Tallu looked at me, and I nodded. Striding across the camp, I found Iradîo at my shoulder, the owl she was fond of gliding above our heads before disappearing into the dark canopy above.
When I reached the Kennelmaster and Asahi, I didn’t mince my words. “Where is he?”
Neither man was surprised to see me. Asahi’s expression was hidden by his mask but I could see when his eyes dropped down to the ground. The Kennelmaster answered for them. “He went ahead, scouting a route.”
“That’s what Saxu’s men are doing. What ishedoing?” Iemphasized the word, because we all knew that more often than not, the Kennel had different goals than the military.
“He awakened magic he didn’t know he had while saving His Imperial Majesty,” the Kennelmaster said. “He took his sister to make sure she was not a danger to the emperor.”
“Because she was more familiar with her powers?” I asked.
“He believes so,” Asahi said.
I noticed his phrasing. “You don’t?”
“I believe they are both loyal servants of Emperor Tallu and the Imperium.” Asahi finally looked up, his eyes fierce, and I knew his first loyalty would always be to his lover, even ahead of the emperor; I empathized with him there.
“Go find him. Given that they both saved all the people here, I agree with your belief. It would be a pity if, in his confusion and worry over his new abilities, Sagam killed someone as loyal to His Imperial Majesty as his sister.” I waited to see how my words landed. Asahi was gone before I finished them.
“Such a sympathetic read of a complicated situation,” the Kennelmaster said.
“I love my sister dearly,” I said. “To save his sisters’ lives, Sagam stayed when he could have left. I believe he loves them just as much as I love Eonaî.”
“What if he has run away with her, to prevent His Imperial Majesty from ordering Sagam to kill her?” the Kennelmaster asked.
“Then at least three people will survive the traitors’ coup.” I kept my eyes fixed on the Kennelmaster. “I know what happens when a dog is whipped into obedience. I have no need to see what bite Sagam would give me for risking his sisters’ lives.”
Lerolian approached from his position at the edge of the camp, where he had been listening to the soldiers talk among themselves. He raised his eyebrows at me, clearly surprised, even as a soft smile lit his lips. I wasn’t the only one who wished someone in this mess was going to get a happy ending. But I had to know for certain, because I knew Tallu was concerned about the same thing I was.
“You’re sure Sagam took his sister himself?” I pressed. “It wasn’t some overeager soldier, all too willing to prove his loyalty to the Imperium by killing anyone wielding foreign magic?”
“I’m sure.” The Kennelmaster’s face was fixed. Without his mask, I could read the pain in his expression. He was pale and sweating more profusely than even the swampy heat could account for. Every so often, he coughed, a heavy, phlegmy sound as loud as the screams of the birds in the distance.
I nodded at him. “His Imperial Majesty is lucky to have two such loyal Kennelmasters at his disposal.”
“At his disposal. I suppose that’s true. We are all at His Imperial Majesty’s disposal.” Despite his illness, his words were clear. He was a man who read his own gameboard just as easily as General Saxu could read the battlefield map. The Kennelmaster turned his head when Asahi came jogging out of the tree line, snapping, “What is it?”
“Sagam and his sister have found a way through.” Asahi’s eyes were wide, although he controlled them a second later. “We are nearly right on top of House Chaliko’s residence.”
Sixteen
When Asahi reported the news to Tallu and what was left of the military commanders, General Saxu frowned. He had sent out scouts both northeast and northwest, and none of them had returned yet, much less with news of our destination.
“How did they find it?” he asked Asahi, but Asahi only looked at Tallu and then the Kennelmaster.
“My Dogs have always been efficient at sniffing out traitors and the secrets the emperor wishes to know. This is simply one more secret that the swamp wanted to keep from us.” The Kennelmaster’s face was placid, his expression at odds with the slick sweat across his forehead.
“Well.” General Saxu looked around us. We had been staying in one place too long, and the sounds of the swamp were growing closer. A growl rumbled nearby, the noise turning into a series of clicks that echoed through the trees. The birds that had seemed so distant when we had stopped were coming closer, as though they could already smell our dead bodies.
Saxu turned to Commander Rede. “Call back the scouts. Hopefully they can still hear the whistles. Send more men with theDog to make sure that our destination is secure. We must get indoors before nightfall.”
Even though we were no longer in the thick darkness we had traveled through, the heavy trees of the swamp still let in minimal light. It was hard to tell whether we were getting close to sunset, or if the filtered light was how the swamp always looked, regardless of the time of day.
The air was heavy, thick with moisture, and I glanced at Tallu. The Kennelmaster might be obviously injured, but Tallu’s curse was just as damaging. I knew what lingered under his skin.
Prince Hallu leaned against his mother’s side, and she clutched him close, her knuckles going pale as she held him up. Tallu was completely still, but I could see a slight tremble, as though the only reason he was still standing was that he’d locked his knees.
“How long will it take?” I asked General Saxu. When he looked at me sharply, I let my face drop, raising a hand to my hairline and wiping exaggeratedly. “It is so hot here. Much hotter than even the capital. I am not used to this heat, and I can feel myself weakening.”
