Page 33 of Beyond

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The best way to keep one’s mind off troubles, at least in Delia’s experience, was to work. And since Jonaton and the Six needed her to “anchor” them while they made that temporary Gate for Ivar, as soon as Kordas and the tribute-train had gone through the Gate to the Capital, the subterranean workroom was where she took herself.

All seven of them were already there, muttering and disagreeing and then agreeing again, and doing things with herbs and stones and bits of string and candles and chalk that all made no sense whatsoever to her.

“Is Isla going to help?” she asked, once there was a lull in the proceedings.

“Isla? No, we don’t need Isla, and she has things of her own to do,” Jonaton said absently. But then he looked up and really saw her, and beckoned to her. “Sit here,” he ordered, pointing to a stool that was behind the pair of stone “horns.” She saw now that he had moved them farther apart. “She needs to make sure none of the cats gets down here. Herding cats is enough of a job for ten people, but Isla is an army unto herself. Ivar should be here any moment.”

And just as he said that, Ivar did appear, from a different entrance than Delia had come by. His unruly blond hair was confined by a practical sweatband, and he was burdened with a pack and a belt festooned with weapons. There was a crossbow and a quiver of bolts, a good long knife, an axe, a sling, and a bag of shot, and perched on the top of his pack was a helmet.

He himself wore a good set of leather armor: tunic, bracers, and upper arm pieces, a gorget, and a pair of the stoutest boots Delia had ever seen in her life. His great black mastiff Bay was at his side, looking solemn and business-like, right up until Ponu exclaimed, “Doggo!” and Bay’s tail wagged. Sai confirmed, “That’s a fine big pupper, that is.”

Jonaton glanced over and asked, “He didn’t go after the cats, did he?”

Ivar patted Bay on the side with firm thumps. “Didn’t need to. They fled at first sight.”

“What a good boy,” Ponu declared, despite a glare from Jonaton.

Dole looked Ivar over skeptically. “No sword?” he asked.

“Swords are good against humans, not so much against animals. Not that we’ll actually fight unless we have no choice,” Ivar replied easily. “If we run into anything like that bear, Bay will harry it on one side while I plink at it on the other, with the idea of making it run away. I’m not there to do anything more than look for your body of water. Not even long enough to need my horse. Besides, the horse won’t fit through this Gate.”

“Well said,” Ponu agreed. “You’re smarter than you look.”

“If I wasn’t, I’d also be deader than I look,” Ivar laughed.

Delia had to smile a little. Ivar really was smart.

“All right, then, let’s make this thing happen!” said Sai. It seemed to Delia that despite his eager tone, he was covering up a lot of anxiety. She was pretty sure she was right when she noticed that, as he lined up two sets of six large crystals with each of the two stone horns, his hands shook a little.

He looked up, caught her staring, and schooled his expression into something other than tense. “Curious, kitten?” he asked, his tone far too jocular. “A Gate has to be powered by something, and we don’t want to alert anyone in the Capital by pulling on the energies that power that Gate down by the village. So we’ve been making these storage crystals for as long as the Plan has been in existence. Twelve is probably too many—”

“But better too much than not enough,” interrupted Ceri, and gestured to Ivar to come stand opposite of Delia.

“Am I going to feel anything?” she asked, just a little apprehensively.

“Not a thing. You haven’t a spark of magic in you,” said Dole. “That’s why we want you here, we told you. You’re the rock that’s going to keep everything weighted down.”

She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to be compared to a rock, but—

At that moment, the entire room lit up as all the inherent diagrams and lines and most of all the twelve crystals and the two stone horns flared into life. It was so bright, in fact, that she had to shield her eyes for a moment.

When she could look again, she saw …absolutely nothing. From this side of the Gate, there was nothing whatsoever going on between the two arcs of stone.

But Ivar’s face reflected a rippling light, and she could see just a little bit of it in the reflections from his eyes and the metal bits of his armor and weapons.

“Go!” shouted Ponu.

Ivar and Bay walked confidently toward her.

And vanished from sight as they passed between the stone horns.

“Don’t move!” shouted all seven of the mages as she stirred a little, wanting to get up and see whatever it was they were seeing.

She froze.

Silence filled the cellar. Finally she broke it.