Flux

wouldn’t be entirely futile.
    Yet another slave mounted the stage. This one had two long scars on his face and was on the short side, but powerfully built. His collar was too small for him, Miner thought; it seemed to dig painfully into the man’s thick neck. Miner’s master seemed especially interested in this slave. He tugged on the leash, pulling Miner with him as he moved closer to the front of the crowd. Another of the spectators, a tall woman with a lined face and red beads in her hair, leaned over and said something to Miner’s master. The master shook his head and said something back. Her gaze shifted to Miner and she nodded knowingly before turning back to the stage.
    Bidding began and Miner felt his owner tense in preparation for joining the competition.
    And then the ground began to shake.
    Miner had felt small tremors before. They were fairly common in Praesidium. Sometimes some damage would be done, but the citizens of the polis would take it in stride and simply rebuild. Once, shortly after Miner joined the Guard, a poorly built structure had collapsed during a quake, and Miner had been put on the detail that combed through the rubble in search of survivors. Fortunately, it turned out that the building had been empty and nobody was hurt.
    Now, though, it quickly became apparent that this was no minor tremor. The earth rumbled and groaned as if the gods themselves were stirring. Buildings began to wobble and somewhere something fell with a tremendous crash. People began to yell and run away, as if they could somehow elude an earthquake. The few slaves who were still chained to the stage cowered and the stage itself collapsed, pinning the slaves and sending the auctioneer tumbling down to the ground. Terrible screams rent the air.
    Miner’s master, however, remained relatively calm. He looked about and saw, no doubt, that nothing was in imminent danger of crashing down on his head. So he widened his stance like a sailor on a pitching ship and he tightened his hold on Miner’s leash, jerking Miner closer to him as he did so.
    The building in which Miner had been cleaned and oiled prior to the auction crumpled as easily as a house of cards.
    As the quake continued, another sound joined the general din. Miner looked up toward the mouth of the harbor where the palace was so proudly perched, just in time to witness an enormous chunk of rock break off the cliff and go crashing into the sea. Miner’s master exclaimed loudly, saying something that Miner thought he recognized as one of the curses Ennek had learned from sailors.
    Another huge piece of the promontory fell off, and now the palace looked precarious indeed. And then, just as it seemed certain the palace would tumble into the sea as well, the quake stopped.
    Although the city resounded with screams and wails, and although several people continued to cry out from under the remains of the stage, there was a sudden, shocking silence as the earth ceased its roar. Those people who weren’t running around or huddled in terror on the ground simply froze, staring about in complete astonishment.
    And then, just as Miner’s master seemed likely to stir again, something happened that stole both their breaths: the sea went away. The water in the harbor pulled back, but not like a normal tide, more like a giant uncovering a bed. Boats were grounded. Fish and rocks and all manner of debris were revealed as the bottom of the ocean floor was exposed. It was the most horrifying thing Miner had ever seen.
    When the harbor was completely dry, everything was very still for a moment. Even the wounded seemed to stop their wailing. And then the water returned.
    It was too big to be called a wave—it would be much more accurate to call it a wall of water, a mountain of water, towering higher than the Keep, higher than the hill where the palace sat. And it was rushing toward them as swiftly as a bird might fly, faster even, making a noise that made even the earth’s grumblings seem like whispers.
    But as it drew closer, Miner realized something even stranger about the wave, as if all of this weren’t odd enough. The water wasn’t simply coming back into the harbor to refill the space it had just vacated. It was aiming , as assuredly as an arrow is aimed at a target. The great wave was moving directly toward the hill.
    At long last, Miner’s master seemed able to move again. He shouted and began to run inland. At first he tried to drag Miner with him, but Miner