Clem gave a rare laugh.
“I came to see otherwise, of course,” I said, “but it took me a while.”
She looked at me thoughtfully. “What did you think you’d do to help me?”
“I tried to warn you away from things. Many times. And you ignored me.”
“Yes. I remember. You were very insistent.” She smiled again. “It was false fire.”
I shook my head. “But that’s a very difficult casting. And you were drunk.”
Clem looked at me, amused. “I was no more drunk than you are now.”
“What?”
“Not in the least. I heard Vera scream, so I looked out the window and saw what she was up against. The situation required a fool, and I’m always ready to play the fool.” She turned back to the charred remains of the cottage and threw something from her pocket over the crumbled stone wall.“Madurar, madera,”she whispered. A crunching sound from within the ruins gave way to a rapid rustling, and I watched in admiration as a sapling burst upward from the stones, thickening and branching before my eyes, quickly obscuring the sun that came down into the clearing. Within seconds it had stopped, and an oak stood where the cottage had once been, dwarfing the trees around it so that the footprint of the house seemed diminutive. “Just to make sure,” she said with satisfaction. “And we’ll use the stones for something else.”
I didn’t have the chance to ask how she’d done it, because the clattering sound of carriages on the dirt road announced an imminent arrival. We looked at each other, then walked together out into the gardens.
The Cisneros Society had arrived. Not just Karl Draken, but Hornsby and several other members as well, all with their attendant thews. I could see enough in their unguarded thoughts to discern that they were gathering here to plan their next move after the séance. So we could expect more than a hundred enchanters to arrive at the Manse in due course. And yes, there he was—Simeon! He alighted with his father, entirely unaware of who awaited him.
The men of the Cisneros Society stopped at the sight of us. I had dropped my disguise, and Clem looked exactly like herself: still rakishly attired in her trousers and shirt, hair tousled, expression calm. Simeon stared at us. For a brief moment, as he realized who I was, I had the pleasure of seeing his confusion melt into a spasm of alarm, and then, abruptly, he guarded his thoughts. The response was repeated in every one of them who’d known me as a living man. Even the thews looked momentarily taken aback. Juno, always more quick-witted than the rest, gave me an enigmatic smile that might have signaled the pleasure of reunion or, on the other hand, the pleasure of confronting a favorite nemesis. She flitted past us into the woods before returning and announcing, in a raised voice, “The portal has been annihilated.”
I couldn’t entirely follow what occurred next. I felt Clementine suddenly grappling with half a dozen forces at once. Dust filled the air, a gust of wind hit my chest hard, and a thunderous crack, as of thunder, echoed overhead. “A duel,” she shouted. She was holding her hand out in a halting gesture. “I call a duel,” she repeated. “With any member of the Cisneros Society who will represent the rest.”
This was met with silence. You may recall that dueling is, not to put too fine a point upon it, illegal. And yet there was no other sensible course of action. We would never succeed against adozen enchanters, most of whom had thews. And more were on their way.
“I will,” Simeon called out, cutting into the silence. His voice was eager, and I confess that I felt some eagerness in return.Yes, I thought.Let it be Simeon.
“You’re the only man here without a thew,” his father said in an acid tone. This confused me momentarily: Had he not bound Rosetta as his thew after all?
“I don’t need one,” Simeon retorted, looking around at the other enchanters. “Do you really think that I’d need a thew to defeat a woman? I will use the Cisneros Steel,” he said boldly, turning toward Draken.
Perhaps Draken was charmed by the idea of allowing their most junior member to flatten such an impudent challenger, for he gave a slight nod. “On the lawn.” He gestured toward the broad open space between the grove and the flagstone steps. He began unfastening the armor by undoing the ties at his sides. Meanwhile, the other enchanters headed to the lawn, where they arranged themselves in a semicircle at the far end. Clementine and I followed. I glanced at Clem, hoping she had a more specific plan in mind, but she gave nothing away.
We stood across from them, separated by the green grass, and as I looked at Simeon pulling the armor down over his golden curls, an expression of unrestrained excitement on his face, I felt a surge of something unpleasant in my belly: a desire to see him crushed, utterly crushed. No, more—to bring it about with my own hands.
Hornsby walked out to the middle of the lawn and announced in a loud voice: “Duelists, call your seconds.”
Simeon stepped forward wearing the Cisneros Steel. It fit him irritatingly well, the scales winking brightly. His chest was puffedwith pride, his feet were firmly planted, and his blond curls shone in the sun. He looked like a portrait of St. George, demonstrating once and for all how little truth may be judged from appearances. “My father, Norbert Trench, will be my second.” He grinned at Clementine. “May as well keep it in the family, eh, Clem?”
“To be sure,” Clem said. “What a shame that I can’t follow suit.” Her tone was light, but the words fell like a cutting blade. “I call Samuel May as my second.”
I blinked at her. It was almost as if she’d read my thoughts. There was consternation in the semicircle of enchanters. Hornsby glanced over at them and spoke for them all. “A spirit cannot act as a second.”
“Why not? There are no rules forbidding it. Just because no one has done it doesn’t mean it’s forbidden.”
There was more urgent whispering among the Cisneros men. Hornsby walked over to consult with them, but the conversation took only a minute. When he returned, he announced magnanimously, “We accept your second. This is a battle to the death. If you fall, your second will take your place. If your second falls, he will be returned to the realm.”
Clem’s lips twitched. “If you can find a portal, that is.”
Hornsby looked at her coldly. “You know very little about the Cisneros Society if you believe this is the only portal we possess. The Society has portals all over the Eastern Seaboard, and even as far west as St. Louis.”
Clem raised her eyebrows. “Really? Thank you for telling me.”
Hornsby looked at her quizzically, but then he shook his head, as if to dismiss her. “Duelists,” he said, holding out his hand. Clementine and Simeon stepped forward and stopped on either side of Hornsby’s outstretched palm. “Take twenty paces east, twenty paces west.”
I walked twenty paces east with Clementine. “Clem,” I whispered. “I beg you, let me tackle him.”
