I took a bit more time on the drive back. It’d be awfully stupid to get us both killed now that we actually had the diamonds Rokhaset needed and weren’t racing against a specific deadline. But it wasn’t easy, because my foot kept wanting to hammer the gas, and from her expression I think Jodi felt the same way. We were going to be in good time overall, but still, it felt like every second counted. It was getting dark by the time we made it back to the homestead. I parked the truck and jogged to the front door.
I then faced what might have been the oddest sight I’d ever seen in my life: Rokhaset was sitting at Mamma’s big table, everyone else eating her cooking and him with slices of some kind of stone on his plate, as though he was no stranger a dinner guest than some new neighbor. Strange, yeah, but I felt a huge swell of pride in my family. Okay, so we Slades had been barbarians to these people, but damned if you could call us barbarians now. I wouldn’t bet that one in a thousand families could have a Nome at the table and treat it—him—like proper company.
Rokhaset stood as we entered. “The H’adamant—do you have it?”
“Right here. Hope it’s still alive, like you call it.”
As I put the bags in his hand, he nodded. “I can hear it. Weakened slightly by time away from the heart of Nowë, but still there.” He fumbled with the bags a bit, examining what was inside; he didn’t need to open them. I wasn’t an expert in Nome body language, but it seemed to me he slumped a bit.
“My thanks to you for a valiant effort, Clinton Slade,” he said finally. “But it is as I feared. There is not enough here—not nearly enough—to provide us with a force to overcome what the Lisharithada will have to defend them. We shall do our best, of course; it is our calling and destiny. But we shall never triumph.”
I stared at Rokhaset. “No. We can’t let it end like that.”
“Of course we can’t, Clint dear. And we won’t,” Mamma said tartly. “Mr. Rokhaset, we’ve come invisibly into your homes and taken your diamonds; it’s about time we made it up to you. How do you think a few Slades might change the odds, down there in your little war?”
The High Spirit turned around to face her. “You would fight for us?”
“Well, it’s for my family too, isn’t it? And it’s our fault, as Jodi showed us. Now, I only married into the Slades, but what I was taught was that a Slade admits when he’s wrong and fixes it until it’s right.”
“And that’s the God’s honest truth,” Grandpa said forcefully. “Damn this bum leg! I’d come if I could, but I’d slow y’all down.”
“Only a few,” Father said. “Not like Nomes; can’t live without light, need lots of spares.”
“I’m going,” I said.
“And so am I.” At the reaction of the others, Jodi snorted. “What? You think I’m not tough enough? I’ve lived in New York for years, that’s more than tough enough to take care of some shlemiels who think they can just start an earthquake whenever they want to. I’m tough enough to keep Clint here in line. You just try me.”
Debate in this argument wasn’t going to last long. We knew we had to field a pretty strong team, but a lot of the family had to stay behind, both because of the limits on equipment and because if we failed, the rest of the family had to stay behind to get everything out of the house and save as much of the homestead as possible when the Big One hit. So it was me, Jodi, Father, and Adam.
Rokhaset nodded slowly. “It may work. Never in all these centuries have your people helped us, and with your ability to use the H’kuraden as both weapon and cloak . . . yes, it could be enough. I—”
He froze suddenly. I was puzzled for a moment, then realized that he must be getting news through the same kind of link he had with the makatdireskovi. A few moments later, he looked back at us, and I could tell just by the way he stood that it wasn’t good news.