Free Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) by P.S. Power Page A

time, while carrying their gear.
Now they carefully moved onto the top of a wall that was about ten feet thick,
as he hovered right next to it. There was a drop of about two feet, but
knocking the wall down probably wouldn't go over that well.
    As soon as the first bodies were
on the thing, one of the green lights moved away, waving in the direction they
all needed to go. Captain Jones piled out, going last.
    "We're here for the
duration. Can you get us that light until dawn? We were told that there would
just be a drop off? I didn't know we'd get anything past that, from what was
said."
    "We can do that. I have
things to do later, but it won't be a problem for now."
    That got a wave from the man, who
was merchant tall, but didn't seem to look down on him or anything. Then, the
man hadn't bothered to ask his name either. He was just the pilot of the day. Apparently
that was enough, since the man had seemed shocked that there was more than a
ride to the disaster area.
    He had to follow the line of
bodies to get to the work area, but it was very clear to see what was needed. A
large wall along a big river had broken. Water was pouring through the thick
thing, which was responsible for all the flooding that was visible. Yes, there
was too much water, but the real issue was that one thing.
    Dare could see it as soon as he
made the ship light up appropriately. Like the sun itself. That meant going
upward, since otherwise people would be left blind if they looked up. He had to
dim the shield window just so he didn't end up sightless himself. It was hard
to see what the men and women on the ground were getting up to, but they moved
around, and after many hours of this, as the sun came up, he was able to dim
the light and see what had been going on.
    A lot, as it turned out.
    The construction crew had sealed
the breach, using magical devices to move damp earth, and concentrators to turn
it into focus stone. There were other cracks that had opened up, which meant
those had to be fixed up as well, but just stopping the constant flow allowed
the city inside the wall to empty out through the other side.
    After a while Dareg lowered the
craft, to get some water. His stomach was rumbling, and while the ship had the
ability to turn pretty much anything into food, or clean water, it needed something
to work from. So he pumped a tank on the bottom side full, with thousands of
gallons, and moved the ship down to the wall carefully, causing one of the
walls to drop totally. The inside had to be shifted around, making tables for
people to eat at, and chairs that were comfortable, but not the cushy things
from before.
    Dareg started putting out plates
of food, all of it egg toast with honey, and fried eggs, on a long counter.
There was sausage, too. Also a knife and fork on each plate. It was what he
wanted, and he'd managed about twenty of them when people figured out what an
array of filled plates likely meant. No one asked if it was for them,
until the first fifteen or so had theirs and were tiredly consuming food at the
tables.
    It was Jones that walked over,
smiling when a plate was taken from the glowing hole in the wall and shoved
into his hands.
    "Eat. I need to soon,
myself. You look to be nearly done here?"
    That got a head shake. The man didn't
move to sit down, just taking some sausage and eating it while standing there.
Each plate had four of them, and they were nearly identical, since that was the
image that Dareg had for such things. Crispy on the outside, but not over done.
    "We need to cover the second
breach still. This was the worst of it, but whoever built this mess to begin
with was a moron. We'll be here until mid-afternoon. That's if we make
good time." There was no hinting that it would be nice if the craft stayed
so they'd have food, water, and nice restrooms. That reminded him to set that
part up. He touched the wall, making it happen, and noticed that nearly a third
of the people saw it and stood up, leaving their food