“Migo also found a way to bring additional troops,” Katsi said. “We brought about thirty or forty with us. More will be coming, but it could take some time.”
“How many?” Hatan asked.
“Two thousand,” Migo said. “Though again, it may take some time. We are only just experimenting still.” This chatter was a distraction. Migo’s guts gnawed at him. They needed to be doing something.
“We can talk more later,” Hatan said, clapping Migo’s shoulder once again, perhaps catching the same feeling. “There’s much to do.”
“Agreed,” Migo said, then turned to Katsi. “We should investigate for ourselves. See if we can put that new armlet to the test.” She nodded as he got behind her once again. “Don’t die,” was all he had time to say to Hatan before they launched into the sky once again.
Katsi headed straight toward the Frozen Waste, and as they got closer, Migo could already see what was coming.
“Storms,” Migo said breathlessly, arms nearly going slack as he tightened his legs around Katsi’s waist.
“No,” Katsi said in the same tone.
Marching down through the Frozen Waste was an innumerable host, some of them already having passed into the Ring. From the height, it looked like a horde of black beatles, swarming across the ground, but he knew better.
They were waheshi.
Not just hundreds, but thousands. Tens of thousands.
“It’s impossible,” Katsi said, hovering toward the edge of the city’s wall, though from great height.
“Then we are seeing the impossible,” Migo mused. How had such a force possibly been hidden away for so long?
A deeper understanding of the stress weighing down on Emperor Malrabia’s shoulders settled on him. That was what he’d been protecting them from. That was the purpose for the Maedari. It made so much more sense. Now the disappointment Adrina expressed seemed completely justified.
“Katsi, I think we messed up.”
“Migo, don’t say that. Say something like, ‘wow, that’s all they brought?’ That would make me feel a lot better.”
“You’re right. Me and my negative outlook,” Migo said, shaking his head, reveling in the feel of Katsi’s hair tickling his chin. With how bleak things looked down there, it could very well be the last time. “They are insects to you, empress,” he said, venturing to let his nose stray closer to her ear, breathing in her scent.
If they were about to die soon, at least he’d die happy. Something he’d never anticipated.
Katsi tilted her head toward him, her ear grazing his nose. “That’s more like it,” she said. “I like when you call me empress.”
“Alright then, empress,” Migo said. “Why don’t you show those waheshi what a real stormcaller can do.”
Migo let go of the rocks and of Katsi, pulling his robe off from his shoulders. The burning in his chest swelled to a scorching heat, his body rippling, limbs stretching. His roar exploded over the city as Ashjagar burst forth, wings stretching out as he drew close to the ground.
His goal from this point was singular: don’t let any shamans near Katsi.
Chapter thirty-five
Decoy
Lady Vasash snuck through the halls of Mazanib castle. She was stealthier than anyone gave her credit for, thus her ability to survive the attack on Wanay. It would have taken more than Lieutenant Tat and her dead mother’s aid, Lenasi, to keep her in her room. They were wary of this place, as they should. She, too, was wary, but she was the princess, the last remaining member of the royal family of Wanay. She deserved a right to know what was going on, whether they shared it with her openly, or if she had to sneak the information out herself.
But what she’d seen was worse than she’d imagined. Magic was at work all over in this place. She’d seen the very walls and floor moving, rippling with unnatural control. What’s worse, she thought somebody was getting assaulted in one of the rooms, so she’d dared to open the door to a small room, only to see the impossible.
“Careful,” a voice said from the shadows beside her.
Vasash suppressed a shriek, regarding the face that appeared in the narrow servant’s hall. It was a middle-aged woman, with black hair and brown skin, though she was dressed in a plain robe. She didn’t look like a servant. “Excuse me,” Vasash said. “I’m trying to find—”
“I know exactly what you’re doing, Lady Vasash,” the woman said.
“Who are you?” Vasash asked, working to keep her breath steady.
“I am Ris. But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I know you aren’t a spy. You’re simply trying to keep well-informed. I only worry about your own safety. Such things as you have witnessed are very dangerous indeed.”
Vasash narrowed her eyes, prepared to run. “What do you mean?”
“You know of what I speak. There was sabotage. What did you see when you looked in that room?”
“You were watching me?”
“I was. I had my suspicions. Three unidentified people come back with the emperor? I thought you’d be spies.” The woman folded her arms. “The other two are dolts, incapable of such treachery, but I saw through your deceptive expressions. You played your part well to get here, but I came to find out you are not even a shaman. You’re just a princess wary of her saviors. Now, what did you see?”
Vasash pressed back against the wall behind her, but the cool stone did little to ease her nerves. “Magic.”
“Yes, but nobody was inside that room,” the woman said. “I would have been able to feel it otherwise. But the magic, what was it doing?”
Vasash wasn’t sure whose side this woman was on, or even what the sides were. All she knew was that Emperor Rikaydian and Katsi had saved her, and that the bleeder armies were an enemy. But if this was the emperor’s castle, then whatever force had been operating in secret would have been opposed to him, and if this woman was worried about spies… then perhaps she was allied with the emperor. “I saw two stone hands appear from the floor. One of them grabbed a piece of jewelry off the table while the other hand replaced it with a replica.”
The woman closed her eyes, jaw clenching. “Betrayal indeed.”
“What has happened?” Vasash said. “What did that mean?”
