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“Is that what happened to you?” I asked.

The woman laughed. “Are you saying I am as hard as a rock or that I am as much a fool as Xuetie?”

“Neither,” I said, letting myself smile. “You are far too beautiful to be sandstone.”

Nohe approached, her steps wary as she came closer to the massive elephants, but she was too well-trained to disobey me. “Prince Airón?”

“Nohe. The salve from the jungle that was meant for healing: I don’t suppose we have it in large enough quantities to help these elephants?” I put a hand up, touching Storm Survivor. He felt at my hand and arm with his trunk. It was damp and warm, friendly in a way I wasn’t sure I deserved.

“There’s not enough of the salve I have already prepared. I am sorry, Your Highness.” Nohe looked up at the elephant, and the corners of her eyes softened.

There was a reason she had kept writing implements as mementos from every visitor who had come to the Mountainside Palace. Part of Nohe had loved the idea of other nations, the idea of traveling and understanding the world. Her experience had been so limited for so long, and now she was able to help a creature beyond even what she understood.

Nohe looked back at me and said, “However, at the request of the doctors, we packed a great deal of the raw ingredients before we left Tavornai. It will take several hours to prepare a salve.”

“Can you wait that long?” I asked Storm Survivor.

“I am in no rush. The collar was not so heavy, but being free of it makes me realize what a weight it put on my soul. To once again be free… Yes. I will wait for you, liberator.” Storm Survivor wrapped his trunk partially around my shoulders, squeezing gently as I might squeeze a baby bird, so delicately the touch was barely there.

“Stay with the elephants until Nohe has finished a salve for their injuries,” I said to the goblin. “Do you need any other assistance with them?”

She shook her head. “Before the imperials put me to work scrubbing dishes, I kept the elephants for my tribe. I can manage these three.”

She said the last with some affection, and I wondered how many elephants the desert tribes kept that these three massive creatures seemed nothing in comparison.

Nohe bowed to me, then moved off quickly back toward the estate. I took my time, watching as General Saxu’s men imprisoned the last of Lord Pehine’s guards. Inside the estate walls, I asked one of the commanders for directions and found Tallu, Saxu, Commander Rede, Sagam, and, to my surprise, Empress Koque and the Bemishu twins in one of the sitting rooms. They had found a map among Lord Pehine’s things, and were now bent over it.

Sagam and General Saxu seemed to be at odds based on their body language. Koque said nothing, but watched the entire exchange, her face unreadable. The Bemishu twins sat tense, while Commander Rede was more deferential to everyone at the table.

Tallu looked up. “The elephants?”

“I removed their collars,” I said. “Underneath, the flesh was damaged and infected. Nohe is creating more of the salve she learned to compound in Tavornai. What is going on?”

“Based on our father’s previous movements, we believe he will attempt to travel through the desert this way.” Topi stood and indicated a dark line that had been drawn on the map in charcoal.

“According to the servants and ladies, Lord Pehine and the other Ariphadi lords had enough sand crawlers to take General Bemishu and most of his men into the desert,” Pito said. “Our father left the gear here when he traveled north for your one-month celebration.”

“Most of his men?” I asked.

“Some were left behind with Lord Pehine in exchange for the extra supplies he provided,” Commander Rede said.

“And he took two elephants,” Pito said.

“We cannot possibly trust Bemishu’s men.” Sagam rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, seemingly unaware of the action. “And we cannot leave them at our backs.”

“They are imperial soldiers who have been misled,” Saxu said firmly. He put his hand on the table, the other still resting on the head of his cane. With sunset falling, it seemed he needed it more.

I looked out the window. Fires had been lit on the sand around the estate. Even from here I could see the elephants, a couple of goblins circling them like dark ants.

“During our trek through Tavornai, we have had time to check which of General Kacha’s men were loyal to the man himself, and which merely followed their commanders’ orders. We have been able to kill those whom we even suspect of disloyalty. We will not have that same luxury with General Bemishu’s men. If they destroy our supplies when we are deep in the desert, we are dead. If we leave them behind, and they attack us from the back, we are dead.” Sagam tightened his hand on his hilt, then loosened it. I glanced at Asahi, but the other man remained unmoved, still looking over the room as though a threat might appear at any moment. “We have enough men to find success against General Bemishu. We do not need to accept those into our ranks who might be more threat than help.”

“Even you acknowledge that there is only the potential for threat,” General Saxu said.

“This is a certainty: if we need to fight the men behind us and those in front, we risk the emperor. We must kill them,” Sagam said.

“How many were from General Bemishu and how many were originally in Lord Pehine’s employ?” I asked.

“It is three hundred men total,” Sagam said. “Two hundred from General Bemishu, one hundred from Lord Pehine.”