With the kromian army defending the sea gates slaughtered, closing them was a straightforward affair. Entering the water itself was out of the question—it remained virulent—so they rowed makeshift rafts across it and prayed no one fell in. Fortunately, no one did, even as they hauled the sea gates out of the water. There were, however, a couple of close calls.
Valentia had no trouble fishing out the sea gates. She simply froze a line resembling a fishhook from the raft to the gate, and then, with others, hauled it up. Turning the gates off was as simple as grasping handles on the sides and turning them counterclockwise. In Drake’s mind, sea gates had three settings: off, suck, and spew.
Once they had fished all five gates out of the water and disabled them, there was nothing to do but let the remaining poisoned seawater disperse. What a lake full of poison would do to the groundwater in this area was an open question, but while the question of reversing the gate flow had been considered, Drake had discarded it almost at once.
It would have been trivial to reverse the flow of water through the sea gates and put them back. That would push this entire poisoned lake back through the gates to where this water had come from, which, given these were kromian sea gates, might be close to where they staged their soldiers. It might even be close enough to poison Prince Varnath.
The other possibility, of course, was that the sea gates would spew that poison onto an underwater kromian village and slaughter hundreds of kromian civilians, including kromian children. Without the ability to determine where the gates went, everyone had unanimously agreed that slaughtering civilians was not a risk they were willing to take.
Drake had been willing to poison enemy combatants. He wasn’t about to risk also causing a bunch of kromian children to die bleeding from their gills. So they would let the remaining sea water disperse and warn everyone in all of his vassal towns to avoid the area. As for the silverwood, Marissa assured him that the poison would not affect it at all.
Unfortunately, with the plains in front of the silverwood still flooded with poisonous water, that also washed out the road. Fortunately, Olivia and some zarovians arrived as soon as they finished closing the sea gates, led by Nicole. They’d gotten his message.
Vero changed the silverwood to open a new path through the woods that would eventually join the road through the silverwood itself. While they’d have to leave behind the wagons, and carriage, people could pass easily. That was what Drake ordered his people to do.
All in all, it was just as well Prince Lorel had bugged out. They never would have rolled his carriage through the winding path between the trees, and he probably would have dried out on the day long walk to the manor. Drake passed down the orders to the rest of his people.
Everyone would gather the essentials from the wagons and then walk home. All the non-combatants entered the silverwood first, with Nicole, Olivia, and the manor reserve leading the way while Kel’s ferals scoured the forest for surviving kromians. Drake, his battle maids, and Cresh entered last, forming a rear guard in case more kromians attacked.
As Drake watched his people march resolutely into the silverwood, people who’d left this manor with him almost a month ago and many who were returning without friends who’d died on a remote beach, he felt an unexpected lump in his throat. They’d survived... most of them. Now that he was finally back at his manor, he was going to keep them all safe.
The journey back to Gloomwood Manor, on foot, took most of the rest of the day, but no kromians challenged them in the silverwood. Drake couldn’t tell if the silverwood was pleased that he had saved it from being flooded with seawater or if it even knew what was going on, but Marissa’s smile was radiant as she glided through the enormous silver trees.
His mother looked almost drunkenly happy, and that was a weird look on her. Marissa was normally so reserved that seeing her like this—giddy—was a bit disturbing. Yet she wasn’t alone. Many others seemed relieved to be back in the silverwood as well, and even Drake found the woods more comforting than he remembered. Had it changed? Or had he?
The first day he’d arrived in this world, he’d stared out at these fog-cloaked silver trees and seen an obstacle. A threat. The first night he’d walked through these woods with Lydia, Emily, and Sachi to find Westin, he’d been so in awe of the way the vero bent the woods to their will that he hadn’t had time to consider the forest itself. Now, after so long away...
The silverwood no longer felt like an obstacle or a threat. It felt like the roof over his head in a fierce storm or the towering wall blocking away the cold wind. It felt like safety, and given he doubted Prince Varnath would give up after one assault, Drake was glad he’d saved it from drowning in saltwater.
The sun was low by the time they reached the high walls around Gloomwood Manor’s grounds, but despite the poisoned spikes atop them, Drake had never felt more welcome. The huge ferrocite gates cranked open from within. As Drake walked through those gates on the tail end of the procession, he found the entire manor staff lined up to welcome him home.
His people stood at attention on both sides of the road leading into the manor, and while he didn’t know all of them by name, he did recognize many faces. Zuri was among them, and her warm smile at his return felt better than he expected. Jeremy stood in the line as well.
Drake tossed Lydia a grin as Anna broke ranks and sprinted toward her father without a care for who she might knock over. Not that she could knock anyone over, being little. Jeremy dropped to one knee and opened his arms. Anna threw herself into them.
Anna’s father hugged her tightly, and it was then Drake noticed the tears rolling down the man’s cheeks. When Jeremy opened his eyes and met Drake’s gaze, he saw no resentment or anger for keeping Anna for so long. Simply relief that his daughter was home.
Time really did heal all wounds. A few weeks tending horses without being threatened with death had been good for Anna’s father. Jeremy might not have a rarity, but given how good he seemed to be with horses, he didn’t need one. Kel’s pack proved that.
Drake didn’t need the blood pact to expand Gloomwood Manor. All he needed was to convince his allies they’d be stronger together than apart. Hopefully, next time he added some new folks to his manor, he wouldn’t need to slap down a giant catman to get them to join up.
Olivia met him at the doors to the manor. Her blond hair gleamed in the light, suggesting she’d washed it vigorously the day before. Her maid outfit was so clean it glistened, and she stood so straight he worried she was going to hurt herself. She also looked nervous.
“At ease, soldier,” Drake said. “And great job holding down the fort.”
Olivia relaxed only incrementally and smiled. “It is so good to see you back, lord.”
“You too. Let’s talk inside. It’s cold out here.”
The doors to Gloomwood Manor opened seemingly of their own accord, but that was the two zarovians always standing guard inside. As Drake strode into his manor, he paused as he once again soaked it all in. The gorgeous wooden stairs leading to the second floor. The gleaming black wood and warm-looking rugs. The ambient smell, like balsa wood.
This was his home. His manor. It was good to be home.
Lydia strode past him with River at her side. “I wish to show River around. As for Lady Marissa, she is speaking with Zuri, so I suspect you need not worry about her. Valentia is organizing the rest of our returning thralls as they settle into their old roles, and Cresh is handling things with our zarovians. A new patrol will be heading out soon.”
“What about Emily?” Drake asked.
“Korrag and Darion have taken her and Sachi to Raylan. With your permission, I shall gather reports from those who’ve stayed and organize those who are returning. I need to get an accounting of our current food stores as well as other necessities. If we come under siege, I need to know exactly how long we can hold out without resupply.”
It was awesome that his amazing steward could just do all that. “Thanks, Lydia. You too, River. You’re both doing a great job, so... keep it up.”
River smiled warmly and looked to Lydia for guidance. As the two of them walked off, speaking in quiet tones, Olivia stared after them in wonder.
“Is that one of Lydia’s sisters?” she asked.
Drake glanced. “She has sisters?”
“Two sisters, both older, and three younger brothers.”
“I didn’t know her family was that big,” Drake said. “But no, River is a new employee. She’s Lydia’s assistant. We picked up a few people in the capital and on the way back.”
Olivia clasped her hands together in delight. “That’s so wonderful, lord! So the cabal went well?”
Drake frowned. “You haven’t heard about the invasion?”
Olivia’s eyes went noticeably wider. “What invasion?”
It took Drake a moment to accept that Olivia had no idea the manors and the noble court were now at war with the kromian empire. Yet how could she know? Gloomwood Manor was remote, and she’d been operating with a small staff.
Olivia didn’t have a cell phone connected to the Internet or cable news to tell her what was going on half a world away. An army of kromians had invaded the capital city less than a month ago, and it could be weeks or months before news of that reached anyone here. It was a reminder of just how disconnected cities were from each other before radio and TV.
“The cabal went... well, it happened.” Drake grimaced. “I also heard from Celia that we have your leadership to thank for pushing the kromians out of the woods. If you hadn’t chased them off, those sea gates would have done far more damage than they did.”
“Sea gates were flooding the plain? I thought it was a rarity!”
“These kromians we’re facing don’t have rarities.” Drake considered. “Once I’m settled in, I need you to call for an assembly. There’s a lot everyone needs to know about what’s happened and what might. Do you have anything to report other than the kromian attack?”
“All was quiet until a few days ago,” Olivia said. “Why did those kromians come here?”
“We aren’t sure yet. However, we do know they’re part of a much larger force that’s declared war with the surface, so it’s possible we’ll be seeing more of them sooner rather than later. So while I’m sure you’re doing this already, make sure all our vero are on high alert.”
“But why did they declare war?” Olivia asked plaintively. “Did someone attack them?”
“No, they hit us first, and they’re led by a zealot who wants to murder everyone with divine blood. He also wants to destroy the blood pacts and fuck up the surface world.”
Olivia swallowed, wide-eyed.
As Drake gave her arm a gentle squeeze, she steadied under his grip. “I’ll fill you in along with everyone else, I promise. For now, I need to get changed and gather my thoughts. Can you have an assembly ready to go in a half hour?”
Her heels snapped together as she nodded. “Of course, lord.”
“Thanks.” He released her, took another look around, and breathed it all in. His manor. His people. He had no doubts about that now. “Damn, it’s good to be back.”
Author's Note:
Next week, Drake makes a speech, Marissa reveals her dirty little secret, and Drake gets ready for war.
As a head's up, I've posted the last chapter of book three on the Patreon today. At this point, RR will slowly catch up with the conclusion of this arc three weeks from now. I'm still posting the Patreon link, but I wanted to let folks know that the posts there have concluded.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
