“I found him outside, looking for us,” I said. “He escaped from Uthor's dungeon… with a little help from a friend.”
After much back-slapping and hugging and not a little crying from Freda, we dragged over another chair and ordered more food. While Conner tucked into a couple of thick steaks, I pulled Dad to one side and told him about what had really happened.
“Suhuy…” he murmured. “I know him. He was Thellops's apprentice. He would have become Keeper of the Logrus a thousand years or more from now, when Thellops died… he must consider that sudden promotion a favor and be seeking to pay you back for it. He would not want to be indebted to any of us.”
“He was talking about a game…”
“Oh?”
I repeated Suhuy's comments about upsetting the gameboard. Dad chuckled, then shrugged.
“There is a philosophy, based on the earliest writings of our people, which claims all of Chaos is a game for greater beings. Those who follow it call themselves Kindred. Perhaps he is one… a harmless enough faith, as faiths go. The Kindred seek to grow more powerful and, through their increased importance to the game and its outcome, grow closer to those who roll the cosmic dice. If he is one of the Kindred, you have done him a great favor by eliminating Thellops. Elevating Suhuy to a new position of power and rank would be important to him.”
“That must be it,” I murmured. And yet I still had a feeling, vague though it was, that something did not quite make sense.
“Our family is much reduced,” I said. “Conner may well be the last to join us.”
“There is at least one more…” He chuckled, but did not elaborate even when I gave him a questioning look.
I let it go for now. I would pry the truth out of him when I had more time.
As for Conner… he was still gorging himself at the dinner table. If he wasn't careful, he would make himself sick. Still, with Freda and Blaise doting over him like over-protective aunts, I knew he would be fine.
“We can't stay here,” I said suddenly. “If Suhuy can find us, so can King Uthor.”
“Blame the Logrus,” Dad said. “It may be tracking us for them. Every time we use it, we are telling them where we are and what we are doing.”
“Aber told me the Logrus didn't work that way!”
He chuckled. “Have I ever mentioned that Aber is a fool?”
“Too often,” I said.
He snorted. “You cannot rely on gossip for a true understanding of how the Logrus and its powers work. It is tied to the King of Chaos and the Keeper of the Logrus. My researches have proved this conclusively. If the king and Thellops did not know what every single person was using it for—including us—it is only because there are millions of people using the Logrus at any given time. Yes, Chaos and its Shadows are that big. But if either one of them focused his attention on one man or his family… yes, he would know what we were doing, and where.”
“Then you must all stop using the Logrus. It's convenient, I know… but surely the Pattern can be made to work just as well. And Pattern-based Trumps seem immune to the Logrus and its influence.”
“I agree,” Dad said. My surprise must have shown because he quickly continued: “I made a mistake in Juniper. I underestimated our enemies. I had no idea Uthor and Thellops were involved. Of all the people in Chaos, only they had the power to spy on us through the Logrus. I will not see that same mistake repeated. Once we leave here, we are through with the Logrus. Forever. Any who disagree will be cast out for the common good.”
I nodded. “Very well.” I felt exactly the same way. We had to take every precaution against Chaos.
“Where shall we go?” Dad said. “We need a new home—a world we can shape to our own liking. I have a vague impression of a likely Shadow close to the Pattern…”
“I took you there from the Pattern. It's a promising land, well laid out, but it's empty—no people at all. We will have to bring in everything and everyone we need.”
“Then we will do this thing. We will build there at once.” He clasped me on the shoulder. “And this time, Oberon, we will not repeat our mistakes!”
Chapter 15
Despite our ambitions, we did not manage to leave the inn the next day, or even the next week. Conner must have been running on pure nerve the night before. When he awakened in the morning, his months of imprisonment had caught up with him. Too weak to do much, he lingered in bed, with Freda and Blaise playing nursemaids. They plied him with light soups and delicate pastries from the inn's more-than-capable kitchens, to Conner's delight. He seemed to enjoy the attention.
Since the Logrus had already shown Suhuy and (I assumed) everyone else in King Uthor's camp where we were staying, I figured it wouldn't matter if my family continued to use it here. Everyone to his or her own talent…
I put Aber and Blaise on gold-gathering duty. The two of them spent an afternoon pulling in several tons of gold through the Logrus. Gold bricks, gold nuggets, gold plates and silverware—they found it all and brought it into our suite. When the floors groaned from the load, I hired several wagons and carted it all down to the Imperial Bank of Selonika, where its deposit caused quite a stir.
The bank manager dispatched runners to the palace every few minutes with updated totals as clerks weighed and carefully logged in our wealth, and they quickly returned with a line of credit marked “unlimited.” No less a personage than Prince Marib himself signed the letter.
It also came with an invitation to luncheon at the palace. I sent my brother. While he and the prince dined and became fast friends, I took Blaise on a shopping spree. We bought dozens of horses, mules, goats, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, and other domestic animals. And then we bought several dozen large heavy-canvas tents, lanterns and oil, picks and shovels, seed and grain, and enough foodstuffs to last us at least six months. Beds and furniture… tables… silverware… we would need everything ahead of time, especially since no one would be able to use the Logrus to bring in last-minute items. Blaise hired maids, butlers, cooks, and other servants.
We needed a warehouse to hold all these purchases, so I bought one of those, too—and hired an accountant and a dozen burly workers to manage everything. Money flowed like water. A steady stream of deliveries began to arrive almost immediately.
With my permission, Aber revealed to Prince Marib some of the truth about our family. We intended to export supplies from his Shadow to ours until we established our own economy. Envisioning a huge profit, Prince Marib seemed delighted at the prospect, according to Aber, and quickly sent us lists of his city's best chartered architects, stonemasons, hostlers, and various other tradesmen who could help. Aber, Blaise, and I spent the rest of the day visiting them, hiring their services at higher-than-normal cost, and generally arranging things. They would hire whatever construction workers were needed to commence construction of a castle and town immediately.
Foundations needed to be dug first, and that could begin even before the blueprints were finalized.
In the meantime, our father spent the day in his room, drawing new Pattern-based Trumps. He made a set for me first, one showing each of the surviving members of our family—and with some amusement I noticed his drawing of Aber showed a court jester complete with pointy green hat and curly-toed shoes with bells on their tips. Tit for tat; that's how Aber portrayed Dad on his Trumps. At my request, Dad also created a Trump showing my bedroom at the inn. This way I could return as needed. Since I had already paid in full for everyone's suites at the inn for the next fifty years, this room would always be held empty for me, for use whenever I needed it.
When he finished the Trumps—clearly not his best work, sloppy but serviceable—we Shadow-walked back to the empty world I had selected for our new home. He wanted to see it for himself.
We spent the last daylight hours on a quiet ramble through the hills and small mountains (“Ideal for a castle,” he commented), down through the ancient oak forests (“enough wood for a half-dozen towns”), then onto the white sandy beach (“a good natural harbor”). The weather remained mild, the sun bright, and game plentiful, from birds and fish to rabbits and deer. The only thing missing was a stone-quarry, but we both agreed a site for one could easily be found in the west.
Using my new Trump, we returned to the inn for a late dinner. The pessimist in me half expected to find the
