capable of mounting an attack that could wipe out cities in the middle of the United States. And I also assumed that the Russians must have started the fray, though I admit that it was a knee-jerk reaction and not any exercise of logic that led me to that assumption.
“I think I had better steer clear of the Russians for a bit,” I said, uncertain how I might react if I had to face Commander Sekretov just then. “And it might be better if no one mentioned the fact—the supposition—of a war back in the other world. At least for the moment. What else is there?”
“Ah, the queen is quite distraught,” Kardeen said. “About her parents and her brother’s family.”
“Yes, they must have been caught by the war in my world.” The other world, the one I was born and grew up in, was still the one I thought of as mine, not Varay and the buffer zone. “If they went right away, in the first minutes, they may have been among the lucky ones.” If Chicago and Louisville had gone, St. Louis would hardly have escaped attention. McDonnell Douglas, the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers with important bridges, locks and dams.
“The queen …” Kardeen started again.
“Where is she?”
“In your old room here.”
“I’ll go to her now. When Aaron and Lesh return, we’ll have to talk with Parthet. You’ll let me know?”
“Of course, sire.”
I stood up. I had to go comfort Joy. And I wasn’t sure that I had any comfort to give.
The room that had been mine as Hero of Varay was on a sort of mezzanine, a corridor about halfway up the side of the great hall, reached through stairways at either end. I wasn’t precisely sure of its position in relation to the king’s apartments above, but I thought that the Hero’s room had to be almost directly below the king’s private study. But, as far as I knew, there was no shortcut. I had to go downstairs, around the great hall, and up a shorter flight of stairs on the other side.
Jaffa and Rodi were standing outside the door.
“She’s very upset,” Jaffa said. His eyes were stretched wide. Rodi didn’t look nearly so fearful. “She sent us out.”
“It’s okay,” I said. As if anything was okay. I told Timon to stay out with the pages, then I took a deep breath before I went inside.
Joy was lying across the bed sobbing. She didn’t hear me come in. I crossed to the bed and sat next to her.
“Are they all dead?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, putting my hand on her back. I started to rub between her shoulder blades. That normally relaxed her, but not this time.
“I don’t know either, and that’s what’s tearing me up,” Joy said. She rolled over and looked up at me. Her eyes were red-streaked. Her face was wet from all the crying. “Are they dead, dying, or somewhere safe? They might be safe. I gave them all your warnings about being ready to leave the city. After my parents came here and saw this place, they might have believed. Maybe there was enough warning to evacuate.”
“I don’t see any way we can find out, dear,” I said. “Not yet. Maybe not for a long time.”
“We could go there, drive to St. Louis from Louisville.”
“No, we can’t. If the basement is so messed up, the cars probably didn’t survive in the garage, and”—I made a helpless gesture with both hands—”even if the cars did survive, we wouldn’t be able to get gas anywhere, and there’s not much chance that any of the bridges survived across the Ohio or Mississippi. Not to mention the radioactivity. Louisville’s hot. We might not be able to get clear of it fast enough to avoid a fatal dose.”
“There has to be a way.”
The echo of what I had told the elflord knotted my gut.
“I’ll ask Aaron if he can conjure up a spell to get news about your parents and your brother Danny’s family,” I said. “I don’t know if he can. Contacting the elflord was different. Xayber has his own powerful magic.”
“I have to
“I think I had better steer clear of the Russians for a bit,” I said, uncertain how I might react if I had to face Commander Sekretov just then. “And it might be better if no one mentioned the fact—the supposition—of a war back in the other world. At least for the moment. What else is there?”
“Ah, the queen is quite distraught,” Kardeen said. “About her parents and her brother’s family.”
“Yes, they must have been caught by the war in my world.” The other world, the one I was born and grew up in, was still the one I thought of as mine, not Varay and the buffer zone. “If they went right away, in the first minutes, they may have been among the lucky ones.” If Chicago and Louisville had gone, St. Louis would hardly have escaped attention. McDonnell Douglas, the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers with important bridges, locks and dams.
“The queen …” Kardeen started again.
“Where is she?”
“In your old room here.”
“I’ll go to her now. When Aaron and Lesh return, we’ll have to talk with Parthet. You’ll let me know?”
“Of course, sire.”
I stood up. I had to go comfort Joy. And I wasn’t sure that I had any comfort to give.
The room that had been mine as Hero of Varay was on a sort of mezzanine, a corridor about halfway up the side of the great hall, reached through stairways at either end. I wasn’t precisely sure of its position in relation to the king’s apartments above, but I thought that the Hero’s room had to be almost directly below the king’s private study. But, as far as I knew, there was no shortcut. I had to go downstairs, around the great hall, and up a shorter flight of stairs on the other side.
Jaffa and Rodi were standing outside the door.
“She’s very upset,” Jaffa said. His eyes were stretched wide. Rodi didn’t look nearly so fearful. “She sent us out.”
“It’s okay,” I said. As if anything was okay. I told Timon to stay out with the pages, then I took a deep breath before I went inside.
Joy was lying across the bed sobbing. She didn’t hear me come in. I crossed to the bed and sat next to her.
“Are they all dead?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, putting my hand on her back. I started to rub between her shoulder blades. That normally relaxed her, but not this time.
“I don’t know either, and that’s what’s tearing me up,” Joy said. She rolled over and looked up at me. Her eyes were red-streaked. Her face was wet from all the crying. “Are they dead, dying, or somewhere safe? They might be safe. I gave them all your warnings about being ready to leave the city. After my parents came here and saw this place, they might have believed. Maybe there was enough warning to evacuate.”
“I don’t see any way we can find out, dear,” I said. “Not yet. Maybe not for a long time.”
“We could go there, drive to St. Louis from Louisville.”
“No, we can’t. If the basement is so messed up, the cars probably didn’t survive in the garage, and”—I made a helpless gesture with both hands—”even if the cars did survive, we wouldn’t be able to get gas anywhere, and there’s not much chance that any of the bridges survived across the Ohio or Mississippi. Not to mention the radioactivity. Louisville’s hot. We might not be able to get clear of it fast enough to avoid a fatal dose.”
“There has to be a way.”
The echo of what I had told the elflord knotted my gut.
“I’ll ask Aaron if he can conjure up a spell to get news about your parents and your brother Danny’s family,” I said. “I don’t know if he can. Contacting the elflord was different. Xayber has his own powerful magic.”
“I have to
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