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“Because His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Tallu, wished it,” I said.
After listening to the translation, the matriarch’s eyes narrowed, and she raised her hand, patting the man next to her on the shoulder. As she moved, small metal circles on her clothing jangled musically. “Why? Are our young people not good enough to fight in his wars? They are strong. They are more capable than the weak, milk-fed ones at the edge of the Ariphadeus.”
“How much do your people know of the Imperium’s politics?” I asked. “Have you heard what happened in the Imperium?”
The young warrior translated, his eyes moving from me to his matriarch.
She laughed. “Should we care about the politics of the nation who tries to invade us and kill us? Should we care about the throne of the empire that wants our heads?”
The warrior translated, “We know little and care to know even less.”
“I understand. General Bemishu marches through your lands, kidnapping and enslaving your people. He takes or kills your elephants. He even has some goblins with him, having convinced them that it is better for them to be a slave in the Imperium than to live free in the Ariphadeus.” I gestured to the goblins we had brought from Lord Pehine’s estate. “Emperor Tallu knows better than most the sins of the Imperium. He knows the cost of imperial greed. If you believe nothing else, believe this: the only man who hates General Bemishu more than you is Emperor Tallu.”
I kept my eyes fixed on the matriarch, my hands relaxed at my sides. The translator paused, frowning at me, clearly uncertain of my honesty. Shaking himself, he translated my words, nearly exactly. The matriarch watched me, her narrowed eyes merely slits of gold.
“Bring him to my rooms,” she said. “Ask those he brought with him the veracity of his words.”
Turning, she marched into the camp, her clothing ringing behind her. One of the elephants raised its trunk, trumpeting, and she turned to it, calling out through the darkness to soothe his worry.
After waiting for the warrior to translate, I followed him through the camp. Naî nipped at my skin, her sharp teeth pinching.
“We cannot stay too long,” Naî said. “We must return to direct Tallu and General Saxu, or they will be wandering through the desert and we will have little hope of finding them.”
I flicked Naî with my finger, and she took hold, biting hard enough that I felt it break the skin. Drawing my hand back, I pressed against the wound with my thumb.
“I know,” I said. “I’m just curious what she has to say.”
“She’s going to kill you,” Naî muttered. “If Asahi was here, he would knock any food or drink she gives you into the ground.”
I couldn’t argue. She was right. It had been a fight to get Tallu to agree for me to travel without one of his Dogs.
The goblins had set up their low buildings in a large circle. In the center was a massive fire pit, the light glowing blue from inside it. I put out my hand but didn’t feel any heat or even the buzz of electricity.
“Magic?” I asked my guide. I had never heard of goblin magic involving light. Then again, the Ariphadeus was so far from the Northern Kingdom that very little information had made its way to us.
Even before the Imperium had declared war on all of its neighbors, the only trade we had with the goblins went through Krustau and Ristorium before ever reaching the Northern Kingdom.
“This way,” the warrior said, not answering my question at all. The buildings matched the sand exactly and I touched one, the sand crumbling under my fingers, revealing a leathery material underneath, the skin of an elephant that had passed on. The buildings were large with narrow windows in the top to let in the breeze.
The matriarch’s rooms were the largest and when my guide opened the tent flap, I wasn’t surprised to see a half-dozen women sitting in a circle around another one of the strange glowing blue flames.
I was surprised when Naî grabbed hold of my shoulder with her claws, hissing and snarling.
In the center of the blue flame was a small, sleeping dragon.
Twenty-Four
Unlike Naî, who was doing her best to turn my shoulder into shredded meat, I tried to keep my voice even. “You have a dragon.”
The matriarch blinked, then began laughing. She reached forward, scooping up the creature in one hand. It opened its eyes, and they were reflections of the bright blue flame around it. When its tongue flicked out, it was forked, and the creature wound itself around the matriarch’s wrist.
“Him?” The matriarch didn’t seem alarmed that her skin was on fire.
But as I squinted, I could see that the flames were more illusion than truth. They circled around her flesh but didn’t blacken it. Having come intimately close to fire recently myself, I wished that all of Kacha’s flames had been quite so agreeable.
“Tell him about the salamanders,” the matriarch said.
My guide turned to me.
