“I wish I could,” Ling said regretfully. “I’ve had lots of Black Fins take turns at trying to solve the puzzle. The entire camp’s talking about the spy now, and the Arrow of Judgment. My plan will work, I’m sure of it. I just need more time.”
Sera nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. “What about Sophia and Totschl?ger? Anyone see any sign of them yet?”
It had been two days since Sophia, Totschl?ger, and twenty other Black Fins had left to rendezvous with the N?kki.
“No news,” Yazeed said, “but that’s not a reason to panic. Not yet. They’re not due back until tomorrow morning.”
“What about Ava and Astrid?” asked Sera. “Has anyone been able to convoca them?”
“I tried several times today, but I couldn’t get through,” Ling replied. “The rocks here contain so much iron, they’re messing with my songspells. I’ll stay on it, though.”
“It’s been days since we’ve heard from either of them,” Sera fretted.
“Ava and Astrid are tough,” Becca reassured her. “And smart. They’ll make it.”
Sera laughed mirthlessly. “So, besides Ava being lost in a swamp full of homicidal maniacs, and Astrid swimming off to meet the king of homicidal maniacs, what other insurmountable problems are we facing tonight?”
“Soldiers,” Desiderio said. “Or lack thereof.” He’d been working with Meerteufel commanders on drilling the goblin troops. “The goblins are doing well on maneuvers,” he said, “but we still don’t have enough of them.”
“How do we augment their numbers?” Sera asked, struggling to keep the strain out of her voice. She was so exhausted, she felt dizzy. And the ache in her head was getting worse. She massaged her left temple, hoping the others didn’t notice.
“Refugees,” Neela replied. “All they talk about, from the minute they arrive, is how badly they want to go back to Cerulea and take on Vallerio.”
Word was spreading of the Black Fins’ stronghold in the north, and mer were flocking to the Kargjord. Nearly two hundred had arrived today alone. Neela was in charge of seeing that they were all sheltered and fed. She’d put them in barracks under the protective thicket of Devil’s Tail thorns that floated above the center of the camp. She’d had to move some soldiers outside the thicket and into tents to make room for all the newcomers.
“The refugees may not be enough. We may have to go back to Guldemar to ask for more troops,” Desiderio countered.
Sera grimaced at the idea. She’d dealt with the difficult Meerteufel chieftain once, and it had been quite an ordeal. Returning to his court at Scaghaufen did not appeal to her.
“We need more weapons, too,” Des added. “Even after the deal you made with the N?kki, we still don’t have enough. Not to equip all the newcomers. We’re low on ammo as well.”
“We could solve the ammo problem so easily if we could just find a lava seam,” Yazeed said, frustrated. “There are two shipwrecks four leagues east of here. The hull from one alone, melted down, would give us thousands of arrows and spearheads.”
“The goblins are awesome metalworkers. They could set up a forge in no time,” added Desiderio.
“Becca, any luck on the lava front?” asked Sera.
“No,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I’ve got teams of goblins looking day and night, but so far we’ve found nothing.”
“How are the building projects coming?”
Becca unrolled one of the large parchments lying on the table in front of her. On it she’d charted the status of the new barracks, infirmary, and school. She took Sera and the others through it in detail. Half an hour later, she finished.
“Becca, you have a tremendous amount going on. Can you assign some of the work to others?” Sera asked, her eyes on the chart.
Becca shook her head. “I can handle it, Sera.”
“But, Becca—”
“Seriously. I’ve got it,” she insisted, an edge to her voice.
Sera looked up at her, struck by her tone. As she did, she noticed that there were dark circles under Becca’s eyes, and that her cheeks looked hollow.
Something’s wrong. Something more than a heavy workload, Sera thought, alarmed for her friend. She knew she should take Becca aside and try to find out what was going on with her, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even think straight any longer. She had to get out of here.
“Are we done?” Des asked. “Because we’ve got to talk about Vallerio’s troops, the Southern Sea, and—”
“Des, I can’t. Not now. I—” she started to say.
“Sera, you have to,” Des said, cutting her off. “We need to make a decision.”
No, Sera thought frantically.
“Des is right, Sera,” Yazeed said. “About needing to prep, that is. Not about where to attack.”
Des snorted. He shot Yazeed a look, then cleared piles of parchments off the table and placed them on the floor so that Sera had a better view of the map. As soon as her gaze fell upon it, another bolt of pain shot through her skull.
“We have two enemies to battle: Vallerio and Abbadon,” Des said, “and we can’t take them both on at once. We all know that. What we need to decide—”