Page 267 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

Tané stilled.

“I knew you would try to leave. I saw it in your eyes when I told you about the Fleet of the Tiger Eye.” Elder Vara kept his voice low. “You cannot master that ship alone, Tané. You would need a crew of hundreds.”

“Or this.”

She reached into her case and showed him the jewel, now dull. Elder Vara stared at it.

“The rising jewel of Neporo.” His gaze was reverent. “In all my years, I never thought—”

He could not finish. “It was sewn into my side,” Tané said quietly. “I have had it inside me my whole life.”

“By the light of the great Kwiriki. For centuries Feather Island guarded the star chart to Komoridu, the resting place of the rising jewel,” he murmured. “It seems it was never there.”

“Do you know where the island is, Elder Vara?” Tané rose. “I meant to search the seas until I found the Golden Empress, but I will have more chance if I know where she is going.”

“Tané,” Elder Vara said, “you must not go there. Even if you did meet the Fleet of the Tiger Eye, there is no surety that the great Nayimathun is still alive. And if she is, you cannot take on the might of the pirate army to reclaim her. You would die in the attempt.”

“I must try.” Tané offered a faint smile. “Like the Little Shadow-girl. I took heart from that story, Elder Vara.”

She could see the struggle in him.

“I understand,” he finally said. “Miduchi Tané died when her dragon was taken. Since then, you have been her ghost. A vengeful ghost—restless, unable to move forward.”

Heat pricked her eyes.

“Were I a younger or braver man, I might even have come with you. I would have risked anything,” he said, “for my dragon.”

Tané stared at him.

“You were a rider,” she said.

“You would have known my name. Many years ago, I was called the Driftwood Prince.”

One of the greatest dragonriders who had ever lived. Born to a Seiikinese courtier and a pirate from a far-off land, he had been left at the door of the South House and eventually risen to the ranks of the High Sea Guard. One night, he had fallen from his saddle in battle, breaking his leg, and the Fleet of the Tiger Eye had taken him as a hostage.

They had made a trophy of his leg that night. Legend said that they had thrown him into the sea for the bloodfish, but he had survived until dawn, when a friendly ship had found him.

“Now you know,” Elder Vara said. “Some riders continue after such injuries, but the memory of it has scarred me. Each time I see a ship, I remember the sound of my bones shattering.” A true smile creased his face. “Sometimes my dragon will still come this way. To see me.”

Tané felt a surge of admiration such as she had never known.

“It has been peaceful here,” she said, “but my blood is the sea, and it cannot be still.”

“No. This place was never in your stars.” The smile faded. “But perhaps Komoridu is.”

He removed a scrap of paper, an inkpot, and a brush from his satchel.

“If the great Kwiriki is good to us, the Golden Empress will never reach Komoridu,” he said. “But if she has pieced it together . . . she may be almost there.” He wrote the instructions. “You must sail east, to the constellation of the Magpie. At the ninth hour of night, make sure your ship is directly under the star representing his eye, and turn southeast. Sail for the midpoint between the South Star and the Dreaming Star.”

Tané put the jewel away. “For how long?”

“The chart did not say—but in that direction, you will find Komoridu. Follow those two stars no matter where in the sky they drift. With the jewel, you might be able to catch thePursuit.”

“You will let me keep the jewel.”

“It was given to you.” He handed her the instructions. “Where will you go, Tané, once you find the great Nayimathun?”

She had not yet thought that far ahead. If her dragon was alive, she would free her from the pirates and take her to the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. If not, she would ensure she was avenged.

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