The Flying Sorcerers

The waters continued to rise. The surf crashed higher on the slope every day. The tides came in — and in and in and in, until most of the people of the Lower Village were forced to move up the slope. Only the tops of the housetrees marked where the major portion of the village had been. Occasionally a nest would break free, and be seen floating away.

The Upper Village was fairly crowded, but we were able to manage with a minimum of doubling up. Wilville and Orbur were able to recruit quite a few men for their bicycle put-it-together line. It gave many of the villagers something to do while waiting for the waters to recede, and there were those who were eager to earn extra spell chips.

By the time the first twelve bicycle frames were finished, Trone had finished the first of the big spinning things — generators he called them. The boys connected up the bicycles that same day.

Shoogar had recruited twelve good men for the first test. They stood nervously to one side and grumbled to themselves. They were unhappy about the prospect of making electrissy. Shoogar kept fumbling with his magic kit, and every time he did, the men twitched in response.

No matter. As long as we could perform the test.

Purple checked over the wires that led across the hill to the water-filled trench. When he was ready he signaled Shoogar with a wave of his hand. Shoogar bade the men mount the bicycles.

At another command they began pedaling. The generator began spinning, slowly at first, then faster and faster — it was making electrissy. Sure enough, down by the trench there was activity — other men were clustering around the wires.

I left the generator crew and approached the water trench. From one end, oxygen bubbled steadily upward. At the other, Purple was just fitting a clay spout over a water-immersed wire. To this he attached a small airbag. Within a few minutes it was full.

He tied it at the neck and released it. It drifted gently upward. This time though, there was no panic — only a cheer. We were becoming more and more used to this spell. indeed, it was almost commonplace by now.

Purple was delighted. He signaled Shoogar to stop the pedaling. He then trudged halfway up the hill and connected his battery to the leads from the generator.

“All right, Shoogar,” he called, “start them up again.”

Shoogar growled an order and the twelve men began pumping again. It looked strange to see them pedaling as hard as they could and getting nowhere — but it was only a foretaste of things to come. Purple wanted a whole army of men up on the hill, pedaling wildly.

The smaller generator — the one powered by one apprentice on a bicycle — was dismantled then, and its parts cannibalized for the larger generators. It was one less bike frame to build and that much more wire that could be used.

Wilville and Orbur were pleased at the success. That the twelve bicycle frames had been built so quickly testified to the efficiency of their put-it-together line. “I figure we could have at least fifty bicycles before another hand of days is up, said Orbur.

We started trudging up the slope to where the airboat waited. Wilville replied, “I think only part of it is the put-it-together line, Orbur — remember, we have an awful lot of people working for us too.”

“Yes, but we had to teach them.”

When we got to the Crag the boys pointed out what still needed to be done on the airboat. Some of the rigging structures to hold the ropes for the balloons had not been secured yet, and Wilville wanted to add at least one more coat of hardener to the sides of the airboat. It felt hard enough to me, but then it was my sons who would be flying in it, and it they felt they wanted it hard, it was their boat.

Orbur explained that he had adjusted the airpushers as well as he could, but he wanted to experiment some more with “higher” gears. He wanted to try putting smaller wheels on the spinning sections and larger wheels on the bicycle frames. The connecting pulleys should then make the airpushers spin even faster. But he needed new pulley cloths first. He hoped to have them before this hand of days was over.

Wilville sighed as he began heating his hardening solution. “I’m glad that most of the other building is over — we could have had this boatframe finished months ago had it not been for all the bicycle frames and filling frameworks and cranking machines we have had to work on.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “But the boatframe couldn’t have gone anywhere until all the other work was done first. You needed the aircloth and the generators and the cranking thing for making loomteeth and —”

“It’s just as Purple said. You have to make the tools with which to make the tools to make the tools,” Orbur called from above. “That’s just what we have been doing. You can’t just build an airboat — you have to build the put-it-together line which can make the pieces which will make the airboat.”

“Imagine the size of the put-it-together line for Purple’s black egg,” replied Wilville.

I tried to, but I couldn’t.

I noticed a figure trudging up the hill then — it was Shoogar. He had come to inspect the flying machine.

“Oh, not again,” groaned Orbur. “He’s up here almost every day now, asking questions and annoying us —”

“He’s only trying to understand the spell,” I said. , “He will never understand the spell,” said Wilville. “He is a —”

“Watch it,” I cautioned, “whatever else he may be, he has phenomenal hearing.”

Shoogar arrived then and tsk-ed satisfactorily over the progress of the work. “But when will you hang the sails?” he asked.

Orbur said, “Sails? We won’t be hanging any sails, Shoogar. We don’t need them.”

“Nonsense,” said the magician peering up at Orbur who was hanging in the rigging. “How many times must I explain to you — you can’t be pushed by the wind without sails.”

Orbur began climbing down. I could see that he was sighing to himself. He swung down a rope to the boat’s cradle then dropped off the edge to the ground. He walked around to Shoogar, “Purple has explained it to us over and over. “We won’t need sails. We have the windmakers instead.”

Shoogar stamped his foot impatiently. “No, Orbur — if you have windmakers then obviously you are planning to use sails. The windmakers will make wind and push the sails, and the boat will move.”

“No, Shoogar — the windmakers push the air backward and the airboat moves forward. Without sails.”

“Without sails, what will they have to push against? The boat won’t move at all through the air.”

“The boat will move.”

“It won’t.”

“Purple says it will.”

“And I say it won’t.”

“I say it will!”

“Are you arguing with a magician?!!”

“Yes! We have tested the windmakers already — and when both Wilville and I are pumping as hard as we can the boat seems to edge forward as if it could hardly wait to leap into the air.”

“It may get into the air,” said Shoogar, “but it’ll never move an inch without sails!”

“But —”

“Don’t try to correct me, Orbur. I’ve already ordered the sails from Lesta. You and Wilville had best plan on masts for them.”

“Masts?” asked Orbur. “And where will we put masts? He pointed at the boatframe. It sat gently on the cradle, its two outriggers stretching wide on either side, its heavy keel hanging below on a spar of bambooze. It had a flimsy looking set of bambooze rigging above empty and waiting for the airbags. It looked strangely incomplete. I tried to imagine it finished and in the air, but could not.

Shoogar peered at it. He circled the boat thoughtfully, stepping around Wilville who quietly and calmly continued .to paint.

He climbed up on the launching cradle and peered into the boat itself. Orbur and I followed. He climbed in and rapped on the floor. “What’s this?”

“It’s sand-ash wood. We’re using three thin planks to add stability to the floor.”

“It’s too thin. We can’t possibly mount masts in it.”

“That’s what I’m —”

“We’ll have to hang them from the outriggers.

“Where? There’s no room at all behind the airpushers!”

True enough, there wasn’t. There was a bicycle frame at the back of each outrigger. The airpushers hung a good man height below the bicycle seats and well behind the pedals — so that the pedaller would not be riding in his own wind.

“You’ll have to put them in front/ said Shoogar. “Plenty of room if you do that. Put the masts and sails in front of the windmakers, then pedal in reverse. The wind will blow forward, into the sails. You’ll be facing in the direction you’re going.”

“But pedaling in reverse is hard work.”

“Then reverse the gear!” Shoogar snapped. “Do I have to do all your thinking for you?”

“We do not need any sails!” Orbur shouted at him.

“All you have is Purple’s word for that.” Shoogar’s voice suddenly turned persuasive. “Set the masts now, put the sails on before you leave. Then you’ll be prepared for anything. If the sails don’t work, you can take them off!”

“Well —” Orbur hesitated. He looked at Wilville. Wilville studiously ignored him, slapped the paint on extra fast.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” I suggested.

“There!” said Shoogar. “You see — even your own father thinks so.”

“Yes, but —”

“No buts about it. The sails will be ready in seven days.”

Pleased that he had won the battle, Shoogar began climbing down from the boat. As he dropped to the ground, he rapped sharply on the sturdy side of hardened aircloth. “Good construction,” he noted. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the village, “Now then, Lant, we have to get straight on this matter of the spell tokens. The blue tokens are obviously not being properly appreciated by the villagers.”

“What do you mean?”

“They are trading four Shoogars for one Purple — why just this morning Hinc the Lesser told me that it was because I was only one fourth the magician that Purple is. Excuse me, Hinc the Hairless told me.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Now tell me honestly, Lant — could you agree with a point of view like that?”

“Uh, well —” I began.

“Don’t be afraid, Lant. You can tell me the truth.”

“Well, Shoogar — it is well known that you do much more work than Purple. You do most of the spell casting in the village, and Purple hardly does any. That makes Purple’s magic much rarer and worth a lot more. The people know that they can always redeem your coins for spells — but Purple’s magic is rarer, and hence they seem to think that it is more valuable or else he would use it as freely as you do.”

“H’m,” said Shoogar.

“Well, you wanted me to be truthful.”

“I didn’t mean for you to be that truthful.” He grumbled on down to the village. Certainly he had the right to be miffed.

But there was no help for it. Already villagers were calling Shoogar’s blue tokens “quarters”. The custom was now fixed in the language.