A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,193

named Meara in the northern Raelech city of Baseld, connected by the Granite Tunnel to the Brynt city of Grynek.”

The figure who took shape out of the seeming smoke had the mellow brown complexion of Raelechs, with her straight black hair gently waving down to her shoulders. She was petite and had a young person’s smooth skin, unweathered yet by too many years in the sun. She had a long nose and dimples on both sides of her face. Unlike the other Raelechs I had seen to that point, her clothing was more fashionable than utilitarian. Perhaps those blessed by the earth goddess to actually move the earth around carried a certain cultural cachet in Rael, a higher status. Her Jereh band had the brown sard of Dinae on the left, the master amethyst in the middle, and a maroon moonstone on the right, all set in a single person’s bronze rather than the married gold.

I am a woman who loves her mud. It’s an unusual affection, I know, but where most people see filth, I see potential. And not just in mud but in all the myriad forms the earth takes beneath our feet. It already shows us the vast range of shapes and colors it can take, and our imaginations, combined with the blessing of the earth goddess Dinae, can transform a sodden mess into something sublime. Or dress up the plain in fancier clothes.

Baseld is an old city, its basic structures built long ago, so my duties are split between maintenance and what I like to call sparkle work. I have been teaming with masons to face old structures with swirled marble and granite or polished mosaics of light jade, malachite, and onyx. And inside the Granite Tunnel, where many people have chosen to live and work full time, I have been often employed to help line the walls with reflective polished tiles that magnify a candle’s light. It is still mud that fascinates me, though. Nothing to recommend it as a material except the shape one can give it, so it is a pure medium to my way of thinking. I have a sculpture space in the city where I create nothing but mud figures, which wash away and melt in the rain, allowing me to make new ones when the clouds part.

It is not the glamorous life that Raelechs might associate with the title of “stonecutter,” but it is a peaceful, fulfilling, prosperous one, and my betrothed, a soldier in the garrison, is aggressive enough for the two of us. We balance each other out, I suppose: my calm serenity is a foil for the boiling within him, and his energy and passion ensure that I do not get bored. Plus, Gaerit is often filthy. And he has a southern accent and knows how to cook. My kind of man.

My sparkle work for the city came to an abrupt end with the visit of a courier and a temblor to my home on a misty morning.

“Stonecutter Meara, I am sent by the Triune Council with orders for you,” the courier said.

“Ha! The Triune Council?” I grinned at them. “Who put you up to this? Was it Gaerit?”

“No, I’m really from the Council. An invading army approaches the Granite Tunnel from the Brynlön side. Temblor Priyit is taking a force into the tunnel to meet them, and you are to assist to the best of your abilities to prevent this army from ever reaching Baseld.”

I snorted in disbelief. “Assist how? I’m no juggernaut.”

“The Council is well aware. But you are the only Earth Shaper of sufficient power to make a difference. You are Rael’s only option.”

Dinae and Kaelin and Raena, too, she was serious. “I don’t understand what you wish me to do.”

The temblor spoke. “We need you to seal the Granite Tunnel. Create a wall that they cannot pass, and once they reach it, create another one behind them. Trap them in the tunnel. They will all die in a week, and Rael will be safe.”

“But there are people living in the tunnel! Homes carved into the mountain!”

“We will be evacuating, of course, but that is why we must move into the tunnel to meet this army halfway,” the temblor replied. “Should we meet them earlier than we planned or be surprised by advance scouts, I am taking half our garrison along to provide you time enough to seal off the tunnel. You should be in no danger.”

The courier’s eyes bored into mine. “The Triune