Threads 325-Summit Approach 1

The rumble and crack of moving, grinding stones was a discordant symphony of noise. It was chaotic and unintelligible, but deeply, deeply angry.

There should have been no room for words here, no room for communication. But not for Ling Qi. Fangs of living limestone, so close to crushing the soft humans within, slowed and ground down to a halt among ribbons of mist and the piping of a flute.

Ling Qi descended into the crumbled sinkhole on steps of glittering light and mist. A great hole in the stone, a cavern of limestone and sharp-edged crystal, was pierced by the digging of foundations. This was one of the many hearts of the mountain that General Xia had cloven the peak from. The spirit of the cave whose fangs loomed over her head was only one part of the larger mountain spirit, but it was dangerously potent in its own right, awakened as it was, especially to the workers trapped below among the rubble and muddy water.

So she sang and listened, even as her drifting mist engulfed the men and women at the bottom, carefully insulating them from further harm and easing the crushing pressure of the earth.

Rage. The mountain heart trembled with rage. So much of its greater self had been taken away, and now, the nits dug and bit at its hearts and cores as well, more and more and more. Its brother-selves slept and slumbered, propitiated but not yet awake, content to see even this wound as temporary, a mere flesh wound in the long accounting of stone.

But this! This, the biting picks and shovels, the opening of living stone to crippling, killing sky, poisoning that which was meant to be wholly of earth and darkness with light, was an insult. This was too much!

Ling Qi listened, considered, and sang back. Mist grew dark and cold and clammy, drowning out the bright light of the sun above. She sung a soothing song, a slow and careful song of sealing, reparation, and reverence. Of carving and beauty. Of a seal reapplied. Sacrifices offered, not of blood and flesh, but incense and gifts and the beautiful transformation of surface stone.

She descended still further, and she saw the fright in human eyes as the stone that had begun to drag them down, that chained their limbs and broke their bones, remained filled with tension. Crystal and hanging fangs of rock threatened to devour them all.

She ended with a sharper note to compliment offerings and respect. It was a pointed reminder to an old and stubborn mind of the blade which carved mountains and the scouring rains that could wear away all of the mountain. This mountain spirit was not the only power here.

She was sorry for its wound and sorry for its disturbance, but there would be no offerings of blood today. Let raging stone rest and errors be repaired, and in the time of mountains, all would return as it was once more. Or the mountainheart could rage and drag itself into the time of men, and in doing so, it would exacerbate those injuries done to it.

Stone groaned and rumbled, the weight of a mountain looming all around, pressure fit to crush her. Then the cavern groaned and ground back into place, and Ling Qi breathed out as below, wounded workers were released from the bounds of stone.

She looked to the closest of them, who mouthed the words “Thank you,” again and again in the silent dark.

She inclined her head and reached down to take his hand.

Best to get them out quickly before the spirit could change its course.

***

Ling Qi clasped her hands together in respect as the foreman of the crews on the peak bowed his scarred, bald head. He was just short of fully kowtowing, and Ling Qi really wished he wouldn’t.

This accident was not his fault. The geomatic maps should have shown such a locus of power, and the planners should have been able to take it into account. Even with the disruption of the general’s cut, the experts present should have been able to detect any internal movement of the mountain’s cores.

That was the explanation for now. A sudden seismic shift of the mountain’s internal structure, wrought by instability, had been the cause of this accident. And maybe she was seeing shadows around the corners, but she didn’t trust it.

There had been a not insignificant number of small accidents in the past week, although this was the worst so far. The only question was the real source of the troubles. From below? Or within?

She sincerely hoped it was the former. She’d have to speak with the ministry later.

She let none of the thoughts flitting through her head show on her face or in her voice as she spoke. “Please raise your head. Make your reports, and call an earth mover to reseal the pocket. Use my name to get it done swiftly, if you must. That mist will not keep forever nor would the mist satisfy the spirit if it did.”

“Yes, Lady Ling,” the foreman said. “Right away, Lady Ling.”

She gestured a dismissal and glanced toward the dots on the road to the west. The injured workers were being rapidly carried off to the medical tents. No fatalities, but several of them had suffered broken limbs and minor qi poisoning. She was glad she had been nearby when the incident began.

“I’ve alerted our in-house physician. He should be able to assist the Wang’s doctor with the sudden load.”

“Thank you, Meng Dan.” She had sensed him hanging back as she removed the last of the workers, but he’d not presented himself while she was speaking with the foreman. “I apologize for my lateness.”

“Given the circumstances, it could not be avoided,” he said pleasantly, peering past her shoulder the buzz of activity around the sinkhole. “There is no excuse for that to be there. My clan’s own geomancers, and the Wang’s, approved the digging plans.”

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“I know.”

Meng Dan pushed the lenses perched on his nose up. The commital scion had replaced his flowing scholar’s robes with something more practical today, a dark blue tunic belted at the waist, its longer hem hanging down over trousers and high riding boots. She sensed a frisson in the air, a pulse of qi, and a faint glimmer of silver appeared in his pupils.

“There’s no sign of impurities or anything else unnatural.”

“Please do not take it as an insult, Lady Ling. These eyes of mine are my only useful trait,” Meng Dan jested. “Nothing so obvious. However… those foundations. What remains is deeper than it should be.”

“Sloppy workmanship?”

“Unlikely. The plans given to the workers may need review though.”

“Regardless, that core should not have been close enough to be disturbed in the first place.”

“Many little pebbles make an avalanche, no? Will you return with me, Lady Ling? Lady Cai is waiting. I will leave some eyes here, if you are concerned.”

“Please do.” Ling Qi took one more glance back at the hole. She turned toward the observatory and fell in beside Meng Dan. “What is this about anyway? No offense. While I’m sure the sky is interesting, Lady Cai and I are both very occupied.”

“With the court astronomer’s deductions and observations and my own interactions, I have made some further observations on our guests’ culture and religion.”

“Sneaking off to drink with their soldiers again?”

“Only once,” he said blithely.

She gave him a hard look out of the corner of her eye. He merely wore that perpetual expression of mild amusement.