“But you didn’t gate her anywhere,” said Enopp. “Wad gates people places. He kept me in prison for more than a year.”
“I’m not … Wad,” said Danny. “I’m a different man and I use my magery a different way.”
“Are you a weakling?” asked Enopp. “Eluik thinks you are weak, to be afraid to hurt people.”
“When someone is dead I can’t bring them back,” said Danny. “And if I hurt them too terribly, I can never win their trust.”
“Weak,” said Enopp. “That’s what Eluik says.”
“When he takes back his own body and speaks for himself I’ll take notice of what he says,” said Danny. “Meanwhile, are you willing to go through the gate and come back?”
“Yes,” said Enopp.
And Eluik nodded.
Danny gated them down to the isthmus where the outbound gate was. Stone would send them through.
Then Danny gated himself to Lexington and found Zog. He was still full of rage, but he spoke politely. Fawningly. “The Lord Danny has subdued this vile old bird,” said Zog. “I know who holds the power here.”
“There is to be no violence at the place where I’ve made the Great Gate,” said Danny coldly. “My friend Stone owns the house. You will obey him while you’re there, or I’ll make you pay.”
“I understand the Lord Danny’s mercy.”
“I am Loki to you,” said Danny.
Zog looked stricken. “You would use that vile name?”
“I have met the Loki who took the gates. He acted with wisdom and courage, and I share his purpose. It’s a far higher purpose and far more terrible war than any you have ever fought.”
“What do you know of war?” asked Zog contemptuously.
“I know that you lost every one you fought in,” said Danny. “I know that by obeying me and treating me with respect, you will earn the right to have your powers greatly increased. You’ve already had all your body’s pains and weaknesses healed, haven’t you?”
Zog nodded.
“That was a gift I gave you, even as I gated you away so you didn’t waste my time with your petty hatred.”
“The Lord Loki is generous.” He said “Loki” as if he were spitting out a cockroach.
Danny gated him to Maine.
He found his parents in the upstairs room of a sandwich restaurant in a fine old house. With them were their children from their first marriages-Father’s son Pipo, nine years older than Danny, and Mother’s daughter Leonora, who had just turned twenty. Pipo’s mother and Leonora’s father had both been killed in the last war, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once it was decided to let Father and Mother mate in order to try to make Danny, the old marriages wouldn’t have mattered. Families made their decisions, and people obeyed. Even the heads of the Families obeyed.
Mother looked happy to see him. It was her first response and it touched him a little. Father, however, knew that he would not be there if there were not something terribly wrong, so his response was dread. Dread, but not fear of Danny himself. They knew him well enough not to fear that he was there to attack them.
As for Pipo and Leonora, they had never been awful to him, but they had also never protected or helped him in any way. They were nothing to him, and he was nothing to them. But that meant they had a better relationship than the one Danny had with most of the Family.
Danny sat beside them and crisply told them what they needed to know. “I’ll pay the bill,” he said, and then gated them to Maine.
When the waiter came back, Danny asked for the check. There was no reason for a drowther waiter to have a bad night just because the gods were starting a war.
With the bill paid, and a good tip given, Danny went outside, stepped into the gap between two buildings, and gated himself away.
Family by Family, he spent that night going through the world, gating everyone to Maine, leaving them for Stone and Veevee to guide them through the gates, and then going on to the next Family.
The land around the cabin was getting crowded and people were cold, though a couple of fire mages had warmed the house, and windmages were keeping the air still. At one point Father tried to talk to him. Danny interrupted him. “Stone keeps a pickup truck on the other side of the lake,” he said. “Now that you’ve been to Westil, see what you and Mother can do with the machinery and electronics. With all the Families fairly evenly balanced, and the Norths outnumbered, the only possible advantage is your abilities with machines. Drowther machinery. Who knows how you might be able to use it now?”
Father nodded. “Does this mean you’re with us now?” he asked.
“No,” said Danny. “But if you have any brains, you’ll forget about this Loki and set out trying to create an alliance with the Orphan mages. There aren’t enough Norths to fight this war, and they, too, will have to survive in a world dominated once again by powerful gods.”
“That’s wise counsel,” said Father.
“No, Father,” said Danny. “It’s a demand. I’m going out now to find all the Orphans I can and bring them back. Stone has to go with me because I don’t know who and where they are. So I’m setting you to greet them and send them through the Great Gate. Thor can prepare defenses, if they come against us after all. I’m beginning to think Hermia didn’t tell them where I made this gate, but I might be wrong. Use this opportunity to treat them decently and as equals. That means keep Zog and Gyish away from them.”
Father nodded. “Your plan is a good one. I see that it’s our best chance to survive the coming war. I will bring all the Orphans into our Family and-”
“No,” said Danny. “They are not to be adopted. They are not to be put under your authority. You’re going to have to do something much harder. Treat them as allies. As equals. Let them agree to accept North leadership in battle, but not North hegemony. Is that clear? They remain independent.”
“I didn’t mean to rule over them,” Father protested. “I just-I assumed they would want-”
“Assume nothing,” said Danny. “Treat them as equals. Now I have work to do.”
“Will you ever stop hating us?” asked Father.
“At this moment, I hate nobody except one, and he’s not a North.”
“Who is it? That Greek girl?”
“It’s the Dragon. Set. You haven’t heard of him.”
Father looked blank.
“That’s the war that matters. This thing among you gods-it will be terrible and I’m afraid of how you’ll make the drowthers suffer with all your arrogance. But I have to find Set and figure out a way to keep both worlds safe from him, and even Loki doesn’t know how to do that.”
“Zog said that we have to call you Loki now,” said Father.
“No, Zog has to call me Loki. I’m Danny North to everyone else. ‘Loki’ still means the Gate Thief, though he uses another name on Westil.”
“I thought the Gate Thief was the enemy of all gatemages.”
“We all thought that, but it isn’t true. The Gate Thief has kept Westil safe for centuries, and by closing all the gates he has sharply limited the power of Set here in Mittlegard. But now there are Great Gates again, and the danger is terrible, and all of your magery is useless against him. Now get to work, please, Odin, and send Stone to me. I wish you well with your war.”
Father went away.
Stone joined him and together they spent the entire day going to every Orphan that Stone knew, or knew about. A dozen or so refused to go with them. Two score of them agreed to go to Westil and back, but insisted that they would then go home and fend for themselves. The rest, though, agreed to try, at least, to work with the Norths, to train with them, to cooperate if it really came to war with the Greeks.
None of the other Families even considered allying with the Norths. But they all kept the truce while they were at Stone’s cabin; then Danny gated them all back to their homelands to prepare for war. They knew that war would come. And by the time he had met them all, Danny had lost all hope that it might be avoided. They would all bide their time while they mastered their greatly increased powers. But the espionage would start at once, and the collisions would follow, sooner rather than later. They would escalate into combat. People would die.