The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(52)

Bringing his attention back to the ground, he saw the same awe and shock reflected on the faces of villagers who had come out of the house. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Liva breathed, staring up at the sky, and Blaise nodded.

He knew that a new legend had been born.



*



With the immediate danger from the storm averted, Blaise focused on helping the village manage the devastation left behind. They started off with a search for survivors among those who hadn’t made it to safety before the worst of the storm hit. With his enhanced hearing, Blaise was able to locate five people buried beneath the rubble of their homes and heal their injuries. In the meantime, the villagers found an old couple that were already beyond his help, having been crushed by their falling roof.

Once everyone was accounted for, they began assessing the damage done to the homes. Aside from Liva’s house and that of her neighbors, no other dwelling was habitable. Several houses had burned down from the lightning strikes, while hail had destroyed the roofs of most others.

It was an utter disaster.

“It will take us years to recover from this,” Liva whispered, her eyes swimming with tears as she gazed at the piles of rubble where houses once stood. “In all my years here, I have never seen a storm that bad. Usually there is some damage, but we’ve never lost so much.”

Blaise’s heart squeezed with pity. He couldn’t even imagine what these people had to be thinking, how devastated they must be. What bothered him the most was the defeated look on these stoic people’s faces. They had survived so much, only to be forced to start all over again.

As he looked around, an idea began to brew in his mind. He and Gala would not be able to stay for much longer, but before they left, there was something he could do to ensure the villagers wouldn’t suffer like this again. He could use sorcery to help them rebuild—and make sure that the resulting houses were far stronger than the weak structures they just lost. The houses in Turingrad were usually made of stone, and they were much sturdier because of that.

It didn’t take much time to gather the rocks of just the right size and shape. The spell to hollow them out was fairly easy—the inside hole was a half-sphere, the code for which was straightforward. The door opening was trickier. Still, though far from a stonemason, Blaise managed to spell a fairly even opening leading to the empty space inside every rock.

What he now had were miniature rock houses.

It was time for another spell. This one was more nuanced, as he had to have the molecules of the rocks multiplied in just the right amount and alignment. After an hour of concentrated coding, Blaise walked over to what used to be the village square, placed his rock in the middle, and stepped back, loading the spell card into his Interpreter Stone.

A minute later, a large stone structure stood there. It was not the most aesthetically pleasing house, but it was made of solid rock—and thus far more durable than anything made of wood. A few more spells took care of carving out the windows.

The first house was done.

Now Blaise had only about twenty more to go.



*



Several hours later, exhausted from non-stop coding, Blaise looked up to check on Gala. She was still floating there, her eyes closed. However, the storm around the village was beginning to ease, the black clouds slowly dissipating and the lightning strikes becoming less frequent.

He had no idea how she must be feeling or the amount of effort that it took to control such a powerful force of nature. She looked peaceful enough, but he was still worried about her. At this point, however, all he could do was wait for the storm to pass and for her to descend.

As he continued making progress with the stone houses, the villagers started to gather around him, watching in amazement. “Blaise, these houses of yours are like fortresses,” Ara exclaimed, walking through one of the structures. “I think they could even withstand a storm like the one we just had.”

“That’s the idea,” Blaise replied, giving her a tired smile. “Of course, you’ll still need to put up some walls inside to create multiple rooms, but at least the basic outer shell will be there. I also added a few scent markers to the outer walls of these houses, so that should hopefully keep the bearwolves and other creatures of their ilk away from Alania.”

Thinking about that reminded Blaise that he still needed to give the villagers a few spell-enhanced seeds, so they could plant some fruits and vegetables that would survive these storms. Luckily, he had a small stash of them in his house in the canyon; he’d have to remember to pick up that stash the next time he and Gala went there. He also wanted to give Liva an Interpreter Stone. That would take a while to make, but he had the materials back in the house as well.

“You’re leaving soon, aren’t you?” Esther asked quietly, coming up to him. He’d explained to her earlier about Ganir’s visit, and she knew that he and Gala couldn’t stay in the village for long.

“Yes, we have to.” Blaise hesitated for a moment. “You and Maya are staying here, right?”

Esther nodded. “We’re getting too old for traveling from one end of the mountains to another,” she said regretfully. “And I think we could be of use to these people. They don’t have any proper midwives here.”

Blaise smiled at her. “Of course, I understand.” He would miss the two women, but he didn’t want to drag them along on their travels. As it was, they had left their comfortable lives behind because of him. “I wish we could stay as well, but I’m afraid we would be putting everyone in danger by being here. If they come looking for us, we won’t go quietly, and things could get violent.”