Sienna glowered down at hers. “Nasty. Very nasty.”
Emily dropped hers in the fire and watched it burn. “Here’s a different question,” she said, slowly. “How much food do we have?”
Karan muttered a word, just loudly enough to be heard. “Not much. We have preservation spells on the cooler, but…we’ll be running out of food within the week, assuming we go on short rations.”
Sienna gave her eldest daughter a sharp look. “Start filling bottles and buckets with water before it occurs to them to turn off the pipes,” she ordered. “Take Marian with you – she can do something useful.”
Emily glanced at her in surprise. She hadn’t seen Marian all day. But then, Sienna had probably told her to stay in her room until she felt like apologizing. Emily felt a moment’s pity for the younger girl, mixed with annoyance. Marian had every right to mourn her brother, but…
She’s grieving, Emily told herself, firmly. And I won’t let it get to me.
“She’s still sulking,” Karan said. “But I’ll try to get her to work.”
“See that you do,” Sienna said.
Emily looked at the table, thinking hard. If no food was coming into the city – if even the fishing boats were forbidden to leave – the entire population would starve. Sienna and her family could hold out for a week, if Karan was right, but what about the poorer families, the ones without magic? It wouldn’t be long before the poorer parts of the city began to starve, forcing them to beg for food. And the Fists of Justice would be right there, ready to offer food with one hand and religious instruction with the other. Starving people would be in no condition to resist.
Caleb caught her eye. “Do you have any other thoughts?”
“They’ll come after us, sooner rather than later,” Emily said. The coup plotters had tried to hunt Alassa down, after all. They’d succeeded too. If General Pollack truly was the last living – or at least free – member of the former government, he’d be hunted too. The Fists of Justice would want to convert or eliminate him before he could cause trouble. “I don’t know how long Sorcerers Row can hold out.”
“It’s safe,” Karan protested.
“It might not be for long,” Caleb warned. “You didn’t see that…that thing.”
“We have to assume the worst,” Sienna said. “And plan for a hasty departure.”
Karan didn’t look as though she believed her mother. Emily didn’t blame her for having doubts. Sorcerers Row was the safest place in the city…if one happened to be a sorcerer or had magical relatives. No one would have dared lay a finger on Karan – or any of her siblings – for fear of Sienna’s revenge. And few people would linger in Sorcerers Row. Outsiders came in, did their business, and then hurried out before a sorcerer decided to use them for target practice.
But the wards won’t stand indefinitely, she thought, numbly. Not now.
“We can fight,” Croce said. “We have weapons.”
“Only a fool fights in a burning house, son.” General Pollack said, warningly. He waved a hand at the wall. “We’d be surrounded, trapped in our own house. Even if they couldn’t break in, they could keep us from breaking out.”
Emily caught the expression on Caleb’s face and winced in sympathy. General Pollack had pushed Casper hard, but he’d also made no secret of the fact he favored his eldest son. Caleb had never quite clicked with his father. He was brave, and a skillful magician, but he was no fighter. Croce, on the other hand, was doing well at Stronghold. She wondered, grimly, if General Pollack saw his youngest son as a replacement for his eldest.
I’m sorry, she thought.
“Perhaps we should move now,” Sienna said. “There are places in Fishing Plaice we could stay.”
Karan smirked. “I thought Fishing Plaice was not safe.”
“Nowhere is safe now,” Sienna said.
“Better to wait for darkness before we move.” General Pollack reached for his cloak. “Caleb, you’re with me.”
Caleb’s face was unreadable as he followed his father to the door, but Emily knew he was dismayed. She didn’t blame him. Caleb wanted his father’s approval, but he couldn’t do what he needed to do to get it. Casper had suffered the same problem, yet…she shook her head, wishing she could give Caleb some reassurance. She didn’t want him to die too.
“I need to contact Alassa,” she said, once Caleb was gone. “She has to know what’s happening here.”
“Tell her that we will try to deal with the problem ourselves,” Sienna said. “The last thing we want is an invasion force crossing the bridges.”
“And getting slaughtered by Justice,” Frieda put in.
Emily nodded. “I’ll tell her,” she said, although she didn’t know what King Randor could or would do. He had sorcerers under his command, including Jade. Maybe he’d order them to do something stupid. “And I’ll warn Lady Barb too.”
“Make sure she knows not to teleport into the city,” Sienna warned. “The presence makes teleporting dangerous.”
“Just like the haze in Farrakhan,” Emily said, as she headed for the door. The technique was different, she was sure, but the results were similar. “Do you know if Janus or any of his fellows came from Heart’s Eye?”
Sienna’s eyes narrowed. “To the best of my knowledge, Janus does not have any actual magic. But the Fists of Justice probably have a few sorcerers working for them.”
Emily nodded and hurried up the stairs. Frieda followed her into the bedroom, then sat and watched as Emily wrote a message to Alassa on the chat parchment. She’d hoped her friend – or her husband – were close enough to the parchment to see it glow and write a reply, but there was no response. Scowling, she put the parchment on the dressing table and wrote a long letter, explaining what was going on. Her wrist hurt after she’d finished, but she forced herself to write a second note to Lady Barb. She should be able to see the note and respond quickly.