Seshethkunaaz lounged against a pillar, glaring up into the center of the room. In his arrogance, he didn’t even spare Northstrider a glance.

He was confident in his own invincibility. But one way or another, he wouldn’t be for long.

Northstrider turned his attention to the white-armored, rat-faced Hound looking down on them like they were all his subjects. He longed to punch this sniveling messenger out of reality, but that would only invite someone higher up on the food chain.

One day, Northstrider would join them. Not the low ranks of Abidan drones, but the true world-striding champions.

“What is this about?” Northstrider demanded, but Kiuran held up a finger.

“Patience. We’re waiting on one more.”

That tone brought Northstrider’s patience one step closer to its limit, but he had assumed they were waiting on three more. If only one more Monarch had been summoned, then it had to be Malice.

Sure enough, the woman herself strode from the shadows a moment later. She had chosen to wear dark blue instead of the usual purple, her hair streaming behind her like cloth woven from the shadows themselves.

He sometimes wondered why the other Monarchs cared so much for their appearance. No one judged them on their dress when they could shatter fortresses with a word.

Even the dragon cared about his physical image, or he wouldn’t always run around in the same form.

With Malice’s arrival, Kiuran finally began to speak. “It has come to my attention that you are hedging around the borders of my instruction not to interfere with the tournament. Positioning yourselves to take advantage of the outcome, moving your pieces around the board.”

Of course they had. It would have been idiotic not to, and the Abidan would certainly have seen that before he made his restrictions, especially as one of those with the power to read and direct the future.

But Northstrider didn’t point out this hypocrisy, only waited.

“I’ve allowed it thus far because nothing has been too flagrant a violation, and because your games amuse me.”

Northstrider could destroy this man. He could do it. He didn’t know if Kiuran would stay dead, but he was willing to put that to the test.

“I’m becoming concerned that the temptation to interfere will be too great, and that you will continue to push my instructions until I am forced to punish you. Since I would rather not be so harsh, I’ve brought you all here to discuss a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

Northstrider sensed a chance.

He had expected the Hound to impose some extra restriction, or just to toy with them for a while, and he was prepared to tolerate it.

But this could be exactly what he and Malice needed. What they had planned to instigate.

Maybe the Abidan could be useful after all.

Malice played her part perfectly, drawing herself up and turning a venomous glare on the Hound. “You forced us to obey you, and now you want to dictate our every action? Do the Abidan wish to move us like puppets?”

They couldn’t, Northstrider knew. It was one of their restrictions. They were limited in their ability to interfere somehow, though he hadn’t successfully determined their laws yet.

“It can be hard for some of us to keep our impulses in check,” Reigan Shen said, sipping his glass of wine.

On cue, Malice widened her eyes in anger. It was nice to have an ally who could play a role well.

Kiuran scoffed. “You should take your own lesson, Shen. You’re the one moving your Heralds as though the tournament is already over.”

The lion tilted his glass in acknowledgment. “Very well, then, we require an equal restriction on the four of us. By mutual agreement, we can confine ourselves and our powers to this city. Unable to act until the conclusion of the tournament, when we will free each other together.”

A smile played on the dragon’s childish face, and his eyes shone as he looked to his enemies.

They couldn’t have played into Northstrider’s hand more perfectly if they had tried.

“No,” he said, because that was what was expected of him. In a head-to-head confrontation, the dragon could defeat either of them, while the cat had a thousand weapons and could escape any trap. If it came to a fight between the four of them, Northstrider and Malice were clearly the weaker side.

So it was natural that he would resist.

Malice played along. “You want me to leave my children surrounded by enemies while I lock myself away?”

Reigan Shen turned to Seshethkunaaz. “I believe we can arrange an agreement between our Heralds, can’t we? No aggressive action until the conclusion of the tournament.”

“That sounds civilized,” the dragon agreed. “I can’t imagine the humans having any further objections.”

“Good enough,” the Abidan said impatiently. “Do it now.”

Northstrider and Malice both objected again, putting up a token resistance, but with the Abidan in support the issue was closed.

Together, they contacted their Heralds and Sages, limiting their actions until the conclusion of the tournament.

With that settled, they needed the permission of the Ninecloud Monarch to seal themselves in the city, which they received in a matter of seconds. Sha Miara was delighted by their arrangement.

As well she might be. Four of her rivals were locking themselves away from the world for another week.

Finally, the four of them bound their wills together to one purpose.

There was little they could not accomplish with such unity, and the restriction settled in an invisible column surrounding Ninecloud City. The barrier was perceptible only to the four of them and affected them only, but now it was literally impossible for them to touch anyone outside without first removing the restriction.

It was perfect. Northstrider had already done all the work he needed in the world at large, and now his plans were falling into place.

Though he was certain the other Monarchs were all thinking the same thing.

“So go get them,” Yerin demanded.

“I can’t,” Charity insisted. “Do you understand? I am not capable. If I could go snatch my family from under the noses of hostile Heralds, I would be on my way right now. A Herald may not be able to travel through space directly, but they can stop me from doing so, so if I showed my face I would be trapped.”

It was the most agitated Yerin had ever seen the Sage, but that was tough for Charity, because Yerin had plenty of her own agitation to work through.

Charity had received a message from her mother only the day before, when Northstrider’s training world had finally collapsed, but it had been sent two days prior. Malice said that Fury and the others were now pinned in Sky’s Edge by the gold dragons and all the Dreadgod cults and that she couldn’t help because she had somehow agreed to nail herself in place.

Yerin must be a long way from understanding the ways of Monarchs, because that sounded like sheer idiocy.

But the rescue Charity described didn’t sound impossible, it sounded very difficult. Which meant they were leaving Lindon, Mercy, and Eithan in a dangerous situation that could technically be solved.

“There’s two of you,” Yerin pointed out. “How many does it take?”

Charity was really wrestling to keep up that icy mask of hers. “How can I make you understand that you are not the only one with loved ones in danger?”