Tony slammed his hands on the table and cursed, “To damnation with all of you!”
“The ‘ayes’ have it,” Rune said, turning his attention on Anders. “We’re with you, one hundred percent.”
Anders felt the eyes of the other leaders staring at him as if they were waiting for his command, as though he was now their leader. He heard Tarron’s voice in his mind, They’ll follow you to the end, because they can feel it. Deep down they know you are their King.
Chapter 78
The Weight of Becoming King
Staggering from the Rolloan ship’s sideways rocking at sea, Maija could still feel the presence of an overwhelming source of power. I thought it was coming from my sister, but... her thoughts trailed off as she tried to pinpoint the location of the potential magic. Opening her mind’s eye, she felt a vibrant humming directly under her feet, as if the whole ship’s deck were vibrating. She stopped trailing her sister and thought, It’s right here, under my feet.
“Maija?” she heard Natalia ask.
Lifting her gaze, Maija’s mind’s eye followed her gaze and she saw her sister as she’d never seen her before. Natalia was vibrating, too, but it wasn’t the same as the vibrations emanating from beneath the ship’s deck. She’s connected to it? Maija wondered.
“Are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick?” Natalia asked, striding back toward her. She reached for Maija and rubbed her shoulder, “You can pitch over the railing if you’re feeling like you’ll,” she made a motion with her hand, mimicking vomit coming up.
Maija shook her head, “That’s not it. It’s just...”
“Say no more,” Natalia said making a sweeping motion. “What a girl says with her dragon is her business.”
It took a brief moment for Maija to understand what her sister was saying but recalling how Anders used to look when he and Zahara were speaking telepathically, she chuckled bashfully, “So that’s what it’s like to be seen. Now I feel kind of bad for giving Anders a hard time.”
“Not at all. It takes some getting used to,” Natalia said, motioning for her sister to continue toward the ship’s cabin.
Entering, Maija glanced around the simply crafted room on the ship’s stern. Aside from the desk and two chairs, a large trunk was the only other furnishing in the room. Daylight shone through the windows along the rear wall, illuminating the small cabin. Natalia pulled out the chair from in front of the desk and motioned for her sister to sit. Maija did, paying careful attention to the desktop’s contents. Something about it drew her attention. A map of the Pelagic Ocean lay splayed across its surface, weighted down on one end by a simple wooden cube. Natalia moved the Captain’s log over to the side, placing the quill in its center.
Something about the desk or what was on it held her attention, a familiar sense that she couldn't place. “Natalia,” Maija said, wanting to get to the point of why she’d come. But again, she was distracted, this time in noticing placeholders on the map of strategic importance. Several wooden triangles marked the place where she’d seen the orc ships and several more covered the area near the Glacial Melt Bays. “What are all of these?” she asked, pointing to the markers.
Moving two pieces up from the Kingston area, Natalia responded, “This is where we are.” Natalia’s finger slid up to the hidden location of Cedarbridge in the Enlightened Forest, “This is where Merglan has escaped from the elven prison and is currently killing and enslaving our people.”
“How can you possibly know what’s happened in Cedarbridge?” Maija asked. “You were in Southland.”
“I thought you knew,” she said reaching into her cloak. Natalia pulled out a silver-handled mirror decorated with an ornate leaf design.
Maija nodded, “I almost forgot. The mirror was one of the reasons why we decided to come looking for you in the first place.”
Natalia gave Maija a look of concern.
“Well, it was just one of many reasons. I don’t understand how they work anyway?” she quickly asked.
“It has magical properties,” Natalia said looking at the mirror with a speculative eye. “Although, I’m not sure exactly how it works either as I haven’t felt it drain any of my magic.”
“That is odd,” Maija said, trying to guess whether the mirror was the connection between her and whatever emitted so much magical energy on board.
Natalia eyed her with a questioning glance, “Yes, and with this mirror, I’ve been able to stay in contact with Nadir.”
“He’s alive?” Maija asked, feeling a slight relief at the news.
She nodded, “Nadir survived and escaped the initial attack. A group of elves had taken the ships to rendezvous with the dwarfs.”
“The red shirts,” Maija muttered. “They followed us out of the city.”
“That’s them.” Natalia leaned forward and asked, “Who are they?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“I felt strange asking for more details than necessary via the mirror. Now that Merglan’s in the capital, he could have another mirror of its kind or conceivably be channeled into the magic of the place. Maybe I’m too paranoid, but I couldn’t risk it.”
“There were some political differences between the High Council and Nadir’s decisions made thus far,” Maija said. “Just before we left Cedarbridge, elves who supported Nadir wore red to a huge public rally. I forgot about them until now. Ever since we fought Merglan and Killdoor everything has happened so fast.”
“You fought Merglan and Killdoor?” Natalia asked, rocking back into her seat in surprise.
Maija nodded.
“I knew he'd been captured but Nadir led me to believe it was the Northland woman who had handled him.”
“Zorna,” Maija confirmed. “We worked as a team. Is she still with them?”
Natalia frowned and lowered her gaze to the map as she fiddled with a triangular marker. “Since she was handling Merglan and Killdoor, the Northland rider was inside the prison when Merglan took control. Nobody who entered with Merglan survived.”
Maija pinched her eyebrows to a point and shook her head. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Where are the elven ships now?”
Natalia pointed to the grouping of triangles on the map sitting atop the Marauder’s Sea to the east. “They should be rounding the Peninsula any day now. With the right wind and currents, the elves and dwarfs will be close behind. They’re planning to meet us at the Rollo Islands.”
“But the orcs,” Maija said pointing to where she’d seen them on the map. “I saw ships when we reached the coast this morning. We thought they were you, but the ships were carrying orcs.”
“I had my suspicions, but this confirms it,” Natalia tapping her fingers on the map.
