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  Kale and Bardon spoke in unison. “Ready.”

  34

  THE BOTTOM DROPS OUT

  Seezle, Kale, and Bardon stood inside the door and peered through the crack. The marchers in a unit wore various colors. If they’d had to wait to join a yellow corps, they would’ve waited a long time. Several groups passed Holt’s quarters before one headed in the right direction. Kale and Bardon fell into step behind a group of citizens.

  Following Seezle’s prompting, they switched groups at different corners, always lining up behind the marchers. Using a convoluted route, they ended up behind the round, white stone building in the center of the village.

  Seezle stuck her finger in the keyhole, fiddled a moment with the locking mechanism, then opened the back door.

  “No one is here but Holt,” she said.

  Bardon frowned at the door and then at Seezle. “If you can open a lock like that, why haven’t you let Holt out a long time ago?”

  “Because there was no way to get him out of the village after I got him out of jail. The village is gated with a wall around it.”

  “The one I visited had no barricade.”

  “According to Holt’s informants, all the villages will become forts soon.” She turned a corner, opened a door, and led them down some wooden steps.

  Bardon hurried to follow her, still objecting. “Why couldn’t he have walked out in the same manner you walked us in?”

  “The tumanhofers weren’t ready. Glaringtonover has his own plan for after we rescue Holt.”

  Kale sensed they were getting closer. Holt’s unworried demeanor surprised her. He was more relaxed in these circumstances than when they’d parted ways in Vendela. Fresh air streamed in the shallow, barred window high on the wall of his cell and rushed in a draft past his visitors on the stair.

  He came to his feet as they descended the steps.

  “Greetings!” He spoke quietly but not in the hushed tones of one afraid of being overheard. “Is tonight to be the great escape?”

  Seezle giggled and passed him what appeared to be a wrapped sandwich and a bottle of some drink.

  He took them and went to sit on the cot. “Oh, Seezle, you are a true friend.” He unwrapped the food and took a big bite. “Umm.”

  Kale crossed her arms. “And I was afraid you were going to starve to death.”

  “What?” Holt’s charming smile brightened his face. “Seezle wouldn’t let that happen to me. And the people of the village…Well, some of them, anyway, are much more generous than the echoes.” He shuddered. “Those echoes are mean, like hornets under their guise of tranquility.”

  “Seezle,” said Kale. She gave the kimen a stern look. “You led me to believe this prisoner was on bread and water.”

  “He is as far as the Followers know.” Seezle swung the door open. “We haven’t time for a leisurely meal, Holt. We need to get out of here before the end of the march.”

  He stood, and after taking another bite, he rewrapped the sandwich and put it in a loose pocket. Then he opened the bottle.

  Seezle went into the cell. “Here are some fresh clothes.”

  “Do you have a bathtub hidden away as well?”

  She laughed again and danced away from the marione.

  “She wasn’t carrying anything before,” observed Bardon to Kale. “I suppose she has a hollow in her dress.”

  I think each kimen has a hollow. I can remember, even when I was very young and they came to market in River Away, I wondered how they brought their goods for sale.

  “You could at least turn around,” Holt said, holding up the new clothes to remind them he was about to change.

  “Hurry,” said Seezle.

  “Hurry is your middle name,” said Holt.

  He grumped but swiftly obeyed. He left the clothes in a pile on the floor. Seezle carefully locked the cell door, and they scurried up the steps. They managed to get back outside in just a few minutes. The kimen relocked the outside door.

  She giggled. “The echoes will be stumped in the morning when they find their prisoner missing.”

  With his voice just above a whisper, Holt answered, “Technically, I wasn’t a prisoner. I was receiving special training to bring my will, as well as my heart and mind, under the authority of the leaders.”

  “Did it work?” asked Bardon.

  Holt scoffed as he tied on the fake blindfold provided by Seezle. “Ha! Their first mistake was in assuming they had my heart and mind, so they just needed to work on my will. Their second oversight was the fact that Seezle or one of her friends brought me a meal each night. And rolls and such came sailing through my one poor, unglassed window at different times during the day.”

  “Here’s where we join the parade,” warned Seezle. Her light went out, but on the cue she gave Kale, they stepped into the back of a formation as it passed. They made quick progress back to Holt’s compact house. Once inside, Seezle eagerly popped down the hole under the trapdoor.

  Holt leaned over the underground exit. He saluted. “Thanks, fellows, for digging the escape route. I’m sure you’d agree with me that it seems a waste. All that effort, and I’m the only one to get out of here? Not an efficient use of labor.”

  Glaringtonover answered. “What do you have in mind, young marione?”

  “I suggest we rescue other members of this sect who are trapped and want out.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “Seezle says you have dug a network of tunnels under Paladise. Why did you do that, good man?”

  “I have plans of my own, boy.”

  “Would it hinder your plans if we used those tunnels to locate and rescue those I have identified as Followers who realize they’re following a sham?”

  Glaringtonover didn’t answer for a moment. “I’m thinking there’s no problem in doing a little side job.”

  “Good!” Holt clapped his hands together and then gestured to Kale. “Ladies first, dear Kale.”

  When they had all assembled at the bottom of the wooden ladder, Holt pulled out a rough page of pale brown. He unrolled it, revealing a hand-drawn map of Paladise.

  “I’ve marked the houses we need to visit,” Holt explained.

  “And how are we going to recognize these houses from below?” asked Glaringtonover.

  “That’s where Kale and Seezle come in. With Seezle following the map on the streets above, Kale will be able to locate her using her talent from below. Seezle stops at a house indicated on the map, and we dig up.”

  “Sounds like an all-night proposition,” one of the other tumanhofers remarked. “How many people are you talking about?”

  “The population of Paladise is around six hundred. The people who are too afraid to leave, but want to, number ninety-three.”

  Glaringtonover frowned at Holt. “Will they come if we knock on their floors in the middle of the night?”

  Holt nodded. “If I’m there to reassure them that this is a real escape and not a trap, they’ll jump in your hole faster than you can say, ‘Followers beware.’”

  Bardon smiled at Holt. “You know you’re risking not getting out yourself if we get caught.”

  Holt’s serious expression touched Kale’s heart. The evidence suggested there was more to the young, rich marione than anyone knew. Bardon was right once more.

  “I promised these people I’d help them.” Holt glanced around at the others. “Will you help me help them?”

  Glaringtonover scratched his beard. “It’s lucky for you, when I made my design, I opted for digging under the houses instead of the streets.”

  Bardon clapped the tumanhofer on the shoulder. “I’d say that was Wulder’s providence, not luck.”

  “Aye,” agreed the short, stout man. “Time’s awasting. We better get after this job lest the sun catch us in the morning.”

  The plan worked well, with a few tense moments each time they reached the wooden floor of the houses, knocked loud enough to wake the inhabitants, and then pushed up the boards. Ho
lt told those who responded to pack a few things and come down below, then someone would guide them back to the shack in the woods, using the tumanhofer tunnels.

  Holt told them, “Be quick packing and be sure not to touch the wooden supports in the tunnel.”

  Once the confusion of having someone appear through their floors cleared, the citizens were eager to cooperate. Bardon and the minor dragons escorted the escapees through the maze of tunnels to safety.

  Bardon waited by one of the openings. The diggers had moved to the next house.

  A man jumped to the tunnel floor, then turned to catch two bundles of belongings from his wife. No one possessed much, since the life they’d led inside the compound was austere. He put these things on the floor and turned to help his wife down.

  Bardon picked up one of the packages. “This way,” he said.

  “You!” exclaimed the husband.

  Bardon turned quickly to examine the man’s face in the glow of his light orb.

  “Garmey?” He looked at the woman. Her lined face looked old. Sympathy flooded him for the young mother he’d met weeks before. Her hollow eyes met his. Deep sadness poured out, and he thought he heard a suppressed sob. “Elma?”

  “They took our children,” explained Garmey. He put his arm around his wife. “They never told us that before. We wouldn’t have agreed to come. On the way to Paladise, they stopped the wagon and moved our boys to another cart, saying they were going to a school. We thought the school would be here, or close by.”

  Bardon put his hand on the man’s back. “We’ll find them. We’ll get them back.”

  “Some people here say the children are dead.”

  Elma turned her face to her husband’s shoulder.

  Bardon swallowed a protest. “We’ll find them. We’ll petition Wulder to keep them safe until we come.”

  He gestured for them to follow and began the long trek out from under Paladise.

  The rescuers managed to awaken and evacuate all the people Holt had listed on his map. They huddled in the shack while Bardon and Kale made plans for their next move. Pat checked the gateway to see if it would tolerate such a large group traveling through.

  Glaringtonover pulled the curtains over the windows against the dawning sun and anyone who might travel by and see the activity within the shack.

  A horn blew in the distance.

  Holt grinned at the young lady next to him. “The Followers have discovered something out of place.”

  She nestled into his side, and he wrapped an arm around her.

  Kale’s eyes widened as she sought out her husband. Do you suppose this is the echo’s daughter?

  Bardon nodded.

  I suppose that means there will be a heated search for her. Will that endanger the rest of these people?

  “We shall have to get them to safety quickly.”

  “What will happen at the sound of that alarm?” asked Kale.

  “The citizens are required to assemble on the streets.”

  Glaringtonover and his men began to chortle, then let loose with loud guffaws.

  “What?” asked Holt.

  One of the tumanhofers managed to ask a question between his bouts of laughter. “How long does it take them to vacate the houses?”

  “Under a minute. Tardiness is not tolerated by the echoes.”

  Glaringtonover and the other tumanhofers inched their way through the press of people. Lifting a barrel, they revealed it had no bottom, but hid a small coil of rope. Taking hold of the end of the rope, the men braced their feet, and together, tugged.

  A creaking reverberated from beneath the shack. The rope yielded, and the men nearly fell over backward. Crashing timbers exploded below, and dust poofed through the cracks in the wooden floor.

  “Dominoes,” said Glaringtonover with a silly grin plastered on his usually humorless features.

  The frame around them shook. Several women shrieked.

  “No cause for alarm, ladies,” said Glaringtonover.

  “What’s happening?” asked one of the rescued women.

  The tumanhofer leader smiled kindly at her. “The people in the barricaded village are standing in the streets. They’re watching the houses collapse in on themselves as the supports in the tunnels tip over and fall, knocking the next timber out of place. There’s a special tunnel all the way around Paladise, directly under the wall. That will be the last to sink into the ground.”

  One of the other tumanhofers draped an arm over his leader’s shoulders. “We got tired of sitting around, waiting to free Holt when he got into trouble.”

  Holt frowned. “Shouldn’t that be if I got into trouble?”

  No one bothered to answer.

  “So,” continued the tumanhofer leaning on Glaringtonover, “we decided to have a bit of fun.” He tilted his head toward his boss. “Our chief engineer came up with a truly amazing plan.”

  “Inspired,” said the two other tumanhofers.

  Kale noticed a ruddy tinge come over Glaringtonover’s cheeks.

  She touched Bardon’s arm. Look! He’s blushing.

  “Wonders never cease.”

  35

  MOVING ON

  Lady Lyll and Sir Kemry reinforced the gateway on one side. Bardon, Kale, and Pat strengthened the other by tightening the threads making up the edges. With the invisible frame fortified to accept the transport of so many individuals, the rescued Followers passed through to Namee’s castle. Mistress Orcutt trundled them away to the many bedchambers, offering baths and fresh clothing. After washing to rid themselves of the dirt and grime resulting from their underground escape, they donned normal clothing that had none of the earmarks of the Follower sect’s twisted thinking.

  In the great hall, Mistress Orcutt spread a hearty breakfast.

  “They’re so quiet,” Bardon commented as he stood with Kale and Lady Lyll at the end of one serving table.

  A woman came in through the double doors and stood. She stared as if lost and trying to locate something that made sense.

  Bardon went to her, gently guided her to the sideboard, and handed her a plate. “May I get you a drink? Wizard Namee has provided hot tea and cold juice. What would you like?”

  “Tea,” she whispered.

  The woman stood with the empty plate in her hand, and her eyes drifted over the many delicacies on the table. After a moment, Lady Lyll came around to the front and gently took the dish.

  “Let me help you.” She picked up tongs and began to pile on small squares of light pastries filled with jam and crushed nuts. “Some fruit?” she asked and, when the woman nodded, added cut-up bites of green, yellow, red, and orange melons.

  Lady Lyll escorted the woman to a table. Bardon followed with tea.

  “What’s going on?” Bardon asked as they moved back to the table where Kale served the next victim of the Followers.

  “They’re dazed. The depth of the persuasion used must have been extreme. Bringing these people under the authority of the echoes damaged the beautiful souls Wulder gave them.”

  Bardon looked around the room to where nine minor dragons perched, watching the people. The citizens of Paladise were skittish of the tiny creatures. Holt had said dragons had been scorned, and the wary eyes of these guests supported that idea. The friendly dragons held back, confused at the odd reception. Most were unhappy with the situation. “Tieto is as depressed as the Followers are.”

  “He sees their shattered auras.” Lyll patted Bardon’s arm. “But Tieto also reports that the dent he saw in Wizard Namee’s colors is completely restored. We shall work to see these people rejuvenated. It is not Wulder’s desire for them to be in pain.”

  “What happened to Namee?”

  “I can tell you that.”

  Bardon turned at the sound of the wizard’s voice. “I was curious about those Followers. Invited them into my home. There were a number of them present at our ball. Some of their arguments were persuasive. I suppose that was the dent your Tieto saw.” He grinned at
Bardon and winked at Lyll. “Even an old man can be lead astray.”

  He sighed. “Fortunately, Wulder sends reminders. When a servant brought me the body of a small dragon, no bigger than a buzz-bird, apprehension niggled at my comfortable tranquility. The servant described the onslaught of the black dragons, and I saw my error.”

  “How is that, sir?” asked Bardon.

  “One tiny creature with a little bit of poison can cause a small wound. But it weakens the body. A horde of the beasts wears down the resistance and ultimately kills.”

  Namee sighed again and rubbed his hand across his chin. “My curiosity had led me to listen to the Followers, even though I detected a dart of impurity, a prick of untruth, a jab of heresy. Had I continued to entertain their false representation of Wulder, I might have succumbed.”

  He looked around the room at his solemn and weary guests. “I escaped. They did not. We must give them health, good cheer, and hope.”

  The wizard wandered off to mingle with his visitors.

  “So much sadness,” commented Lyll. “I’m glad Namee avoided this downfall. When a leader follows the wrong path, so many people suffer.”

  Bardon poured a cup of tea and handed it to her. “Mikkai, on the other hand, is delighted.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The destruction of one of the Paladise villages.” He poured a cup for himself. “He considers these new cities to be blemishes on the countryside because they are not on his maps.”

  Lyll laughed, then turned serious eyes toward her son-in-law. “Have you noticed your wife’s figure this morning?”

  Bardon searched the room and found Kale serving a couple at a far table. Her silhouette showed a slight bulge at her abdomen. He caught his breath.

  Lyll giggled. “Yes, that baby is growing.”

  “Is it safe to take her on the rest of the quest?”

  “She will be fine. And traveling and being useful will keep her mind off her discomforts. The last stages of gestation are a bother, but the baby is worth the trouble.”

  Holt strode into the room, looking debonair in his borrowed clothes. He stopped and scrutinized the many tables. At one, the young lady he sought lifted her hand in a shy wave. He smiled.