The palace at Gaelung wasn’t near the docks, as it was on most other islands. It lay further inland, across the fields and atop a rocky hill. I supposed it reflected the more agrarian nature of the island. According to the stories, more than one battle had taken place on those fields, the hill giving a vantage point to the Alanga who’d resided there. Now, we passed a patchwork of farms, the blood having long ago soaked into the soil, the scars of battle faded. Oxen, pigs and goats dotted the landscape, grazing upon the greenery and rooting about in the dirt. I breathed in and, for the first time in a long time, couldn’t smell the ocean. Only the musty smells of animal dung and damp earth.

A blur passed the window as Thrana and Mephi raced one another. Thrana was much larger now and thundered past, though Mephi did his best to keep up. I thought again about what Ragan had said regarding ossalen and their bonds. He might have thought his bond with Lozhi superior, but Lozhi also seemed to have a good deal less fun – always shut away and waiting for his master to return. I rarely saw them interact. I wasn’t sure how Ragan bore being parted from him. Every time I left Thrana, it felt like exposing a gaping wound to the air.

The road began to slope upward, winding into switchbacks. When we arrived at the palace, Urame did not have servants show us to our rooms, or invite us to tea or to dine; she led us directly up two flights of stairs and then to the palace walls. “You should see this before anything else,” she explained.

This high up, the wind had a bit of bite to it, wedging its way between my cloak and the back of my neck. On this side of the palace, in the distance, I could see thin columns of smoke.

“She’s camped out on the eastern side of the fields,” Urame said. She reached the easternmost end of the wall and turned to face me, her expression grave. “My guards can handle small skirmishes, and can do a fair job of defending the palace, but the farms are not walled in. She’s been burning homes and killing villagers since she got here.”

I didn’t bother telling Urame that I had an army on the way. Both she and I knew there weren’t enough of them and they were not battle-tested. “How many of them are there? Have you sent scouts?”

“I have, but after the first two did not return, I thought better of it.”

“You said you have a spyglass?”

She knelt next to a basket and rummaged around until she pulled out a brass spyglass. “That’s the other thing.”

I took it and pulled the end out to its full length. “The other thing?”