Chapter 20
Twenty
Iwasn’t sure what to expect in the dining room. The only time I had ever seen elven pirates was when I had killed a ship full of them years ago. In the early morning light, when I had fed them to the sea serpents, they had just seemed like men.
Two elven servants opened the door to the dining room, their expressions not quite as guarded as a true imperial’s would have been. They looked hesitant, cautious, even frightened.
Tallu didn’t give them so much as a glance, striding through the door as though he owned the house.
Lord Chaliko pushed himself up to his feet, bowing to Tallu and glancing at the woman who sat with her back to the door.
Two of her crew stood on either side of her with Sagam, Asahi, and Gotuye close enough that none of the elves would be able to move before they ended up with a sword through their throat.
“Lord Chaliko, we were informed that you had someone you wanted us to meet.” Tallu kept his eyes fixed on Lord Chaliko as though the woman were invisible.
I didn’t need to glance behind me to feel Saxu and Commander Rede tensing, ready for something that might not come.
“Emperor Tallu, may I present the Pirate King of Tavornai.” Lord Chaliko gestured at the woman with an open hand, the politest form of acknowledgment.
His body language made it clear that not only did he respect her, but that he believed she deserved Tallu’s respect as well.
The woman still didn’t rise. Tallu waited, then strode across the room, dragging me with him as he took a seat at the head of the table. I took the seat to his right, the chair Lord Chaliko had previously been sitting in.
It left the woman across from me, and I got my first good look at her.
She had elven skin, a soft brown that complemented her brilliant red hair, the color of fresh blood. A narrow braid started at her temple and fell down her shoulder, intricately beaded at the end; the colorful beads distracted from her pointed ears.
Unlike the ears of the blood monks, which looked nearly like a northerner’s except for the sharp point at the top, or the delicately formed ears of the Ariphadi goblins, elves had ears that pointed back, the tops of them nearly flat.
The Pirate King had decorated hers with a series of earrings that went from an enormous gold hoop to one so small that it looked no bigger than the head of a pin. Except for the single braid that fell down her shoulder, her hair had been cropped short.
Tallu stared at her and she looked back, her eyes as dark and unknowable as the depths of the ocean.
Lord Chaliko cleared his throat, and the action turned into a deep, racking cough that left him reaching for one of the cups at the table. He managed to slide into a new seat before he collapsed.
“Pirate King,” Tallu said.
“You’ve heard of me,” she said.
“I’ve heard that General Namati has been fighting you for decades.
You have made it your purpose in life to stymie any attempt the Imperium has made to control Tavornai or its rich islands.
And yet now you would help me?” Tallu didn’t reach for any of the food on the table, or the glass that sat unfilled in front of him.
“There is no one else in the whole of the elven kingdom who knows where Namati is.” She grinned, the expression wrinkling the corners of her eyes. I saw one of her tendrils sneak out from under her shirt, wrapping around her throat like a living necklace.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Tallu said.
“Lord Chaliko has told me something interesting. He has given me something I have wanted for some time. And he said that I have you to thank for it.” Her words turned into an intrigued growl as she turned her gaze to me. “Prince Airón of the Northern Kingdom.”
“Where is Namati?” Tallu demanded, his eyes narrowed, trying to regain her attention.
“One monarch to another, you and I need to have a conversation in private. There are too many ears here.” She looked around significantly.
“I will not speak to you without my guards present,” Tallu said. “Unless you rid yourself of all the weapons you have on you.”
“The viper of the Imperium can’t handle one woman on his own?” the Pirate King asked.
“I didn’t gain my title through giving in to taunts,” Tallu said.
Grinning, she shook her head. “No, you didn’t, Emperor Tallu. But I believe you’ve met a fellow of mine and killed him when even clever Fox couldn’t accomplish that task. I believe that one elf is well within your means to vanquish, even if I am armed.”
Tallu’s face didn’t even twitch, but he understood the subtext as well as I did. He raised his hand, dismissing the room. The servants left quickly, and Lord Chaliko stood, hesitating before he bowed, although it was hard to tell who he was bowing to—the Pirate King or Tallu.
Saxu and Sagam both protested, arguing even as the Pirate King’s guards headed to the door. She hadn’t even signaled them, at least not in a way that could be seen.
“Leave us,” Tallu said. “That is an order.”
Saxu gritted his jaw, his whole face going white before he bowed stiffly, spinning and leaving the room, Commander Rede trailing behind him.
“I will not,” Sagam said. “You may dismiss me, you may have me killed, but I will not yield my duty to protect you.”
The Pirate King grinned again, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Dragon Chosen Emperor, you are the one who tied someone so loyal to you with such strong thread. Now you must decide how to dispose of him so we can talk freely.”
Tallu stood, but I was faster. We didn’t have time to argue, and there was no chance that Sagam was going to leave, not when he was both Kennelmaster and one of the last remaining Dogs.
I closed my eyes, remembering what Na? had done, and thinking about what the forest owed me for using my power to save it. Around us, I spun ice, the sudden chill alarming Sagam for a single breath before everything went still. Asahi had reached out a hand halfway to his lover when time froze.
The Pirate King turned her brilliant smile to me. “So it is true. You have learned ice-dragon magic. The elder tree said that you also contained the magic of the fire dragon inside you. And now you have learned forest magic. Soon there will be nothing you cannot do, northern prince.”
“Spider,” Tallu said.
The Pirate King nodded, the movement shaking her braid. “Well, you have earned my interest. Now let us see if you can keep it.”
“Are you truly the animalia Spider?” I asked. My body was stronger now than it had been when I’d last frozen time. I could do it for long enough to have this conversation. I could.
“Are you truly a northern prince? Or are you also an assassin? And a son who betrayed his mother? Or are you the only human who has ever learned ice magic?” Spider raised her hands, and her tendrils crept out from under her shirt, fanning around her like eight legs.
“I know better than most how complicated a human life is, how many threads connect it to everything else.”
I blinked, suddenly seeing a thousand different threads hanging around us, nearly translucent as cobwebs. Unlike the night before, all of these were gold, and I knew each was a fate binding someone to their destiny.
I glanced at Tallu, and saw a golden thread wrapped around his neck. This one wasn’t translucent—it was as solid as him or me—and when I reached out to touch it, all I felt was his warm flesh.
“Please,” I bowed my head to her, “we have come to negotiate. You see the fate of men, you walk along the web of destiny. Release Tallu and Prince Hallu from the curse of the blood monks. House Atobe is no more. The Imperium is in tatters. Even the blood monks who cursed the heirs of House Atobe have admitted their vengeance is done.”
Spider gave a deep sigh, standing. She wore tight pants, the waist tied with a deep red sash that matched her hair. She reached up, grabbing hold of a thread in the air.
With the slightest smile on her face, she yanked on it. Tallu screamed, going down to his knees, clutching his throat. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips. I was already three steps forward, two blades in my hand when she clucked her tongue, pulling the thread tight again.
Tallu gave a groan. “Airón—”
“Release him. All we want is his freedom. He and Prince Hallu don’t deserve the fate they were cursed with.” I tried to keep my tone even. “We will do anything.”
“Anything? And what wants do I have? What could I possibly want from you?” She raised both of her eyebrows. Tallu’s thread was still wrapped around her hand, the curse that the blood monks had given him had been spun into his fate.
“We can give you Namati’s head. We can promise that the Imperium will never again enter Tavornai under a flag of war. We can order every imperial in Tavornai out of the territory.” I narrowed my eyes. “There must be something you want.”
“I have everything I want. Namati is where I want him. The Imperium is in chaos. It is in no state to invade anywhere, much less the kingdom I call home. And there are enough elves in Tavornai to kill these imperials you offer to remove.” One finger at a time she released the thread around Tallu’s throat and I stepped forward, reaching out to hold his shoulder.
“You will not negotiate with us?” I asked.
I had told Irad?o already that if Spider wouldn’t negotiate, there were other ways to force her to yield. I moved quickly, doing two things at the same time. I dropped the bubble of frozen time around us and leapt at her.
She easily caught me with one of her tendrils. It wound around me, tossing me to the side, but Sagam already had his blade out, slicing off the tip of it before she could wind it close to her again.
She screamed, turning on him and raising her hand to grip his face and lift him off the ground. She threw him next to me, but that left her back to Gotuye and Asahi. They were fast, Asahi severing the tendons in the back of her knee as Gotuye lifted his blade, ready to decapitate her.