“Well, that half of the population isn’t entirely unrepresented—”
“Do not underestimate what ingenuity and support they could bring to your opposition. And I’m not just talking about cooking your dinner or darning your socks.”
“I don’t—”
“Furthermore, don’t forget those who may be your most ardent supporters.”
Cade stood there just staring at her.
“The slaves,” she told him. “Remember? The ones you want to free? They have more to fight for than anyone.” Free us, the ghost slaves murmured in her mind.
“But they—they don’t know how to—”
“How to work?” Karigan snapped. He looked stung by her response. “They may be uneducated, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid. And some must know how to fight. If I recall, many are captives from rebellious areas of the empire. Wouldn’t some of them have a military background? Don’t you think they know how to fight, and willingly, if it’s against the empire?”
The gray in the windows lightened subtly. Doves cooed in broken panes of glass.
“It is not so simple,” Cade said quietly.
“Perhaps,” Karigan replied. “After all, the empire is a powerful state, and it can’t be taken down with ease. But you are sounding very like the professor, finding excuses not to act.”
Cade glowered at her. “Is that all?”
“Pretty much. It’s your rebellion. I’m just observing from the outside. After all, I have my own problems—a riddle to solve, an Eletian to rescue, and a home to find my way back to.”
Cade bowed his head, gazing at the reins in his hands. “You are so determined to leave us?”
“If you are asking that question, then you have not heard what I’ve been telling you. Cade, if I can reach home, maybe there is some way I can—I can affect what has happened here. If I get home, maybe I can help prevent the empire from rising in the first place.”
If only, she thought derisively. As if she were so powerful. If she were able to get home, wouldn’t the events in this future have changed already? No, she must not think in terms of the paradoxes—it would only drive her mad, make her lose hope.
“Then,” Cade said, “perhaps I can come with you.”
Karigan’s mouth dropped open, but before she could think of something to say, he was leading his mule away toward the other end of the building.
She hurried to follow, Raven bobbing his head eagerly beside her, as ready to leave the deserted building as she.
Would Cade be able to come with her? she wondered. Through time? Give up his own world, everything he knew, for hers?
She’d seen his longing for the old realm at the Heroes Portal, but she thought that, just maybe, she might have something to do with it, too.
A MAP OF THE CAPITAL
Karigan and Cade did not encounter trouble as they, along with many city denizens, moved through the early morning murk. The fog was thicker than ever, and people hurried to and fro on the streets with hoods drawn up or the brims of hats pulled down low. These were the earliest of workers, Cade told her; the ones who opened up shops, lit the lamps, tended the locks on the canal system, and fixed the machines in the mills.
Cade rode with his collar turned up and dark hair lank against his face. He’d a night’s growth of beard, a swollen lip and bruises, and he looked more than a little disreputable.
They had hardly spoken once they’d left the old slave market. He was now more the terse, guarded Cade she’d come to know. Silent as a Weapon, she realized, but now he looked like a bedraggled man on a mule. She’d never seen a Weapon ride a mule—until now. Those at the Heroes Portal had validated his status, so yes, he was a Weapon on a mule. She was so tired the thought almost made her burst out laughing.
He rode with her as far as the professor’s house, but did not rein his mule onto the drive. “I will see you soon,” he said.
She did not know what to say. They’d been through much during the night, but no words seemed adequate. Raven danced beneath her, sensing his grain bucket nearby.
“I’ll see you,” Karigan said quietly, but Cade was already riding Widow Hettle’s mule back down the street at a steady jog.
When she led Raven into the stable, Luke nearly pounced on her.
“There you are, there you are! Where have you been?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Karigan replied, drawing on the excuse she’d planned earlier.
“Couldn’t sleep?” There was a tightness to Luke’s voice as though he wanted to scream at her and only protocol restrained him. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to go out on your own and at such hours?”
“I was not alone.”
“You weren’t . . . ?”
“Mr. Harlowe was with me.”
“He was? I thought he knew better than that. I thought he was more sensible.”
Karigan smiled at him. “He was lovely.” Let Luke make of that statement what he would. Then she decided to build on it, encourage Luke’s direction of thought. “Please don’t tell my uncle. I—I don’t know what he’d think if he found out I was alone with Cade—I mean, Mr. Harlowe—all night.”
“Oh, Miss Goodgrave.” Luke looked like he wanted to yank all the hair out of his head. “You know I can’t lie to the professor.”
“You don’t have to lie, Luke. Just don’t tell him. I can’t imagine how he’d react if he found out you let me go out on Raven at so late an hour and didn’t stop me.”