"In your language, I suppose the best term would be "potion" or "elixir." Your own people understand certain symbolisms withH"adamant , now that I realize you call them by the name "diamond." The basic symbolism is not far from correct. If the Earth wills it, we can extract the essence ofH"adamant and preserve it in an elixir which will make us stronger in virtually all ways-more capable of withstanding injury, and quicker, physically and mentally. In this way we are able to utilize small numbers of our people to oppose their vastly larger forces, to cut through their defenses, and to neutralize the rituals in which they invoke such ma.s.sive powers of destruction."
"They can fight you, right?"
Rokhaset nodded deliberately. "Oh, yes, Jodi Goldman. Enough of our old instinctive accord survives that even they will not attack us for no reason-there will be no genocide here, despite our opposition.
But if we are actually intruding on their territory and interfering with their work, they most a.s.suredly will fight us, and can and will kill our people. As you can see, this places us at a grave disadvantage without H"adamant ."
"Okay, I get you. And right now they"re planning one of their big parties, right?"
"One which, if you will pardon the use of one of your own idioms, will a.s.suredly bring down the house."
Rokhaset seemed grim. "And for the second time, your people, Clinton Slade, have made it impossible for us to stop it . . . and both your people and mine will pay the price."
"Second time?" Now, I was getting really nervous, as I started to get a glimmer of the horror that was waiting behind Rokhaset"s account.
"Second time, Clinton Slade. When your ancestor first entered our caverns and stole our entire cache, cloaked by theH"kuraden he carried, he did so at the worst possible moment; the times and powers had aligned so that theLisharithada could carry out one of their greatest destructive rituals, and suddenly we were powerless to stop it. For a time we believed that somehow they had found a way to bypa.s.s the mystical defenses that surrounded our most secure caches. It was almost a relief when the next theft"s source was traced to your forefather. But that did not repair the damage from the first theft. For a while, we had convinced them to moderate their behavior, but then your people truly began your intrusions upon the Earth, and their anger grew. Now the same forces have aligned once more, and the Lisharithada prepare to unleash them with even more fury than they did a short time after your ancestor had robbed us for the first time."
"Holy Mother of G.o.d." I heard myself whisper, unable to stop myself. "You"re talking about the New Madrid Earthquakes!"
What Jodi said at that point I can"t repeat. Rokhaset simply bowed his head.
"Look, Rokhaset, we gotta try to stop "em at least! We"ll head topside and you guys will help us get the road back, so"s we can get you the diamonds that"re left. We could try to buy some more back."
Rokhaset nodded. "We shall try, Clinton Slade. We shall hope theH"adamant you still have shall suffice, but I have grave doubts. We do not have the time for you to buy some more, I am afraid. To make the elixir will take two and a half days, as you measure time. They will strike in four days, as that is when the forces will be at their peak of alignment. Do you truly believe you shall be able to locate so many H"adamant , arrange for their purchase, and deliver them to us, in time for us to make the elixir and then carry the battle to them? Even as things are, it will be difficult, leaving aside the fact that, as your people do not know or respectH"adamant for what it is, there would be no way of telling whether the ones you purchased retained their true virtue until they had actually arrived."
There wasn"t any arguing that. Four days . . .
I tried not to think about it, but anyone in my profession has already visualized the consequences of a Richter 8+ quake east of the Mississippi, and the New Madrid fault has always been the chief suspect.
The area of effect of a major quake in this area would be monstrous: ten, fifteen times that of a comparable quake on the West Coast. It would level almost everything manmade in at least three or four states, cause heavy damage in adjoining ones, and be felt from the Rockies all the way to Vermont, maybe even Maine.
"Waitaminnit!" I said, suddenly thinking of something. "TheseLisharithada , they live underground like you do, right? Well, if they set off a Richter eight quake right here, what"s gonna keep "em-and you, for all of that-from being squished when the quake brings the caverns down?"
"We are spirits of the Earth, Clint. We have our ways of preventing our own homes from breaking.
Unfortunately, this is not true of your homes, or of caverns which we no longer inhabit."
I stood up. "Well, sir, seems to me we"ve both got work to do. We need to get topside so"s we can get theH"adamant back, and you"ll need to get your people to rebuild our road."
"Indeed." He stood as well and after a moment offered his hand, another gesture he had clearly been shown by themakatdireskovi . I took it; the skin was cool and hard, like shaking the hand of a rough-hewn statue, but no statue ever squeezed back that way. "Clinton Slade, Jodi Goldman, it has been a pleasure, truly. I regret we have met in these circ.u.mstances, yet perhapsNowe shall smile upon us and somehow we shall stop the coming disaster." He shook Jodi"s hand as well. "Shall I send an escort with you?"
"No offense, sir, but you people don"t seem to be the fastest sorts. I remember the route, and I think me and Jodi can make it back a lot quicker on our own."
Jodi nodded. The route was long, but it was actually pretty direct, and we had blazed our way with more than just dropped relays whenever there was a doubtful intersection.
"As you will. My people can move quickly, but not for long distances. There you have the advantage of us."
We left the throne room with hundreds of Nomes lining our path, holding their weapons in a very different manner. Clearly the word had spread that there was now an accord between us, and they were expressing their understanding as clearly as they could without their ruler"s peculiar advantage.
Once out of the throne room, we made time, pushing as fast as safety would allow. "Father, I don"t know if anyone"s listening, but we"re on our way out."
"Clint!" came Jonah"s voice. "Y"all okay?"
"We"re fine, and the Nomes are right nice folks, but we"ve got ourselves a powerful lot of trouble. Tell you about it once we"re up."
Jonah said he"d get the family, so I signed off. The next four days were sure going to be interesting, but like in the old Chinese proverb way.
9. Too Little. Too Late?
"We might be "bout four days from Armageddon, or leastwise that"s how it"s going to seem around here,"
I started out.
The whole family was gathered around the table this time, from Evangeline through Helen and Adam on through Grandpa.
"But you said the Nomes isn"t our enemies, right, Clint?" Mamma asked anxiously.
"Right, Mamma. But it turns out they"ve got relatives of their own that there"s a feud with. These boys play on a bigger scale than we ever figured, and we Slades have gummed up the works but bad." Jodi and I went on to summarize what Rokhaset had told us. "So unless we can do something to help "em out, in four days the New Madrid"s going to cut loose with a Big One and ain"t nothing going to be left standin"
for hundreds of miles, least of all the Slade homestead."
The family sat there in silence. It was an awful lot to take in at once. And somehow it sounded a lot more fantastic here, in the comfortable electric lights of the family room, than it had in the blue-white glow of Rokhaset"s domain.
"You think they can do that?" Father said finally.
I exchanged glances with Jodi. "It"s hard to say, Father. But . . . yes, I guess I have to believe it. What reason would they have to concoct such a silly story if they had a more reasonable motive for wanting the diamonds? We sure didn"t show any sign of needing anything that outlandish."
"Well," Evangeline pointed out, "y"all did say they learned how to talk with us from listenin" to the TV and radio. Lord only knows what they think is normal, Clint."
I chuckled despite my worries. "You got a point there, Evvie. Jodi?"
She tossed her dark hair back, then shook her head. "I think Rokhaset"s pretty clear on how we think.
No way he"d waste his time making up somebobbe maisse like that one; he"s got more important stuff to do."
"Well, then, we give "em all the diamonds we have left and hope it"s enough." Mamma said.
"Do more than hope, Mamma. Pray. If this doesn"t work, those destructive cousins of the Nomes are going to cause the biggest disaster the States have ever seen."
"What can we do, Clint?" Adam demanded.
"Grab our tools and get out there for when they start trying to get the road back. It"s easy enough to wreck something, but they don"t drive cars, and I"m not sure they"ll know what has to be done to really make it driveable. And shut off the fence. They"re not going to come after us now that they know us." I felt my eyes trying to shut. "But me and Jodi have to get some rest."
"Lord, of course you do," Mamma said. "Why, it"s been almost twenty-four hours you"ve been up, and most of that either hiking the caves or facing Mr. Rokhaset, which must have been about as scary as anything!"
"Get up to bed," Father agreed. "Need your strength later."
Jodi and I didn"t argue. We knew there wasn"t any way we were staying awake much longer. I stumbled up to bed, feeling my feet get heavier with every step. The clothes I peeled off seemed to be made of lead, and I don"t really remember hitting the mattress.
I woke up with a hoa.r.s.e shout, as the ground quivered underneath the house. "JODI!"
"ACHORBN !" I heard the Yiddish curse echo all the way down the hall. "What?Did they move up the schedule?"
By then, I was out of bed and down the hall, bursting through Jodi"s door. The shaking was already over. "No, no, that was just a little one. But Holy Mother, did that scare me!"
"And I was calm, you think?Oy! " She was still in the bed, nude from the waist up since the sheets had slid down when she sat up abruptly. The view was on the spectacular side. Her long, curly, l.u.s.trous black hair was spilling over her shoulders, framing her chest. Jodi was basically a slender woman, but not everywhere. I was a little transfixed, for a moment. Memories . . .
She looked me up and down, suddenly grinning. "You look as nice as I remember, too,neshomeleh .
But you might want to put some clothes on before your family decideswe caused all that shaking and bouncing around."
I looked down. I was nude from the soles of my feet up.
"Oops. Hey, look, I was startled. Gimme a second."
By the time I got back to her room, with my bathrobe on, Jodi was already out of bed and wearing her own robe. In that respect, if nothing else, she certainly didn"t fit the stereotype of a Jewish-American Princess. Jodi was always punctual and could get dressed faster than a fireman. How she manages that, I"ll never know, because the end result was never sloppy. Every item of clothing was on right, b.u.t.tons square, zippers zipped, hair brushed, the works. Even the many times I"d watched her do it, I"d never really been able to figure out her secret. She just seemed to pour herself into her clothes, shoes and all-h.e.l.l,work boots and all-and she had the kind of magic hair that, despite its length and thickness, immediately fell into place at the touch of her fingers.
When I walked in, she was muttering something to the effect that the much-vaunted stability of the nation"s conservative inner regions compared to decadent Manhattan was obviously a be-d.a.m.ned lie.
About a third of the words were in Yiddish so I didn"t catch all of it. But the last phrase came through clear as a bell: "-least theground doesn"t mug you!"
"C"mon," I chided, "what"s the big deal?" I imitated her accent. " "The trucks on Fifth shake my apartment harder than that!" "
She giggled despite herself. "Okay, wisenheimer, you"ll get yours. But only after I get a shower."
We both needed showers badly after the last day. If I hadn"t been so dog-tired I"d have showered before going to sleep, but collapsing in a shower isn"t the best idea.
So, half an hour later, we met downstairs. A frustrating half hour, since Jodi and I like to take showers together which maybe accounts for why we usually take such long ones. I was finding this be-proper-before-the-family routine was getting old really fast. Even the prospect of continental catastrophe in four days wasn"t enough to squelch all my normalI-want-Jodi enthusiasms.
I guess I muttered something to that effect. "Stop whining, Clint," Jodi instructed me, as we headed for the kitchen. "Look at it this way. Soon enough we"ll either be dead or we"ll be married and either way you won"t have to worry about it any more. Getting laid, I mean. You"ll still have to scrub my back-don"t think for a moment I"ll let you off the hook on that just "cause you"re my husband. Or a corpse."
Her stern and stoic words would have been more effective if she hadn"t goosed me as I started through the kitchen door.
Mamma was in the kitchen, looking exhausted herself, but with enough food to feed four of me laid out.
"Nice to see both of you up, Clint dear, Jodi. Father and Adam are up to the road, along with Helen and Evangeline. Everyone else just went to bed, which is where I"m going now."
"How"s it going up there?"
She gave a tired smile. "Lord, they"re devilish looking things, but those rockworms and their keepers can work miracles. We just might get this done in time, Clint. Might could. Best eat up and go see for yourselves."
I gave Mamma a hug, which she returned-a little tighter than usual. She kissed Jodi on the cheek and then headed upstairs. I turned to the table and dug in.
"We slept ten hours, Clint. Down to three and a half days or less now. We have to get into town, get back with the diamonds in less than a day."
I nodded, wolfing down some ham. "I know, I know. Let"s get up to the road, see what they"re up to."
It wasn"t a long hike, and in the sunlight it was less eerie, though no less strange, to see the hurrying pipestem-limbed Nomes and their centipedal a.s.sistants. As we came to the edge of the huge scar in the earth, I sucked in my breath. b.u.t.tresses of limestone were forming, curving in rippling bands to create supports for the stone that would lie atop them. It was the rockworms which were doing most of the work, chewing up rock in one place and depositing it, changed and molded, in another. I looked around and saw Adam, Father, and Rokhaset under a large spreading oak at the far edge.
We hiked around to them. Looking down, I could see that the rockworms came in differing sizes, from the little ones about two feet long up to one nightmare-inducing monster nearly twenty feet long, with horns and spikes of crystal adorning its head and a mouth that looked more like a rock-crusher than anything living.
"Father, Adam, Rokhaset." I said in greeting.
"It is good to see you again, Clinton Slade, Jodi Goldman," Rokhaset acknowledged us.
"Clint. Jodi. Work"s going."
"And fast, too," Adam said. "Their . . . what was the name again, sir?"
"Seradatho H"a min, or you might call them simplyseradatho for short."
"Seradatho, yep, they just make the rock as we stand here. Ain"t maybe as fast as a full construction crew, but it"s plenty fast enough. I think."
"Is it safe for me to go down and look?"
Rokhaset gave a deliberately human shrug. "Theseradatho will not harm you on purpose, Clint. But some may not notice you immediately, even with their handlers present, so take care."
I slid down into the pit and walked carefully up to one of the medium-sizedseradatho , which was starting to put some kind of joining stone between some of the b.u.t.tresses. I examined the resulting stone carefully, then climbed back up. "Sir, that looks just like standard cavern limestone! I swear, if I took that back to a lab I wouldn"t be able to tell the difference!"
"And nor should you. We are part of the Earth, Clint. How many times must I say this before you truly understand? Nothing that we do may be apart from her. Except in our own dwellings, it must not even be recognizable as our work, but be fully in harmony withNowe , as much a part of her as we are."
I shook my head, still trying to comprehend it. "But it looks like standard flowstone-deposited over thousands and thousands of years. How the h.e.l.l can you possibly replicate that?"
"I could attempt to explain it," Rokhaset said, after some consideration, "but in truth, without taking much time indeed to instruct you, all that I could tell you would boil down to saying "it"s magic," a most unsatisfactory explanation. Suffice to say that this is the way it must be for us."
"So some of those natural-seeming caverns we see around the world are really your doing?"
"Undoubtedly. Sometimes your people intrude upon us by exploring what you think are natural caves and are, instead, our dwelling places. Only in the great cities and central places of the Earth do we build places such as the throne room and its nearby environs."
I rubbed my temples. Running into the Nomes themselves, well, I"d always known they were there. So it was more like just meeting some aliens. This, though, was magic-a kind of magic that affected stuff I really did know a lot about, and direct enough to hit me in the gut. The threat of theLisharithada "s great quake was real enough, but too huge to grasp, really. Seeing stone that, by rights, ought to have taken a million years to form be spat out in seconds by some crawling centipede-thing, that was different.
I remembered, suddenly, the rushing water I"d heard when the great doors to the Throne Room opened.
"You don"t even use machines like we do. You just channel water and maybe use levers or something to move those doors and other things."
"Correct. In nature, sometimes water does move great boulders, so we can construct a device that takes advantage of that."
"Well, Clint, now we know why we"ve never seen any traces of these things before in caves around the world."
I nodded to Jodi. "Ayup. Wedid see traces, more"n likely. Problem is that there was no way to tell the traces from the original stone. Y"all even make stalact.i.tes and stalagmites and all the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, right, and make sure the water"s there to keep it alive?"