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“What is happening?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what happened.

Kacha had found us. Somehow he had found us, and he was using the electro cannon against us.

Luckily, Lugotu didn’t think I was stupid. “Kacha has his forces to the east. The scouts we sent must have forced him to act. He prepared a surprise attack. We will mount a defense so that the emperor can escape.”

Lugotu’s face was solemn, and he put his hand on top of mine, easing my grip loose. I knew exactly what that meant. All of these men, all of the soldiers, were going to sacrifice themselves, sacrifice their lives for Tallu.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“With General Saxu,” Lugotu said.

“Do not die,” I said sharply. “Don’t you dare throw yourself on some enemy’s sword just because you think that’s what Emperor Tallu would ask you to do. He wouldn’t.”

“An emperor does not need to ask such things,” Lugotu said.

He finally loosened my hand from his arm and then he and his men—men I had traveled with the past weeks, men who had been willing to accept me for who I was, what I was—were gone, following where Commander Rede pointed.

The trees moved above my head, and I looked up, expecting to see another strike of lightning, but instead I saw elves moving through the trees, their tendrils and hands carrying them from branch to branch as they rushed to the battlefield.

I ran for the command tent, trying not to worry, trying not to remember that I had sent Iradîo with the scouts. She would not have been so foolish as to be caught by Kacha. Surely she had warning, surely she had⁠—

I saw two Dogs outside the command tent, and knew that I had guessed correctly. One of them held open the flap as soon as they saw me, and I didn’t even stop until I was inside, listening to Tallu shout, “I will not flee without him⁠—”

I put one hand on his arm, and Tallu went still under my touch, turning to me with wide eyes. A sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead. He might be healed, but suddenly being thrust into the middle of battle had sent him back somewhere. Was he a small boy again, back on the battlefield unprepared, brought there by a father who thought anything less than bloodlust was weakness?

“What is the plan?” I asked. I looked around the room, seeing Saxu, Spider, and Sagam. Commander Rede stood at the back flap, soldiers coming in and out for orders, which he gave rapidly. Five Dogs were arrayed inside the tent, and I knew the rest must be outside.

“We will hold them off as well as we can and send His Imperial Majesty with anyone we can spare,” General Saxu said.

“In other words, he plans to send my men to die to save this one human,” Spider said. “I do not agree to this plan.”

“So everyone is going to die just so that Tallu can survive?” I asked, thinking of all the soldiers, all the servants. The elves I had seen in the trees were being sent to death for no reason other than our survival.

“Where is Kacha? Did any of the scouts come back?” I asked.

Saxu looked to the side, and I saw someone lying on the ground, the doctor hovering over her as he tried to stanch the bleeding. I crossed the room, dropping to my knees next to Iradîo.

“Damn you, Airón,” she said in Northern, her voice rough with pain. “We could both be in the north now. I could be at my aviary. I could be learning how to weave.”

“No. You hate handcrafts.” I put my hands on her wound, but as soon as I tried to heal her, my head went light, and I fell back, my vision turning to stars in front of my eyes.

Tallu was there, his hands on my shoulders and someone else pushed me aside. I turned, about to bite off the head of the military doctor when I saw who it was. Naî hissed and snarled at me, her white scales gleaming with blood. She was no larger than a borealis wolf pup, but she climbed on top of Iradîo and curled around the wound in her stomach. Ice spread out from under her, and she closed her iridescent, opal eyes.

I stood, ignoring the haziness in my vision, how close I was to passing out.

“We weren’t fast enough?” I asked.

“According to Iradîo, they came upon Kacha’s forces a few hours outside of camp, hiding in the hills beyond where our sentries could see. They killed the rest of the scouts, and we believe that they sped up their march in order to reach us before we expected the missing men.” Saxu glanced toward the tent flap. “They are using the electro cannon to throw us into chaos, and I believe they will set fire to these woods as soon as they’re close enough. We are sending every man we have to the edge of the woods, to meet them there.”

“You said he wouldn’t have electro mages, because the cannon took too many to run. How many more times can he fire the electro cannon before he exhausts them?” I asked, looking again toward Iradîo and Naî. My cousin had stilled, her face relaxing into something like sleep, and Naî had begun to make a sound that was very nearly a purr.

“He may have one bolt left, but after that, he will need to rest his electro mages or risk killing them,” Saxu said.

“He killed our scouts,” I said. “But he couldn’t have expected that we would hear from them for a day, maybe two. In fact, it would have taken our people several days to reach the edge of the Ariphadeus. He ran into our scouts, and he could have just killed them and continued moving slowly, preparing for a surprise attack. But he didn’t. Why?”

“Because he wants to see us running around like ants when a rainstorm floods their nest,” Spider said. The corners of her lips rose into a smile. “It is a clever trap.”

“You believe he is also on the other side, on the route we would use to send Tallu to escape,” Saxu said. “That the men in the hills have always been there, waiting for us, so that he could spring his trap.”