Set in Stone (48 page)

After the initial shock of contact, his senses radiated outward in an expanding circle. It was like gaining an additional limb, one that had been numbed his whole life.

An awestruck grin spread across Connor's face as he connected with the land all around. Even with his eyes closed, he knew exactly where Gregor stood beside him, where the soldiers lounged around the campfire, where trees thrust mazelike tangles of roots into the ground. A squirrel skipped across the earth from one tree to another, and the movement pulled his attention, like a bug crawling across his skin.

Connor became aware of strength flowing up into him with the enhanced senses. Completely unlike the itching numbness of granite, this power connected him to the earth, united him with the earth's immovable strength. He felt like nothing under heaven could knock him over. It would be like trying to knock over a tree, or a mountain.

He opened his eyes and laughed. "It's amazing!"

Gregor grinned like a little boy. "I am impressed. You are more than Agor, perhaps even Dawnus."

"What's that?"

"A topic of great weight, and one for another day."

The guarded answer didn't even faze Connor. He just grinned and reached farther, exploring that enormous new part of himself unlocked by the slender wafer of slate.

Gregor guided Connor in learning to focus his will, concentrate on specific areas of interest so he could recognize things that contacted the ground even briefly.

"Sentries with deep affinity with the earth who learn to walk with it as a friend, receive endowments of strength and of longevity."

"How long can you live?"

"I have passed eighty."

Connor gaped at the mighty Sentry. He was no decrepit old man.

Gregor shrugged, "It is said Anton survived the Tallan Wars, lived in the dark days when Granadure split from Obrion."

"They used to be part of the same country?"

Why hadn't anyone ever taught him that?

Gregor nodded, his face solemn. "Much knowledge is lost of the past, truths that might help shape the future."

"You must have learned a lot, though," Connor said, wondering at the ability to live so long.

"Aye. Over time, Sentries learn to mold the earth, shape it to their will. We can raise fortifications for armies or shelters against the rain. When connected with the earth, little may approach without detection."

Connor frowned. "You said something about Anton shielding the army from you. How was it possible?"

"It is a delicate skill, and difficult to master." As he spoke, Gregor's presence faded from Connor's earth-sense. Connor glanced over at the big man to make sure he hadn't floated away. He stood, feet sunk half into the soft earth, but he remained invisible to Connor's earth senses.

It took a long moment of focused concentration on the spot where Gregor stood before Connor recognized a subtle shifting of his senses, as if feeling were somehow re-directed around Gregor, leaving him in a hole, a numb spot. Connor pushed against that spot. It was like ramming his nose against a glass jar, and he could not penetrate.

"How did you do that?"

"You show great promise to sense what is missing. Time only will grant mastery of this skill."

Connor turned his attention from the invisible giant and threw his senses out beyond the clearing. To the south, he felt the heavy weight of the army encampment, and to the east, the towering heights of the mountains. High above, he even felt the rapid passage of a hunting nuall. Then it passed onto solid rock and faded from his senses.

"Why can't I feel through the stone of the mountain?"

"It depends on which stones form the mountains. This area lies heavy with granite, which is a power stone foreign to slate."

"But I have affinity with granite."

"Were you to tap granite while connected with the earth, you could walk with it as you do the loose earth."

Connor did not entirely understand, and was tempted to absorb some granite to experiment, but decided not to pause. There was so much more to explore.

To the west, a shimmering wall blocked his senses, and he frowned until he realized it must be the Lower Wick. "I can't pass the river."

"Water and earth are ancient rivals. Water nourishes earth, but will not yield its secrets."

Connor tried exploring to the north, but a long, invisible wall blocked his passage. Not like the impenetrable presence of water, this was an invisible barrier, just like the one hiding Gregor's presence.

"You're blocking the entire valley?" The scope of Gregor's reach made Connor feel very small.

"From the river to the mountain. Just as we can feel others, so can the enemy."

Connor had never imagined the enemy sensing their every move through the earth. The knowledge that they could made him shiver.

What else could the Grandurians do that he'd never imagined?

A heavy weariness grew upon him and he retracted his senses. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a nap.

"How do you make those chairs?"

"You attempt to run before you can walk, my friend."

"I fall a lot. I'm all right with that."

"Very well. Form in your mind the image you desire. Focus your senses on the piece of earth you wish to shape, and pour that shape into it."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Think of it as inviting that piece of earth to try a new shape."

Connor really wanted to sit down, so he forced aside his doubts and created an image of a simple chair. Holding that image in his mind, he focused on the ground under his feet and tried to drive the ground up into that image.

For a second the earth responded, and he felt it beginning to move. It rippled under his feet, but then the image of the chair wavered in his mind.

The ground exploded upward right under his feet and sent him somersaulting into the air, and the abrupt feeling of loss wrenched at his mind. It was like having his leg yanked off.

He shouted and wind-milled uselessly. As he fell, a slender finger of earth flowed up to meet him. It caught him as gently as his mother's embrace and lowered him to his feet.

Gregor said, "You show great promise, young one. You may yet learn to walk with the earth."

"Thanks for showing me a little. I'd like to try again some time."

"You know how to find me." Gregor extended another wafer of slate.

Connor gratefully accepted the small stone and slipped it into his belt pouch. As he headed back toward the main camp, the ground lifted Gregor onto his tower.

Connor considered all he learned from the mighty Sentry and he grinned at the wonder of it.

"What are you smiling about?"

He looked up, surprised, to find Shona standing before him in the forest, her hands on leather-clad hips, and her heavy cloak thrown back over one shoulder.

"Just thinking about all the great things I've seen today."

She took his hand, "Come on, and maybe you'll find another reason to smile."

She drew him off the trail and deeper into the woods to a small clearing under a couple of towering oaks. They were alone, but Connor's thoughts jumped back to Gregor.

Was he watching them through the earth right now?

So he climbed onto a large rock thrusting out of the ground nearby. Shona joined him and opened her hand to reveal a small, rather ugly gray rock only about the size of his thumbnail.

"What's this, another experiment?"

She smiled. "You're a quick study, Connor." She hesitated for a second before pressing it into his hand, and then shuffled closer, chin in hands, elbows propped on drawn-up knees. She looked unusually vulnerable, not the commanding high lady she normally projected. Connor found it uniquely appealing.

"Am I supposed to swallow this whole thing?"

"No. It's quartzite, one of the metamorphic stones."

"Really?" He thought back to Verena in the manor house and the pretty white quartzite stone she'd given him. She'd said it was just a token, something to remember her. He shouldn't be surprised that she'd choose a power source stone even for that.

"What does it do?"

"It's absorbed through the mouth. You stick it in your cheek and suck on it."

Connor almost laughed as he thought of sucking on a rock like Hamish, but he schooled his face to remain impassive. Shona could not learn about Hamish. She'd already stated she would execute any Builder, and he suspected Hamish shared that ability with Verena.

"Well for you, if your amazing talent lets you achieve affinity with quartzite as easily as it did soapstone . . ." Her voice trailed off, and her face glowed with excitement. "It should give you the gifts of the Pathfinders."

"They see really well, right?"

Shona nodded and leaned closer, a mischievous smile on her face. "They say quartzite enhances all the senses. Sight, smell, taste, and touch, every experience is said to be magnified." She leaned closer still. "Won't it be fun to explore that?"

Connor felt his face flush, and the air became suddenly stuffy and warm. Shona's attention flattered him as much as it bewildered him.

What would her father think of her consorting with a common Linn?

Before he could formulate any kind of response, a distant bugle sounded two quick notes from camp.

Shona grimaced, "Keep it for later." She slid off the rock.

"What's going on?"

"Time to attack."

Chapter 54

On his belly, Connor peered over the edge of a rocky bluff on the flanks of Mount Alasdair. Directly below his position, the manor looked like a dollhouse, and Wolfram's army like a group of toy soldiers. Bright noonday sun flooded the valley, but its comforting warmth did little to dispel his apprehension.

Shona and Rory crawled up to either side of him.

"Has it started yet?" Shona whispered.

"I don't think so."

Connor looked left, across the panoramic view of the slope south of the plateau. In the distance, some of Carbrey's army had assembled, while large numbers of soldiers moved in formation along the near side of the river, about a mile from Alasdair. He had expected Carbrey to attack up the slope like last time.

Why divert so many men along River Road?

The truth struck Connor like a physical blow and he gasped. "He means to attack Alasdair!"

"Shush," Shona said.

They might be over a thousand feet above the plateau, but their mission relied on stealth, and Rory had explained they had to be careful not to alert the Longseer to their presence.

Connor forced his voice to a whisper as he watched the tiny figures moving toward his town. Carbrey had ordered Connor to take Rory, Shona and the Fast Rollers back along the secret route to the rear of the plateau. Even though Connor doubted Ilse would be taken by surprise again, Carbrey seemed confident.

"We'll give them a distraction they can't ignore," he'd told Rory. "Once all of the major players are committed, we'll signal. You'll only have a few minutes to complete your mission, Captain."

Only after they crested the first long summit above the river did Rory explain their mission. "We mean to free the prisoners. Without that leverage, once he learns the pass back to Granadure is blocked, Wolfram will have no choice but to surrender."

Connor doubted it.

He wondered at Carbrey's plan. Those men hiking along the river could surely be seen by Wolfram's Longseer. There was nothing preventing Kilian from washing them all downriver before they ever set foot in Alasdair.

"Look," Shona pointed northwest toward the distant Alasdair. "Movement just downriver of the loch."

Connor strained his eyes to see people running right across the Lower Wick.

"That's not possible," Rory said. "There aren't that many Spitters in all of Obrion."

"They'll reach the town in under a minute," Connor said.