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Spider’s ship was anchored nearby, the lone evidence of her enormous armada. I could see its crew, standing along the railings, shouting to her.

She and the rest of the elves were perched in the trees, looking down at me, and with the spread of her tendrils around her, she looked even more like her name.

“Now what?” she asked. “My men can swim, and we will if we have to. But the rest of them…”

I pointed out to a nearby island. Tavornai recognized it as part of itself, reclaimed by the ocean when the elves were no longer there to stop it. The roots stretched as far as they could, but it was not going to be far enough. I swore. We would need more ice than I’d expected.

“Naî?” I asked.

Naî huffed, her breath tickling the side of my neck.

Fine, she said. Fine. But I will take what little magic is left in your belly to help me. Show me what you desire, northern prince.

I imagined a bridge, a bridge strong enough to hold the thousand people we had, elves and imperials, soldiers and servants, pirates and electro mages. I imagined its decorations, covered in fractal patterns and gleaming like the first freeze of a pond in winter.

My magic flowed out of me, and Naî caught it. Then, the bridge was in front of us, spreading out toward the island.

Move quickly, Naî said. Her voice was strained, as though she was pushing against a great weight, trying to keep a boulder from off our heads.

“Run!” I shouted, taking Tallu’s hand and dragging him with me. The ice was slippery, and I gritted my teeth, desiring railings to keep anyone from falling off. They sprouted around us, rising from the swaying waves.

I could hear screams, terror and panic, but still my hand held tight on Tallu’s, and I realized I was leaning against him, listing to the side as my throat closed. My body felt light, as though I was going to float off into the air.

Then my feet hit land, and Tallu didn’t let it stop us, pulling me further up the shore, out of the way of the rest of the crowd. We climbed up a small hill, and I looked back at the water, my vision hazy, but still I could see what we had done.

There was a bridge crossing the waves, like something from the Silver City. It gleamed strangely against the murky water of the Tavornai seas. The water splashed up, and the crowd continued to move.

Naî grunted, and she bit down on my shoulder in pain. I could feel the bruise that would come later, but I watched until the last of them made it across.

Then I saw the other men in the forest. They wore Kacha’s colors, and after having spent the past few weeks tracking them, I recognized the uniforms. They made their way across the wooden bridge, until they reached the edge of the ice bridge.

“Can you hold it?” I asked Naî.

Not for long, she said it directly into my mind, tightening her teeth on my shoulder, and I was grateful for the leather armor I still wore.

“Hold it if you can,” I said, waiting until there was a dozen, two dozen, a hundred men beginning to cross the bridge. Then I exhaled, locking my knees to keep myself upright. I would need to see this, to know what I asked Naî to do. “You can let go.”

Naî sighed, her body going slack and the ice under the men’s feet cracked. Her bridge was too thick to melt all at once, her magic too strong to simply disappear, so the men had time to scream, to turn, but none of them made it off the bridge. In their panic, the cracks got worse, the bridge tilting until they slid into the ocean.

There were splashes, as the men struggled to swim, but they were wearing heavy imperial armor, thick leather and metal. They could not keep their heads above water, and I saw things move in the depths, wrapping around the men and dragging them deeper.

Some of Kacha’s men had not made it onto the bridge, and they turned to us, futilely firing arrows at the island that fell far short. An electro mage stepped to the front, raising his hands and using his sword to direct his electricity.

I could see it building, but before the man could fire, Sagam and Asahi stepped forward, moving as one. They fired twin bolts that met halfway across the narrow channel, hitting the man directly. He flew off the wooden bridge, landing in the water.

He did not reemerge.

Saxu stepped forward, and bowed before me and Tallu. “I believe we should move to the other side of the island, to prevent further attacks. Kacha will send more men when he realizes you are here.”

“Let’s go,” Tallu said. He held on to my arm, which was the only thing that prevented me from hitting my head when I passed out.

Seven

Icame to consciousness with an argument going on just above my head. I couldn’t feel my legs, which worried me, but everything seemed to come at me from a distance, sensations and words alike. I could barely make sense of the words; it was as though they were in a foreign language I did not speak.

“It is the only choice,” Spider said. “As long as he has his cannon, he can keep our ships further out at sea. He will burn the elder trees again and this time there will be no one to regrow them. We must bring his attention elsewhere.”

“We cannot attack the Imperium.” But Saxu sounded low, nearly defeated.