Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) (3 page)

Chapter 4

Carolyn:
Curiouser and Curiouser

“We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”

– Malala Yousafzai

She waited until her father came in from the smithy and sat down to dinner before she spoke.  “What was Lester here for?  What did he want”

Jonathan reached for the salt.  “Never you mind.  You should be worrying more about what Burton wants.”

She poured water into his glass and hers, then sat down.  “Dad, I've already told you I don't want to marry Burton Tolbert.  Why was Lester here?  Does he need something for the Inn?”

“Just some pipe.  That's all.  Pass the potatoes.”

Why would Gerrold need pipe?
  “Is the inn doing that well, then, that Gerrold can afford pipe?  I know it's not cheap.”

“It's none of our business,” he said, mashing a potato and spooning his soup over it.  “Besides, unless I'm wrong he'll be heading back up to Denver soon.  If I were you I'd be forgetting about him.”

He's hiding something,
she decided.  “What makes you so sure about that?  Inverness is his home as much as it is ours.  Why wouldn't he stay...especially with the holidays coming up?”

“It looks to me,” her father said, “that Lester's found himself a government job up in Denver.  He's got things to do up at the capital, I think.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The gray cloak he's wearing.  Seen one before, just like it.  Fellow named...what was his name?  Anyway, the last man I saw wearing something like that worked for the Governor.”

She absorbed that in wonder. 
Lester, working for the Governor?
Maybe stranger things had happened.  Still there was something her father was not telling her, she was sure of it.  “Are you finished for the day, or do you need me to work the bellows after dinner?”

“No more work tonight,” he said.  “You can get back to your sewing.”

“Actually,” she said, as if it had just occurred to her,” If you don't need me I think I'll head over to the inn and see if Mary needs any spices. “

He said nothing to this.  What was there to be said?  She was a grown woman, not a toddler to be kept in. 

“Don't forget your coat,” he said finally. 

There was definitely something on his mind.  She had never seen him this quiet at dinner.  Well, maybe for a while after her mother passed away.  But not since then.  Jonathan was always full of news and gossip.  It wasn't like him to be so silent.  Almost morose.

Chapter 5

Nathan: 
Strange Things

העיניים שלך יראו דברים מוזרים

“your eyes will see strange things”

– Proverbs 23:33

It took him a minute or so to notice that the coach had stopped.  Frowning, he looked up from the book he was reading.  “Why are we stopping?”

His father leaned forward and shouted a question up to the driver. 

“Bit of a fight ahead on the road, sir.  No idea what about.”

His father sighed and shared a look with his wife.

“You know you don't have to, Isaac,” she said. 

But he was already unbuttoning his coat.  As always, he had his white robe on underneath, with its gold Star of David on the breast with the number '36'.  Quickly, his fingers drew the hood out and over his head.  “If a task presents itself, then I must step up, nu?”  And just like that, he yanked open the door of the coach. 

Winter air blasted into the interior, blowing the pages of Nathan's book.  “What is it Father doesn't have to do?” he said, laying the book down for a minute.

His mother didn't answer.  Nathan frowned.  Without planning it, he found himself wrenching the door open again. 

Again the icy wind invaded the coach. 

“Nathan!  Don't go far!”

He didn't.  He stepped out and stood by the coach, watching as his father strode forward into a crowd of people who parted before him like the Red Sea did for Moses.  He heard a word whispered:
Tzaddik.

The people fell silent, so Isaac addressed them.  “What is the problem here, citizens?”

A man stepped forward, holding his hat in his hands. He cleared his throat.  “Sorry to hold you up, sir.  It's the spring.  It's on my neighbor's land, and he won't let my livestock cross over to use it.  The boundary between our farms is this road, so I'm afraid sometimes it holds up traffic.”

“Don't listen to him!”  Another man lurched forward.  Why should I have to chase his animals off and mend my fences every time he wants to use our water?  Look for yourself,” he said, gesturing to the snow all around them.  There's plenty of water everywhere.  He doesn't need to come on my land for water.”

Isaac shook his head.  “It is not for me to say who is right and who is wrong.  But blocking the road,
that
is wrong.” 

He turned to the man holding his hat. “How far is it to your house?  My wife and son are waiting for me.”

“Not far, Righteous One.  Just over the hill to the left.  See, there is the road up ahead.”

Isaac looked ahead and nodded.  “Very well.  This is what will happen.  You and your family and your animals will lead the way back to your house, and we will follow.  When we get back to your house I will see what can be done.”

He then looked to the second man who had spoken.  “Your land will not be trespassed.  Please take your family home and clear the road.  I'm probably not the only one who wants to get home before it snows again.”

Both men bowed and backed away, and Isaac returned to the coach.  “Why didn't you stay in the coach?” he asked Nathan.

Nathan hurried back inside the vehicle. “I wanted to see what was going on.  What does it mean,
Tzaddik
?  I heard someone say that.”

“We'll talk about it later,” said Isaac, climbing in beside him.  He rapped on the roof, and the driver picked up his reins.

The coach lurched ahead.  Isaac looked at his wife.  “What could I do?  It's my job.”

Rebekah laid a hand on his arm, melting a few snowflakes that had landed on his sleeve.  “You don't have to solve every squabble, you know.”

“No,” he agreed.  “Only the ones I know about.”

The coach jolted as the driver pulled off the road onto the farm path.  Rebekah shook her head, but Nathan could see she was smiling.

Soon enough, the driver pulled up in the driveway of an old farmhouse.  The man with the hat was standing there among a flock of sheep, gesturing to his right.  “You see?  The pond is frozen over.  My neighbor has a pond with a spring, and it keeps the ice melted over where the water comes up.  But I don't have a spring.”

Isaac got out of the coach again.  “I see,” he said.  He turned to the farmer with the hat.  “Do you have faith, sir?”

The man swallowed.  “As much as any man.”

“That will have to do.  If God allows you water, will you agree never to lead your livestock to trespass on your neighbor's farm again?”

The farmer nodded, never taking his eyes off Isaac.

“Very well,” said Isaac.  “Lead your animals down to the edge of the pond.”

Looking baffled but hopeful, the man picked up a shepherd's crook and began to lead the sheep down toward where the frozen pond lay nestled in the cupped hands of the earth.

Nathan looked at his father in that white robe.  “But it's still frozen.”

“Watch.”

The man and his sheep were almost to the edge of the pond.  Suddenly, as if on cue, a semicircle of ice at the edge simply melted away.

He heard the farmer's joyful cry as the sheep began to cluster around the melted part, drinking the water.

Nathan looked at his father again.  “What happened?”

Isaac shrugged and smiled.  “A miracle,” he said, and climbed back into the coach.  “Let's continue on,” he told the driver.  “If we linger we'll be here half the night.”

Nathan climbed back in too.  He looked at his father again, as if seeing him for the first time.  It occurred to him suddenly that he had never asked his father's occupation. 

Chapter 6

Jeffrey:
Homecoming

“Honesty is praised, and left out in the cold.”

– Juvenal

The chill that ran through the crowd was not born of winter.

When they had crossed over into Texas land, the first witnesses had been dumbstruck.  But perhaps not totally, because someone had the presence of mind to send a messenger galloping ahead to spread the word.  Whenever and wherever they cared to stop for the night, there would be firewood and supplies provided.

Jeffrey tried to sit straight in his saddle, although it was a Rado saddle and not one his butt was happy with.  The ride down had not been exhausting, but it had been tedious, and while he was an excellent rider, the days had seemed to last forever.

To his left and right, outriders paced him, in uniform but riding Rado horses as he was.  On his orders, the men with him did not smile or frown.  They looked neither victorious nor beaten.  This was going to be hard enough, he knew, without causing a panic.

They drew up outside the Honcho's headquarters, and men rushed out to jabber questions at him.

Jeffrey held up a hand for silence.  “The war is over,” he said.

“”I don't understand, one of the ones nearest to him said.  “Where's His Excellency?  Where's the Honcho?”

Jeffrey looked him in the eye.  “His excellency fell in battle.” 
Yeah, fell right into a tomb of ice.
  “I'm the Honcho now.”

Expressions shifted.  He could guess what they must be thinking:
is he ready? 
Well, he was wondering too. 

There was some muttering.  “But we won, right?”  “Where are the tanks?”

His eyes roved over the crowd, seeing officers, men, civilians, all looking to him for answers.  For leadership.

“We left them in Denver,” he said.  “To remind the folks in Rado what we can do if we need to.”  He paused, searching for the right words. 

“I don't understand,” said someone he didn't know.  “Did we win or not?”

Best stick to the truth.
  “We didn't lose,” he said.  “But Rado didn't either.  Instead of war, we have alliance.”  He nodded to the man beside him, who unfurled the flag.  It was just a bit of cloth, dyed red, white and blue.  But it was not a Texas flag.

“What's that?”

“Something old, now something new,” he said.  “We're putting the Union back together, started with Rado and Texas.”

An officer stepped forward, frowning.  “What are you telling us, sir?  Did you surrender to Rado?”

“No, nor they to us.  We both keep our governments and armies, but we are not at war anymore.  We're both part of something bigger.”

There were more questions, but he waved them off.  “I'll be meeting with you in my offices tomorrow,” he said.  “But right now, if you don't mind, I have something to do.”

“What's that?” someone wanted to know.

“I have to go tell my mother that her husband is dead.”

That, at least, they understood.

Chapter 7

Kareef:
A Scary Request

“
Conspiring secretly together is of Satan, that the believers may sorrow;”

– Quran 58:10

He could hardly believe his ears.  “You want me to do
what?
”

So the
Mullah
repeated it. “We want you to go to Denver.”

“That's what I thought you said.  But why?  Surely we have diplomats there.”

“Yours is not a diplomatic task.”

“Then why do you want me to go?”

“Word has reached us that Denver is setting up a school for wizards.  We want you to go there, as a student.”

Kareef stared at the
Mullah
.  What was the man thinking?  “But I'm not even a good student
here
.  Why would you send me?  Forgive me, sir, but I do not understand this.”

Nizar smiled and shrugged.  “You are young enough to go, but old enough to be firm of purpose,” he said.  “We cannot send someone older.”

“Why not?  Surely their students will be of all ages...”

“Because all of the older candidates have already taken their oaths and put on their black robes.  They are needed elsewhere.”

Black robes?  What was his teacher saying?  Only the Order of the
Sihr
wore black...

“Yes,” said the Mullah, as he were reading his mind.  “I had a second reason for asking you to stay after classes.  I was going to welcome you to the
Sihr
...before I received new instructions.  Now, of course, I cannot do so.  You cannot go to Denver wearing the black.”

“But...” his mind faltered.  “I never even asked to be considered for the
Order
.  Why me?”

“I know,” his teacher said.  “We do not accept those who ask to join.  It is by invitation only.  To act otherwise would be cruel, because it would raise false hopes.  Only those with the ability already developing within them are considered.”

“But I've never even been tested!  What makes you think I have the ability?”

“Enough argument,” said Nizar.  “We have ways of telling that have never proven wrong.  At any other time, I would have been welcoming you to the order and sending you to a teacher.  But the times are different, so, I am sending you to Denver.”

He knew better than to argue.  “But how am I to get there?”

“You will be traveling with our new ambassador to the government of Rado.”

“New ambassador?  What happened to the old one?”

“Nothing.  But there have been ...developments.  You will understand by the time you arrive.”

He exhaled.  “When do I leave?”

The mullah smiled.  “Tomorrow,” he said.  “Go home and say your goodbyes.  And pack, but not too much.”