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Lord Abel spoke next. “What do you hope to gain by telling us this information? I presume you intend to propose some new course of action for us to take.”

“Now that you know about my son, Parson holds no leverage over us,” said Ismael. “I have no reason to lie. And yes. I propose we leave Luzo immediately.”

“You would come with us?” said Abel.

Ismael nodded. “If you allow it, yes. I do not know what Parson would do if he arrived to find only my family here.”

“We cannot simply flee,” said Salvador. “If our kin are held captive, we must retrieve them. Vanguard or not.”

“I understand that,” said Ismael. “Perhaps you do not believe me when I say this, but I do feel similarly. If we had strength, I would agree with you. But you must realize that our forces need time to rest. Melchor and Xuan are both unconscious, and without them, we stand very little chance against Parson--assuming it is he who arrives and not Sanko.”

The Lady Amaya Sebolt nodded. “For all we know, Parson could arrive within the day. I believe the Blackburns speak the truth. Surely, they would not wish to accompany us otherwise.”

‘Hmm,’ mused Mevox. ‘I suppose Ammie has a point. I can’t imagine you Blackburns would abandon Marshrock just to convince us.’

“Exactly,” said Ismael. “The only problem is where do we go? I do not think retreating to Intar would be wise, given how strong the Vanguard’s presence is there.”

‘Not to mention the Intarian Rainlords,’ said Mevox. ‘Those dickholes haven’t lifted a finger to help us. They might turn on us if we show up on their doorstep.’

“To be fair,” said Abel, “would we have gone to their aid?”

‘Of course not. They’re dickholes.’

Abel returned a calm stare, as if waiting for the reaper to realize the hypocrisy there, but it didn’t seem to have much effect on Mevox. Hector was fairly certain that Mevox understood what he’d said perfectly well and just didn’t give a shit.

And then, it occurred to Hector that if these people needed a place to lay low for a while, he could provide exactly that. But it could also be a terrible idea, another thought argued. He didn’t actually know the Rainlords very well, and offering them refuge might well steer an angry Vanguard toward Atreya. What would the Queen think?

Before he could give the matter any more consideration, however, Asad beat him to the punch.

“I invite you all to Moaban,” the Sandlord said.