The loss of two bonded in one day was… upsetting. Perhaps I should have realized you were alive, when I did not bond again—perhaps they kept you alivesoIcouldnot bond again—but I mistook it for grief and did not realize the truth. I lost my taste to meddle in mortal affairs. I lost my taste for most things.
“But mortal affairs—”
Look around you, little knight. Your Queendom is not mine. And my dominion is vast. When I realized you lived, you seemed to hate your own people, hate me… I admit this hurt. I tried to take you, when you fell flaming into the sea, but you hated the ocean so violently I could not even reach your thoughts. So I sent you home, through the barrier, on a wave.
“Why not take me to the Tower? Why not see if they could…”
It was not what you wanted. A familiar and a witch cannot force each other.
“Even though I was Enchanted?”
Your mother Tavesea, dearest of my heart, hated the death-god. But who am I to judge, when witches live for mere centuries and feel so deeply?
My body goes rigid as a surge of fear crashes over me, like a wave bowling me off my feet. Roiven, and Sava. Something’s wrong. The tentacle around me tightens, just barely, and the kraken drags me closer toward his eye.
I see I am not your only bonded.
“Something’s wrong. Roiven, and Sava…”
Ah.Then would you like me to fight again?
I stare into that giant, inky eye, the wordyeson the tip of my tongue. I need his power, desperately, but who am I, to drag this ancient sea-being back into this conflict? In another world, another time, maybe I could have sought him out just to know my familiar. Not because I wanted something.
I know how it feels to be made into a weapon.
“I want these lands to be safe,” I whisper. “I want them to stop killing witches and draining the Enchanted. I… I want to save Roiven.”
And this is why you came to find me.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I’m sorry, if that was the wrong reason, but Roiven…”
Do not apologize, little knight. I will gladly hunt their battleships again. Shall we take back our seas for once and all?
“Yes,” I whisper. I can barely form the words. Something’s wrong with Roiven, and I don’t know what. Does Aveinor even still exist? Am I too late?
You must show me where to go, the kraken speaks into my mind. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to locate Roiven through the bond. He’s far away from me, but I can feel his direction.
And suddenly, we’re flying, faster than I knew was possible, through the sea instead of the sky.
42
We travel low, then rise gradually. The ocean goes from black to blue, and then I’m above the surface, only a little dizzy, blinking away the bright sun while my left arm grips the kraken’s tentacle. My familiar’s head slowly rises from the water beside me, breaching the surface like an entire island rising from the depths. Waves of water crash down off of him. In the sunlight he's the color of rust.
Seven Hellions are in front of me, the ship’s hulking frames rising up from the water like mountains. An eighth Hellion is sinking, its prow burning as it slowly drags down beneath the ocean.
I recognize Gut and Triumph; solid, reliable ships that have gained enough intelligence from draining the Enchanted to have their own naval ranks. There are a few old ships whose names I barely remember, unremarkable Hellions that can deal heavy damage but cost an expensive amount of life to power. And at the front?
Rancor, former pride of the War-Father, the six-masted ship Harfor brought to the Bluff.
This is barely a quarter of the imperial fleet. And while I’m notsure I could recognize Aveinor from the outside, there aren’t any mountains in sight. Wherearewe? There are only two dragons overhead. I can see a green blur up in the clouds, but my focus is on Sava. Powerful, vicious, andfast.She plunges toward the ships, head tilting left as her jaw opens. Fire crackles out from her mouth.
A blast of blue light stabs out from the Hellion, faster than my eye can track. Sava’s attack cuts off as she barrels over, narrowly dodging the blast. Another follows on its heels and she’s forced to rise higher, out of range of the ships. My heart’s in my throat.
I hope the imperial fleet split up, and then so did the dragons. Although it would be a massive victory if we’d gotten them down to just these Hellions, if the other dragons haven't split off it would mean we lost them.
“I need to get onboard,” I say, pointing to the burning ship.
That one is already defeated, little knight.
