Chapter 29 Part 3

"What IS it you intend to do exactly?" Prilock asked once again.

"You will just have to see it for yourself. if I told you, it would be no more astonishing than my knife was."

Prilock nodded his head in agreement, then added, "You know, if I were good at deception, I can think of a few techniques I could employ to mislead the enemy. Pity I don't have the resources."

Sal's eyes widened. "Interestingly, I was thinking the same thing, except I have resources."

With that, Sal turned and walked away before another volley struck the barrier. This time, the incoming energy sizzled around like a fiery wheel as it tried to chew its way through the barrier. After the attack lost a lot of its initial energy, it faded into lightning that danced once more ever so slightly under the barrier. It was then that Sal was struck with another bit of inspiration, and he reversed direction back to Prilock.

"Have you got some other miracle to work that I need to know about?" Prilock asked dryly.

"Yeah, it's about psionic energy, actually. Does it behave like normal electricity, like lightning?"

"Sort of," replied Prilock. "It is more metaphysical than lightning. Lightning would exist even if no one was around to chant about it and make it happen. This energy is more subtle--it wouldn't really exist in the form it does if people were not here to shape it."

"Well, okay," began Sal, "But can it be stored? You know, sorta like a battery?"

"I'm not sure," Prilock answered thoughtfully while rubbing his hand against his head. "I suppose it could be."

Sal's gaze wandered about the town. "Do you have any really tall pieces of metal? Like a pole or girder or something?"

Prilock frowned. "How big are we talking?"

"About as big as the barrier you are generating in height."

"No," Prolock said as he shook his head.

"Okay, do you have anything we can lash together that is about that height?"

"Yeah," Prilock replied after waiting some time for consideration. "Yeah, I think we do. Some of the houses around here lose their roofing tiles every so often. Instead of getting on ladders, a lot of people fashion what we call a "tile hook". A tile hook is just a long metal rod designed to be used from the ground to move or replace the roof tile. I'm sure we could find enough of them to span that height, but they will be crude and ugly."

"Crude and ugly is better off than beautiful but useless," replied Sal. "Much better than being dead. Do you have any men you can spare to fetch a few along with something to lash them together?"