Tarrrin remained in his calm state for an hour and more, trying to compose himself and ready himself for the trials ahead. A trek across Ungardt in the winter would not be pleasant, and the end of that journey led to its own significan problems. The trip was nothing more than an exercise in wasting time, anyway. Everyone was waiting for Gods' Day, even him. Everything up to that point really meant nothing. At least to him. But at least it would be time with Jesmind, a chance to spend some time with her before everything was said and done, when he knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
But he had no regrets. He would do what must be done, just as the Goddess had commanded him. Jasana would survive, Jesmind would survive, and that was all that mattered to him.
The waiting was all. He was waiting for Phandebrass to finish his chart. He was waiting for Triana to arrive. He was waiting to leave. There would be no goodbyes, just as there were none last time. The time before, it was to maintain a veil of secrecy. This time, it was to maintain a veneer of believability. He was absolutely depending on something Spyder said, that Val would be out there listening, picking the thoughts out of everyone's minds. He went to a great deal of trouble laying down a believable convincing plan, a plan that he was absolutely certain that Val was going to learn. A plan Tarrin had absolutely no intention of following. It would be the same plan up to a certain point, but when those paths split, Val was going to be in for a nasty surprise. So much of one that it was going to allow them to get Jasana out of Gora Umadar alive, and with Sapphire's child dragon there to pick them up, get them to safety.
And that was all that mattered.
It was forty-one days until Gods' Day. Forty-one days to wait, forty-one days for snags to rise up in the plan.
Forty-one days until the very real possibility that it would be the beginning of the end of the world. Or, depending on how one saw things, forty-one days until the opportunity of wiping out Val's army and forcing him to start again from scratch and rebuild. That would give everyone all the time they needed to recover and be ready for the next round of this extended, unending contest between Val and the rest of the world.
Forty-one days.
He became aware of Triana's scent. He heard her come into the courtyard, pad over to him silently, then seat herself facing him. He made no indication he knew she was there, and she was silent a long moment, as if content to wait for him to acknowledge her.
"They said you wanted to see me," she finally said.
"I did," he said serenely, without opening his eyes. "I want you to take the other Were-cats into the Frontier. Take them as far from Suld as you can get them, and don't leave them. I don't want them anywhere near what's coming."
"I guess we can all go to Mist's place," she mused. "It's going to be a bit cramped with me and Jula there, but we can manage."
"And I want you to warn Fae-da'Nar of what we're going to do."
"I've already done that. That's why I'm so late getting here. They've agreed to help again. They know what Demons mean, cub. Everyone has to put a hand in to stop this before it gets out of control."
"Good. Me and Jesmind are going after Jasana."
"I know, they told me," she said. He felt her put her paw on his shoulder. "I don't know what you have up your sleeve, cub, but I hope it's a damned miracle. Do you have any idea what you're about to walk into?"
He opened his eyes and looked at her, and she actually flinched her hand away when she saw the look of almost burning obsession in his eyes, and the cold emptiness behind them. The eyes of a man willing to go to any lengths to recover his child. "I'll manage, mother," he told her.
Because they had seen into each other's minds, they were much closer now, and her intimate understanding of him made her pale when she realized the truth. "Don't think like that, cub," she told him, almost pleadingly. "It's not a given that you're not going to get out alive. Don't give up hope."
"I'm not. But I'm also not going to ignore reality," he told her. "After I get Jesmind and Jasana out of there, and the moment passes when Val can use the Firestaff, I'll have nothing left to use as a bargaining chip. If Jenna and the others can't distract Val long enough for me to find a way to escape, I won't."
"They said you wanted me to teach you how I travel."
"I only said that to reassure the others," he said dismissively. "I doubt I could learn something that complicated in one day."
"You're right."
"When the time comes, I have an idea of how I'm going to get out," he told her. "It's going to depend a little on luck, but no plan doesn't rely on little on luck at some point."
"You're going to give me gray hair, cub," she told him with a weak smile.
He reached out and put his paw on her leg, patting it. "Don't tell the others," he said. "Part of this depends on the other side hearing and seeing things that reinforces the ideas I've laid down. If things don't happen the way I've set them up, I'm not going to get Jasana back."
"I'll keep quiet."
"I only told you because you're a Druid, mother. Spyder told me that Val can pick the thoughts right out of your head from great distances, but I'll bet that not even he can do that easily to someone with a mind as disciplined as a Druid's. That's why nobody else can know. Val is going to find out about the plan from others, and he'll prepare to deal with that plan."
"While you have something else up your sleeve," Triana nodded. "Clever."
"I do. Forgive me if I don't tell you, but this is something I can't risk for any reason."
"I don't blame you, cub. When are you leaving?"
"Phandebrass is doing something for me. I'll leave when he's done."
"That book?" Triana asked. "I saw him when I tracked down Camara Tal. He had a book with him, and he said it was for you."
"That's what I've been waiting for," he said, quickly standing up. "There's some information in that book I need. Now that he's found it, I can go."
"Want me to gather everyone?"
He shook his head. "I don't want anyone to know I'm going. As soon as I get that book, I'm getting Jesmind, and we're leaving. I don't want any explanations. Kerri and Miranda will dog me until they get what they want out of me, and it's critical they know only what I want them to know."
"I think that's a mistake, but I won't gainsay you, cub," she told him, standing up. "Let's go see Phandebrass, and you can get on your way."
Without another word, the pair of them left the courtyard, devoid of the statue that defined it, yet with the presence it represented still present within it.
A presence that heard every word.
Kimmie was tired.
She'd been getting strangely tired here lately, usually when working with her magic, and sometimes just after a long day. Despite her pregancy, she still tutored under Phandebrass, though now he told her that it was more of her refining the skills he taught her than any real additional instruction. Under his watchful eye, she practiced her art at a grueling pace each day, wearing herself out and coming back stronger the day afterward. But now that her pregancy was entering its final phases, her due date only a month and a half away, the child inside her was putting more and more demands on her body and her energy. What had started out as help at the fenceline turned into more of an active supervision, for she had grown too tired to continue after a shocking short time. Were-cat females were only vulnerable in their pregnancy during the last few days, when the baby was ready to drop, but they weren't totally unaffected by their condition until that time. Were-cat babies were infants, but they were Were, and that put more stresses on the mother, more demands on her energy, than a human baby. Until they made their own connection to the All and their powers became independent, the mother was carrying the burden for both mother and child, and Were-cats were a strongly magical Were race. Their regeneration, and to a lesser degree their strength, were aspects of Druidic magic, not physical conditions. Until the baby was born, became an entity completely separate from the mother, the mother was supplying the unborn infant the magical energy it needed for its Were nature to remain strong and healthy.