Page 87 of Knight's End
I nodded. “As you wish. And thank you, for all your help, Dini.”
Dini shrunk down before my eyes. “You’ll remember to help Posey?” she squeaked, once she’d regained the tiny, single bloom form that I’d first met her in.
I nodded. “We’re trying to settle a few things here, and then yes. We’ll need to get Gitmore’s approval to use the undead army to go under the sea. We’ll need them to be able to attack Mayi. I don’t see another way. The surface of the water is too vulnerable. We’ll have to go where she doesn’t expect us to go. So I should meet your daughter. I hope.”
Dini popped out a second bloom. “If you see her, please give her this.” Her leaves pointed toward the bloom.
I hesitated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
She giggled. “I’ll be fine.”
I gently broke the tiny bloom off and tucked it into my coin purse. “Thank you, Dini.”
Dini nodded. “I won’t say goodbye, since I’ll see you soon, hopefully with a few soldiers.” She changed the subject, “Any luck finding out that Mayi’s magical price?” Dini asked. “My daughter never used her magic. At least not when she was growing up. Used to want to embrace her human side. Donaloo said the price wasn’t worth it.”
I tilted my head. “That surprises me.”
Dini crossed her leaves. “Just because he used it, doesn’t mean he loved it. He always wanted to do good. And he paid many a price himself.” Her squeak grew quiet. “Sorry. Memories. Mayi’s price?”
I shook my head. “Blue tells me that Quinn sent another soldier to see if she had to pay in heat for what she used in water, but the man reported the water around her was cold before she—before we lost him.”
I sighed. Quinn still hadn’t reappeared. And I missed him horribly. The other men joked, and Blue did his best to pass on Quinn’s thoughts. But it wasn’t the same. Without him in my head, sending his quirky and naughty references to lighten the mood, everything felt strained and heavy.
Instead of asking one of the gardeners to tend to Dini, I asked Jace to help her get resettled. Since she was talkative, I figured he’d handle her better than a gardener who was used to trimming and tweezing plants as he fancied.
The beast master had smiled and said, “It’d be an honor.” And he’d taken to Dini like he took to baby horses. I wasn’t shocked at all to find her riding on his arm later that day, as he loaded up a cart full of dung and a shovel, then set off to rebury the pretty plant.
I’d waved them off but hadn’t been able to linger. With Dini’s statement about the threat of seawater, I set Connor to evacuating the castle and the districts of Marscha closest to the sea. We stripped the castle of everything but the absolute necessities. The library and mage’s tower were packed up, the contents moved to Fer’s province in the forest for safe keeping. All but the essential employees were told to relocate to the summer palace in Kycee’s province. My home became but a shell.
I tried to convince the fairies that Donaloo had brought to the mage’s tower to relocate, but they were stubborn creatures and refused to leave their vines, no matter how I pleaded. I gave up when one of the purple fairies stabbed me with her sword.
“Go fight for us instead of telling us to run!” she’d screeched.
And so, I’d left, to find Connor to heal my hand and the rest of my knights to help me come up with a battle plan.
The djinn still attacked from the north. Even with the sultan supposedly out of commission, his generals were war hungry. So, Ryan decided to barter a deal with the soldiers we captured. He gathered them in one of the ballrooms, still handcuffed. He fed them first, insisted—over Jorad’s protests—that a hungry man couldn’t listen to reason, let alone make a decision.
And so, they’d been marched into one of our ballrooms, a room full of marble columns and mirrored walls. It was one of the few rooms in the palace that hadn’t been ruined by battle, possibly because it had been stuffed full of courtiers, possibly because of dumb luck. My hand had traced down a tapestry, one of a dragon protecting a maiden from a knight who’d come to steal her, as I watched Cheryn’s soldiers ignore their cuffs while they ate their soup and tore their trenchers to devour the sopping bread. The thick smell of stew filled the air and mixed with the scent of melted metal floating in from the open balcony doors. A forge had been set up behind the castle, the blacksmith from Marscha temporarily relocated here to help with repairs and with weapon-making. The dual scents contrasted as sharply as filthy prisoners in a ballroom.
But that was life now. War was full of unlikely combinations. War made a mockery of everything normal, until chaos became the new normal, and people settled in with lowered expectations. I remembered how it was when I was young. Mother’s council meetings with the duchesses had been in tents, in huts—hurried, rushed conversations. Taxes had consisted of deliveries of bread for the soldiers, leather for their boots. Farmers were hesitant to plant crops that would be burned or trampled, and food shortages had been horrid.
I vowed not to let that happen again. I didn’t want another Fire War. I didn’t want all seven kingdoms swept up in years of fighting. I was doing my best to end it.
Our tentative peace with Rasle had been the first step. And while I had no doubts that Raj wasn’t truly defeated, this was the next step.
Converting some of his soldiers.
After most of the men had been served seconds, Ryan and Blue stepped over to the musician’s platform while the rest of the knights and I stood to the side.
Declan smacked his lips next to me. A funny look crossed over his face. “I’ll be right back.”
I simply nodded and turned to face Ryan. Despite the cane he was using, my half-giant radiated confidence and strength. He eyed the prisoners, waiting until they were quiet, and every eye fell on him.
My heart couldn’t help but swell with pride at the way he took command.
“We brought you here for a reason. Those of you that choose to give us information on the plans of Cheryn, attacks, formations, etcetera, will be compensated and receive citizenship. You’ll have the official protection of Evaness. Those of you who agree to give up a wish to restore some of our soldiers to human form will receive both citizenship and a plot of land.”
“How do we know we can trust you?” one of the half-djinn had asked.
