“I am Jorie, King of the Mer.”

Well, it was advantageous to know I’d been directed right to the top.

Except if the one at the top wasn’t terribly thrilled to see you.

“There is much happening on the surface,” I shared.

“There is always much happening there.”

“It may be the end of Triton.”

“And this concerns us how?” he demanded.

This was not going well.

“We have reason to believe the Beast wakes,” I informed him. “My husband feels—”

“Oh, he wakes. And he will make the surface,” Jorie confirmed. Finishing ominously, “Soon.”

I had no response to that, partially because Jorie seemed so unconcerned, but I, on the other hand, was very much the opposite.

He explained this presently.

“We took care of this the last time for the humans of Triton, and where did it get us?”

I knew very well where it got my people.

At first, I had no response to this either.

And then I asked, “If you are so angry, if you wish to remain detached, if you do not wish to come to the aid of Triton, then why do you want to speak to my husband? Why did you pull him and I under? Why are we here?”

He scowled at me.

He did this for quite some time.

And then he said words that seemed dragged from him.

But they were words that gave me hope.

“I wish to meet my sister.”

116

The Dawn of the End

King True

One Hundred Miles over the Border

AIREN

“Sire, a bird,” a corporal said, handing True the ribbon of parchment.

True nodded to him as the soldier saluted and then walked away.

True unrolled the ribbon, and by the still-moonlit, pre-dawn sky, he read the message from one of his scouts.

12,000. Base of Heights. Blocked in. Riders unable to get through. Ravens down. Enemy preparing to attack.

“Bram!” True shouted, crumbling the missive in a fist and marching in the direction where he’d seen his friend disappear some minutes before. “Bram!” he repeated, men he passed looking to him, some breaking from huddles, he knew, to find Bram for True.

Thus, in half a minute, he saw Bram jogging his way.

“The men need to prepare to ride, now,” True ordered. “We’re going to the Heights, not the Bay, and we need to make haste. Find Wally and Luther. They escort Farah back to Notting Thicket.”

“What the hell is going on?” Bram asked.

“Twelve thousand of the allied gentry militia surround Cassius and Elena at the base of the Heights. We lost riders trying to get them warning. They’re shooting down ravens that would do the same. They’re blocked in and the enemy is poised to attack.”

“Fuck,” Bram bit, turned and started to sprint way, when True stopped him.

“Bird to Alfie. I want reinforcements from Wodell. A regiment to bolster the Bay, a regiment making haste, following us. Also, a bird to Mars. He must send his men in from the south. And get messages to Aramus and the Citadel. They need to know if they don’t already.”