am getting very wet. Come back to my stronghold, where we may watch this fine storm and enjoy it from under a roof.» He beckoned to Brannel. «Come with us, fur-face. You have much to learn. Might as well start now.»

Brannel, hardly believing his good fortune, mounted the golden chair's back and prepared to enjoy the ride. Nokias gathered his contingent, including the recalcitrant Potria, and Asedow, who was coming to with all the signs of a near-fatal headache.

«Go on ahead,» Keff said. «We've got some things to take care of here.»

Carialle's Lady Fair image was on the wall as Keff, Plennafrey, Chaumel, and the trio of globe-frogs came into the cabin. At once, she ordered out her servos, one with a heavy-duty sponge-mop, and the other with a shelf-load of towels.