"Telling us Ess's real name was a good start," Axebourne said. "Can you get whoever is left in Testadel to fall in line?"
"The men and women here loved Kash," said Ugrata. "He was a diligent and fair ruler to them, despite what you Overlanders tend to assume. Nevertheless, they are also in the habit of keeping order, and they respect might and authority. I think they will submit to you, especially when they see that I stand with you."
"Good," said Axebourne. "It wasn't what we wanted, but we're starting from scratch here. We'll need every helping hand we can get."
"So what's the plan?" said Agrathor. Pierce thought it odd to see him finally out of armor, draped only in loose cotton shirt and trousers.
Gorgonbane and Ugrata were arrayed at a table in one of Kash's old war rooms. Someone had brought mead, bread, and cheese, and everyone ate ravenously. Agrathor's skeletal feet were up on the table.
"Unification," said Ugrata. "It has to be that."
The others nodded.
"But we can't do it Kash's way," said Agrathor. "We won't."
"I concede that it wasn't the best," said the supra-gen woman. "Perhaps I believed in him somewhat blindly."
"Or perhaps you'd demonized Overlanders the same way we did you," said Scythia. "But I get the feeling there is not much time to dwell on the old problems. I'm not much one for suppressing feelings, but I will say that they don't matter much now."
"So we need to know what Kash knew," said Axebourne. "Can you tell us?"
Ugrata closed her eyes thoughtfully, perhaps remembering her late husband.
"Some of it, yes," she said. "But not all. We will have to speak with his sorcerers. I fear, though, that some of his deepest knowledge may have died with him. He did not speak of everything he'd discovered, even to me."
"Well if it's breadcrumbs, then it's breadcrumbs," said Sev. "I've forged with incomplete blueprints before."
"We'll find it," said Pierce. "If I have to scour every inch of Over, Under and the Sublands to find clues, I'll do it."
Ugrata favored him with a look. It said she thought him naive, but was grateful for his passion.
"I'm serious," Pierce said, answering her unspoken doubts. "I will climb down the side of the Chasm wall myself to find what's under Subland."
"So we get to name the place?" mused Agrathor. "I guess that's fair. What did Kash call it, Ugrata?"
She shook her head. "He didn't name it. He just kept referring to the chasmic depths. He was going to teach me to fold into it without being eaten."
Pierce bolted upright in his chair. "Did you say fold? Fold into the Chasm?"
Ugrata nodded slowly.
"Ess said you couldn't."
"Well Kash could," Ugrata said.
"Another lie," Agrathor growled. "So that's how she knew."
"And now she knows whatever Kash did, too," said Scythia.
"I was awaiting the appropriate moment to mention it," said Axebourne, clearing his throat. "This protected folding, it is an extension of the Tenth Skill."
"Teach me," said Pierce.
"But the banshees..." said Agrathor.
"It's a double-fold," said Axebourne, "circumventing the edge of the spirit world the banshees are connected to. When you do it right, they can't touch you. From there, it's just an issue of practice - extending your range."
"Could you cross?" asked Scythia.
Axebourne was quiet a moment, and his skin gained a faint glow that soon faded.
"I think so," he said. "But I would need a reason."
"Like fleeing chasmic horrors?" Pierce said.
Axebourne laughed. "Like that, or perhaps saving someone's life."
"Teach me," Pierce repeated.
"We will all learn," said Ugrata. "Now, what about the armies?"
"Will you array them?" asked Axebourne. "We will need to speak with them, make them understand how important this shift in things really is. We may need to convene the regular citizens as well."
"This will be difficult for the humans," said Scythia.
"It will," said Ugrata. Then, "If I order my people to gather, they will obey me."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Agrathor, smacking the table and standing. He muttered, "Kid must be rubbing off on me. Let's do it now!"
The remaining forces of Testadel were arrayed just within the fortress gates, which stood open to the traffic coming and going from the ruins of Grondell.
Ugrata had given the order for everyone to be presented for inspection, and no one had disobeyed. Even the painreapers came, and were hanging back near the stairways leading down to their dungeons, whispering amongst themselves. She did not have the energy to address the army properly, but she stood long enough to assure them that all was as well as could be.
She spoke to them from a raised platform overlooking the parade grounds before the gate.
"The peace that my husband dreamed of has come, in part, though not in the way he intended," she said, using an enchantment to amplify her voice. "Gorgonbane did not assassinate him."
There was a murmur of voices from the crowd at this. Did they believe it?
"The Second has become the First," Ugrata said. "She has betrayed her own comrades. It was she who murdered our beloved Underlord."
The murmuring voices continued.
"Things will continue to change," Ugrata said. Her stance began to falter, and Pierce was there to help hold her up. She glanced at him in thanks. "You have already begun the change. We will rebuild. We will explore for ourselves what caused my husband's great concern, why he feared the things he said were coming up from below the Underlands. And we will prepare. We will be ready to stand."
Ugrata leaned more heavily on Pierce. He thought she must be exhausted. He wondered if he would fare much better after dying and being brought back.
"Please, continue to work together," she said, voice rasping a little. "Please, hear and obey the new Lords of Testadel."
Ugrata gestured tiredly to a chair that had been brought for her and thanked Pierce as he helped her settle into it.
She looked much like her sister. They might even be twins, but Ess had been so youthful of appearance that it was impossible
