“I have something else to do,” Void said. He held up a hand, cutting off her question before she could so much as formulate it. “Something that needs to be checked, something I’ve let fester for too long. The tower will remain open to you, if you come back before I return. Silent will accompany you if you stay away for more than a day or two.”
“I can’t take her into the Blighted Lands,” Emily said. Silent was smart - Emily was sure of it, even though the maid rarely spoke out of turn - but she wasn’t trained to enter the Blighted Lands. Emily herself wasn’t keen on the thought. “She can have a holiday from my demands.”
Void grinned. “Emily, compared to the average royal brat, you have no demands.”
Emily wanted to deny it, but she had to admit he was right. She’d yet to meet a princess - even Alassa - who didn’t demand everything they could, and a little bit more, from their servants. They treated the servants as tools, worse than animals... she’d known princesses who doted on their horses but had no hesitation in slapping maids who were barely in their teens. And she still found it hard to get used to the idea of servants at all. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt a maid for a tiny offence.
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate the holiday,” Emily said. She wondered, idly, where Silent would go. Perhaps she’d just go home for a few weeks. Or travel. She was certainly paid highly for her service. “Unless she really wants to go into the Blighted Lands.”
“It isn’t a common holiday destination,” Void said. His grin faded away. “Finally, before you go, I want you to have a clear idea of where you’re going and what you’re going to do when you get there. The files will be on your desk tomorrow - take them with you and read them before you enter enemy territory.”
“I will,” Emily promised. “I’ll message Alassa tonight. If it’s fine with her, I’ll go to Zangaria tomorrow. I think she’ll listen to me.”
“She’ll listen,” Void said. “But she might not agree with you.”
“She’s trying to rebuild a kingdom,” Emily protested. “She has other problems.”
“None of which will matter if the entire world gets overrun by the necromancers,” Void said. “Zangaria might be the last to fall, but it will fall. You need to work on contingency plans, as well as everything else.”
“I understand,” Emily said. “And I will.”
“And be careful,” Void said. His voice was suddenly very cold. “There’s something about this whole affair that doesn’t quite make sense.”
Emily nodded, slowly. “Why do they want the nexus point reignited?”
“Good question,” Void agreed. “And I have no answer.”
He finished his drink and stood. “Keep me informed,” he ordered, motioning for her to finish her dinner. It was rare for him to leave ahead of time, but she supposed he had reasons. “I’ll call you when the time comes to resume your lessons.”
Emily watched him go, feeling a pang of guilt. She hadn’t meant to drag up a piece of his past, or to remind him of his three dead brothers. She’d never had any siblings, as far as she knew. She couldn’t imagine being so close to someone for so long, sharing parents and families and blood, only to lose them... she swallowed, hard. It was easy to believe, suddenly, that Void really was that old. The Grandmaster had looked very different, but that was meaningless. Void could make himself look as old or young as he wished.
She forced herself to think. They couldn’t assemble an army on the near side of the mountains and wait. She had no idea how long it would take the necromancers to carve a passage through the mountains - there were entire sections of the mountains that had never been charted properly - but she doubted they could do it quickly. The threat would become part of the landscape, falling out of the king’s mind before it ever truly materialized. And when it did...
We can’t keep the army on alert forever, she thought. She’d had enough trouble keeping watch, back when she’d been in school, to understand that keeping an entire army on alert permanently would be impossible. We have to find a way to take the war to them.
She stood. She’d had an idea.
And I need Alassa’s help, she mused. It was a good idea, but she’d need help to turn the concept into something workable. And then... she shook her head. She didn’t care if she got the credit or not. All that mattered was winning the war. If we can make it work, we can change everything.
Chapter Seven
“EMILY,” ALASSA SAID, AS EMILY WAS shown into her private chambers. “Welcome back!”
“It’s good to be back,” Emily said. King Randor’s castle would never be her favorite place - too much had happened within its walls for her to be entirely comfortable there - but Alassa loved it. “I’ve missed you.”
She hugged Alassa, then looked around the room. Baby Emily - Millie, to her family - was crawling across the floor with terrifying speed. Emily couldn’t believe how quickly the baby had grown. She’d been only a few days old when Emily had last seen her, a newborn clinging to her mother’s breast. Now... she was practically on the verge of walking. Emily felt an odd little yearning as the baby turned to face her, blue eyes sparkling like the sun. It made her want to have a child of her own.
“I’ve missed you too,” Alassa said. She gestured, communing with the wards. “Jade’s on his way. He was just in the spellchambers.”
Emily sat on the chair and picked up the baby. “How have things been here? I haven’t had time to keep up with the news.”
“Lots of little problems,” Alassa said. “The aristocracy insists it has accepted the post-war world, and the Great Charter, but a handful of nobles have been doing their level best to overturn the changes. A couple wound up dead, assassinated by their people. Others... it’s a mess, Emily. Too many people on all sides want to either turn the clock back or push it forward. It doesn’t help that everyone is insisting on the right to bear arms.”
“I suppose it does make it harder to keep the peasants in their place,” Emily said, dryly. “I thought they were supporting you.”
“They are, as long as I do what they want,” Alassa said. “It doesn’t help that we’ve become the center of radical agitation. The Levellers have been printing missives and churning out everything from guns to printing presses and sending them in all directions. I’ve had a dozen complaints from various monarchs about hosting radicals, renegades and general troublemakers. And I can’t deal with them - or even keep them quiet - without undermining my throne.”
“It’s never easy when you’re the one in charge,” Emily said. “No one else sees the whole picture.”
“No,” Alassa agreed. “Right now, there’s a court case that could do considerable damage to investment and property rights, whoever wins. And I can’t stop it from going ahead without doing considerable damage myself. And I was hoping...”
She broke off as Jade entered the room. “Emily,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”
Emily stood and shook his hand. “It has,” she agreed. She made a show of looking him up and down. “Have you put on weight?”
Jade snorted. “I’ve been very busy, I’ll have you know,” he said. “Do you realize that we didn’t even scratch the surface of the tunnel network? I found passages we never even knew existed, passages so old I don’t think half the kings knew they existed.”
“They might have been lost if a king died before telling his children,” Alassa said. She smiled at Jade as he sat next to her, then turned her attention back to Emily. “You said it was urgent.”
Emily nodded without taking offense. Alassa’s time was no longer hers. She had to spend almost all of her waking moments running the kingdom, for fear something would get out of control before she realized she had a problem. Or that her courtiers would start thinking she was losing her touch. Zangaria had never had a female monarch before and... Alassa hadn’t had a good reputation before she went to Whitehall. There were too many people who saw her as weak or vindictive or both. And the layers upon layers of wards surr
ounding her private chambers suggested that some of her enemies had resorted to sneak attacks.
“The necromancers are up to something,” she said. She outlined the situation, as Master Lucknow had described it to her. “It’s only a matter of time before they break into Alluvia.”
“And King Jorlem is trying to rally the troops,” Alassa said. “His son was one of those who wanted to marry me.”
“I hate him already,” Jade said, playfully.
Alassa elbowed him. “He didn’t get anywhere,” she said. “I assume he was married off at some point, but I can’t say I was paying attention.”
“Me neither,” Emily said. “Master Lucknow wanted me to beg you for troops. And... I had an idea.”
“Troops,” Alassa repeated. “He would have to ask for troops, wouldn’t he?”
She shook her head. “Go on,” she said. “What’s your idea?”
Emily stroked her namesake’s hair. “We don’t know when the necromancers are actually going to break into Alluvia,” she said. “If we assemble the army too early, we’ll lose our edge by the time they arrive. If we assemble the army too late... well, it’ll be too late. They’ll break into Alluvia and that will be that.”
“I can’t fault your logic,” Alassa said. “Go on.”
“So we take the offensive,” Emily said. She wasn’t sure how much she could tell them without infringing upon her oath. “We send a force of our own into the Blighted Lands.”
“And get slaughtered,” Jade said, in a manner that suggested he knew she’d already considered the risks. “They’d destroy our army as we made our way through the mountain pass or across the Desert of Death.”
“They might not even notice if we crossed the desert, certainly not in time to matter,” Emily said. She unfurled a map. “We can use portals, like we used earlier, to put an army here” - she tapped a spot on the map - “in the borderlines between necromantic domains. The army should have time to establish proper fortifications before they realize we’re there and move to deal with it. And then they’ll impale themselves on our defenses.”
“And crush you under thousands of bodies,” Jade said. “The necromancers won’t care about how many orcs they send to their deaths, as long as they die killing you. Us.”
“No,” Emily agreed. “The army will be a diversion. It will hold its ground, possibly even triggering a civil war between the three necromancers. Even if it doesn’t... it’ll give me time to sneak into the nearest fortress. I’ll reignite the nexus point, take control of the wards and turn it on the necromancers. And that will be the end.”
“If you can reignite the nexus point,” Jade said. “Can you do it?”
“I think so,” Emily said. “It just requires a massive infusion of magic.”
Jade frowned. He was one of the very few people who knew magical batteries were possible. They’d used them to free Alassa from the Tower of Alexis, over a year ago. Given time, Emily could stockpile enough magic to reignite the nexus point or simply vaporize the necromancer outright. Emily had a rough plan for dealing with the necromancer, but - so far - she hadn’t been able to make it practical. She’d promised herself she’d sit down and work out the details before it was too late.
And figure out a way to keep them from spoiling the plan, she thought. Randor found a way to stop me in my tracks.
“I assume that’s how you reignited Heart’s Eye,” Alassa said. “Can you get into the fortress and make your way to the nexus point?”
“I’ve sneaked into fortresses before,” Emily reminded her. She didn’t blame her friend for trying to poke holes in the plan. Sergeant Miles had cautioned his students that it was better to have the flaws pointed out by one’s friends than exploited by one’s enemies. “And I came out alive.”
“And the necromancers didn’t,” Jade said. “It’s a good plan, on paper.”
“On paper,” Emily agreed. “If we can trigger a civil war, if nothing else, it’ll buy time.”
“True,” Alassa agreed. She sounded thoughtful. “You might just have solved one of my problems.”
“I might?” Emily frowned. “What did I do?”
“There are people who fought for my father, then deserted him,” Alassa said. “They’re having some trouble fitting into the post-war world. Too many people think of them as oathbreakers, now that my father is safely dead. A handful have changed their names and left the country, but the remainder are too stubborn or too notorious to go. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. If they join your army, they can earn back the honor they lost by betraying their oaths.”
“Your father became a necromancer,” Emily said. “They didn’t break their oaths...”
“I know that,” Alassa said. She smiled, without a trace of humor. “But why would a little thing like truth stand in the way, when their enemies want to bury their daggers in their backs?”
“It wouldn’t,” Emily said, sourly. “Do you think they’ll agree to go?”
“If they come back with glory, their enemies will be silenced,” Alassa said. “And if they don’t come back at all, they can be laid to rest with honor. The stain on their names won’t taint the next generation.”
Emily winced. She understood the feudal mindset, and how it overshadowed the lives of everyone from the highest to the lowest, but she was damned if she’d ever understand why anyone would adhere to the code. King Randor had become a necromancer! His loyalists had been quite right to run for their lives, knowing it was just a matter of time before they became fodder for his magic. They might have been the last to be thrown into the fire, but they would have been. She had no doubt of it.
“Sir Roger would be their commander, if you agreed,” Alassa said. “He really doesn’t have a place here. His family has been making increasingly unsubtle suggestions that he should go off on a quest and never come back. If he weren’t so prominent...”
“I think we could offer them a chance,” Emily said. “How many?”
“Around two to three hundred,” Alassa said. “I’ll see what else I can scrape up. You’d probably get some volunteers from the lower classes, if you put out the call.”
“There’s a whole bunch of militiamen who regret leaving the army,” Jade put in. “They’ve become quite astonishingly fond of the military life.”
Emily had to smile. The commoners generally regarded the military as a bunch of idle layabouts who couldn’t get work elsewhere. Good iron is not used to make nails, they sneered, and good men are not used to make soldiers. She was glad to hear that was changing as the army became more democratic, more representative of the lower classes. And yet, she had a feeling it boded ill for the future. Alassa and her peers might have second thoughts about allowing the army to become too democratic.
“I can put out a request,” Emily said. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with people volunteering to fight - and perhaps die - for her, but she didn’t see any alternative. “If you think it’ll work...”
“It will,” Jade assured her. “You’re popular.”
“Oh dear,” Emily said. She’d never really wanted to be popular. “That sounds worrying.”
“Be glad of it,” Alassa said. “That’ll help encourage others to send troops too.”
“There might be a problem there,” Jade said. “The other kingdoms will not like the thought of sending troops on a suicide mission.”
“It won’t be suicide,” Emily protested.
“Every attempt to attack the Blighted Lands has come to a bad end,” Jade reminded her, bluntly. “The kingdoms will not like the idea of putting their troops into a position that could easily become a death trap. You’d have to be there, sharing the risk.”
“Except she has to be sneaking into the necromancer’s lair,” Alassa pointed out. “She can’t be in two places at once.”
Jade frowned. “Send someone else to reignite the nexus point,” he said. “I’ll volunteer.”
“You don’t have Emily’s fame,” Alassa said. “They’ll ex
pect Emily to do both.”
Emily winced, inwardly. Alassa didn’t want to send Jade into the Blighted Lands, but she couldn’t say it. Not to his face. Jade would sooner die a thousand deaths than be thought a coward. His position was already ambiguous, consort to a queen rather than king in his own right. And if Alassa died, he’d merely be regent for his daughter. Emily wondered if Jade would grab Millie and run, if his wife died. The poor child would have to grow up very fast if she was expected to take the throne.
And then it hit her. “I can be in two places at once.”
Jade stared at her. “You can bilocate?”
“I can experiment with the spell,” Emily said. She’d have to go back to the tower and work on it before Void left on his own mission. And she might have to talk him into letting her practice before she did it for real. “I can get it to work. One of me stays with the army, the other me goes to the necromancer’s lair.”
“That might work,” Jade said. He didn’t sound pleased. “Bilocation is a difficult spell. I tried a couple of times and I never mastered it. Even with the tightest spells, you might never merge back into one person. If you get split up permanently... well, I don’t think it will end very well. You might go mad - or worse.”
“I know the dangers,” Emily said. “Can you think of a better solution?”
Jade and Alassa exchanged glances. Alassa spoke first. “Someone else could pretend to be you?”
“It wouldn’t fool anyone who knew me,” Emily said. Impersonation was never as simple as merely donning another face. The impersonator would have to match her personality as well as her appearance. And know things she knew... she shook her head. Even the people who knew her best would be unable to pretend to be her. By local standards, she was a deeply weird young woman. “Even you couldn’t be me.”
Oathkeeper (Schooled in Magic Book 20) Page 7