"We sure did." Bragi glowed.
"Better get set for the counterattack," Varthlokkur said. The adrenaline was going. He was tired and his wounds were beginning to ache. He would be stiff soon. His temper was turning foul. "Lord Ch'ien, you'd better get those portals secured." Ch'ien nodded, delegated several men.
Tervola spilled from several before they finished. Spell vied with spell. Blade met blade. Blood ran. Varthlokkur ignored the encounter. Lord Ch'ien could handle it. He was more use to the wounded.
One of Lord Ch'ien's men reported, "These men are from Western Army."
The King frowned, asked, "Hsung's gang? Lord Ch'ien, wasn't Mist supposed to take care of Hsung?"
Lord Ch'ien shrugged. "The best laid plans, and all that, I suppose." And, a few minutes later, after the counterattack had waned, he added, "This doesn't look good. Lord Hsung has recaptured the other two headquarters."
Varthlokkur caught the King's eye. "Careful," he mouthed. Bragi nodded.
"Can we get back into those places?" Bragi asked.
Lord Ch'ien replied, "Not without marching. Across Matayangan ground. They've closed the portals." Then, "Too late anyway. Win or lose, the coup has run its course. We won't waste any more time on it. Matayanga would regain the initiative."
"Damn!" Bragi swore.
Varthlokkur drew him aside. "This stinks of trap. It's all too pat. Lord Hsung knew we were coming. How else could he have been ready to counter? Apparently he couldn't get word to Lord Kuo in time to make the trap work."
The King nodded thoughtfully. "I thought it had an odd smell. Think we're in trouble?"
"I think you'd better send someone to see what Mist is doing. Hardle, perhaps."
"What about you?"
"I have wounded to tend. You want to save Abaca, don't you?"
"Yeah. He's my best soldier. Soldiering-wise."
"Alert the men. Start collecting the wounded near the portals. We may want to disappear in a hurry."
Bragi nodded, went.
Hardle was not gone long. Varthlokkur joined the King when the Baron returned. He reported, "The coup was successful everywhere but where Lord Hsung intervened. Lord Kuo seems to have been killed. Nobody can find him. The Council of Tervola mean to delay taking any position till the war situations stabilize. Lord Hsung is negotiating with Mist. We've won."
"Does Lord Ch'ien know any of this yet?" Varthlokkur asked.
"I don't think so."
"What's the situation in Kavelin?"
"Crazy. Total confusion."
"Don't tell Lord Ch'ien. Bragi, we've outlived our usefulness. Let's get out of here. And don't turn your back on him till you're gone."
"I won't." The King hurried off to inform his officers.
Am I being paranoid? Varthlokkur wondered. Maybe. But there's no sense in taking chances with officers of the Dread Empire. Especially those of Lord Ch'ien's ilk.
The King began sneaking his wounded through portals reset to carry men back to Kavelin. Lord Ch'ien's people paid no attention. They had their hands full taking control of the Matayangan war.
As the wizard guided the litter cases into a heavy portal, he overheard Baron Hardle telling the King, "You're too trusting, sire. Your friend was Chatelaine of Maisak. Was. Now you're dealing with the mistress of Shinsan."
"He's right, Bragi," Varthlokkur said. "She has to live the role."
The King frowned, grumbled, "She still at her house, Baron?"
"She was when I left. Busy as a one-handed puppeteer, trying to keep hold of all the threads."
"Then her fate isn't out of our hands, is it? Varthlokkur, let's go back. Baron, you get the men home."
The wizard followed the King. He stepped up to the portal, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, stepped. He sensed nothing as he passed through. No great hungry shadow in the distance. Three times through, and not even a hint of the thing he feared. Was it gone?
He stepped into a situation room which had changed dramatically. The big map table was gone. Wounded men carpeted the floor. Half were not Kaveliners. Lord Hsung's surprise counterstroke had come near succeeding.
Mist was arguing with several Tervola. Varthlokkur recognized only the one. He eyed the man, then looked for the King.
Bragi was talking to Dahl Haas. "Go downstairs and collect up some good men. Have them slip up here a few at a time. Varthlokkur?"
"I was going to suggest that. We might need them." He watched Mist closely. The woman had just now noticed them. She appeared bewildered by their presence. "Baron Hardle was right. The Princess Mist isn't Kavelin's bosom friend."
"So I see. She looks like she's seeing a couple of ghosts. Figure we're supposed to be spooks by now?" He sent men to guard the portals. "There's a certain value to our controlling her physical whereabouts, wouldn't you say?"
Varthlokkur smiled a thin, evil smile. "Of course. Unless we hang on too long. Then some other opportunist will promote himself number one." He closed his eyes, reached out with his thoughts. He felt the thing. Come to me, Radeachar. Come to me. Unborn. It stirred, responding. It moved his way... He opened his eyes, smiled again.
Mist said something to her companions, came toward the wizard and King. "I see you're back." She extended an imperious hand toward the King, as if expecting a bow and kiss. Bragi shook.
"Not all of us, Chatelaine. A lot of good men died out there. Some were captured. Hsung set a trap. We walked in. It almost worked."
"My people were hard hit too. As you can see." Varthlokkur admired her aplomb. She'd had just the one bad moment when first she had seen them.
She added, "The trickster who did it would like to meet you."
"Hsung? He's here?"
The wizard had recognized the Tervola immediately but hadn't mentioned him. Bragi was volatile enough without knowing the man he considered his great enemy was here in the room.
"Lord Hsung." Mist's voice was snappy and cold.
"Ain't Lord Nothing to me, woman. Just another beastmask. Don't start taking yourself too seriously. Not here in my territory."
Varthlokkur considered Mist from beneath lowered brows. He couldn't stifle his smile. She saw it and realized what she was doing. She became conciliatory immediately. "Of course. I apologize. It's been an emotional day."
Lord Hsung stepped forward, inclined his head an inch. "Pardon me," he told the King. "I do not yet speak your language well. I wished to make your acquaintance, after our three years of sparring. I had pictured someone smaller and more shifty."
"I learned from a small, shifty guy. Keeping your job? Still going to be boss of the occupation?"
"Her Highness has entrusted me with our western provinces."
"Figured you'd twist her arm. Going to be the same old crap, eh?"
Lord Hsung stiffened, glanced at Mist. Varthlokkur gave the King a warning headshake. It wasn't wise to irritate a Tervola too much. He let his senses drift, thought, Where are you, Radeachar?
Here. And a window shattered behind the King. A vast chill filled the room.
The Unborn had come.
It was a thing that looked like a fetus inside a globe of crystal, but no human fetus was ever that big...
Mist squeaked, dismayed. "Do you know how much good glass costs, Varthlokkur? When you can find a decent glazier? I thought we were on the same side."
"I wasn't the first to forget." He beckoned. The Unborn drifted over and hung behind his left shoulder, its infant eyes open and wise in the ways of evil, filled with malice. "I can't prove anything, of course, but I'm morally certain that the King and I weren't supposed to return from our little jaunt into the east."