The Deliverer had escaped by swimming to the mainland. Then he had walked on west, allied with forces ancient and terrible.

That route was closed, now. No one would survive it again.

Portals were the only way out.

The dust in the staging chamber made it clear that Lord Kuo had not gotten out that way.

The kitchen was the place to start. Kuo had to eat. Miniature portals delivered foodstuffs there, from sources calculated to raise no questions.

Shih-ka’i strained to remember his way. He had visited only briefly a few times, most recently to stash Kuo. It took a while.

The kitchen did show signs of regular use by someone with few skills and no dedication to order.

A remote clatter caught Ssu-ma’s attention.

He found his man down where past tenants had housed their prisoners and monsters. Wen-chin was spoon-feeding a drooling old man.

Shih-ka’i’s advent startled Wen-chin, who, nevertheless, continued feeding the invalid. Kuo said, “I didn’t expect you so soon. Are you here to end the threat?”

“No. I wanted to make sure of your welfare. Who is this?”

“I don’t know. Presumably someone important to the previous regime. I can’t imagine how he survived. He hasn’t much mind left. He is a project filled with challenges, the biggest being to overcome his fears so I can draw him back to the world.”

“Oh?”

“I would’ve gone mad without him.”

“Then him being here was piece of good fortune.” And a grim harbinger, perhaps.

“So. You’re not here to kill me. Then tell me what’s happened out there.”

Shih-ka’i brought him up to date.

Kuo sighed. “The Empire has fared well.”

“Better than we had any right to expect, given the foibles of our class.”

“I hoped, of course. I’m sad that there’s no place for me. But I was resigned to that when I came to you.”

Lord Ssu-ma nodded. “It hasn’t been a long time but it has been busy. A lot changed. Most importantly, the wars are over. Successfully, thanks to your foresight. But the exhaustion of the state and the legions are such that the surviving Tervola have put aside personal ambitions.”

“On the surface, perhaps.”

“No doubt temptation will sway some who can’t see past the Empress’s sex, however sound her leadership and thorough her discipline.”

“What do you want from me, Lord Ssu-ma?”

“Right now, truly, only to see that you’re well. Later, maybe something more. Assuming your own ambitions are now manageable.”

“They were never unmanageable. I did what I did for the Empire.”

“A good thing to know.” Every fallen Tervola would claim the same. Most would believe themselves. “I’ll be back. Probably sooner than this time. Time is less pressing.”

Kuo said, “Lord, I will make any adjustment necessary to get out of here.” Happily, he was not yet desperate enough to do something stupid.

The attempt would have been fatal.