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“And it proves that King Julius is trying to interfere with the government of Good Port, if you ask me,” Lefric said. “Especially if Eneko is one of the spies. So what do we do about it?” He asked his question to both Olympus and Magnus.
Olympus had gone back to thumbing through Hadrian’s journal. His expression had turned particularly grave.
“Anything more in there that adds to the narrative?” Magnus asked him.
Olympus turned another page, then sighed and handed the journal back to Magnus. “I know two other men listed in that journal,” he said. “They work for Ivor Lobe and Sanzhar Arzumanyan.”
“The second and third richest heads of primary families in Good Port,” Lefric said, his face alight with excitement. “The Old Realm is balls-deep in Good Port.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. We all glanced around the table at each other. Even Jorgen and Hati seemed interested in the discoveries and revelations that had been made. I started to get the feeling that our group, those of us seated around the table in Sebald’s back garden, were the core of what could very well turn into the force that would expose the inroads that the Old Realm had made in the frontier and the beginning of the resistance to whatever the Old Realm had in mind.
Magnus closed the journal and tucked it back into this pocket, picked up Hadrian’s stamp and did the same, then held open his hand for Peter to give him Gregorius’s stamp. He then cleared his throat and glanced to Jorgen and Hati. “Well, gentlemen,” he said with a falsely pleasant smile, “do you think it’s time that we speak honestly about our military capabilities and how far we would be willing to go to defend each other and our lands against action by my brother?”
His question was met by a heavy silence.
I reached for Peter’s hand just as he reached out for mine. We had a way of doing that when we were anxious or excited. I laced our fingers together, barely able to breathe in anticipation as everyone looked to Jorgen.
“Yes,” Jorgen said slowly, meeting and holding Magnus’s eyes. “I think it is safe to say that time has come.”
“The time might come for us to discuss our possibilities of military action against the cities as well,” Hati said in a dire tone. “If only so that we can prevent them from doing the rest of us harm.”
All three men glanced to Olympus.
Olympus straightened uncomfortably. “I don’t have the same sort of authority as either of you do,” he confessed. He glanced to Lefric and seemed to draw strength from him. “But if it’s the last thing I do, I will convince my father to take this threat, and this alliance, seriously.”
“Good man,” Magnus said, smiling proudly at him.
Even though Olympus was close to the same age as Magnus, he grinned at the praise.
“I suppose our only concern now is figuring out how to gracefully exit these meetings and Hedeon as swiftly as possible so that we might reconvene in Good Port,” Magnus went on, picking up his fork so that he could finish his lunch, as though he were talking about arranging a kickball match.
“The best way to leave is just to leave,” Sebald said with a sigh. “From everything I’ve learned about him in the last two months, I can only predict that Sai will keep trying and trying in vain to make things right.”
“My brother wouldn’t know how to make things right if he had a book of instructions about how to do so handed to him on a silver platter,” Jace said, poking at his food. He glanced up, seemingly surprised that we were all looking at him, then shrugged. “I love him, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“I think he wants to learn, though,” I said, speaking up for Sai, even though I didn’t know why.
“The time for learning has just about passed,” Magnus said. “The time for action is upon us. We’ve done all we can do here. The best we can hope for from the Kostya Kingdom is that the Old Realm believes it to be an indicator of the strength of the frontier. If my brother wastes his time focusing on Sai’s realm, it will give the rest of us time to prepare.”
That was it, then. We were going to use the Kostya Kingdom as the camouflage against the Old Realm while the rest of us took serious action to protect and defend our own.
Jorgen raised his glass of mead in salute. “Let’s pray that you are right,” he said. He took a drink, then murmured, “Because if you aren’t and King Julius gets it into his head to send an army to win back the frontier, the rest of us might not have the time to form the roots in this land that we need to grow and thrive.”
