“Now the enemy has forced a landing. The King’s soldiers and Magisters strive to defend the shore, but they cannot counter the sorcery at Rile’s command. Lightning makes corpses too easily, and rifles have little effect. The Farsighted estimate that Rile’s hosts will fight their way out of the bay soon, in another day or two at most.”

Even from so many leagues away, the shock of that news reached Estie. Belleger and Amika had spent years of labor and many lives fortifying the bay. But all of that effort and blood had been wasted. Rile had brushed them aside.

How did Bifalt bear it?

She refused to believe that he might be among the dead. He had always seemed as unbreakable as Belleger’s Fist. For him, death might be a kinder fate than living on while more and more of his people were slaughtered. But he would not sacrifice his life so soon. Not when the war had just begun. He would suffer the cost of it as long as he could.

She wanted to ask if the Farsighted had seen her husband, but she was reluctant to expose so much of herself. When she had mastered her first rush of alarm, she asked, “Do the Farsighted know Commander Forguile? Is he alive?”

“They know him by sight, Queen,” answered Magister Oblique, “as they do King Bifalt. He and the King live. They have returned to the Open Hand. Now a man we do not recognize commands the defense as well as he can.”

With her fingers, Estie rubbed her eyes to stop her sudden tears. Bifalt, she thought, aching.

He had hoped to win in the Bay of Lights, but he had expected to lose. Thinking ahead, he had planned for what would come next. Those preparations he expected to fail as well.

“My tidings are hard to hear,” murmured Oblique. “I know it, Queen.” She paused for a moment. “Sadly, I have more to relate. There have been other events. They may prove worse. Certainly, they are deeply felt here.”

Queen Estie dropped her hand. Without it, she could only shield herself by glaring at the Magister.

“I will try to be brief.” The woman’s tone implied that the whole Repository had been shaken. “Master Ungabwey’s caravan has been destroyed. An avalanche crushed it. His mission in the Realm’s Edge has failed.

“Now men from the south ride into Belleger. Magister Marrow can speak of them if you wish. They are recorded in our books. I can tell you that they are allied with Rile.