Drawn by Aber, it showed Locke in a quite unflattering portrait: a disagreeable-looking, puffed-up man in silvered chain mail, with a slight pot belly (he hadn't had one in real life) and a look of indigestion on his face.
“Well?” I said.
“It is… inconclusive. Let me cast the future again.”
Frowning, Freda gathered up the cards. I got the impression she hadn't liked what she saw and shifted uneasily in my seat. She shuffled twice, had me cut the deck, and began to deal them out a second time.
Aber and I continued to watch in silence. This time, the cards played out slightly differently—though once more Locke ended up at the center.
“So?” I prompted, as I slid into the seat opposite hers. “What news? Any predictions?”
For a long moment she said nothing, studying the cards. I remained patient, though every fiber of my being demanded immediate answers.
“You do not know yet,” she finally said, “do you?”
“Know what? Something you saw in your cards?”
“Locke. He is alive.”
“Impossible!” Our brother died in Juniper, I knew. I had seen him in his tent after the battle, being tended by physicians. I had watched him die.
“Yes, I thought so too.” She nodded slowly. “But the cards say you, Oberon, will meet him soon. Perhaps even tonight.”
I shook my head. “I was with him when he died, Freda. You saw his body. Locke is dead. We burned his body, remember?”
“We all saw it,” Aber agreed.
“I know,” Freda whispered. “I remember.”
“Then what makes you think he's alive?” I asked.
She picked up her wine and sipped it. “Because,” she said, “I spoke with him this morning.”
“It's a trick!” I said. I rose and began to pace. “You know how devious our enemies are, Freda. They found a way to fool you.”
“That's what I thought,” she said. “But he knew things… things only the two of us had shared.” Her voice dropped. “It was him. I swear it.”
I took a deep breath. Enough impossible things had happened to me in the last month… maybe Lords of Chaos really could return from the dead.
“What do you think?” I asked Aber.
He might be childish at times, but he knew a lot, and without Dad here, he was my main source of information on all things magical. Although Freda probably knew more about magic than any of our other siblings, she had an infuriating mysterious streak, and I was always left with the impression that she kept back as much as she revealed.
“I don't know,” he admitted. I suppose—”
A light knock sounded on the library door. I motioned to Aber, and he hurried over and opened it.
Anari stood there.
“My lords, Lady Freda,” he said. “Lord Fenn is in the dining hall. He asked me to inform you. He wants to see your father.”
“What about Isadora?” I asked. Fenn and Isadora had run off together before Juniper fell, in search of help for our armies. They had not returned, nor had we gotten any word from them, since that time.
“Lady Isadora is not with him, sir,” Anari said. I glanced at Freda. “You didn't bring him with you, I assume?”
“No,” she said, looking puzzled. “I went into hiding with Pella, remember? She is still in Averoigne, awaiting my return. I have not seen Fenn since he disappeared.”
“Thank you, Anari,” I said. “Let him know where we are and ask him to join us.”
Fenn nodded a somewhat sheepish greeting when he entered the library. He was taller than Dworkin but not as tall as me, with blue eyes, light brown hair, and a hesitant but honest smile. He wore dark blue leggings and tunic, with a simple belt and boots. A sword hung at his side. I had not gotten to know him well, but until his sudden disappearance in Juniper, right before the attacks began, he had struck me as trustworthy. Since then, I half suspected him of being the one spying on us.
“It's good to see you all,” he said.
“And where were you when we needed you?” I folded my arms and glared. “You ran out on us.”
“Where have you been?” Freda asked. “Where is Isadora?”
“She's in Juniper,” he announced smugly. “We retook it yesterday.”
“What!” Aber cried.
“How?” I demanded.
“I brought an army of my own… trolls. Half a million of them.” He chuckled. “You should have seen the bloodbath! Enemy soldiers had occupied the castle and the lands around it. No more.”
I shook my head. “Trolls? I don't understand.”
“I do,” Freda said. “He found a Shadow where trolls are breeding out of control. He offered them Juniper as a new colony in exchange for clearing out the enemy. Think of it… a whole new world for them. Of course, they jumped at the chance.”
“Brilliant, right?” Grinning, Fenn took a seat next to me. “Isadora is back there now, helping mop up the last of the invaders. You should have seen her, Oberon! Bodies stacked fifty feet high, and her standing on top, screaming her battle cry, sword in hand! Magnificent!”
There was a reason, I reflected, that Aber had once called her the warrior-bitch from hell.
Now Aber slid a drink across the table to Fenn.
“So you've retaken Juniper,” I said. “Doesn't that leave us with, ah, a slight troll problem?”
“Half a million troll problems,” Freda said.
“We can bring in giants to take care of the trolls,” Aber said.
“And then dragons, I suppose, to take care of the giants?” I said with a annoyed snort.
“Now you're getting the idea!” Aber said with mock seriousness. “And dragons… what eats dragons?” He looked at Freda, who only sighed.
“Maybe it wasn't the best idea,” Fenn admitted, “but it solved the immediate problem and got rid of the attackers. We can always find another Shadow like Juniper.”