by Evelyn Skye
“However, I have better news for Spirit—there is a purification ritual to remove the taint on her soul, although I do not know the details. You would have to appeal to an actual god—not a demigod—for the answers on how to perform it.”
They waited for more, but that was the abrupt end of the message, and the arrow’s components disintegrated into dust.
Sora looked up at the sky, both relieved that there was a possibility to save the souls of all the taigas, including her sister’s and her own, and disappointed that there were no instructions, nor a solution to Broomstick’s predicament. “Your brother has yet to understand the finer points of human conversation.”
Daemon grumbled. “And we’re even worse off now than when we started. We still have no idea where Empress Aki is, and based on that war council meeting that Fairy and I saw, the Dragon Prince is about to begin his attacks. On top of that, you’re contaminated by ryuu magic, and Broomstick is—”
“Evil,” he finished miserably.
“You’re not evil,” Sora said.
“I don’t believe you,” Broomstick said.
Fairy leaned her head on his shoulder. “Do you believe me?” she asked softly. They were geminas in the way Luna truly meant for them to be—sister and brother warrior, bonded forever.
Broomstick hesitated, but then he rested his head on Fairy’s. “Depends on what you say.”
“I’ve been connected to you since we were seven years old, and I know you inside and out. There’s not a mean cell in your entire body.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you rest for a bit?” Sora said. “We’ve been through a lot. Maybe you’ll feel better after a nap.”
“Doubt it,” he said. “But it’s worth a shot.”
Fairy wanted a nap, too, so they went into the shack while Sora and Daemon stayed outside.
“What now?” Daemon asked.
Sora chewed on her lip. “I don’t know. Liga’s too hard to get answers from, and even when he does try to help, he’s confusing. So I guess that means it’s up to us to figure everything out—how to reunite this pearl with Prince Gin, how to kill him once he’s no longer invincible, how to reach the gods to get them to fix Broomstick’s confidence and purify me from the ryuu magic, how to find Empress Aki . . .” She slumped.
“It’s too much to ask of us,” Daemon said.
She scowled at him. “Don’t start again with how impossible this is and that we need to give up. We’re Kichona’s last hope. We’re my last hope. If we don’t step in, no one will. So don’t say that it’s too much—” Sora caught the slight lift of his mouth, a smirk attempting to hide. “Oh. You’re only pretending to be defeated in order to rile me up, aren’t you?”
He feigned shock and pressed his hands to his chest. “Who, me?”
Sora punched him in the arm. But his ploy had worked.
“So,” Daemon said, trying hard not to grin and show how pleased he was with himself, “I don’t have answers to the things we need to accomplish, but I do have the map that Fairy copied down when we broke into Prince Gin’s study. Maybe there’s something on it that will help.”
“Let me see it,” Sora said. Having a task to focus on would be good.
She set up a table outside the shack, using two sawhorses and a wooden board, and Daemon retrieved the map. He unrolled it, setting a pair of wire cutters on one corner to keep the page from curling and weighting the other corners with a hammer, a lone glove, and a piece of broken brick he’d scavenged from the overgrown yard.
Sora bent over the map. It was of Kichona and the seven countries of the mainland, with the ocean between them. There were symbols like little men along the perimeter of Kichona, with a denser concentration near the Imperial City. “Ground troops,” Sora said to herself. She traced her fingers along the ports of Kichona’s eastern shore, which faced the mainland. Tiny black ship symbols clustered around the harbors. “And the navy.”
“I think the Dragon Prince is planning to attack Thoma first,” Daemon said, pointing at the dotted line that went from Toredo—a short distance from the shipyards in the Citadel—to the small island kingdom just off the mainland.
“It wouldn’t be hard,” Sora said, nodding. “Tidepool—the ryuu who commands the sea—can easily get the ships to Thoma. In fact, she could probably launch a typhoon attack like she did to Isle of the Moon when all this began.”
“Right,” Daemon said. “But Fairy, Liga, and I slowed them down. We drilled holes in the bottoms of all the ships. Still, Thoma’s a relatively easy target, so once those boats are back in commission, I’m pretty certain Prince Gin is going to serve up the Thomasian tsarina’s heart as the first of the trophies he’s required to give Zomuri.”
Sora cringed.
“And once the ryuu seize Thoma,” Daemon said, studying the map, “they’ll be able to set up base there and be a lot closer to launch campaigns on Fale Po Tair, Xerlinis, and Vyratta.”
At the mention of those kingdoms, Sora had to sit down. They were the “Southern Alliance” that had been in her vision in the Lake of Nightmares. They’d brutally retaliated against the Dragon Prince’s advances, not only defending their own countries but traversing the ocean to demolish Kichona as well. Sora remembered the hill of dead she’d climbed over in victory, the ruined remains of Samara Mountain and her parents’ home in the distance.
It wasn’t real, Sora thought as she tried to shake the vision out of her head. She couldn’t tell Broomstick not to believe in the lake’s visions while succumbing to them herself. But the so-called prophecy had sunk long curled claws into her head, and it was difficult to jar them loose.
Daemon reached across their sawhorse table and touched Sora’s arm.
Her skin lit up again like it had when Daemon touched her in Paro Village. The sensation helped her break free of the Lake of Nightmares vision. It also rekindled the desire to grab Daemon by the collar and bury her face into the crook of his neck, to have him not just as her gemina but as more.
“Sora?”
“Uh, sorry. I’m fine. Just . . . got distracted.”
Did Daemon not feel the sparks between them, too?
Sora let her hair fall across her face so Daemon couldn’t see her blush. “Hey, what’s this?”
She pointed at a mass of troops on the northeastern archipelago. If Kichona were a tiger, this was the tip of its upper paw. All the other soldier and boat symbols on the map had dotted lines connecting them from Kichona to targets overseas. But this squadron didn’t have a line going anywhere.
“Why would warriors be stationed there but not be involved in strikes on the mainland?” Daemon asked.
Sora chewed on her thumbnail as she thought it over.
“There’s nothing out there on the tiny islands,” Daemon said. “No people, just rocks, waterfalls, and animals.”
“But we know from experience that Prince Gin likes to hide important things in remote places where no one will expect them.”
Daemon’s eyes brightened. “Like in Takish Gorge.”
“Yeah.” That was where Prince Gin had first hidden his ryuu before they were big enough to be considered an army. Sora tapped on the little island at the end of the tiger’s-paw archipelago. “What if he’s hiding something here, too? Something that requires guards. That would explain why these soldier symbols don’t have attack routes drawn to the mainland.”
“He can’t be hiding his soul there,” Daemon said. “You have it.”
Sora patted the pocket in her collar, where the golden pearl lay pressed against her, now that they weren’t near other traces of Prince Gin’s magic. It was comforting, in a twisted way, because if the soul was still, that meant no other ryuu were near.
“But think,” Sora said. “What else is too valuable to be found that we’ve been searching for?”
“Not what else,” Daemon said, a smile growing on his face, the slash of scars on his cheek rising with it. “Who else. You th
ink Empress Aki is still alive, don’t you? And that the Dragon Prince is hiding her there.”
“Yes. I’m willing to bet she’s being held prisoner inside Dera Falls, and I think we should go save her.”
“What about Prince Gin, though?” Daemon asked. “Isn’t the priority to get the soul back inside him so we can kill him?”
“It is,” Sora said, “but I also want to get it right because we might have only one chance, and I need more time to figure out how to get close enough to him to do it. I’ve been racking my brain since he first gave his soul to Zomuri, and I still haven’t found an answer. Maybe Empress Aki can help us, though. She’s his sister; she might know a weakness about him that we can exploit.”
Daemon nodded. “Good point. So as soon as Fairy’s well enough . . .”
Sora grinned. “We go on a rescue mission.”
Chapter Forty
Thoma was a sweet potato–shaped island across the ocean from Kichona. It was small but famed for its navy and had been an independent kingdom for two centuries.
Until today. Gin hopped off the rowboat that brought him to shore and surveyed his first conquered territory. The Thomasian navy had fought fiercely, but they were no match for his ryuu and their new ships. Without a pause, Gin’s gaze swept over the palm trees and the crystalline blue waters of the lagoons that surrounded the island and landed swiftly on the prisoners lined up on the beach.
Tidepool, the ryuu who had led the attack, jogged over to Gin.
“What are our casualties?” Gin asked.
“Two, Your Majesty,” she said. “Steeltoe and Morning Glory.”
He frowned. Steeltoe, in particular, had been useful. She’d been working on a new kind of armor for the ryuu. But Gin shrugged it off; giving up his soul made it easy to ignore any pangs of conscience at damning two of his soldiers to the hells. Besides, losses were expected in war, and since the ryuu were fighting ordinary soldiers—not taigas—they didn’t have much use for traditional weapons and armor like Steeltoe had been working on. Gin’s armies had simply overwhelmed Thoma’s navy with magic.
He tilted his chin at the prisoners kneeling in the sand. “Are they ready to submit to a new ruler?”
“Unfortunately,” Tidepool said, “they’re true to the reputation of Thomasians—clever as dolphins, fierce as orcas, and obstinate as old barnacles. But their defiance is nothing you can’t fix with your powers, Your Majesty.”
Gin began to make his way over to them, sinking a little in the sand. Yes, he could brainwash the sailors. But there was also a prideful part of him that wanted to win them over on his own instead. The rulers of vast empires past hadn’t needed to brainwash all the citizens in order to rule their lands. And the taigas who’d sided with him a decade ago during the Blood Rift—the warriors who became the original ryuu—had also believed in Gin willingly.
It might be amusing to try winning the Thomasian sailors over first.
“Prisoners!” Tidepool shouted. “Bow for your new emperor, His Majesty, Gin Ora!”
The Thomasian navy assembled on the beach refused to bow. They glared as Gin stopped in front of them, and the ryuu who guarded them began to kick them in the backs to force them to bend in respect.
Gin raised a hand and shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. And let them stand.”
His ryuu grumbled but obeyed.
When the prisoners were all on their feet, Gin put on a kind smile, one without a trace of arrogance or condescension.
“Honorable sailors of Thoma, you have fought valiantly, and I respect that. I visited your kingdom with my father when I was a child, and I remember the grand spectacle of your ships sailing in formation to welcome us and escort us to your beautiful island. From then on, I admired your navy and your people, and I always hoped to return some day.”
The prisoners’ expressions were still stiff. Gin had to soften them more.
“I understand that today may feel like a defeat,” he said, pacing before them. “But I urge you to think of it differently. You are not familiar with our gods, but one of them has promised us the Evermore—a paradise on earth—if I can unite Kichona and the entire mainland. Therefore, I do not come here as a conqueror”—this part was a lie, of course—“but as an equal to your Tsarina Austine, seeking a partnership for our two kingdoms.”
Most of the sailors’ faces remained hard with skepticism, but some of the younger ones had begun to soften, their fists no longer clenched, eyes less narrow.
“To prove this to you, I have dispatched an invitation to Tsarina Austine for a summit, in which she and I—and our brightest advisers—will discuss our kingdoms’ futures together.”
One of the older sailors, whose skin was as rough as hide from a lifetime in the biting wind of the sea, said, “How do we know you won’t kill her as soon as she agrees to meet you?”
Gin let his eyes and entire countenance droop, as if he were saddened by the accusation. “I suppose the cynical answer is that, if I wanted Tsarina Austine dead, it would have already happened. You’ve seen what my ryuu can do. It is no easy feat to win a battle against the world-famous Thomasian navy, and yet here we stand.
“But I reiterate: I want our kingdoms to work together. You’ll have autonomy to keep running your crews as you are accustomed, and the people of Thoma will continue their lives as they’ve known them. The only difference is you will have the benefit of Kichona as a partner, and we will have the benefit of Thoma. What say you?”
“Are we allowed to discuss it?” a young sailor asked.
Gin smiled generously. He could feel his hook sinking in, the prize fish at the end weakening in its fight. “Of course,” he said, motioning for his ryuu to back off and give the prisoners a facade of privacy. He, too, stepped farther down the beach.
Tidepool followed. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, you’re not really going to negotiate with Tsarina Austine, are you?”
“How much of an imbecile are you?” Gin asked. “We’ll bring the tsarina and her advisers onto my ship, and once we’ve returned to Kichona, we’ll summon Zomuri to claim her heart.”
“B-but then why bother with this pretense of good will in front of the prisoners? Won’t they know soon enough that their tsarina is dead? And what about the other kingdoms? This will incense them before we’re prepared to fight the entire mainland.”
“We’ll inform them that, during our negotiations with Tsarina Austine, I proposed marriage, and she accepted my offer. She’ll wish to stay in Kichona as the seat of our united empire, of course. But one day in the near future, she will die tragically of an illness while pregnant with our first child. The other kingdoms will not be suspicious for a while.”
“That’s pure genius,” Tidepool said.
“I know.”
The prisoners were engaged in a lively debate. Gin allowed it to continue. Tsarina Austine was being given ample time to prepare her things and her entourage for the summit (under careful watch of the ryuu, of course), so a few extra minutes on the beach meant nothing.
He walked down to the shore and finally took in the clear turquoise of the lagoons. The water was so clear he could see straight down to the corals on the sandy ocean floor, the sea teeming with colorfully striped fish. He could do worse than have this island as a gem in his crown.
Where the sky met the water, though, something white sped toward Gin. Was it a seagull skimming the surface?
“Tidepool,” he said, “intercept that for me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A moment later, a wave leaped up and caught whatever it was in a fistful of water and rushed it to shore in a surge of foam. Tidepool grabbed it first to make sure it was safe.
“A seagull bearing a message,” she said, releasing the bird and unfolding the paper carefully. It appeared to be enchanted with ryuu magic, but caution was advisable nonetheless.
Tidepool undid the complicated folds. “It’s fine, Your Majesty. A note from Menagerie.”
G
in took the paper, which, having been opened, now flattened out its own creases.
Your Majesty,
We found where Virtuoso’s sister and friends have been hiding, but they foiled our attack. We’ll redouble our efforts and make sure they won’t be a problem for us anymore.
Ever your servant,
Menagerie
Gin crumpled the note and hurled it into the ocean. Spirit and her friends had drilled holes into his ships and set back his timeline for this attack on Thoma. They also had a copy of the map from his study. Had they figured out where he was keeping Aki? Gods, they were pests.
“Send word to Skeleton and Skullcrusher to prepare their crews for immediate departure,” he said to Tidepool. “I want reinforcements at Dera Falls to guard Aki’s prison.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Tidepool jogged off to carry out his orders.
But how should he deal with Spirit? She was a fly to his bull, but even so, she could interfere again with Gin’s progress toward the Evermore.
I could capture Spirit and her wolf gemina. Their powers could be harnessed for Gin’s own purposes. In fact, he probably should have tried to do this earlier, but he’d been too busy with taking the throne and seizing control of the Society to bother with four rogue taigas. Now, however, if Gin guessed correctly, Spirit and her friends would attempt to rescue Aki.
And he could be there waiting for them. Dera Falls was on the way back to the Imperial City, and it was probably time that he paid his sister another visit anyway.
One of the ryuu who’d been guarding the Thomasian sailors ran down the shore. “Your Majesty, the prisoners have come to a decision.”
Gin took a deep breath, put on a mask of benevolence, and walked calmly back to the sailors.
The older man with the sunburned skin stepped forward. “As men and women of honor, we respect the customs of war, and we accept that we are at your mercy. If we may make a request, it is that you will take care of our families. Then we pledge to be your humble servants on the seas in the bid to bring your Evermore to earth.” He knelt in the sand and bowed his head. The rest of the sailors followed.