And even if they prevailed, even if they destroyed Val's army, Val would still be there. He was a god, invincible, unstoppable, and he would only retreat to Zakkar, the ancient base of his power, and assemble another army. He would keep coming back, and coming back, and coming back, because nobody could stop him. Not even the gods themselves were willing to confront Val, to eliminate him and the danger he posed to the world once and for all, and it was all because they were afraid. That seemed unbelievable to him, but it was true. Despite all their vast power, despite the absolute need to get rid of Val, they were afraid to face him. Afraid of what damage it may do, and what he understood with sudden clarity, afraid of the losses they may suffer to themselves. They were afraid to be diminished, even if it meant that Val would rampage across the land with absolute impugnity as they did nothing but wring their hands and fret over it. Spyder said that the gods called him Entropy, but he realized that he only posed a danger because the gods were unwilling to do what had to be done to end the threat he caused. They were afraid of destroying the world, but they seemed perfectly content to allow Val to destroy it piece by tiny piece rather than risk destroying it all at once. Fear was a good thing, but not when it prevented one from doing what had to be done. That was something his mother and father had taught him, and he realized that it may be time for some gods to start thinking about that.

Again it came back to Val. Val had been behind Kravon, and he had been responsible for much of the misfortune in Tarrin's life. He was the root of it, and it was upon him that all of Tarrin's anger had been affixed. His abduction by Jula, the death of Faalken, the countless innocents he slaughtered after turning feral, the near-destruction of the Goddess' icon and the death in the battle of Suld, it was all directly attributable to him. And now he threatened his daughter, an unforgivable offense, one that made Tarrin want to tear out his eyes. Only the desperate danger his daughter was in kept his mind from wonderfully graphic and gory fantasies of somehow tearing Val limb from limb then defiling his shattered remains in a final act of defiance and hate.

But Val was a god, while he was but a mortal. Val held supreme power here, beyond that of even the Elder Gods, because he existed solely and completely in the material world. He was little more than a gnat flying in Val's face, annoying him and in danger of being crushed like nothing as soon as he annoyed Val enough.

But some gnats were more resilient than others.

Tarrrin remained in his calm state for an hour and more, trying to compose himself and ready himself for the trials ahead. A trek across Ungardt in the winter would not be pleasant, and the end of that journey led to its own significan problems. The trip was nothing more than an exercise in wasting time, anyway. Everyone was waiting for Gods' Day, even him. Everything up to that point really meant nothing. At least to him. But at least it would be time with Jesmind, a chance to spend some time with her before everything was said and done, when he knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

But he had no regrets. He would do what must be done, just as the Goddess had commanded him. Jasana would survive, Jesmind would survive, and that was all that mattered to him.

The waiting was all. He was waiting for Phandebrass to finish his chart. He was waiting for Triana to arrive. He was waiting to leave. There would be no goodbyes, just as there were none last time. The time before, it was to maintain a veil of secrecy. This time, it was to maintain a veneer of believability. He was absolutely depending on something Spyder said, that Val would be out there listening, picking the thoughts out of everyone's minds. He went to a great deal of trouble laying down a believable convincing plan, a plan that he was absolutely certain that Val was going to learn. A plan Tarrin had absolutely no intention of following. It would be the same plan up to a certain point, but when those paths split, Val was going to be in for a nasty surprise. So much of one that it was going to allow them to get Jasana out of Gora Umadar alive, and with Sapphire's child dragon there to pick them up, get them to safety.

And that was all that mattered.

It was forty-one days until Gods' Day. Forty-one days to wait, forty-one days for snags to rise up in the plan.

Forty-one days until the very real possibility that it would be the beginning of the end of the world. Or, depending on how one saw things, forty-one days until the opportunity of wiping out Val's army and forcing him to start again from scratch and rebuild. That would give everyone all the time they needed to recover and be ready for the next round of this extended, unending contest between Val and the rest of the world.

Forty-one days.

He became aware of Triana's scent. He heard her come into the courtyard, pad over to him silently, then seat herself facing him. He made no indication he knew she was there, and she was silent a long moment, as if content to wait for him to acknowledge her.

"They said you wanted to see me," she finally said.

"I did," he said serenely, without opening his eyes. "I want you to take the other Were-cats into the Frontier. Take them as far from Suld as you can get them, and don't leave them. I don't want them anywhere near what's coming."

"I guess we can all go to Mist's place," she mused. "It's going to be a bit cramped with me and Jula there, but we can manage."

"And I want you to warn Fae-da'Nar of what we're going to do."

"I've already done that. That's why I'm so late getting here. They've agreed to help again. They know what Demons mean, cub. Everyone has to put a hand in to stop this before it gets out of control."

"Good. Me and Jesmind are going after Jasana."

"I know, they told me," she said. He felt her put her paw on his shoulder. "I don't know what you have up your sleeve, cub, but I hope it's a damned miracle. Do you have any idea what you're about to walk into?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her, and she actually flinched her hand away when she saw the look of almost burning obsession in his eyes, and the cold emptiness behind them. The eyes of a man willing to go to any lengths to recover his child. "I'll manage, mother," he told her.

Because they had seen into each other's minds, they were much closer now, and her intimate understanding of him made her pale when she realized the truth. "Don't think like that, cub," she told him, almost pleadingly. "It's not a given that you're not going to get out alive. Don't give up hope."

"I'm not. But I'm also not going to ignore reality," he told her. "After I get Jesmind and Jasana out of there, and the moment passes when Val can use the Firestaff, I'll have nothing left to use as a bargaining chip. If Jenna and the others can't distract Val long enough for me to find a way to escape, I won't."

"They said you wanted me to teach you how I travel."

"I only said that to reassure the others," he said dismissively. "I doubt I could learn something that complicated in one day."

"You're right."

"When the time comes, I have an idea of how I'm going to get out," he told her. "It's going to depend a little on luck, but no plan doesn't rely on little on luck at some point."

"You're going to give me gray hair, cub," she told him with a weak smile.

He reached out and put his paw on her leg, patting it. "Don't tell the others," he said. "Part of this depends on the other side hearing and seeing things that reinforces the ideas I've laid down. If things don't happen the way I've set them up, I'm not going to get Jasana back."

"I'll keep quiet."

"I only told you because you're a Druid, mother. Spyder told me that Val can pick the thoughts right out of your head from great distances, but I'll bet that not even he can do that easily to someone with a mind as disciplined as a Druid's. That's why nobody else can know. Val is going to find out about the plan from others, and he'll prepare to deal with that plan."