in the meantime, we’ll have to commandeer the iron that already exists, especially inland.”
“People won’t like that, you know,” Gabriel said. “They won’t give up their iron without a fight.”
“I think they will, if the danger is great enough,” Nat said. “We’ll pull together, just as we did during the famine.” He turned to the King. “At any rate, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”
“And we all know that your powers of persuasion are considerable,” someone called out from farther down the table.
Everyone laughed, even Nat. But then he added more soberly, “To fight this, we’ll need all the powers at our disposal.”
“Well, we shall give you all the backing we can muster,” the King said. “I take it we’re in favor of enacting Walbrook’s plan? Very good. Walbrook, I put you in charge of our defense efforts. You may call on any man here to help you.”
Most were eager to volunteer. But the King raised his voice; he wasn’t done. “Keep in mind, however, that the nature of the task before us may yet change. We have no idea who our enemy is, or what he or she—or indeed, it—has planned for us.” The King looked at me. “Unless perhaps you have some notion, Chantress?”
It was time for me to share all I knew, even though I was leery of the repercussions of doing so. “I can’t identify our enemy, not at this point. But I can tell you this: There is some kind of singing involved.”
“Singing?” Sir Barnaby’s jaw dropped.
The Lord High Admiral half-rose from his seat. “Chantress singing?”
Even Gabriel looked alarmed. “Do you mean to say there’s a Chantress attacking us?”
This was just the kind of reaction I’d feared.
I made every effort to appear calm and dispassionate. “Let’s not leap to conclusions, please. I didn’t say it was a Chantress—”
“But it might be?” It was Nat who asked.
I took a deep breath. “Yes. It might be. The music is different, but there are some similarities, especially in the phrasing and the resonance of the voice.”
“When have you heard it?” Nat said, his face unreadable.
It was the question I least wanted to answer. “I heard it when I tried to go after the mermaid, and then again when the sea monster appeared. And once more, very clearly, when I encountered the false King.”
“You heard it with the mermaid?” the Lord High Admiral barked at me. “And you didn’t say so?”
“It was very indistinct,” I said crisply. “For all I knew, it might have been mermaid music—and perhaps it was. Perhaps everything I’ve heard is. But the fact remains that I’ve heard it more clearly now, and it reminds me more of Chantress music than anything else.”
“You should have said something at the time,” the Admiral insisted.
He wasn’t the only one who was annoyed. Sir Barnaby was frowning, and so were several other Council members. But the King motioned to the Lord High Admiral to sit down. “The Chantress has shared everything with us now, and that’s what matters. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”
Everyone looked at me.
“I think we must start by finding out if any Chantresses besides me survived Scargrave,” I said. “None have ever come forward, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”
“You mean a Chantress hunt,” the Lord High Admiral said.
The words sent a chill through me. They called to mind all the terrors of Scargrave’s reign, when Chantress hunting had been widespread and all of my kind—even my own mother—had been hounded and killed.
“No.” I turned to the King. “I promise you I personally will look into this, with the assistance of Captain Knollys and my men. But there must be no general hue and cry for Chantresses. It would only lead to panic and confusion in the kingdom—and I think we have enough of that to contend with as it is. Besides, if it really is a Chantress behind this, I’d rather she didn’t know what our suspicions are. A general hunt would serve as a warning to her to be on her guard.”
The King nodded. “We will leave this in your hands, then, and you can report your progress to me. We all stand ready to help, should you need us.”
After he called an end to the meeting, everyone crowded around Nat, making suggestions and volunteering their services. Leaving them to it, I started on my way down to the guardrooms, pondering what I should say to Captain Knollys. I’d insisted to the