“No,” Kaleth agreed grimly. “But if they use Aket-ten, they have the power to clear the storm over Alta City. At least, for a little while.”

He blinked, and suddenly it all made sense. “The Tians were waiting for the rains to invade!” he exclaimed. “But the Altans were waiting for them to invade and get as far as where the Eye would reach before clearing the storm!”

It all made perfect sense. Horrible, perfect sense. Once the Altan Magi knew that their exiles had attained positions of power in Tia, they must have known what would happen, that their exiles would challenge them. But the Altans had the advantage; they knew what the exiles knew, so they could predict what the exiles would do.

Kaleth nodded. “I told you it would all become clear when we put the pieces together. They planned this all along, as soon as they knew the Magi that had been ousted had gotten established in Tia. They knew the Tian Magi would know the Eye didn’t work without sun, and that the rains would be the only safe time to invade.” He shook his head. “The exiles are playing right into their hands. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they’ve pulled back some of the Altan army to tempt them. Certainly by the time we found out about this and went to look, the Altans had already fallen back to here—and here—”

Kiron nodded; it made altogether too much sense to him, too.

“Look here—” Lord Khumun pointed to where squares of stone were playing the part of the Tian forces on the map. “This is what Gan and Huras reported to me when I sent them to scout, and the Tians are definitely being funneled.”

“But how does this have anything to do with Aket-ten?” he demanded desperately. “How can this possibly connect to her?”

“It’s the timing; Aket-ten is captured, and then by midafternoon, the Tians are making their way across Altan lands,” said Lord Khumun. “It’s too much to be a coincidence, not when a fast courier could have gotten to those in command of the Altan forces by early afternoon, telling them the time has come to start the trap. If the Tians had been waiting for an opportunity to open up, the Magi just gave it to them on a platter.”

He shook his head; not that he disbelieved them, because it made entirely too much sense, but what would the Magi have done if they hadn’t gotten their hands on Aket-ten?

“They probably planned this a long time ago,” Kaleth mused aloud. “Then they lost the Winged Ones. They must have been frantic, trying to figure out how to get the power they needed to clear the skies and use the Eye.”