One candle burned in the shuttered room. She could smell tea brewing and could smell cat. She saw that in the far corner Mmenimm, the chocolate-colored tom, slept with little crippled Marshy sprawled between his heavy front legs. Marshy’s arm was flung around Mmenimm’s thick neck, his twisted leg bent at an awkward angle. The shadows of the room took shape; Garit’s cot and patched blanket; the wobbly table and two wooden chairs; the iron stove and crowded shelves; Garit’s clothes, hung on pegs; a stack of scrappy firewood in the corner. Kiri sat down on the smaller of the two chairs and watched Garit pour out tea into cracked mugs. Everything about the cottage was old and dingy, not because Garit liked it that way, but because anything else would have been hard to come by and would have looked suspicious, as well. He passed her a basket of warm seedcakes that did not match the poverty of the hut. She took two, sipped her tea, and waited, watching Garit over the rim of her cup. He was like a great red bull, his flaming hair and beard shaggy, his shoulders broad, his face square, and his nose a bit flat. But his eyes were alive with kindness. She could see anger in his face, now, but something more, as well. She could see a stir of excitement deep down.
“That was a grand parade this morning,” he said, scowling. “The king seems bent on impressing this young prince from Thedria.”
“It is Accacia who would impress him.”
“Oh,” he said. “And you saw the lines of new slave children and the captive wolves?”
“Where have they come from? So many small children. And the poor wolves all blinded.”
“No, not blind. They only seem to be. A wolf can move very well by scent and hearing.”
“And the children?”
“They are slave, all right. They are drugged with cadacus, as well as with the powers of the dark.”
“Yes. I saw their faces. What is happening? Why were so many brought here? What do the dark leaders plan?”
“Things are changing, Kiri, and quickly. Something has happened on the far northern islands, something that will affect all our own plans.” Garit poured more tea, and she realized she had gulped hers.
He laid a hand on her arm. “The children are from Ekthuma, from Edosta, and even from the dark continent. More will be coming. They were brought with boatloads of arms and supplies—you saw the boats.”
She nodded.
“The child slaves will be used to shift the cargo and to wait on the soldiers that will be arriving. Dacia,” Garit said evenly, “will be headquarters for raids on more than just Bukla and Edain. Headquarters now suddenly, Kiri, in an attack far greater.” His eyes filled with challenge. “Something is happening in the north.” He paused, his face alight. “The outer islands, Kiri—the outer islands have rebelled.”
She sat staring.
Garit nodded. “Yes—Meron, Wintrel, Liedref. Birrig and Burack. Even Elbon. The outer islands are with us now. The islands of the north are with us.”
“But how did it happen? They were so far beyond help. Summer’s messages all say—”
“Something has changed the folk of the outer lands. Something has brought them awake, and it has happened only recently.” Garit emptied the teapot into her mug and pushed the basket of seedcakes at her.
“It was Summer who brought the news,” he said. “She was overheard and nearly captured in Ekthuma, and had to get out fast. She knows something has happened on the outer islands, but she isn’t sure what. She is filled with excitement, for whatever it was woke the island folk. They have killed their dark leaders or driven them out. On Wintrel, Yesod and his four consorts were forced over a cliff into the sea.”
“Yesod was so powerful. How . . .?”
“The reports were strange and garbled. In Birrig the townsfolk seem to have killed all nine dark leaders. On Liedref the tale is that a woman took the dark leader with her when she killed herself. I don’t know how it has happened. It’s amazing.” Garit’s eyes were afire. “The folk of the outer islands have risen. They made their way across the channel three nights ago in heavy seas, sailed and paddled every craft that would float.
“They sacked Lashtel, Kiri. Yes. They burned the city and sent the whole tribe of the unliving—Quazelzeg, too—fleeing back into the interior.”
Kiri gaped. “Quazelzeg?”
“Yes. But only because he was unprepared. That won’t happen again. I think he had grown complacent with so many victories. He will be twice as vicious now, twice as hard to destroy.”
She shivered. It was hard to imagine him as more vicious. She wished the rebels had been able to kill him. “I heard nothing in the palace, no messenger, no hint of it.”
“I think the dark leaders might not tell this to King Sardira so eagerly. It puts them in a bad light. Sometimes I think Sardira knows a secret that half frightens the dark forces. How else could Dacia have remained neutral so long?”
She was silent for a moment, thinking. “Once,” she said, “Accacia told me that the dark would never enslave Dacia. That it could not. Accacia laughed about it.”
“What could she have meant?”
“She would say no more. I thought it was one of her exaggerations. But maybe it wasn’t. If the dark can’t conquer Dacia, and if it is losing to the outer islands . . .”
“No, don’t think the dark is on the run everywhere, Kiri, and certainly not from King Sardira. Summer says they plan to use him, as we have supposed. That soon the dark leaders will converge here to see to the arms and supplies. They mean to attack not only Bukla and Edain but all the outer islands and destroy them, then march on all the continents of this hemisphere. They are livid with anger at this attack. Dacia will be their headquarters. Maybe that’s why they let it stay partially free. Perhaps it is more useful that way. Dacia is the central point. With Sardira’s cooperative ways, it is the perfect base. This move, now, the sudden arrival of soldiers and supplies in a push for all-out war, is simply much sooner than they planned.
“I saw a runner come down from the palace to investigate the new arrivals, as if the king didn’t know they were coming. He went among the ship captains, then returned hastily, this morning at first light. It was not until late last night that we knew, when Summer came slipping to my door. She sailed a small boat down from Igness, fleeing Vurbane’s troops under darkness. She is sleeping now in the sanctuary, guarded by Elmmira’s sisters.”
“Is she all right?”
“Only bone tired.”
Kiri sighed. “There will be hundreds and hundreds of soldiers besides the dark leaders. How can we win against such an army? There are so few in the city who care, who will join us.”
“There is the power of Gardel-Cloor to help us. We will have reinforcements when troops from the outer countries arrive, likely with animals, too. The white fox—the queen’s friend,” he said, grinning, “has sent word by some of the younger foxes and otters for the animal nations on all the continents to prepare for war.” Garit shook his head. “That Hexet. Sometimes I think he knows even more than he tells us. As if he has some secret too personal to trust even to the resistance.”
“You don’t trust Hexet? Oh, Garit. . .”
“I trust him, Kiri. I get the feeling sometimes that it is a personal confidence. Something that would not affect the war. Or perhaps something he feels it better to deal with alone. Oh, yes, I trust Hexet without reservation. He has led all the stealing parties where the animals have been so successful. They will continue to steal and to sabotage the dark wherever they can. We have excellent supplies of food, thanks to them, and to the stores you located. And we’ve cleaned out two of Sardira’s caches of weapons, hidden them in the usual places, Gardel-Cloor, and the trusted shops . . . you know the places.”