They snuck through the warrior enclave, a neighborhood of black wood-framed homes for Councilmembers, teachers, and other taiga warriors who lived at the Citadel. Then the apprentice portion of the campus, with its dorms and the tall building where they had classes. Fairy could almost smell the chalk and hear their teachers’ voices. Seeing all this at once—and knowing what was going on inside these fortress walls—was even harder than the last time she’d spied here.

“Perhaps we should take to the air again,” Liga said after they’d almost been caught several times.

“Agreed,” Fairy said. “It’ll be good to get a bird’s-eye view to see if there’s any unusual activity.”

“You mean an alligator’s-eye view,” Liga said.

Fairy groaned.

“I understand that is what mortals call a joke.”

Wolf chuckled under his breath, although Fairy was pretty sure he was mostly laughing at his brother, not with him.

They climbed onto Liga’s back again, and he soared upward, doing an aerial pass over the Citadel.

Near the far edge of the fortress, Liga made a guttural noise in his throat. “I may not know much about humans, but I’d wager that qualifies as ‘unusual activity’?” He pointed his snout toward what were usually fields for sports and other games.

They weren’t empty lawns anymore.

Fairy leaned forward. “Are those ships?”

Wolf pressed against her to get a better look. “Good gods. They’ve turned our athletic fields into a shipyard.”

Indeed, there were dozens of war vessels in various stages of construction. Fairy shook her head in disbelief. “How did they build that many so quickly?”

“If I may posit a theory,” Liga said, “perhaps it is the doing of their so-called ryuu magic. If they possess the ability to work with wood, metal, and other such elements, it is possible to draw the conclusion that they could construct entire naval fleets much more rapidly than ordinary humans.”

“Translating for my brother,” Wolf said, “the ryuu are evil, magical shipbuilders.”

“And from the looks of it, it won’t be long until they’re ready to attack one of the mainland kingdoms,” Fairy said.

“They’ll probably hit Thoma first,” Wolf said, shaking his head sadly.

Fairy cursed. Thoma was a small island just off the coast of the continent. It wasn’t technically part of the mainland, but it used to be part of Xerlinis until an earthquake broke it off a couple centuries ago. That’s why, to this day, whenever anyone talked about the “mainland kingdoms,” those still included Thoma.

“You’re right,” Fairy said. “With these ships and that ryuu who controls the water, they could overwhelm Thoma before their forces had a chance to fight back.”

“We need to stop their progress,” Wolf said. “I think this calls for some sabotage, don’t you?”

“I do love a bit of intrigue,” Liga said. “Just tell me what to do.”