‘An invasion force?’ Gilmour said, ‘but why not just open the Fold from Eldarn and invite evil to sweep across Earth as well? What need is there for an invasion force?’
‘Because maybe Earth isn’t the last stop on the line.’ Steven shrugged. ‘But I’d bet dollars to doughnuts it’s because evil wants souls there, too, and two hundred thousand, even three hundred thousand, while impressive numbers, just aren’t enough to take our planet.’
‘But they could hold a significant corner of it,’ Hannah said, ‘and probably for a long time.’
‘If they choose the right corner,’ Steven said, ‘and bring the right agents along with them.’
‘Good rutters, the ash dream,’ Alen said to no one in particular.
‘The bark, those roots and leaves,’ Steven said. ‘What could an army of two hundred thousand do if they were to arrive suddenly inside our borders, armed with that bark? Even if each of them had only a pouch or two? What damage could they do?’
‘They could enslave entire cities,’ Garec said, ‘take whole regions, and without spilling any blood.’
‘Mother of Christ,’ Hannah whispered. ‘They could turn us against ourselves, too, shut down the power, cut off critical food and water resources, anything.’
‘So what do we do?’ Hoyt shifted so he could rest against Captain Ford’s sea chest.
‘We wait for them on the other side,’ Steven said simply.
‘For two hundred thousand of them?’ Garec swallowed dryly. ‘I’m good, Steven, but that’s madness.’
‘Not if we know where they’re coming through.’ Steven wished he could stand up, but dared not try. He was sweating again and his muscles ached where the anti-venom was flushing out the foreign toxins.
‘All of them in one place?’ Alen said. ‘That would be counterproductive; it’s a big world. A few of them here and there would be infinitely more effective.’
‘That’s true, Alen,’ Steven said, ‘they won’t all come through in the same place, but if we know where the first wave is crossing, we can be there. Mark will be there with the spell table; you can bet on it. We simply cross over, meet him and the initial forces, however many they are, and seal the Fold for ever with the spell table inside. In doing so, we take the head off the snake here in Eldarn. Everyone wins.’
‘You make it sound awfully easy.’ Brexan wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t banish the scepticism from her voice. ‘What will you do with the two hundred thousand warriors?’
Steven looked at Gilmour and sighed. ‘I’m afraid that many of them will perish inside the void. There’s no other way.’
This piece of information didn’t appear to upset the former soldier. ‘What about the ones still in the encampment?’
‘We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it, Brexan,’ Alen said.
‘If they’re near the spell table when we strike out at Mark and his initial forces, they’ll be lost with the others.’
‘How do you know that?’ Captain Ford asked. He was the only one who looked remotely comfortable, sitting behind his desk.
Steven grimaced. ‘Because we’re going to tell them to enter the Fold and remain there for ever.’
‘Can you do that?’ Garec asked.
Again, Steven looked at Gilmour. ‘Can we? She sent us all the same dog, didn’t she?’
Hoyt whispered, ‘Whoring rutters, it’s Milla.’
Gilmour looked around for something to drink. With nothing at hand, he licked his lips and nodded. ‘I don’t know. I just… don’t know.’
‘What’s the book say?’ Steven pressed.
Alen interjected, ‘It says that we can do it: you certainly, Fantus; maybe even I can. The challenge is figuring out how to make it work on thousands simultaneously.’
‘That’s it, then.’ Garec finally understood. ‘That’s why Nerak had the book with him on the Prince Marek. He was learning how to give directions to all of these soldiers at once.’
‘To a large group at least, yes. It’s called the ash dream and, if I’m guessing correctly, Gilmour, it was a teaching tool, wasn’t it? Learn from your own past? Learn emotional and physical self-control, self-image, self-esteem, and all of it stemming from self-knowledge… because all magic is about knowledge, my friend.’ He was speaking only to Gilmour now. And what’s more important knowledge than self-knowledge? What better research arena than one’s own past – and not the boring stuff, hell no. Lessek planned it right: get the highs and the lows. But you were never supposed to go in solo, were you?’
‘Very old.’ Gilmour didn’t look at them. ‘It’s very old magic, Steven, Lessek’s personal writings. We can’t pretend to know what he was thinking.’
‘But you do,’ Steven said. ‘You have to believe it, Gilmour, because you have to teach me, and we have all of about two days to get it exactly right.’
‘Wait a moment,’ Captain Ford interrupted, ‘how do you know where they’re going, Steven? What if you guess wrong?’
‘Actually, Captain, that’s the one piece of this whole nightmarish puzzle that I’m confident I have figured correctly.’
‘So where are they going to strike first?’ Hannah said, taking his hand.
‘Jones Beach, New York.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Jesus, that’s only thirty miles from New York City.’
‘Worse,’ Steven added, ‘it’s only ten miles from Kennedy Airport. Imagine if even one of those soldiers managed to get on an international flight. It would be easy with a pouch of ashes. We’d never know where they had gone. London, Moscow, Beijing, Sao Paulo – anywhere in the world, in just a few hours.’
‘And the military would never bomb that area, no matter how many soldiers came ashore,’ Hannah said. ‘It’s too densely populated.’
‘And damned near impossible to evacuate,’ Steven said. ‘Jones Beach is perfect, and Mark knows it. Especially in winter, that stretch of land is about the only barren piece of real estate within a hundred miles of Manhattan or Kennedy Airport. It’s like another planet out there, and just across the causeway, ka-blam! Civilisation, access, knowledge, souls, power, all of it a half-hour walk from the end of the Earth.’
Hoyt looked at Alen and whispered, ‘What’s a mile?’
‘About fifteen hundred paces.’
‘And an hour?’
‘About half an aven.’
‘Thanks. I’m caught up.’ He tore another piece of bread from the loaf and tossed it to Garec.
The Ronan smiled despite his obvious terror and asked, ‘So what do we do now? How do we kill him? Do we have to wait until the table is open, or can we get him from the other side?’
‘Great question, Garec,’ Steven said, turning to Captain Ford. ‘We turn and run, as fast as we can, into the North Sea. Can we get through the blockade and into the Northeast Channel?’
Captain Ford nodded. ‘It isn’t difficult leaving, not nearly as tricky as coming in.’
‘Then that’s what you do,’ Steven went on, ‘all of you, you all sail for Orindale. Try to find Gita Kamrec; tell her that we’ve won. Help her establish a people’s government in Falkan – it’s got the strongest economy; it’s the best place to start. We’ll be back when we can to help you.’
‘Tell her we’ve won?’ Garec looked askance at him.
‘If you’re alive when you reach Orindale and the world hasn’t folded up or gone to pieces, yes, you can assume that we’ve won.’
‘But Garec comes with us,’ Gilmour said simply. It wasn’t a question and Steven decided not to argue with him about it – not yet.
Garec turned around to look his old mentor in the face, then smiled. He didn’t look forward to telling Kellin, though.
‘What are you all going to do?’ Captain Ford asked.
‘First, we bring this boat about and get the blazes out of here.’
Captain Ford looked to Gilmour, who nodded grimly. ‘All right, then,’ the captain said as he started towards the companionway. ‘If you’ll excuse me, we’re coming about.’ He disappeared into the corridor and they heard him shouting before he reached the main deck, ‘Pel! Do you want a salary raise?’