Thorne exchanged a look with Endelle. She shrugged and said, “I don’t know what to make of it. We know so little about Third Earth other than that it’s having its own share of growing pains. I suppose it’s possible that warriors there do what you do. This is a strange dimensional world. Anything’s possible.”
Thorne scratched his forehead with his thumb. “Despite all the unknowns, your possible ascension to Third, or whatever the hell this turns out to be, was one more reason we decided to set up the war room here at the palace.”
Endelle nodded, then gestured from Leto to Alison. “You know, there’s a bit of symmetry here between you two. You battled each other in the arena, and now Alison got her wings and more dreams of White Lake, and you have a Guardian of Ascension sent here to protect you during your ascent to Third.”
Thorne fixed his gaze on Grace. “Endelle and I believe that Greaves has been waiting for your return before making his move. I’ve been tracking the location of his army for some time now, for months. Almost within the hour of your return, he began moving a massive portion of his force here to his extensive underground bunkers near Estrella.”
“How do you know?” Grace asked. “I mean, the bunkers are partly under Greaves’s peach orchard and partly deep beneath the Estrella Mountains.”
But it was Leto who answered the question. “Because I created a back door to the facility, and told your brother all about it.”
“A back door?” Grace asked.
“A computer program linked up with hidden surveillance units in just about every main room of the compound. I couldn’t do anything about the rooms Greaves used—he was too smart for that. But the concealed aboveground landing platforms and the underground bunkers, yes.”
Thorne smiled. “Leto has shifted the balance of power in our direction. We know so much more about Greaves and about his operation than we ever would have known if he hadn’t served as a spy.” To Leto he said, “I want you to work with me at the command center, specifically on strategy. If Greaves intends to attack at White Lake, with all those gardens and hotels lined up on both banks, we’ll need a plan in place with orders ready to deliver to all the Militia Warrior Section Leaders.”
He rose, and because there was command in his manner, everyone rose along with him.
Leto could breathe. Between Kerrick’s earlier demonstration of warrior acceptance, and Thorne’s obvious trust in Leto, yes, he was beginning to breathe. “Where do you want me?” he asked.
Thorne smiled. “Right next to me for now. We have some planning to do.”
Leto nodded.
What might have happened next was disrupted by a shimmering that appeared next to Endelle.
Both warriors drew swords, but the man who materialized looked about as harmless as a librarian. Leto knew him well.
James.
He had gray hair, a novelty in any ascended world. He was short given the relative height of everyone in the room, and there was laughter in his shining light blue eyes.
As Thorne and Leto folded their swords away, Endelle addressed the newcomer. “Hey, shorty, long time no see. What the fuck are you doing here?”
He drew close. “How about a date?” he asked.
“In your dreams.”
He laughed as he turned to face not Thorne, or even Alison whom he had known since her rite of ascension, but rather Leto.
“The time has come, my boy,” James said. “I have a directive from Sixth Earth at long last. I know you always questioned whether all the difficult things you had to do serving Greaves would be worth the sacrifice: becoming a death vampire, providing us with thousands of documents, building an army for Greaves.”
Every muscle of Leto’s body tensed. Grace must have felt it because she slipped her hand into his, a great comfort. He didn’t say anything, though; he just waited, as they all did, hanging on what James would next say.
James’s lips curved slightly. “So you know that army you built?”
“All two million of it? Yes, and the knowledge is painful.”
“Well, sometime in the next forty-eight hours, I want you to start taking back as much of Greaves’s army as you can. Not the death vampires, of course, they’re beyond reasoning. But the hundreds of thousands of Militia Warriors will follow you, if you but ask. That’s what we know to be true.”
Leto was stunned. “Why will they follow me?” he asked.
“Because you’re a Warrior of the Blood, and you carried those values with you when you built that army. The same values now live in all those men and women. You treated Greaves’s Militia Warriors, especially your Division and Section Leaders, with great respect. Your reputation among them is unequaled.