Stickstoff, together with the rest of the court, burst into laughter. Guldemar did not join them.
Sera floated motionlessly in front of the chieftain, enduring the mocking. Her head was high, her back was straight. She was not wearing a crown, or a beautiful gown, as she had the last time she’d traveled to Scaghaufen. Instead she’d worn her Black Fin uniform—a navy jacket with black trim. It reflected what she now was—a warrior-queen dressed for battle. Yazeed and Desiderio had accompanied her. They wore their uniforms, too, and their hair had been cut short for the occasion.
“Why do you want the additional soldiers?” Stickstoff demanded when the laughter had died down.
“Because I don’t have enough soldiers to defeat my uncle’s forces,” Sera replied.
“Is that the only reason?” Guldemar asked, eyeing her closely. “The currents carry rumors. Mer in Kandina talk of a prison camp. A dragon queen complains bitterly that her moonstone was stolen. The Williwaw shrieks endlessly for a gold coin. The mer realms fall one by one to Vallerio. Only a fool would not wonder if there’s any connection.”
Sera knew he was asking her for the truth, but the truth was a lethal commodity. She didn’t want to lie to him, but neither could she answer his question. Not in front of the entire goblin court. As she deliberated, Guldemar spoke again.
“I see. You ask for my help, you demand my trust…yet you do not trust me.” He spat into one of the lava pools that bubbled on either side of his throne. “And so it has always been between Meerteufel and mer,” he added bitterly.
Guldemar was referring to the uneasy relations between the two peoples. The goblins were intimidating in appearance and manner and tended to frighten the mer. Sera, who had twenty thousand Meerteufel troops in the Karg, was learning that in addition to possessing great reserves of fierceness and courage, goblins were also loyal, hardworking, and kind, but bringing about a better understanding between the Meerteufel and mer was a task that would require a great deal of time, and Sera had none. She knew that if she wanted Guldemar’s help, she would have to show that she trusted him. Right now. She’d have to tell him about Orfeo and Abbadon. There was no other way.
It was risky, though. What if, after listening to her, he sided with Vallerio and Orfeo? Any sane person would. Their might and magic dwarfed her own. And then there were the talismans. They were powerful objects. What if Guldemar wanted them for himself? He might attack her camp and take the ones she and her friends had found.
Sera decided she would tell Guldermar everything, but only him. She started toward the throne. Immediately, a dozen goblin guards advanced on her. Desiderio and Yazeed rushed to defend her.
Guldemar held up a hand, stopping everyone. “Approach, Serafina,” he commanded.
Sera swam to him. Light flickered in the kraken’s eyes as she did, startling her. For a moment, she was certain the creature was alive, but then she realized the light was only an illusion. The kraken’s eyes were fashioned from obsidian; they reflected the lava’s glow.
When Sera was close enough to Guldemar that he alone could hear her, she told him that her fight with her uncle was only the beginning, and that a greater battle lay ahead. She told him everything—starting with Vr?ja’s summons, and ending with Ling’s discovery that the terragogg Rafe Mfeme was really Orfeo.
“That’s why I need the additional troops, Guldemar,” she added as she finished. “So that I can make it to the Southern Sea, where I mean to destroy Abbadon.”
Guldemar said nothing. He just stroked his tusks thoughtfully. Sera waited for him to answer, but before he could, Stickstoff, annoyed at being left out, spoke.
“Another has approached us. One who also wants Guldemar’s help. One who will pay well—very well—for an alliance with the Meerteufel.”
Sera turned to him. Stickstoff hadn’t mentioned a name, but he didn’t have to.
“Yes, he will,” she said, with a caustic smile. “At first. But then he’ll send his own troops here to take what he wants. Tread carefully with my uncle, Stickstoff. He has the might of three mer realms behind him now. What’s to stop him from taking Meerteufel waters?”
Worry surfaced in Guldemar’s eyes at Sera’s words.
Stickstoff, however, waved them away. “We Meerteufel are quite capable of defending our territory, thank you. Our only difficulty, at present, is that we don’t quite know which mer ruler to trust.”
“You mean which mer ruler to back,” Sera said cynically. “A battle’s coming, you know it is, and you don’t want to be on the losing side.”
Stickstoff ignored that. “You say that the throne of Miromara is yours. Your cousin Lucia claims that it’s hers. If only the two aggrieved parties could solve their problems by talking them through…” he mused, tapping a finger against his chin.