“I am aware of that,” Jenks said softly.
“Yeah? Well, be aware of this! That night on Donaghey during the Strakka, right after the fight for Singapore when we heard the news, I swore an oath. As God is my witness, whoever took her, whoever’s responsible for taking her and the others, and for the unprovoked attack on Baalkpan…” Matt took a breath and his green eyes were as remorseless as the sea. “You can add Simms and my ship here today to the list now, but whoever put all this in motion, no matter who he is, is going to pay!”
EPILOGUE
Halik stared greedily at the map laid before him on the table in the brazier-lit chamber. It was a map of all the known world, and the chaotic jumble of mountains and coastlines, rivers and islands fascinated him. He dully remembered, even as a young Uul warrior, occasionally wondering how his Hij commanders could know how the world was shaped and how they knew where to take them to fight. Now he could see, look down upon, where he was, and many of the places he’d been before. He’d learned much in the months since his unexpected elevation, but maps and the terrain they depicted still held him almost spellbound. Matching terrain in his memory with what he saw on the maps was like scratching a crude drawing of a beautiful sculpture in the sand, and yet the value was in knowing where that sculpture was. Somehow he could sense that, for his purposes, terrain would become vitally important. It was like the different parts of a shield. Some areas were best for countering the blows of an enemy, while others could be used to great advantage when striking out.
He tore his attention from the map and focused again on Regent Tsalka’s words. Words that, in all their infinite variety, he’d learned to understand!
“Singapore will surely fall, if it has not already, and my own province, my very own Ceylon, my beloved India, will be next on the list of the prey!”
“You must stop thinking of them as prey, lord. That is essential!” General Esshk scolded-quite harshly, Halik thought. “They are no longer even Worthy Prey, as we began to suspect, but have become hunters themselves, in their own right! Hunters perhaps as cunning as ourselves who fight in a new, unexpected way! Hunters like we have never met or faced before!”
“Yes, yes,” Tsalka hissed angrily. “I know your views on this. Perhaps you are even right. But what are we to do? Though we argued for it, it destroys me to concede my very home!”
“We must,” said the strange creature Halik knew as General of the Sea Kurokawa. “But we must do it slowly. As slowly as we can possibly manage. We will lose territory, yes, but we have much of that. Time is what we lack. If we can trade land for time, and balance the exchange in our favor, the magical weapons I am preparing will be ready before the enemy-they are the enemy, my friends!-before the enemy can push beyond the frontier into what you consider your ancient Sacred Land! The invaders will not sully the pure realm of the Celestial Mother herself! If a few regencies or frontier territories must be strategically sacrificed to prevent that, that is what must be done! We will reconquer them!”
Halik understood that it revolted Tsalka and Esshk when Kurokawa called them “my friends,” but he wasn’t sure why. He did know Kurokawa was growing in favor with Her just now. The miraculous weapons he’d begun utterly delighted the Celestial Mother, and she was even beginning to appreciate his strategies. Still, he knew Tsalka in particular thought Kurokawa took too many liberties.
“Enough debate, My Lord Tsalka.” Esshk hissed. “She has decided-and in favor of our arguments, for now,” he added ironically. “Would you try to change Her mind?” Tsalka said nothing in reply. “Well, then,” Esshk growled, “that still leaves us with the issue of how we will trade land for time.”
Kurokawa’s gaze slowly shifted to Halik. “That is a question perhaps best asked of our newest general, is it not? You yourself said he survived the entertainment battles far longer than any before him. He is not old, but he is not young anymore either. He could not have prevailed so long on strength and ferocity alone. My few Rikusentai, or naval landing forces, that survived the loss of my ship think he has much promise. Look! Even now he studies us, evaluates us, considers… and no doubt forms opinions! I think he is learning that map by heart!” Kurokawa paused, and when he spoke again, he addressed Halik directly.
“Tell us, General, based on the map before you, how would you trade land for time? The enemy will come, and for now, we cannot stop him. How would you slow him down and bleed him white?”
Even to Rebecca, who had little experience with such things, it hadn’t really been much of a storm, but it had been a challenge for an open boat on the wide expanse of the Eastern Sea. After two weeks of diminishing stores, sunburn, and increasingly doubtful navigation, the sudden storm afflicted nearly everyone, particularly the Imperials, with a sense of near hopelessness. Lelaa ignored them as much as possible. She was still confident that if Yap-or Tagran-was where the chart showed it to be, they’d find it.
Whatever she felt inside, Sandra remained a diminutive pillar of strength and steady authority. Her skin was red and peeling and her hair was bleached to a platinum blond, but by force of will alone she managed to maintain discipline and keep Rajendra and his men at work. Sister Audry took solace in her faith and remained stoic, if not cheerful, and set a further example for the men. Dennis Silva, as always, seemed unconcerned about anything. He was the only one among them, with the possible exception of Rajendra, who didn’t even seem sunburned. His tanned skin only grew darker and his beard and unusually long hair became almost white.
Rebecca herself maintained an unwavering faith in Sandra Tucker-and Dennis Silva. She did worry about Lawrence and Abel, who, along with the Imperial engineer, suffered cruelly from the heat. Lawrence wasn’t accustomed to being in the sun all day without recourse to shade, and Abel was still troubled by his wound.
The Imperials did as Sandra said, but they weren’t happy. They feared they were doomed and they hated Dennis. Rebecca watched him become the focus of much of their misery and frustration. He’d destroyed their ship and killed their shipmates, and regardless of their current situation, that was something they all had in common. The reason he’d done it, and even the very reason they’d taken to the boat in the first place, became a blurred and distant memory. Slowly, through the long, miserable days and endless, terrifying nights when strange creatures bumped the boat or distant leviathans blew, it all became Silva’s fault.
Outwardly, Silva didn’t care. Rebecca considered it possible he even deliberately encouraged their animosity to keep them focused on anything but giving up. In reality, she suspected he was more deeply troubled by what he’d done than he’d ever admit. At least, she rather hoped so. Then the storm came.
Proper navigation became impossible, but Lelaa and ultimately Rajendra steered the boat as best they could, following a heading they adjusted constantly based on their calculations of leeway and current. It was an imperfect solution, but by working so closely together they at least temporarily made a sort of peace between them. For four days they fought the storm, reefing the sail to a mere sliver of canvas and shouldering through long, westerly swells. Then the wind shifted out of the south and they scudded along, pitching horribly on the confused, tumultuous sea. It had been Silva, standing in the bow of the boat, inundated by spray, who saw the breakers ahead.
It was probably the swell that saved them. That, and Silva’s almost earsplitting bellow of, “Drop the sail right goddamn now if you want to live!” Without thought, his order was obeyed, and the boat rode a mountainous wave right over the worst of the shoals. They still struck something, probably coral, that tore a terrible gash in the bottom of the boat. It almost broke the keel, but the boat carried on, quickly filling, until the wave deposited them upon a sandy beach.