Page 26 of Beyond

“Right,” Hakkon agreed. “I’ll tell Grim, then we’ll meet you there.” Beltran nodded.

He didn’t have to specify “where,” nor who “we” would be. Jonaton was already either with the Six or with Isla, and Beltran was here. Whichever of them found Isla first would gather her up, plus probably Delia if she had sufficiently recovered from Fetching that stone, then they would meet with the Circle, who were the closest thing he had to a Privy Council. Time was of the essence. The good news was that the messenger had not waited, which meant Kordas probably had the two days he needed. But anything over two days …could be bad.

He sprinted for his office, Beltran following. The quicker he got this piece of Imperial arrogance somewhere he wouldn’t have to worry about it, the better.

* * *

The circle of peculiar stuffed chairs had been enlarged to include seven more of the things, mostly stuffed between the Circle’s regular ones—and separating the six of the Circle was never a bad idea. Hakkon had found Delia first when he had gone to the stable to inform Grim of the new orders, and had gathered up the steward, Renfeld, on the way back. Kordas and Beltran had found Isla with Jonaton after he stowed the paper where it could do no harm for the moment. By the time Hakkon arrived with Delia, the rest of them had settled as close together as physically possible, so they didn’t have to raise their voices much. Yes, the chamber was warded and shielded to a fare-thee-well, but everyone had heard tales of birds bespelled to repeat whatever they overheard, and even though the Six outwardly scoffed at such things, no one was willing to take chances where the Emperor was concerned.

“Grim says he can have the herd ready two days from now, as I predicted,” Hakkon said as he lowered himself into a cushion-chair with a grimace. “So that’s out of the way. He just needs to organize enough grooms to handle the herd on their trip without leaving the stable shorthanded. You’re sending a generous number this year.”

“Good. Well.” Kordas sighed. “I did not expect this result.”

“But it at least makes sense,” Isla pointed out. “You haven’t been to Court in person in over ten years. No one who actually looks after their lands in person goes to Court willingly during the summer—so this makes it inconvenient for you, which of course is the point. They want to reinforce that you serve them, not the other way around. The Court is half-empty right now, there’s probably nothing and no one there to offer a distraction. I haven’t heard how the war in the South is going—”

She looked to Ponu, who shrugged.

“Neither well nor poorly,” the old man said. “From my perspective, he’s probably tying up the Southerns to keep them from tending to their fields with an eye to running out their resources, and planning an offensive after the Regatta to destroy whatever harvests they have. Then, when they’re further weakened from a lean winter, he’ll move on them again before the fields and roads thaw. That’s been his pattern until now, and I don’t see it changing.”

“Well, it works,” Sai pointed out. “And once the Emperor finds something that works, he never changes it.”

“So unless the war heats up in an unexpected manner, he can ignore the conflict and leave it to his generals until after the Regatta. So now he’s bored, and I caught his interest.” Kordas nodded. “Lucky me. All right. Isla, you’re in charge of the Duchy. Hakkon, I want you here as well.” When Hakkon looked as if he might protest, Kordas shook his head. “I need you here in case someone decides to try something, assuming that a ‘weak’ female is in charge who can be pushed around. I’m not in my teens anymore. I will take Beltran.”

“All right, then,” Hakkon agreed, subsiding. “If you’re not taking me, I’ll settle for you taking the best knife-fighter in the Duchy.”

Beltran blushed a little, but didn’t disagree.

“Beltran is also high enough in rank to go anywhere with me, but low enough to be ignored on his own,” Kordas added. “Delia, you’re going to be your sister’s messenger.”

“Because no one is going to pay any attention to a girl, but I’m high enough in rank no one is going to try anything with me,” the girl agreed.

“And because thanks to those lessons you’ve been getting from my Weapons-Master, I know you’re one of the best shots in the manor,” Kordas told her, and felt a brief moment of amusement at her startled look. “What, my insouciance got you fooled into thinking I don’t know what’s going on under my own roof? I’d appreciate it if you’d add sling to those lessons. Maybe quarterstaff. In my humble opinion you’re too small to risk close-quarter combat, but I’ll leave that up to Weapons-Master Klemath. The Plan will go right on ahead. Get the first, temporary Gate up, get Ivar across to scout the position for the one we’ll actually use, and start moving people out as soon as the main Gate is established.”

Wis cleared his throat, getting Kordas’s attention. “On that note …we might as well tell you now that Jonaton’s had a brainstorm.”

All eyes turned to Jonaton, who cleared his throat uneasily. “Well, anyone could have had it,” he demurred.

“But the fact is, you did, not anyone. So?” Wis prodded.

“Once Ivar has the location for us, I can have a new Gate up and powered and running within a day,” Jonaton said modestly. “Maybe two at the worst.”

Kordas stared at him. “But—how?” he stammered. So far as he was aware, the construction of a major Gate took a fortnight at the very least.

“I did some probing to the West after the Circle and I got the two stones linked and I could work through them,” said Ceri. “There’s an ancient reserve of power in the immediate area that I am fairly certain we can draw on. It dates back to that ancient conflict you were asking about not long ago; somehow it managed to not get caught up in a Change-circle, scattered to the winds, or contaminated.”

“And I found a way to make Gates quickly,” Jonaton said proudly. “It turns out you don’t have to make a Gate entirely out of stone. We do it that way because that’s the way it’s always been done, but that doesn’t mean it’s the way we always have to do it. In fact, the only reason we make Gates out of stone is because timber doesn’t last. I’ve tried horn, wood—even wax! They all work. They all work well. It’s just that the weaker the material, the faster the Gate degrades. One made of wood won’t last a year.” He laughed. “And those made of wax last just about long enough for one trip.”

“So we make two arcs out of timber, right here, in our workshop. We carry them through the temporary Gate with their foundation stones, set them in place, power them up, and—” Ceri spread his hands wide. “We don’t need a Gate that lasts. We don’t want a Gate that lasts, because we don’t intend to go back.”

“In fact, it might just be a very good idea to have a Gate we can burn behind us,” Sai pointed out.

“This—is unexpected good news.” Kordas managed not to stammer. Then he took a deep, deep breath and settled his mind. “Right, then. We always knew our deadline for getting the last of us out was going to be the Regatta. This is just a minor deviation from the Plan. I’m not that powerful a mage that you can’t do this without me.”

“But—” Isla bit her lip. “What if you’re still under the Emperor’s eye by the time of the Regatta? How will you get out?”

“The Plan isn’t about me,” Kordas said, with force, so he could be sure they understood he meant this. “The Plan was never about saving whoever was the Duke. The Plan was always about getting the most of us out that we can. I’ll do my level best to join you. If I can’t, I’ll do my level best to hide somewhere, even if I have to live the rest of my life as a stablehand.” He did not mention what would happen to him once the Emperor discovered their deception and escape if he was ever caught. He didn’t have to. But he preferred to be optimistic.

And after all, the life of a stablehand wasn’t all that bad.