She walked back to the center of the warehouse and started measuring out distances. If they put the focusing stone in the exact center, she could attach it to the compressed portal spell and then run the power from the batteries into the spellwork. It should work; there would be some power loss, if her calculations were correct, but they’d still have more than enough power to keep the portal open for five to ten minutes. And, if her second set of calculations were correct, she wouldn’t have to worry about the spellwork collapsing. It would last more than long enough for them to complete the mission.
We’ll just have to make sure we can collapse our wards as soon as we’re ready to leave, Emily thought. She had no illusions about how long the warehouse would last if it was attacked. Jump out and go…and go where?
She sighed. It was something they were going to have to discuss before they started the rescue mission. Where could they go? Swanhaven or Cockatrice were the obvious possibilities, offering bases for Alassa to make a bid for the throne…but Randor would know it too. Emily dreaded to think what might happen if the king’s armies headed into her barony, even though she’d walked away from it.
The boys returned, carrying the supplies. Emily checked each of the batteries carefully–she’d made sure to prepare more than strictly necessary–and then placed them on the floor, protected by an aversion ward. Jade set up the focusing crystal while Cat altered the wards, programming them to destroy the entire warehouse if someone unfriendly broke into the building. It was harsh, Emily knew, but necessary. They didn’t dare let an enemy sorcerer get a good look at the batteries.
Although the surge of raw magic will be enough to tell them that something happened here, she thought, as she checked the equations one final time. And they may call in advisers from the White Council.
She scowled at the thought. Magic surges weren’t unknown near nexus points, or places so isolated that no humans could be found for miles around, but here? In the middle of a city that had been settled for hundreds of years? People would ask questions and…and perhaps some of them would come up with the right answers. Or perhaps there would be a panic over raw magic surges instead. She’d heard horror stories about what happened when humans were caught up in powerful surges, although no magic surges had been reported in heavily populated areas for nearly a hundred years.
“I’m setting up the tracking spell now,” Jade said. “Tam was kind enough to give me a little of his blood.”
Ouch, Emily thought. “Let’s hope he’s close enough to Imaiqah for us to use his blood to find her.”
“Yeah,” Jade said. “He should be close enough, particularly as he’s the only member of his family remaining in the city. We should only get one false positive.”
Emily stood and surveyed their work. It looked like an interstellar portal from a science-fiction movie, although there was something unmistakably steampunkish about it. The batteries seemed to be glowing, pregnant with possibility; the focusing crystals were humming, slightly, as the spellware waited to be activated. Professor Lombardi would throw up his hands with horror, she was sure, if he saw their ramshackle work, but it didn’t have to last forever. She’d settle for ten minutes.
Cat stood next to her. “What time are we going?”
“Tam said he’d have his people ready by tomorrow,” Jade said. “They don’t know the exact target, of course. We didn’t dare tell them.”
“Of course,” Cat agreed. He winked at Emily. “Why don’t we go out on the town? Just the three of us?”
Jade glared, then realized he was being teased. “I think it would be better to get plenty of sleep. We’ll be jumping soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow evening.”
“Perhaps we should go at night,” Cat said.
“Alassa will be in bed,” Jade reminded them. “There’s no way to get a message to her, is there?”
Emily shook her head. “No.”
“Timing will be a pain,” Jade agreed. “Ideally, I’d prefer to attack at dawn, but you know…”
“Everyone attacks at dawn,” Cat agreed.
Emily wasn’t sure that was actually true–the sergeants had taught their students to be awake at dawn, just in case something thought it was a good time to attack–but she saw the logic. The guards would expect an attack at dawn…if, of course, they expected to be attacked at all. Witt hadn’t been stupid and he clearly hadn’t expected an attack…Emily considered it for a moment, then dismissed the thought. There was a difference between a raid on a defended installation and an all-out attack on the city.
They’re waiting for something to happen, she thought, recalling Alicia’s words. They know it won’t be long before all hell breaks loose.
She walked around the outer edge of the wards, silently working out the details. They would move as soon as the charmed parchment was inside the Tower’s wards, hacking them down through brute force…then find their friends and open the portal. If they were lucky, they’d be able to open the portal right into Alassa’s bedroom…if not, they might have to search the Tower. It would be nice to discover that Imaiqah and Alassa were sharing quarters, but she doubted it. Randor probably wasn’t inclined to be nice to Imaiqah.
“Make sure Tam knows to be ready to flee,” she warned. “We have to leave the warehouse as soon as we’re out of the portal.”
“Understood,” Jade said. “We’ll teleport to Swanhaven.”
Cat looked up. “Are you sure? You know Randor’s going to have bumped off everyone who liked you there…”
“That would be a lot of people, some of whom are actually important,” Jade said, dryly. “I should be able to muster some support from the local guard. It’s as good a place as any to start.”
“And a good place to get yourself killed,” Cat said. “Do they really love you that much?”
“Compared to the two idiots who were competing for power only two years ago, yes,” Jade said. He held up a hand. “I understand the risks, Cat. But we have to start somewhere.”
He nodded politely to Emily, then headed for the door. “We’ll stay here tonight,” he added, firmly. “We really do not want anyone to break into the warehouse, not now.”
“Joy,” Cat muttered, as Jade closed the door behind him. “We’ll be stiff and sore tomorrow.”
“We’ve been in worse places,” Emily reminded him. “Remember that forced march over the Craggy Mountains?”
“True,” Cat said. He grinned at her, then sobered. “You do realize that this little thing”–he indicated the portal spellware–“is going to change the world?”
“I know,” Emily said. “It will make things very different.”
“Until someone figures out how to block it,” Cat said. “Chat parchments don’t emit any betraying vibrations, but there must be something”–he shrugged–“and yet, it doesn’t matter. We could put an invasion force right inside Randor’s castle.”
Emily hesitated. Was he right? Could the war be won by a single stroke? It wasn’t as if it would take long to recharge the batteries, not in Swanhaven or Cockatrice. There were enough enchanters and craftsmen in the baronies to help build a new portal generator…a hundred portal generators. They could win the war overnight…
Except it wouldn’t work, she thought. They’d have to target the portal on the castle, with help…they’d need to get another piece of parchment into the castle. And the wards would be far harder to bring down from the inside. Randor had lost his castle’s wards once, thanks to her. He’d have done whatever it took to make sure she couldn’t do it again.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “And even if we did win so easily, we’d still have to reckon with the nobles.”
Cat put an arm around her shoulder, leaning in for a kiss. “We’d win,” he said. “We would have half the country on our side from day one.”
Emily kissed him back, knowing he was being far too optimistic. Sure, there were factions that would back Alassa simply because she wasn’t Randor or any of the Barons, but there were others that wouldn’t be impressed by royal blood. They would be more interested in bare survival than anything else. The population hadn’t risen in outrage when Alassa had been confined to the Tower. It was unlikely that the vast majority of the country really cared about who was on the throne. Why should they?
Because the king has more power than ever before, Emily thought, as Cat’s hands started to roam over her body. And, one way or the other, things are going to change.
Interlude Two: Simon Harkness