his side, who had laid a hand on his arm. This must be the Princess Imi, Erim decided. She looked older than he had expected. It wasn’t just the adult clothes, but the maturity in her gaze as she smiled at her father.
“Imenja could probably have sunk that ship herself, father. She asked our warriors to do it to prove a point. We can fight them without great risk to ourselves.”
The king’s brows sank even lower. “Your priestess has forced us into a war. Once the raiders know we destroyed one of their ships, they will come here in force.”
They don’t know! Etim thought. But he couldn’t say that unless invited. Frustrated, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
The king noticed the movement. He looked at Etim and narrowed his eyes.
“You disagree?” he asked, his voice dark with warning.
Etim decided it would be better to simply state the facts than offer an opinion.
“We left none alive. None to tell the tale.”
“None but the Pentadrians,” the king finished.
“They won’t,” Imi said. “But I want the raiders to hear about it. I want them to fear us. I want us to cut holes in their ships and the fish to feed on their bodies and the city to be enriched by their loot.” She smiled. “I want us to be respected by traders and feared by thieves. We can be that, with the Pentadrians’ help.”
The king stared at his daughter, but Etim could not tell if it was with amazement or dismay. After a moment the king looked away. He rubbed his chin, then looked up at Etim.
“What do you think of these Pentadrians, warrior?”
Etim considered how best to answer.
“I would prefer to be their friend rather than their enemy,” he replied honestly.
A faint smile touched the king’s face.
Imi chuckled. “That’s what I want people to think of us.”
“And in the meantime, we must trust these Pentadrian landwalkers,” the king replied sourly.
Imi shrugged. “Even they cannot stop us boring holes in the hulls of their ships.”
The king’s eyebrows rose. Etim might have been mistaken, but he thought he saw a spark of interest in the monarch’s eyes. Imi reached out and touched her father’s arm again.
“Did you consider my suggestion?” she asked quietly. “Did you list all the terms you would want in an alliance?”
“They will not agree to them,” he replied.
“Maybe not,” she agreed. “But you won’t know that until you ask them.”
The king looked at her, then drew in a deep breath and let it out. He looked up at Etim.
“Bring me the First Warrior.”
Wondering if he had just witnessed a great decisive moment in Elai history, Etim hurried from the room.
46
“Msstf, Owayafly?”
Auraya looked at the veez, who was inspecting her pack hopefully.
“Yes, Mischief. Auraya and Mischief fly… to Jarime.” She had been about to say “home,” but the words didn’t seem right. Jarime no longer felt like home.
Sighing, she sat down and patted the veez. Sirri had been dismayed to learn that Auraya was leaving. Without my help many, many Siyee are going to die, she thought. But if the gods had removed my ability to fly instead, I would not be able to reach all the distant villages anyway.
She had expected that, with the plague spreading throughout Si, whatever punishment the gods decided upon would not take effect until the disease was under control. By sending her to Jarime now the gods were also punishing the Siyee for her disobedience. That was unfair. Cruel, even. She felt her mood darken. Perhaps Mirar was right about them…
It was ironic that by persuading Mirar to teach her his healing Gift she had brought about events that forced the only two people who could help the Siyee to leave Si.
Mirar’s words repeated in her mind. “Come with me. We will leave Ithania and seek the distant continents.”
What he had proposed was absurd. It meant abandoning the Siyee. She looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled wryly. Even if she had been ordered to give away everything it meant—her position, power, flight, immortality—she would still prefer to stay and help the Siyee.
Looking up, she regarded the array of objects on the table. Gifts had started arriving as soon as the news of her departure began to spread. She couldn’t take everything, her pack wasn’t big enough even without a veez filling half the space. But she wanted to fill her room in the tower with Siyee-made objects so that every time the other White visited her