Tatiana lets the veil that separates the between from her court fall closed once more. We can still hear the buffalo, but it’s like a distant thunder now.

“So, what do we do?” she asks Jack.

“I haven’t a clue,” he says. “All I know is you’ve got a problem.”

“You can’t seriously not care.”

“What I feel’s got nothing to do with it.”

“You could at least try.”

“I’m telling you right now, they wouldn’t listen to me, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let them pound me into the ground under a few hundred hooves just to prove that to you.”

“But—”

“You’re just going to have to find your own way out of this,” Jack says, cutting her off. Then he turns to me. “We need to get out of here.”

I hear Tatiana calling Jack’s name, but we’re already on the move, shifting from the world the court is in to the between that lies next to it. The sound of the buffalo is louder once more. We’re not exactly on the plain where they’re gathering, but close enough to hear them. Really, how could we not hear them? Thousands of drums. Hundreds of thousands of hooves pounding on the dirt. A line of trees blocks our view, but we can see the dust from their dancing rising up above the topmost boughs.

“You were a little harsh back there,” I say.

Jack shrugs. “We were wasting time. There’s nothing you or I could do to help, in the court or with the buffalo.”

“But the queen was right. We could have tried.”

“We’re not going to try, we’re going to do.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“Here’s how I see it,” Jack says. “This whole show is Minisino’s doing and though I don’t entirely disagree with his reasons, I don’t believe that everybody should pay for the sins of a few. Trouble is, all that war chief of the buffalo is going to listen to is someone with a bigger gun.”

“Which we don’t have.”

“Nope. But maybe we can find us one or two.”

“Now you’ve lost me.”

“You ever hear of Ayabe?” he asks.