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Zoigei’s face creased into a smile, although with his sharp teeth it looked more like a snarl. He had clearly understood my words. Raising his hand, he gestured with his fingers in a way that was so overtly rude in imperial, I winced. His men sat, and he followed suit.

All of them wore strips of pale fabric, wrapped around themselves in a complicated pattern. The goblins we had traveled with wore imperial clothing, clearly forced on them by Lord Pehine, but as we had traveled, they had adjusted it so it looked more like this.

Even now, the translator still wore the clothing he had traveled in, and I wondered if he simply hadn’t had time to change, or if wasting perfectly good cloth was not done in Ariphadi culture.

“We seek allies in our war against General Bemishu. We believe he is headed here, that somehow he has learned of this oasis. Why does he believe that the waters here will grant him power to end all of the other wars the Imperium fights?” Tallu’s words were as blunt as Zoigei’s own.

“You seek allies because you cannot kill the parasite that grows in your own gut. You wish us to draw the worm out for you.” Zoigei nodded at the translator, who translated quickly.

“We seek allies because we believe Bemishu is desperate, and desperate men will do a great many things. He set fire to my palace and the capital city. He burned his own people. What will he do to yours?” Tallu didn’t seem to have my problem with Zoigei’s appearance. He treated him immediately as though he understood his every desire, as though Zoigei was not strange to his eyes.

“We will fight this man, as we have fought anyone else who threatened what we protect.” Zoigei twisted his arm, and the spikes that had lain against his skin spread upward, at an angle to slash a throat or pierce a skull. “Even our own people. Our devotion is why the animalia have not abandoned us as they have the rest of the world. We do not need your help to defend against this… Bemishu.”

“The Imperium captured and killed so many of your brethren because they understood the enemy they fought. You know how many General Saxu has killed; you said your sand remembers that. Would you so easily ignore the lesson?” Tallu’s words grew sharper, even as his tone remained flat. It was a technique that worked with his own court. They would have been on high alert, terrified that their heads were about to be removed from their bodies.

Zoigei snorted after hearing the translated words, but his eyes met Tallu’s with something closer to respect. He was not afraid, but Tallu’s own lack of fear clearly impressed him favorably.

“We have no reason to fear this General Bemishu. We have every reason to leave you out here in the sun to die from thirst and hunger. I would enjoy watching you wither. But,” Zoigei looked at me, “you would not go with me if I did so. Disappointing, that the one we have spent so long waiting for is nothing but a groveling servant of the Imperium.”

I tried not to take offense, but felt my hand tingle, itching for a blade. I would show him who was a servant of the Imperium. He had no idea who I was or what I had done; he did not seem able to distinguish my northern looks from the imperials around me. Glancing at Tallu, I kept myself from saying anything I would regret, even if that was a regret in itself.

“The council has arranged for you and all of your men to come inside our village. But know this: if you break any of our rules, we will kill you and all of your men,” Zoigei said. He twitched his arm again, and the blades along it went flat.

“What are these rules?” Tallu asked.

“You must not enter any of the waters without permission. You must not touch them without permission. You must not seek the power they offer. It is not for you.” Zoigei looked around the room. “Not that I believe any imperial would do something so daring. You would be too afraid it would leave you changed. You would be too afraid of what you might turn into.”

After listening to the translated words, General Saxu said, “What benefit does it offer, being in the oasis and unable to drink the water we need?”

“There is water. You may share it with us. You may even eat from our food stores. But you must not drink from the hidden waters. You must not try to enter them. Do you understand?”

Saxu frowned, clearly not understanding. He turned to Tallu. “It sounds as though we will be under scrutiny and in danger entering this oasis. I advise we wait here.”

“Will you help us fight General Bemishu if we remain here?” Tallu asked.

“Would you like me to say yes?” Zoigei said, pulling his lips back from his teeth in something that should have looked like a hidden laugh, but instead turned his face into a snarl. “We will let him tear through you, destroy your thirsty, starving troops, and when the two of you have fought each other and he has weakened himself, then we will kill him.”

“And if we join you in the oasis?” Tallu asked.

“Then we will see if you are worthy of fighting beside us,” Zoigei said. “And none of your men will die waiting for your opponent to arrive.”

“Then we are grateful for the hospitality.” Tallu barely looked at me, but I could feel the moment he decided to turn his attention toward Zoigei’s earlier words. His whole body went still, and I could hear the electricity building up inside him.

Zoigei might be confident against our warriors, even against the Emperor’s Dogs, but how would he fare against all of Tallu’s electricity launched directly at him from so close a range?

“And what of my consort?” Tallu asked. “What do you want him for?”

“The waters told us he was coming. The sand echoed his footprints. The wind stilled above us so that his dragon could fly. We even stopped the desert storms that protect this place so you might arrive with your flesh still on your bones. We have been waiting for him. The waters have been waiting for him. He must enter them and draw out the secrets inside.” Zoigei looked at me, and a single fang was visible when he peeled his lip back from his teeth. His eyes were cold. “I may wish it was any other man, any other imperial even, but it is you, who sits at the emperor’s feet and begs for scraps.”

Tallu frowned as the translator spoke, his expression growing darker. I could see from the clench of his jaw that he was about to refuse Zoigei, damning all of his men to a trying, difficult death.

Shifting closer to him, I put a hand on his wrist. His skin was warm to my touch and so soft that my stomach twisted in pleasure.

“I am curious what they assume a northern prince will be useful for in the desert other than sweating a new oasis into the sand,” I joked. “You could fill an ocean with the amount of water I’ve wasted in sweat.”

“Do you want to see these hidden waters of theirs?” Tallu asked.

“It is the furthest I’ve ever been from the Northern Kingdom,” I said. “Grant me the pleasure of viewing it up close?”