Yellow and orange dotted the rowboats around us, interspersed with the dark colors of Saxu’s uniforms. I had checked and my quarters had been empty of servants, so I hoped at least two of the blurry yellow shapes were Nohe and Homisu. I saw a flash of gold, Empress Koque’s formal robes glinting before she pulled a dark cloak on. I knew from the owl circling overhead that Iradîo was in the same boat as the empress and, presumably, Prince Hallu.
With supplies tucked into the limited spaces between passengers, each of the boats could only hold ten people. At the front of our boat, the Kennelmaster, his blade half-drawn, searched the fog for danger.
As the men rowed the boats, I could hear murmurs across the waters, snippets of conversation. Lerolian and his men had given us their last reports aboard the ship. They’d spread themselves on the other rowboats to listen to whispers, working under the assumption that Tallu and I could hear anything that happened on ours.
As far as the blood monks could tell, Sagam’s sister, Joxii, was no threat. Sagam had seemed shocked to find her with us, and he and Asahi had had a whispered fight that Lerolian reported back to us with breathless interest. After a few boring weeks aboard ships where the most salacious gossip had been who had been stealing more than his fair share of dried fish, Lerolian seemed delighted to finally have real drama to share.
I watched the back of the Kennelmaster’s head, aware that he must have known about Asahi’s action, and yet he had done nothing and had reported it to no one. Had he been keeping it up his sleeve in case he needed to bring Asahi to heel?
The sound of insects was a loud buzz in my ears. The fog came and went, occasionally so thick that I could barely see the tips of the oars, while at other times fading so that I could count all ten of our rowboats. The trees grew closer together, their massive trunks spanning nearly the length of one of the rowboats. It made it impossible to tell where the border was between ocean and swamp, if there even was one anymore.
With the thick canopy above us, the only light was a filtered glow that passed through the branches, occasionally catching us unaware and casting a brilliant white beam into the fog before disappearing. Small golden lights flickered around us, appearing and disappearing between one blink and the next.
“This would be a feast, if I cared to waste my time eating insects,” Terror complained above us.
“I tried one. Delicious. Terror, are you sure you don’t want some? Juicy and crunchy at the same time.” Ratcatcher dove close to the water before arcing up and landing back in the tree branches. “A real delicacy.”
“Quiet,” Dawn commanded. “There are things in the trees.”
An owl hooted nearby, the sound threatening until it turned into words. “Iradîo wants to know if you can speak with the creatures.”
I frowned, looking around. What creatures?
Above us, branches crackled, the sound of something heavy moving through the trees. It followed us as we ventured further into the swamp, but no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t see the animal. Iradîo never could speak to anything that without wings.
“How long?” I turned my head, hoping General Saxu would understand the question was aimed at him.
“I had hoped to find land,” General Saxu answered. “It is hard to tell our position in the swamp. Without even the sun to tell us our direction…”
He didn’t say it, but I could hear in his words what he didn’t want his men to know. We were lost.
Above us, something growled and then there was silence. The men desperately pulled at the oars, but it was too late. A massive crashing sound echoed through the swamp, and men in another rowboat screamed before going silent one after the other, their voices choking out on violence or water.
My heart pounded, but the fog was so thick I couldn’t see anything farther than the closest boat. I grabbed hold of my sword, but what good would that do?
The soldiers shouted to each other in battle shorthand. Commander Rede leaned forward, whispering for my benefit. “One of the boats was destroyed. No one can see any survivors. They’re reporting blood in the water.”
Sagam sat tense, and I saw the line of his face. Without his mask, it was very obvious what he actually was: a brother wondering if he had just lost the sister he hadn’t seen in years.
“Do we know who was on the boat?” I whispered.
“It was mostly soldiers. General Saxu positioned it to the side in case an attack came from land.” Rede spoke the words calmly, and I wondered if he had known every man that had just perished from some unknown threat.
Saxu called out his orders, the quiet water carrying them. We would continue on.
Three black birds followed us, flying from tree to tree, and I saw Iradîo’s owl disappear into the fog. Would it come tell me if she disappeared?
Something bumped the boat, the heavy knocking sound too loud. A servant sitting in the back of the boat next to Asahi gasped but muffled whatever sound wanted to come out. The soldiers redoubled their efforts, rowing harder, but one of them yelped, his oar caught by something in the murky depths.
Two other men leapt on top of the long wooden oar, their weight pulling the shaft down and lifting the blade. A scaly tentacle came with it as whatever creature had hold of the paddle from under the water tried to keep it.
I grabbed at my sword, but I knew better than to move too quickly. If we all ended up in the water, we were all dead. My training had taught me the calm necessary to survive situations like this, but not everyone had that experience.
Another soldier leapt forward, his motion nearly unbalancing the boat, and he slashed, cutting through the thick appendage. There was a shriek underneath the water, so loud that the boat vibrated under our feet and the tentacle retracted.
The men began rowing again, the boats around us calling out for orders. General Saxu squinted up at the sky before closing his eyes as though he could feel the sun through the thick layer of vegetation.
He shouted his commands, and we continued on. In front of us, Sagam was tense, his head twisting back and forth as he searched through the trees. Finally, he turned, speaking to General Saxu.
