Page 75 of Beyond

They’ll be all right, she told herself, as the ponderous Charger ate up the leagues between her and Crescent Lake. Isla hadn’t told her as much, but she suspected that the arrival of peaceful strangers had come as a relief and a surprise—people didn’t build palisades for defenses for no reason. And Squire Lesley, who was in charge of this group of people who were mostly local to him, had his directions.

Make sure the Valdemarans stayed welcome. When in doubt, in a disagreement, side with the locals. Start dressing like the locals, and blend in as quickly as possible. Forget the language of the Empire; translate every book they had with them into the local tongue.

Assimilate. Assimilation was survival.

And should the very worst happen, should the Empire somehow track them to this refuge, bypassing the town that would be built on the shores of the lake—well, they all already knew how that would go. Every single Valdemaran who was about to become a citizen of Brandywine agreed. The Empire always followed the same pattern when it came to things like this. There would be an initial scouting party. And that scouting party should be welcomed with a great feast, at which they would be given far too much to drink.

And then they were to be slaughtered without mercy. Or perhaps poisoned. The Empire showed no mercy; it would be given none.

When enough scouting parties failed to return from a “primitive” location like this one, the Empire generally stopped sending them, giving it up as a bad investment. The Empire wanted places to conquer that had treasure and wealth worth looting, not a bunch of farms.

That rather bloody-minded thought actually cheered Delia up somewhat.

Now … if only Kordas was here.

* * *

Kordas stared at his breakfast and tried to muster up the enthusiasm to eat it. He’d spoken to Isla and things were going well—better than well—but he still had no answers for how he was going to save all of the people of Valdemar, not just the ones willing to escape.

He also had no idea how he was going to free the vrondi once they had escaped. At least, without killing them.

“Lord Duke,” Star said, interrupting his thoughts. “The Record Keeper wants to know if you have any orders for us.”

I still can’t believe how quickly people were able to pack up what they needed and leave, he marveled. Granted, they weren’t able to take everything from their homes. Furniture had to be left behind. Still …

Pack up, pack up …

Orders for the Dolls …

Something dawned on him with the force of a blow, and he looked up at Star. “Could I order the two remaining Innovator mages to move to other quarters? By which I mean, both living quarters and working quarters?” he asked, slowly feeling his way.

“Yes, my Lord,” said Star. “In fact, they have been complaining for some years now that they do not like where they are. Utility mages have better quarters, and they are envious.”

“Are there better quarters available to them?” he asked.

“Yes, Lord. It is merely that no one has given the orders,” said Star. “And they no longer have the ear of the Emperor. They have produced nothing new for nearly a decade, and he no longer cares to hear from them unless they produce something akin to the pellets or the Dolls.”

The idea practically exploded in his mind. “Then tell them their request is approved. Pack up their possessions and move everything today to their new living quarters. Tell them that because their working apparatus is so delicate and needs such great care, it will take a week to move it to their new working quarters. Tell them to rest and enjoy themselves for a week. Then pack up everything except what has to do with the Dolls and move it. Then leave it all packed, tell them in a week it is ready, but that they must decide how to arrange everything in person. By then, the Regatta will be over, and it won’t matter. Take everything that has to do with the Dolls, put it on a barge, and send the barge through a Portal—”

“—to your refuge. Understood, Lord Duke.” Star seemed pleased. “The Imperial reference libraries for summonings, banishments, and field magic await load-out and transfer. The books and scrolls alone number in the thousands. The experimental equipment from the other laboratories that survived the structural collapse have been in storage and are being crated. We know they were the precursors to our imprisonment processes. By having your mages look through the materials, they should find a way to release us!”

“Exactly,” he said, and felt a little, a very little, relief. That was one problem out of the way.

“It shall be done today,” said Star. “The Record Keeper asks that I tell you that a Doll shall accompany the barge as well, to explain everything on the other side.”

“Good, good,” he said. And found a little appetite to eat.

“The Record Keeper reminds me that you asked about the source for magic power here, since the Imperial mages are discouraged from making pacts with Abyssal demons,” Star said after a very long pause while he revived his faint appetite. “The one below.”

Well, that killed his appetite again. But in a different way.

“I did,” he said. “But the Record Keeper never responded to me.”

“That is because the Record Keeper deemed it too dangerous. Too prone to discovery. But there is a brief window this morning, due to some unexpected demands upon the Imperial mages, when there will be no one but Dolls to note your passing. Would you still care to see this?” Star paused. “It is best seen, rather than explained.”

He shoved the tray aside and all but leapt up out of bed. “The sooner the better,” he said. “How should I dress? Just in case we run into someone unexpected.”

“This one will attend to that.” Star went to the wardrobe.