Page 39
“If he is, then we have cut his men off from their commander. They will not be able to receive any fresh orders. They also will be separated from the pressure his presence brings.”
“You still believe that his men might switch allegiances if given the opportunity?” Tallu asked.
“You are a Dragon Chosen Emperor. The first since Emperor Wollu. I believe that without Kacha’s pressure, many men will see the appeal.” Saxu traced the line along the edge of the Ariphadeus desert. “If we grow the dark forest from here and then move inward, we can force the majority of Kacha’s men to this area of the swamp. I believe Namati has lighter boats. That will give us the upper hand.”
“You want to sink his men into the muck while we float on top of it,” I said thoughtfully.
“Yes, or perhaps the forest would grow us some paths to walk upon. If we can break his men’s spirits, they will not be so eager to follow him to their deaths.” Saxu nodded his head, nearly bowing at Tallu. “It would also give us the benefit of having Your Imperial Majesty near the battle, able to advise and see it without putting Your Imperial Majesty in danger.”
Tallu narrowed his eyes, his words quiet. “You would have me wait on this ship?”
“It is the safest place,” Sagam said. “If you are lost—”
“You have my brother,” Tallu said.
“My lord,” I said quietly, drawing Tallu’s sharp gaze. I could feel his ire rising, see it in his clenched jaw. “The ship can get close to the battle. But if you died, it would not be so easy for your brother.” I thought about the Bemishu twins and Empress Koque, and the ripples of conspiracy they saw. Tallu might know his own court with the intimacy of one who had spent decades spying on them, but the twins and the empress saw things that he did not. “If Kacha’s goal is to have a puppet emperor on the throne, your brother would make an excellent candidate.”
Tallu’s jaw unclenched, and he reached up, brushing his fingers across the circlet at his brow. “Fine. Let us drive him into the swamp.”
As the meeting devolved into logistics, Spider cocked her head, gesturing with her thumb for me to follow her out onto the deck. She called out the names of five elves, ordering one of them to travel to the next boat and summon the rest of her list.
The other four elves climbed down. Half used their tendrils openly, gripping the rigging, while the other half eyed me suspiciously, only using their hands and feet. Because of my work scouting and putting out the fires on the Tavornai mainland, I hadn’t interacted with the pirates much at all.
Looking at them, I could still only see the ones I had killed, the whalers who had traveled north and suffered the consequences for killing in northern seas. I tried to let none of my guilt show on my face.
Spider introduced them, then said, “So, northern prince, how will you do what you’ve promised?”
The children from the imperial schools spoke the language of the Imperium, but I wasn’t sure if these men did. Even if they did, were they as fluent as Spider? One misunderstood word might cost us everything.
Without the elder trees, I wasn’t sure I could share the knowledge I had gained from the poisoned tree, at least not as sufficiently as the trees did. I would have to show them, and given how little magic I now had, I would have to show them using that ocean of magic I found inside of me.
“In the dark forest, there is a tree,” I said. “In it is the knowledge of the last elves who fought the Imperium. It showed me how they grew the forest, but it also showed me other things. I believe we can grow the same forest using one of their methods, which involved putting enough magic into the plants that they grew when they were needed, not when nourished by the right rain and soil. If we use the same method and spread the seeds we need, then we can grow the forest wherever the wind travels.”
“How can you be sure the wind will travel exactly where General Saxu requires it?” Spider asked. “My skills are to read the threads of fate and weave them. Not perform weather magic.”
“Because we have help.” I pointed up at the orange dragon circling overhead. “Are you willing?”
Fourteen
We sat together on the quarterdeck, and I was reminded of when the children had helped me regrow the elder trees.
“Have any of you visited them? The children or the elder trees?” I asked.
The pirates looked to Spider who leaned against the railing of the ship. She nodded her head, allowing them to answer.
One by one the men shook their heads, and on their expressions, I read grief and guilt. They had not saved the children of Tavornai. Nor had they regrown the trees themselves.
I nodded, then, taking one of the seeds out from my pouch, I placed it on the deck. Putting my hands over it, I focused on the forest magic I knew, and what I had learned from the poisoned tree.
“Can one of you lend me your magic?” I asked. I didn’t want to reach into the ocean, lose myself in it, and possibly burn the seed or even the whole ship to ashes with my rage and grief.
One of the pirates reached forward, his hand covering mine. I couldn’t see what he sacrificed, but I could feel it when his power pushed through my hand into the seed. I guided it, remembering how the elder tree had shown me. It was easy enough to disguise the seed, convince it that it grew as a weed, its seeds spread on the wind by downy white structures that looked almost like feathers.
Its roots plunged into the wood of the deck, growing from sprout to flower in only a minute, then it aged, seeds forming as the flower died off.
Carefully, I picked the puffy, white flower, cupping my hand around it so the wind wouldn’t take any of the seeds yet. I looked up at the dragon from the poisoned tree and watched as it tilted its head and focused on me.
“We need this to travel to the edge of the Ariphadeus. Will you take it there?” I asked, waiting for the dragon’s growl of assent before I pushed more magic into the seeds. They would not need water to grow. They would not need anything to grow other than the thinnest layer of soil.
