Without the superhuman grace and agility bestowed upon us all, the only one with the slightest chance to get down the valley and to the village in one piece would have been Silva. Her lower centre of gravity and quadrupedal gait gave her a lot more stability, though even that might not have been enough, at least not while moving at speed. The terrain was incredibly rough, the ground completely sodden and slippery and the wind was strong enough to break off branches and even knock over the odd tree, adding to the danger we were facing. A part of me wanted to hide in some cave and let the furious storm break before continuing our journey, but doing so would almost certainly condemn the people we were moving to help either to outright drown or to starve after the storm had completely destroyed their crops.
Despite the horrible weather, we made fairly good speed, even if there was more than one moment in which I had to exploit the enchantment on my cloak to regain my balance or to keep Luna from slipping and tumbling down the slope we were running across. Thanks to that, it didn’t take all that long until we were in sight of the village and from what I could see, it was a good thing we had hurried as we did.
A few people were outside, braving the weather, covered in tarps, rain cloaks and whatever equipment they had to keep themself from getting utterly drenched, not that any equipment could accomplish that for long. The wind and rain were strong enough to breach almost any protection, and from what I could tell, the people didn't mind all that much. Their focus was on the river and the rising water, while their efforts were completely focused on keeping the river within the confines of its bed, though their success was quite limited.
Their best bet seemed to be a woman, maybe a little older than I was, wielding an incredibly familiar magic, though with limited success. She tried to freeze the water with Ice Magic, attempting to form a rampant or dyke with the frozen ice, but her power was too limited to have all that much success. She could freeze some water to create chunks of Ice roughly the size of my head, but by the time she could create another of those chunks, the first had already been washed away by the water, regardless of her efforts. She was just too weak as things were, her ability too limited.
Others around her tried to help, some by trying to drag the frozen blocks to shore before they could be destroyed or carried off by the rushing water, others had their own ideas to keep their village safe. Some of those were using shovels in a futile attempt to raise a wall, and others were trying to accomplish something with wood. It was all fairly disparate and desperate, their leadership apparently unable to form a coherent plan. Or maybe they simply didn’t have any plan with a chance of success they considered adequate, so they were simply throwing ideas in the water to see which might float.
I paused for a few moments to take this all in, but a strange, rushing sound pushed me into action and out of the forest. A surge of water came down from the mountains, more than enough water to break the confines of the riverbed and start swamping the banks, washing away all who were not prepared. Sure, it was only a few centimetres of water at the moment but I had no doubt that it would be more soon, thanks to the incessant rain. The water higher up in the mountains and along the valley had to go somewhere, and I doubted that it could drain into the already water-logged ground.
“Watch out,” I called out, drawing the attention of a few people and directing their attention to the onrushing water. Where before, the water had been flowing swiftly but fairly placidly; the onrushing tide was anything but. It looked like a mixture of mud, debris and water, all mixed together into a frothing mess, ready to sweep people off their feet. Some of it was already spilling over the riverbank; the rest was currently contained, but that would soon change. My call made a few people step back upon realising what sort of danger they were in, but not all. Some of them tried desperately to do something, anything, to stem the onrushing tide, but the looks on their faces made it obvious they knew it wouldn’t work.
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Stopping some distance away from the river, I drew a formation of Ice Runes into the air, knowing that it was my best bet. Sure, Earth might be superior as a construction material, but what I needed now wasn’t just strength; it was speed. I needed to secure the bank before the flood hit, or even I would be hard-pressed to keep the river from drowning the village and their fields.
My eyes flashed an icy blue as I activated Overflow to direct a surge of power into the formation. Immediately, a silvery beam of cryo-magical energy covered the distance between me and the river, striking the water and freezing massive chunks of Ice. Before those chunks could start to be carried down the river, I reached out with my Ice Magic, shaping them according to my needs before linking them together and anchoring them into the soil of the river bank.
Not a moment too soon, I was only done with the area of the riverbank facing towards the mountains when the flood hit, its power strong enough to push the entire Ice construct I had created back and into the mud of the river. But, with a bit of additional reinforcement I provided, the barrier held despite the rocks, mud and even the odd tree striking it. But my work wasn’t done; just because the area facing the mountain was secure didn’t mean the water wouldn’t flow around the barrier, so I continued, ignoring the awed stares of the locals for the moment. I was vaguely aware that Luna was nearby, talking to one of them, but my entire focus was directed towards the frozen barriers I was raising and the water that tried to tear them down.
Despite my focus, I could feel a momentary surge of discomfort when my natural layers of privacy were stripped away by some rude moron and their Observe ability, but as busy as I currently was, there was little I could do to counteract them. Quite frankly, I couldn’t spare the attention and even just the distraction inherent to the discomfort was almost enough to break the cycle of freezing, shaping and reinforcing I was in.
As I was working, I soon realised I would have to come up with a better solution. As things were, I could reinforce the Ice, but the rushing water, roughly eight degrees centigrade warm and the debris the water carried were excellent to destroy my barriers. If I wanted the Ice to last, I would have to continuously reinforce it, something that would leave me drained long before the water could drain away, meaning I would have to find a different solution. But first, I had to finish the barriers along the river and add some to the forest on the side of the mountain. It was only a matter of time until the forest would be swamped, and then water would do what it always did: flow downhill and destroy the fields I was currently protecting.
Under my direction, walls of Ice rose along the river until I could finally take a deep breath and relax for a bit of time. The work had taken only some fifteen minutes, but fifteen minutes of continuous spellcasting, all while Overflow was active, was hard work and represented more power than some spellcaster could utilise in a day. The water, while still rising far too quickly for anyone’s peace of mind, was no longer threatening to wash away everything these people had worked for and judging by the looks of sheer awe I was subjected to, they knew just how desperate their situation had been.
“Well, Mom, looks like we did it,” Luna grinned, stepping up next to me and lending me her shoulder to lean on, something I did despite my internal reluctance. I didn't want to be seen as weak but compared to collapsing in the fields, leaning on my daughter was far less of a sign of weakness.
“That we did. The barriers I created will last for a bit of time, long enough to devise a less temporary solution.” I nodded before continuing to speak. “But why don’t you introduce these people? I think I heard you talking to them, didn’t I?”
“Why, yes, you did. Now, why don’t we start with the one most interested in meeting you, at least after your demonstration on Ice Magic?” Luna grinned before gesturing to the woman I had seen wield Ice Magic on a much lesser scale than I to step forward. “Meet Sylvia; I’ve got a feeling she would love to pick your brain. But maybe later, there are other people who wish to meet you.”
