Time for me to go too. He’d lingered too long anyway. Prince Gin might come back any second.
Daemon grabbed his lock picks and slipped out the captain’s quarters door. He had just stepped back into the dark corner nearby when he saw legs descending the ladder. Daemon dove behind some boxes and buried himself beneath the coils of rope on the floor.
“Your Highness?” someone above said.
The prince stopped on the ladder. “What is it?”
“I was sent to ask what you would like for dinner.”
“Do we have fresh fish?”
“Yes, Tidepool swept up a section of ocean and had the waves deposit a school of mackerel for us.”
“I’ll have that then,” Prince Gin said. “Oh, and wine. Not just for me, but for everyone on the ship. You’ve all worked hard today. We deserve to celebrate.”
“Thank you, Your Highness!” the ryuu hurried off to report to the galley.
Daemon waited until the prince went inside his cabin. Then he ran for the ladder and scrambled several levels down to Sora in the bottom hold.
Their grumbling stomachs would have to wait.
Chapter Thirty
Fairy crawled through the narrow space beneath the floorboards of Warrior Meeting Hall. Broomstick followed, but he was bigger and had to scoot on his stomach, which made him lag behind.
“How did you even know this was here?” he whispered, even though they’d cast moth spells to keep from being overheard.
“My boys and I have use for secret nooks and spaces,” Fairy said.
Broomstick groaned.
She laughed.
But she quickly grew stern again. The Council was holding another meeting and Empress Aki was going to be in attendance. The apprentices had not been given any updates about the Isle of the Moon attacks, and even worse, Fairy and Broomstick hadn’t heard a thing about Spirit and Wolf. Broomstick had leveraged all his relationships in the office but learned nothing.
So Fairy had decided to take matters into her own hands and eavesdrop on the source.
The space beneath the Council Room was tighter than that below the rest of Warrior Meeting Hall, and Fairy also had to get onto her stomach. She used her arms to crawl forward, stopping every so often to blink away the dust puffing up from the dirt on the ground. Despite what she’d just told Broomstick, this was not one of the places she brought her boys; she’d tried it once and never again, because it really wasn’t much fun to mess around with someone when there wasn’t space to do said messing around.
Finally, she reached a pinprick of light that shone down through a minuscule hole in the floorboards.
“I barely fit here,” Broomstick said. “One less inch, and I’d be stuck like a cork in a bottle.”
“Good thing you passed on that second helping at dinner then,” she said.
“Ha-ha.” He punched her in the arm.
Above them, the Council filed in. The only reason Fairy knew that was because shadows passed over the tiny beam of light. Otherwise, there was no sound, because the councilmembers treaded so lightly, there were no footfalls.
A minute later, though, there was plenty to hear as Empress Aki arrived.
“Your Majesty.” It was followed by a pause as the councilmembers presumably bowed.
They settled back into their chairs.
“You have a report of your latest findings?” Empress Aki asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Glass Lady said. “I know you like to see all the details, so we’ve compiled summaries of the reports from each outpost, as well as the research our scholars have yielded thus far.” There was some shuffling of paper as she passed it across the table.
“As previously discussed, we are actively patrolling the seas and have increased the numbers of warriors on watch at every station around the kingdom. Ships and outposts send reports to the Citadel every twelve hours, rather than every twenty-four, as was the previous peacetime model. The most recent dragonflies from the navy this morning indicate nothing unusual in the seas—no unidentified ships or unusual weather. The reports from around the island are likewise—”
“Wait,” Empress Aki said. Papers rustled. “There still hasn’t been a dragonfly from Paro Village? And now Sand Mine and Kaede City have also failed to report.”
Beneath the floorboards, Fairy’s breath caught. Spirit and Wolf had gone to Takish Gorge. That wasn’t too far away from Paro Village. Had something happened to them? She reached for Broomstick’s hand.
He clutched his fingers against hers.
“What if—?” she began.
“I know,” he said.
“But Spirit . . . she always manages to figure a way out, right?” Fairy said weakly.
“Yeah, she’ll know what to do,” Broomstick said. His conviction was as uncertain as Fairy’s. It didn’t make her feel any better.
Above them, Glass Lady cleared her throat. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, for not leading with Paro Village, Kaede City, and Sand Mine. I wanted to give you some comfort that the seas are safe for now, that no new threats, like an incoming navy, have appeared. But it is indeed concerning that there has been no communication from three different outposts in the south. A ship has been dispatched to investigate, but it will take a few days, since those regions are remote, and the ship will need to sail around the tiger’s leg to access them.”
“Have we no taigas who can get there more quickly by land?” Empress Aki asked.
Bullfrog spoke up, his voice croaking a bit, as always. “It is unwise to divert resources from our other command posts, Your Majesty. And since the Imperial Navy is already patrolling the ocean, it makes sense to investigate via water. Besides, we haven’t received any distress calls from those three posts. If something bad has happened, surely one of them would have managed to send off a dragonfly.”
Fairy wanted to believe this reasoning. But how did they know something hugely bad hadn’t happened? What if a massive typhoon took out the entire southern part of Kichona, and that was why there weren’t any dragonflies coming in?
Oh gods, Spirit and Wolf could have drowned. She imagined them floating facedown among the wreckage of a typhoon, their bodies lifeless.
Broomstick almost crushed Fairy’s hand. He could feel her terror tremoring through their bond. “Whatever is going on in that head of yours, stop it. It’s not true.”
“But it could be.”
“There are an infinite number of possible outcomes. You can torture yourself imagining the worst, but it’s just as likely to be true as Spirit and Wolf being fine. They could be on their way back here right now. Think about that. Think about Spirit and Wolf’s victory as they ride into the Citadel with news about the south, before the navy gets us word.”
Fairy tried to smile. But she couldn’t.
Above them, Empress Aki sighed loudly. “I appreciate the speed at which the Society has mobilized to address this unidentified threat. However, I can’t help but think that we’re approaching this in the wrong way.”
“How do you mean?” Glass Lady asked. “We are doing what has worked for centuries, based on the Society’s experience protecting the kingdom from everything from coordinated pirate raids to full-scale foreign incursions.”
“Yes, but that’s my point. The attack on Isle of the Moon is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. In all those centuries of experience, have the taigas ever faced an adversary who wielded magic stronger than yours? Or have you faced another enemy with magic at all?”
The Council was quiet, seemingly taken by surprise by someone questioning their expertise.
A minute later, the commander recovered herself. “Your Majesty,” Glass Lady said, “we have succeeded in defending this island under all manner of conditions for ages. Despite the novelty of this situation, you do not need to worry. Our methods are proven. We will get to the bottom of this mysterious assault, and you will continue to rule this kingdom as your father and your ancestors have done before.”
“I feel as if I’m being talked down to because of my age.”
“Not at all!” Glass Lady rushed to say. “Your Majesty, we have the utmost respect for you. For gods’ sake, you prevailed in the Blood Rift when you were only fifteen. We have no doubt in your leadership. But what we are asking is that you also have faith in ours. Protecting Kichona is what the Society does. Believe me when I say that we are doing everything we should be. It is my job, and I will die before I watch anything—magical or not—threaten our kingdom.”
Empress Aki sighed again. “My patience is running thin, Commander. I feel like we’re having the same conversations over and over again. Therefore, I want you to start thinking about alternate approaches to what you’ve done in the past. In the meantime, keep me up to date if anything changes, and let me know as soon as the navy sends word on why we’ve no communications from the southern outposts.”
The meeting was over. The empress rose and left the room, with the councilmembers accompanying her out of the building.