89 A distracted local lord,

For'Ten had gone looking for the local in charge of this land and the word was that he was holed up in his private family home entertaining guests.

"How long can you entertain guests!" For'Ten had fumed in their loaned home.

Ed shifted in his seat, "Didn't Ko'Loss put us up for a long time?"

"He put you up! And you are pretty much his son at this point..." For'Ten's voice was leaking exasperation.

His son? Really? Ed thought to himself. "Maybe, we know where the house is and it's on our way out of town."

For'Ten and Ed had hatched a plan over dinner. They decided to send a message to both village heads the next morning. They wanted to leave and head towards the river before they got the messages. That way there was no way they could catch up and alter the scene. With their ability to travel large distances they shouldn't be interfered with.

Currently, the sun was just peeking its head over the horizon. They had left before sunrise so they could escape unseen. It wasn't the most honorable way to leave town, but because the magistrate of this area wasn't paying attention to his duties there were just too many disputes for For'Ten alone to fix. The best thing was to fix the magistrate and then let him fix the rest.

For'Ten had made a mental note to have knights visit the magistrates regularly and without announcement. That should keep them good and nervous.

They were covering ground at a leisurely pace. The sun was coming up but the cold chill of night air still hung close to the ground. Where the sun was coming up steam was coming off the grass and water. It was an eerie site to Ed who wasn't used to this. His home in Deavers had been strictly city center and the rocks in town only ever did this for a week or two. He was still amazed by it every time he saw it.

For'Ten was enjoying the freedom of not being bombarded with requests from every small village. The previous towns had been fairly well managed and local disputes were handled fairly. The drastic breakdown in this area gave him the hint that something had been going on for a while now.

When they got to the area that Ed had judged to be the stream they realized they had missed the described area. If they had stayed to get exact directions the two people may have sent runners out to get home first and alter the scene. The body of water they came upon was still undisturbed. The water was easily 10 feet wide but not very deep. Crystal clear water flowed along smoothly with little fish hiding in the warmth at the bottom.

"Further down from the looks of it," For'Ten said. He had walked down to the water's edge and put his hand in. The water was cool and when he tasted it, it had the brisk taste of freshwater. This far out you didn't have to worry about the disease from animal waste.

The trip to the dam didn't take long. They trotted along the edge until they came upon the area where the two villages were doing battle. It was obvious too. Large piles of logs and debris stood on one side of the small river. On the other side, you could see a hand-dug aqueduct.

The problem here was the aqueduct was obviously bigger than the natural river. There was no way, that even with a beaver, the towns were going to receive a fair share of water.

For'Ten surveyed the scene and sighed. "This is why the magistrate should have been involved. He could tax that weasel into paying for his extra water. Then use that tax to help dig more wells for the offending village."

Ed looked at For'Ten. It wasn't often that he got to see the side of him that specialized in civic issues. He forgot that For'Ten spent time in the council chambers. All the meetings must have worn off on him. It was learned behavior from observation.

"Well, these logs are definitely hand-hewn. No bite marks here. I know beavers. We had them at home." Ed said leaning over to look at the edge of the logs and check for other signs of human involvement.

The rocks were obvious plants too. Beavers will in fact use any natural building material they can find. They like to use natural rocks to help wedge logs to place when building their damn. However, these rocks were too large. Unless these beavers were demi-humans they couldn't have lifted them.

"For'Ten are their beaver based Demi-humans?" Ed asked, it was an obvious question but he needed to ask anyway.

"Not at all. Rodent based Demi-humans are rare. Ratfolk are the only ones and even they like to stay hidden." For'Ten replied while mentally surveying the river. "What do we want to do here Ed?"

Ed got up and walked to the river. He looked at the two mouths and small island in the middle. He could widen the natural opening but to make it fair he would need to do it the whole way down.

"I don't know how much we can do without taking the river all the way to the original village. I have an idea about how to keep them from damming it up again though..." Ed looked at the river and rubbed his neck.

For'Ten followed his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

Scheming wasn't Ed's strong suit but he did have brilliantly simple ideas at times. "What if I just get rid of the dirt far enough down that they give up on building another fake beaver dam?"

"Do you think you can do it and run still?" For'Ten had serious concerns about this. Ed's stamina was increasing but he wasn't sure when that stamina would run out. And when it did, and Ed's mana and divine power were fully exhausted, his body would shut down until it recovered.

"Deep enough I imagine. Ko'Loss has a memory of making a pit in the ground by making thick substances into smaller substances. I want to see if I can turn the mud into must smaller pieces. Like fine silt. It might block up the river further down but not by much I hope. If the damn was a little further up I could try and float it down the aqueduct."

For'Ten smiled. "Yeah, that would serve them right for digging it. It would even things out too. What if you got rid of that part in the middle. Moved it back a little, and then dug the hole out?"

Ed looked at it. It might work. He had a general idea of how rivers worked. At home they dug the clean dirt out of the river for glass. Glass was Deavers claim to fame. He thought he could make this work.

Ed tilted his head back and forth to stretch out his neck muscles before cracking his fingers and shaking out his hands. He had been practicing using his mana on small magics but this kind of magic was going to be new. He focused his brain on the meditating techniques that he had learned at the mansion and then got on his knees by the river mouth.

He put his hands on the earth and slowly dug his fingertips under the top of the soil. He pushed around and felt out for the breathing natural energy of the earth. When he felt it he concentrated on the area where the water met the soil. They had two different energies.

Ed had been studying Ko'Loss's books as he asked him to. He understood the natural properties of different substances and objects now. Knowledge made magic stronger. It was that knowledge that had let Ko'Loss come up with the idea to turn himself into a golem in the first place.

He pushed a small amount of mana into the soil and focused on the area where the water touched the dirt. At first, the water boiled just a bit and then stopped flowing down the natural path. Dirt broke off the little island in the middle and became a delta. Ed was using his mana as a natural damn to force erosion. Diverting the water was easier than changing the state of the soil.

For'Ten watched, thinking nothing was happening at first. Then slowly he saw the tiny peninsula erode away and water flowing around where land used to be. Soon, twenty feet of soil was gone, washed down the dugout aqueduct. "Serves them right," For'Ten muttered to himself.

The water started flowing more naturally again for a second before whitecaps formed on the water. Under the surface, Ed had forced the water down and into the hard soil at the bottom. It was picking up dirt and mud and forcing it down both bends of the small river. What was once pristine clear water was now muddy and disturbed.

After another few minutes, Ed pulled his fingers out of the dirt and fell on his back breathing in long controlled breaths. He had expended mana but from what he could tell he had only used a small portion. He had been able to pull mana from the earth and use it against itself. That would look like a natural force and hopefully keep the divines off of his back.

For'Ten shook his head in amazement and turned around to walk over to Ed. Ed was laying on the ground breathing about ten feet from where he previously stood. "You okay down there?" For'Ten hoping he wouldn't have to carry him for three days while he recovered.

"I'm fine, just absorbing as much mana as I can," Ed said softly. He was quietly enjoying the feel of the soft grass here by the river.

"Well don't lay too long. The magistrate lives about 30 miles from here. We have a job ahead of us. And I don't want to be here when the villages downriver see the muddy water. They are going to know something is up." For'Ten held out a hand waiting for Ed to take it.

"Yeah, good point. That hole is a good 15 feet deep now. I dare them to damn that up now." Ed said with a sense of satisfaction that lasted him the rest of the morning.

They took off from that part and ran past the village as quick as they could. When they got within eyesight of it Ed slowed down just enough to see the villagers pointing and screaming at the water. For'Ten was right. They were running around like ants after you kick off the top of their pile. Ed picked up speed and shook his head. He was glad that didn't happen as often in the north. All civic projects had to be cleared and completed by the church.