Wizard's Sword (The Battle Wizard Saga, No.2) by C.M. Lance Page B

faster and are weaker. But then, it also makes the tribe weaker when someone leaves." She frowned.
    "Is it like the power of a coven?"
    "Please don′t ever compare us to witches again." He looked at her profile. Her jaw flexed and she compressed her lips.
    "Sorry, I′ll never do it again. I′m still learning magic etiquette. So, can your tribe do any other magic?"
    She remained silent for a while. At a stop light, looking straight ahead she said, "If I told you that I′d have to kill you." She turned and looked at him. The way she looked, he decided she might be serious. Maybe the CIA got the saying from the Amazons. After all, they′ve been around a lot longer.
    †††
     
    As Sig parted from Giselle in the lab hallway, she smiled at him. Maybe she wasn′t pissed about the witch comparison.
    Randy Wheatley, the research section head he worked for, had assigned Sig the task of documenting work done to make windmills more efficient. As Randy explained, windmills are most efficient within a band of wind speeds. Unfortunately, no one informed the wind about it.
    Windmill designers contemplated operating efficiently within a broad band of conditions using pivoting blades to change the pitch. Still, many days didn′t fit the model, even in ideal locations. Calm days resulted in little to no electrical output. In excessive wind conditions, windmills 'feather′—the blades pivot to be parallel to the airflow. It prevents damage but reduces electrical output.
    Some magic practitioners specialize in wind control. Wheatley′s section recruited a few to determine what affect they could exercise on wind and windmills.
    Dottie, the wind witch, already lounged in a canvas beach chair on the rooftop from which they conducted experiments when Sig carried three laptop computers up that he used to record measurements. The table next to Dottie held a large glass of clear liquid and ice. A small drink umbrella and a straw stuck out of it. The rotund, elderly witch with an easygoing disposition claimed it contained water and Sig took her word for it.
    "Hi Wendy," Sig called as he plugged the computers into the measurement station harnesses.
    She giggled while he fiddled with plugs and power switches. When they first met, she introduced herself as Dottie the wind witch. Sig told her, "You should change your name to Wendy the Wind Witch. Then you can tell everyone that′s what the 'www′ in Internet addresses stands for." The idea delighted her and she told friends that she planned to change her name.
    Sig downloaded Doppler radar readings to calibrate air mass movement measurements. He reviewed these with Dottie and she told him what changes she would produce. Sig recorded their discussion and current readings to compare the before and after results of Dottie′s magic.
    After an hour, measurements revealed that a pressure system had shifted in an unexpected direction. This would improve airflows for local windmills. More importantly, Dottie had planned the movement earlier.
    While Sig collected the laptops, Dottie hung around to chat. "You told me that moving large scale air masses is more efficient than channeling gusts of wind through the windmills. Why is that?" Sig asked.
    "Gusts of wind don′t last long enough to be effective. They can be showy." She gestured and the five-by-eight notebook that Sig brought out with the computers blew off the measurement bench. With pages fluttering, it tumbled to the edge of the roof before it stopped. "But that little amount of wind would have almost no effect on the huge windmills. I can generate a gust big enough to move a windmill, but I couldn′t do it very long. However, carefully steering wind masses gets more bang for the buck. Once I get the wind mass moving correctly, it takes care of spinning the blades."
    "Is making wind blasts like throwing lightning?"
    "Oh no, lightning control requires a much higher order of power. It takes great strength to control all the power in lightning.