The Far West (17 page)

Professor Jeffries had been looking for a good excuse to go out to the study center since early March, so he wasn’t hard to persuade. When word got around, Mr. Zarbeliev and Adept Alikaket decided to go, too. Professor Torgeson and I sent them all off the next day and went back to preparing for the expedition.

Our biggest concern was all the supplies. Thirty-one people couldn’t travel with just saddlebags and a couple of packhorses, especially not if we were going to do all the things the Frontier Management Department wanted us to do. The organizing committee had settled on covered wagons as the best option, packed as tight and full as we could manage. We could carry a
lot that way; the trouble was that everyone wanted their own supplies right on top, where they would be easy to get at, and the only way to make sure that happened was to go down to the warehouse and help load.

After the third time Sergeant Amy caught someone rearranging crates so as to put their gear on top and someone else’s underneath, she threw everyone out of the warehouse.

“Since you can’t do it properly yourselves, the army will load the wagons,” she told us. “Each of you can give me a list of what you need, ranked by how often you expect to need it. I’ll do my best to accommodate you, but anyone who gives me a list that says they need everything every day is going to find their equipment on the bottom layer in the very last wagon. Clear?”

Between that and the army unit’s arrival the next day, things went a lot more smoothly for the next week. Then, two days before we were expected to leave, Dr. Lefevre and Adept Alikaket came back from the study center.

They brought the mammoth with them.

Nobody was particularly pleased to have the mammoth over in West Landing — Dr. Lefevre had at least been sensible enough not to try to bring it back through the Great Barrier Spell to Mill City — but nobody objected out loud in public on account of Adept Alikaket being involved. Even Mr. Corvales, who was supposed to be in charge of the expedition, only pursed his lips and said he’d have to talk to the adept right away.

Professor Torgeson wasn’t so restrained in private. I think she really wanted to rip up at Professor Jeffries, but he’d had the sense to stay at the study center, so she couldn’t get at him. Instead, she lit into Dr. Lefevre almost the minute she saw him.

“What were you thinking?” she demanded. “If you knew the work it took to get that beast out there in the first place —”

Dr. Lefevre’s dark eyes narrowed and he drew himself up to his full height, which was considerable. “I do not owe you an explanation, madam.”

“That’s
professor
,” Professor Torgeson snapped. “And
somebody
owes me an explanation. Who came up with this idea, anyway? Jeffries?”

“Adept Alikaket,” Dr. Lefevre said with obvious satisfaction. “Require your answers from him,
madam
.” And he left the room before Professor Torgeson recovered enough to blast him again.

Professor Torgeson was out of sorts for the rest of the day. We finally got some of the story at the expedition meeting the following morning, though it wasn’t the whole tale by any means.

Mr. Corvales started off with basic information, like who would be in charge of what and suchlike. Then he introduced the captain of the army unit, Adept Alikaket, and the expedition doctor. Dr. Faber was a tall, thin man with a disapproving expression that made me hope that neither Lan nor I got sick for the next two years.

Captain Velasquez was an older man of medium height, with tight-curled black hair and skin only a few shades lighter. He spoke next, giving a little speech about cooperation among all the different sections of the expedition. Adept Alikaket went last and said least, just a few words about extending the horizons of knowledge and suchlike. I grinned to myself when he stood up to talk, and then raised my eyebrows when he spoke with only a light Cathayan accent. He knew a
lot
more English than he’d let on.

When the speeches were over, the three of them asked for questions, and naturally the first thing everyone wanted to talk about was the mammoth.

Adept Alikaket said that after talking with the college representatives (Professor Jeffries, presumably), he’d felt that the mammoth could be very useful to the expedition. It could
haul a lot of the crucial magical supplies, which would mean one less wagon and a bit more space in the wagons we did take. The adept knew the spells the Bharat magicians used to train elephants, and he’d tried them out on the mammoth, and they’d worked fine. Professor Torgeson wasn’t the only one to look skeptical, but nobody wanted to be the one to tell the adept that bringing the mammoth along was a bad idea. I looked over at the adept’s expressionless face and couldn’t help wondering whether he had more reasons for wanting the mammoth along than just hauling baggage. If he did, he obviously hadn’t told anyone.

Once we finished with the questions, Mr. Corvales told everyone to get to know one another, especially the folks from the other sections of the expedition. He gave the army captain a rather pointed look when he said that, which made me think that maybe the captain wasn’t in favor of a lot of mingling.

After the meeting was completely over, including the mingling, Professor Torgeson told me to wait. She and Professor Ochiba had done some organizing of their own, and gotten all the women of the expedition together to sort out sleeping arrangements. There were seven of us, in total: the two professors and me; Sergeant Amy; Mrs. Anna Wilson and Miss Bronwyn Hoel from the support staff; and Miss Elizabet Dzozkic from the exploration-and-survey group. Elizabet and Bronwyn were a dowser-surveyor team who had worked together for a long time, so they got the first tent, and it only made sense to put the two professors together.

That left me in the last tent with the sergeant and Mrs. Wilson. I thought that would be all right. I’d liked what I’d
seen of the sergeant, and Mrs. Wilson was just as brisk and friendly as you’d expect from someone who was along as the expedition cook.

When I got home that afternoon, Rennie and Allie ambushed me. Allie was scowling and her lips kept twitching like she had a bad taste in her mouth. “You and Rennie have to talk,” she told me, and shoved the pair of us into the front parlor.

“Allie …!” Rennie was too late; the door had closed behind her. “Drat that girl!”

“What is this about?” I demanded. “If you’re making another try at talking me out of going on the expedition, I’m leaving right now. You have no business —”

“It’s not that,” Rennie interrupted. She opened her mouth and then closed it again, looking very uncomfortable.

“Then what?” I wasn’t in any mood for more fussing, no matter what the subject.

“We thought — it’s about going. On the expedition.”

I waited.

“There’s a spell you need to know,” Rennie said very fast. “Mama should … but she won’t … Allie and I decided …”

“Rennie,
what
are you on about?” I said.

Rennie took a deep breath. “You are going on an expedition out into the middle of nowhere with seven women and twenty-three men. You can’t … Two years is a long while, and men can be very persuasive. You need to be prepared.”

“Rennie, I don’t —”

“There’s a spell,” Rennie continued with grim determination. “To keep from … getting in an interesting condition.”

I was having a hard time believing my ears. I remembered the way Rennie had chased after Brant when the McNeil expedition came back; I really didn’t think he’d been the one being “very persuasive.” And I knew
somebody’d
been persuasive, on account of the way Rennie’d eloped with Brant so suddenly. I’d suspected the reason behind it for a while, and then Rennie finally let Papa record little Albert’s birth date in the family Bible, and I knew for sure. Albert had been born barely seven months after Rennie and Brant ran off together. And here she was lecturing me about taking care! And … “You mean there’s a spell to keep from falling pregnant?”

Rennie’s face turned pink. She nodded. “It doesn’t always work, but it’s better than nothing, which is all the more those men are likely to have handy.” She sniffed. “It goes like this —”

I just stood there gaping, while Rennie went over the words and demonstrated the spell. By the time she finished, her face was bright red, but she pushed on. “Now you try it,” she said. “Go on.”

“Allie put you up to this, didn’t she?” I said, ignoring her commands.

“I’m married,” Rennie said, trying to look dignified. “She isn’t. It’s more appropriate for me to do it.”

“Appropriate?” I snorted. “Of all the nerve! What, you think that just because I’m going on the expedition, I’ll turn into some kind of tart?”

“Of course we don’t think that,” Rennie said in a tone that made me positive that both of them had discussed just exactly that and were in complete agreement.

“The pair of you are the nosiest, most interfering, bossiest sisters anybody has ever had,” I said. “And I’m not staying to hear more. Not from you.”

I hadn’t thought Rennie could get any redder, but she did. “My … history isn’t important here! You need to know this.”

“Well, you’ve shown me your spell, and that’s enough.” I could see that it’d be a good thing to know one day, though I’d no intention of needing to make use of it on the trip, but I wasn’t about to tell Rennie any of that. I’d ask Sergeant Amy if I decided I needed to know more. She seemed like she’d be a lot better source of information than Rennie. Besides … I suppressed a sudden grin. “And if it’s that important, you should teach Lan and William, too. You tell Allie that.”

I left while Rennie was still sputtering and looking horrified. I didn’t speak to her or to Allie for the rest of the day. When I finally got over being mad, I had to admit that they were trying to be a help, in their own way. I just wished they could have done it without being so annoying. Of all the ways to let me know they’d finally come around to the notion of me going on the expedition, they had to pick the most embarrassing one.

The next two days went by in a whirl. Mill City had given the McNeil Expedition a huge send-off eleven years before, and Mayor Brewster was determined to make this one bigger and better, especially since so many of the expedition members were from the town or the college. The mayor had wanted us to parade down to the docks the day we left, but Mr. Corvales put his foot down. He figured we’d have a hard enough time making our first day’s mileage as it was, and he
wasn’t having a parade to run late and complicate things even worse.

So the parade and the big official good-bye dinner and the last round of fireworks all happened the day before we left. I thought at first that I’d rather have spent the evening at home, but Mr. Corvales said we should all be there if we could, along with any of our friends or family who wanted to see us off, and in the end I was mostly glad I’d gone. The whole family was on edge as it was; I didn’t like to think how it would have been if it had just been the lot of us at home.

Rennie stuck close by Brant all evening, like she was afraid he’d change his mind at the last minute and come with us after all. Papa and Mama looked proud and worried at the same time. Allie couldn’t seem to make up her mind whether to scowl and disapprove of everything or fuss over whether Lan and I had forgotten to pack something she figured we’d need, so she alternated between the two all evening long. Robbie and Lan were overexcited, and talked a mile a minute with anyone who’d stand still to hear; Brant made up for them by sitting in silence through most of the evening, even after Mayor Brewster finished with his good-luck speech.

The dinner was in the big meeting hall in the middle of town, and between the expedition members, their families and friends, and all the important folks from town, we pretty much filled the place up. A lot of the professors from the college came, and I was surprised to see Professor Graham among them. I worried a little that he and William would have another big blowup right there in public, which wouldn’t be the best way to start off, but I couldn’t really do anything
about it if they did. I didn’t relax until I saw that the two of them were sitting at different tables with their backs to each other.

After dinner, we all went out to the square for the fireworks, and I lost track of everyone but my family in the dark. William joined us on the wool blanket we’d brought, and he and Lan and Papa spent the whole time commenting on the spells that shaped the sparks into glowing pictures in the sky. There was one that was supposed to be a mammoth, but it looked more like a mastodon to me, and we had a friendly argument over whether it was because the magician doing the spell didn’t know the difference (William and me) or whether he knew but hadn’t gotten the illusion spell quite right (Papa and Lan).

When the fireworks were over, William said good night and then went off with Papa and Lan to speak with the expedition leaders. Allie and I stayed behind to pack up. As I picked up the blanket we’d been sitting on, I heard a cough behind me. I turned. “Professor Graham!” I said. “Papa’s just off talking with Mr. Corvales; he’ll be back in a minute.”

“Actually, Miss Rothmer, I’d like to have a word with you, if I might,” the professor said.

“All right,” I said, a little taken aback. I finished folding the blanket and gave it to Allie to put into a carrypack, then followed the professor a little way to one side. There wasn’t anywhere private to talk in such a crowd, but being surrounded by a lot of busy, happy strangers in the dark made it seem like no one was paying attention, which was almost as good.

“Professor?” I said after a minute. “What was it you wanted to say?”

“I just wanted to wish you and — and your brother the very best of luck,” Professor Graham said quickly. “And the whole expedition, of course. It’s a great honor to be chosen; I’m sure your parents are very proud.”

“Thank you, Professor,” I said. “I think they are, though I know Mama worries, too.”

“Any parent would,” Professor Graham said. “Whether they show it or not.”

I couldn’t help smiling slightly, but I was quite serious when I said, “We all know how dangerous it is, but it’s — it’s exciting to be part of something new like this.”

Professor Graham was silent for a minute, then he said, “If this expedition is even partially successful, it will open up a lot more territory for settlement. It’s an important thing you’re doing.”

“I understand, Professor, and thank you,” I said. I hesitated for a moment, then added, “I’ll be sure and pass your good wishes along to the rest of the expedition members when I get the chance.”

“Thank you, Miss Rothmer, I’d appreciate that,” Professor Graham said. “I probably should not have left it so late to express my opinion on the matter.” He nodded as if that settled something, and walked me back to Mama and Papa.

I thought real hard all the way home, and only some of it was about Professor Graham. A good part was considering the talk I’d had with Brant right before I decided to accept Professor Torgeson’s offer. Except for Lan, I wouldn’t be seeing
my family again for at least two years, maybe more. Nan’s baby would be walking and talking by the time I got back. Brant and Rennie would likely be in a place of their own, here in town or maybe out in the settlements. And who knew what Allie and Robbie would be up to, or the rest of my family back East?

All the times I’d gone out to settlement country before, I’d missed my family, but it hadn’t ever been too bad because I knew I’d see them again in a few weeks, or months at most. This was going to be a lot longer and a lot harder. I was missing them already, and I hadn’t even left town yet!

I glanced over at Lan and saw him studying Albert and Seren Louise pensively. I wondered if he was thinking the same things I was. He’d been away at boarding school and then at Simon Magus for the best part of six years before the accident, but he’d had letters from all of us and the train from Philadelphia to Mill City only took two days if there’d been reason for him to come home.