He hovered over the table, a cup of wine in one hand, and my skin burned just being in the same cabin with him. Before theEndorathil, I’d never seen aRhi’Ahr. Before the Ship of Spells, I could never have imagined being this close. The cyr in the corner was clearly his, and I wondered how much Overland blood it had spilled.
My mind raced at all the ways I could kill him, and I didn’t bother hiding my thoughts.
Echo sighed repeatedly, shaking his horned head and trying to warn me with his large brown eyes. I ignored him, choosing to focus on the map and the spread of the runescars that danced beneath the leather of my gloves.
“Was it enough, Mr. Fahr?” asked Thanavar.
“The best we could, sir,” said Fahr, running a hand across his forehead. “Hodgetown could have benefited from one last dousing, but theTemplemorehad other plans.”
The captain paused to study his wine.
“I am concerned with the audacity of this raid,” he said. “Hodgetown may be one of the southernmost Emperial ports in Oversea, but in all these years, it has never been attacked like this.”
“It’s practically an invitation to open war,” said Smoke.
“I doubt the king can refuse this time,” said Fahr.
“He will refuse,” said Thanavar.
“And how many Overland cities will be razed until he bites?” asked Smoke.
“You have had ten years to come up with a solution, Mr. Oakum,” said the captain. “Now we have six months.”
Smoke rolled his expressive eyes and reached for his cup.
“This demands we step up our efforts,” the captain said. “We are compromised if the cruisers can come and go like this.”
“We can patch all the breaches we find in the Dreadwall,” said Fahr. “But there’ll be more as long as the chimeric is mined. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Six months,” said the captain.
There was silence for a long moment.
“They have clearly found a way to track the Cloudgate,” he said. “If we aim to stop this, we must cut off their supply.”
“We’re only one ship,” said Echo.
“But oh, what a ship,” said Fahr with a grin.
Smoke tossed back his rum.
“Then we take the bloody fight to them,” he said. “Sail through a gap on our own and sink every ship we find.”
“That’s too dangerous,” said Echo.
“So’s leaving it,” said Smoke.
“It is not helpful if it is not lasting,” said the captain.
“Itwaslasting,” said Smoke, and then he sighed. “Until it wasn’t.”
“I will not warn you again, Mr. Oakum,” said the captain, and the room fell into strained silence once more.
I didn’t know what they were talking about, but the tension had the weight of a wave about to break.
“The chimeric has turned the tides,” said Fahr after a long moment. “We can’t fight it.”
“That is true,” said Thanavar, his gaze darting to mine. “But I wonder if now, we are able to find it ourselves.”
