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Param was not surprised. “How can they block an escape into the past?” she asked.
“They dug a deep, wide pit,” said Rigg. “I can see the paths of the men who dug it out. If I jump us back into the past, it’ll either be underground, killing us instantly, or it’ll be in the midst of the men digging—who were warned, I’m sure, to watch for us to appear suddenly among them.”
“Interesting,” said Param. “And we can be sure they’ll have barriers made of stone or metal to keep me contained.”
“They promised,” said Olivenko, “to have no one carrying any kind of metal or stone larger than a single coin within a walk from the place.”
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??It’ll be interesting to see what they’ve devised,” said Param. “They made their plans based on what they knew of our abilities. But those have changed. Noxon and I worked on my slicing. I can go backward, for one thing. And I can slice forward at such a pace that they could pass iron bars through me for hours without my heating up more than a degree or two.”
“And if they find some way to defeat that,” said Rigg, “remember that I have a facemask and I’m trained as a fighter now. Not just the boy they knew in Aressa Sessamo.”
“Armed only with a knife,” said Loaf.
“A knife in the hands of a masker is like a hundred arrows,” said Rigg.
“Is that a quotation from something?” asked Olivenko.
“From me,” said Rigg. “It’s a thing I said while approaching the trap laid by my mother and General Citizen.”
“I’ll write it down,” said Olivenko, “so other people can say it again, quoting you.”
“That’s assuming anybody ever reads anything you write,” said Param. “I’m sorry, Olivenko, but scholars are rarely read by anyone but other scholars.”
“But I’m a victorious general,” said Olivenko. “And Rigg is a great timeshaper. Even if they don’t read my works, they’ll want to remember him and his.”
“Enough,” said Loaf. “I think when we crest this rise, they’ll be visible to us and us to them.”
“Time for you to all drop back into the past,” said Param.
“Not yet,” said Loaf. “Not until we’ve seen the place. So Umbo can come back and hide and watch.”
They reached the crest and looked down into a narrow valley, with a deep pit in the middle. The pit was nearly filled by a large one-story house with a sturdy-looking roof.
“First time it rains,” said Rigg, “that pit’s going to fill with water.”
“Maybe they’re hoping it’ll do that, and we’ll drown while slicing,” said Param.
“Don’t point, Umbo. Just tell them where you’ll be.”
“The trees on the north end of the pit,” said Umbo. “I’ll pop in there just about two minutes from now.”
“We’ll notice the spot as we go down to the house,” said Param. “Thank you, Umbo. Thanks to all of you. Either we’ll come out of this with a treaty of surrender—their surrender—or we’ll have Umbo popping up in front of us to tell us not to do this.”
But Umbo was already gone. As were the others. Param and Rigg walked down the hill without anyone close at hand. A few witnesses had been sent ahead and were seated with a few unarmed men from Haddamander’s army on a platform overlooking the pit.
“There’s no one at all inside the house,” said Rigg. “No one in hiding places, not even in the roof.”
“I’d say Mother and Haddamander missed some opportunities there.”
“Or they’ve had good reports on Captain Toad’s ability to see where everyone is hiding.”
“You’ve never been Captain Toad, as far as they know,” said Param. “Square did the job, the only time they remember.”
“Ah, but he has a facemask, and nobody can hide from a facemask. Not if they’re breathing or their heart is beating.”
A voice came from the platform of observers. “Hagia Sessaminiak is approaching from the other side! Please wait to enter the house until she is there!”
