Chapter 13 #3
We heard shouting and screams. Sailors called across the ships, the word coming back that the first ship in our small fleet had hit a branch that spread across the narrow route we were sailing.
It had toppled their mainsail, and the resulting impact had destroyed their boat.
The surviving sailors were swimming to the ships, although I heard screams and splashes.
What dangers lived in the waters beneath us?
Did Tavornai have its own sea serpents and were they taking imperial souls to the afterlife?
“What happened?” Tallu demanded. From his position at the wheel, the captain tensed, his hands tightening on the wood before releasing it. He gestured for a nearby sailor to take the helm though the anchor had pulled us still.
Slowly, the captain stepped down from the top deck, and I heard footsteps behind us, glancing back to see General Saxu in his full armor approaching from below deck. Commander Rede was at his side, both of them wearing military cloaks pinned at the shoulder with golden dragons.
By the time the captain reached us, General Saxu was on Tallu’s other side. The sailors and soldiers were still, and I could feel the tension in everyone’s bodies as we all waited to see the outcome of the confrontation.
“Your Imperial Majesty.” Slowly, the captain sank to his knees, prostrating himself on the deck. “I beg your forgiveness. I beg for your leniency. We cannot go any further.”
The silence was profound, and I glanced at Tallu, waiting to see how he was going to react.
“You assured us that you would have no trouble reaching the shores of Tavornai, and yet I see no shores.” Tallu gestured around us. The fog was thick, but water lapped at the ship on all sides, and the anchor had sunk deep. We were not near land.
“We have reached them,” the captain said, his voice choking before he raised his chin.
“Tavornai is not a swamp as you or I know it. The land has grown into the ocean. I have been a sailor for a long time; I served under your grandfather as a boy. That was the last time I saw the elven kingdom. I did not know it had already gotten this bad.”
“Explain,” General Saxu said. “In his reports, General Namati made no mention of what you speak of.”
“The trees grow into the ocean. Our anchor is not stuck to sand or rocks beneath us, but the roots of trees.” The captain’s neck arched, as though he was about to raise his head before he remembered who he was speaking to.
“I believe without the elves to mind them, their land has grown thick with… foreign magic. Dangerous magic.”
“You are suggesting that the swamp has expanded?” General Saxu said. “No tree can grow in saltwater. Your maps must be wrong.”
“No, high general. My maps are not wrong. My memory is not wrong. There should be an open route between the islands and the Tavornai shore, as there was when we first conquered it.” The captain took a deep breath, his next words barely a whisper. “I see no way through.”
Slowly, the screams and splashes in the water fell to silence and there was stillness, a quiet that grew as Tallu said nothing. I squinted out again, blinking as the fog cleared slightly. The captain wasn’t wrong.
There was a tree so close that if I leaned far enough out, I might touch it. Its bark was smooth, and long roots dripped from its branches, swaying in the movements of the waves.
“We must consider our next move,” Tallu said. “Until the fog clears, we have no way out of this mess you have piloted us into. Ready the ship to defend against an attack. We must be prepared. General Saxu, with me.”
Tallu turned, his robes spinning behind him, and on the deck, the captain slumped, relief visible in the hunch of his shoulders as he pushed himself up and back onto his feet.
He began shouting orders as General Saxu and Commander Rede turned to follow Tallu.
I squinted at the tree, waiting until the fog covered it again before following Tallu below deck.
As I took the steps down, Lerolian caught up with me. I didn’t dare look over to see his expression.
“The sailors say the land is cursed,” Lerolian said.
“There’s also a fight brewing between the soldiers and the sailors.
Both worry that the other will get them killed.
The sailors are terrified they will have no way back to their homes in the Imperium.
The soldiers believe that the sailors purposefully piloted them into danger out of loyalty to General Kacha.
Tallu must understand that the situation will get explosive soon, no matter what he does. ”
I nodded, following the narrow hallway until I reached Tallu’s room. “We need to know who the instigators will be.”
I covered my words with a cough, glancing up at Lerolian significantly. He nodded, slipping away, and I entered the room.
At the crowd inside, I pulled up short. General Saxu and Commander Rede were there, and Sagam stood next to the door, shifting to the side to let me in. Irad?o tapped me on the shoulder and then slipped into her customary corner.
But Tallu stood, the expression on his face forcibly neutral, because Empress Koque was in the chair he usually claimed for himself during these meetings.
After a few breaths, she stood, bowing low enough to show respect but her fingers not forming a triangle.
She stepped to the side, taking a different seat.
Once Tallu sat, he leaned back in his chair, his gaze passing over everyone in the room. “Where do we find General Namati?”