KINGDOM OF THE STONE -- a Wattpad featured novel

Chapter Nineteen

"Are you sure you can do it?" Bazma asked as he and Macander walked along behind Karux.

Karux looked down at Eiraena who walked along placidly holding his hand while examining a germinated seed in the other hand. "I've been giving her seeds and watching her do her thing for a maht now and I think I've figured out how it works. The plants want to grow so she doesn't really change them. She just pushes them along a bit. The real question is what happens after they germinate. I'm sure the plant draws its life from the soil and that will have to be pushed too, I'm just not sure how."

"So you won't be able to do it?" Bazma asked.

"I didn't say that." Karux smiled. "I just haven't figured out how to do it yet."

After having spent the winter in the stoma, the day felt warm, though the wind still had a cool edge to it. Clouds drifted overhead, thick and gray with the promise of rain while the farmers hurriedly dragged their plows across their fields, eager to get their seed in the ground before that promise was fulfilled.

The four boys followed Jomel out into the recently turned fields, their boots sinking into a rich loam that was nearly too moist for planting.

Gerron left the group of elders speaking to the owner of the field as they approached.

"Has he agreed to give us half of the harvest?" Jomel asked.

"He's agreed to give us half his second harvest, assuming this works and assuming the quality of the harvest is up to his standards."

"How generous of him," Jomel sneered.

Gerron shrugged. "He pointed out that an extra harvest will require extra work on his part."

"Will it be enough, do you think?" Jomel asked.

"It doesn't matter. When this works, the other farmers will beg to be included." Gerron turned to Karux. "Are you ready?"

"I guess so. Do we have a stool? This could take a while."

They searched around until they found a section of a tree that had been cut down, and rolled it out into the field. Karux sat on the stump, pulled out his stone and slid quickly into the world of schemas. He quickly sorted through the elemental shapes that represented the air and the land and found the seeds themselves, buried and waiting in the ground, each a tightly coiled spiral of potential.

Karux began chanting the names of the shapes he needed. They appeared in his vision, responding to his voice and he directed them outward with his awareness. He arranged them into alternating patterns, or schemas, each trailing upward from an individual seed like a ribbon. Then he uttered the command to activate them.

The command radiated outward like a wave, sending a shiver through the schemas. They each collapsed into the seed then, like a chisel striking a stone and causing it to split along a seam. The seeds opened and began to grow.

Karux started chanting again, shaping new schemas, tying the seeds into the life of the soil, pushing them to grow. He continued until his head began to hurt and the fatigue made it difficult to concentrate.

Blinking his way back to the world of light and shadow, Karux looked around and noticed Bazma, Jomel and most of the elders had left. "Boy! Am I hungry," Karux groaned.

"I'm not surprised," Macander laughed. "You missed dinner. It's nearly time for supper."

Karux looked up and noticed much of the cloud cover had burned off and that the sun was hanging low in the west.

"Well, it's impressive," the farmer said. "I'll give you that."

Karux looked around at a wide circle of bright green shoots standing about knee height.