MAILE MEETS US AT THE rendezvous point herself. She’s already waiting at the place where the lake, mountain range, and forest all meet, standing alone, slumped against a tree with her arms folded over her chest. When she sees us approach, she straightens up, a giddy grin spreading over her face, but it quickly fades when she notices Heron carrying an unconscious Blaise.
“What happened?” she asks. “Were you attacked?”
I glance at the others, expecting someone to jump in, but the ten of them are silent, waiting for me. Though Blaise might have frightened the other Fire Guardians, he’s still the one who’s led them and trained them and supported them over the last few weeks. Though they don’t know what to think of him now, they know that he is still one of us. They know that if anyone else finds out what happened, they might try to hurt him. So they hold their tongues, and for that I’m grateful.
“He overexerted himself,” I say, but that only makes Maile’s frown deepen.
“How?” she asks. “There were no earthquakes. Fire and waves and hurricane winds, yes, but nothing remotely earth-related.”
I force a dismissive shrug. “It didn’t make it past the lake,” I lie. “He tried as hard as he could to get it there, but…well…” I trail off, nodding toward his unconscious form. “But it turns out it was unnecessary. I’m assuming we took the camp?”
Maile nods, her grin returning. “As soon as we made it through the gate, it was easy enough. Especially once their armory was destroyed,” she says, turning her gaze on Artemisia. “Well done.”
Art is thoroughly unaffected by Maile’s praise. “And civilian lives?” she asks.
“There were some injuries,” Maile admits. “But they all look to be easily treatable—nothing fatal. We already have some healers making their way around. We had some casualties on our side, but all in all, we made it through with far more warriors than I was anticipating. In large part thanks to you lot.”
“And how many Astreans were there?” Heron asks.
“I didn’t exactly take the time to count,” Maile says. “But I’d guess about the same as the Fire Mine, more or less. Enough that we’ll be able to take the next mine with ease, so long as word doesn’t reach the capital before we get there. We shouldn’t stay here for more than a day.”
I frown. “We came here to intercept the Sta’Criverans. Is there any sign of them?”
“I have scouts waiting in the cliffs that overlook the sea, but so far no word,” she says. “Are you sure you want to risk staying for this? We don’t even know what they’re trading.”
“We know it’s important to the Kaiserin,” I say. “That’s good enough for me. But there’s no reason for all of us to stay. You should continue on with half of our troops, meet us back where we camped in the Perea Forest—there are a couple of villages not far north of there that could use liberating. As long as you don’t get caught—”
“We won’t,” Maile interrupts. “Are you sure you want to be here with diminished numbers when the Kalovaxians and Sta’Criverans arrive?”
“Leave me the Water Guardians, and I’ll be just fine,” I say.
Maile nods once. “We should bring Water Gems with us,” she says, and though her voice is conversational, the idea stops me in my tracks.
“Gems?” I ask. “Why would we do that?”
She shrugs. “There are quite a lot of them stockpiled in a storeroom. If I had to guess, well over a thousand gems. It’s power we could certainly use as we go forward.”
It takes a moment for me to understand what she’s saying, what she’s suggesting. Artemisia understands quicker than I do, though.
“You suggested the same thing at the Fire Mine, and you were told no,” she says, her voice soft but with a dangerous edge to it. “Those gems are not to be misused by people who aren’t meant to wield them. The answer hasn’t changed now, and if you prove foolish enough to ask a third time—”
“I expected the sentimentality from Heron,” Maile interrupts. “But the two of you are too practical for that. Those gems can be the extra weight we need to tip this scale. You can’t put superstition over logic.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, their argument sinking in. “What gems at the Fire Mine?”
Maile and Artemisia exchange looks but Artemisia speaks first.
“We found them when you were in the mine—an underground stockpile with hundreds and hundreds of gems. There was a discussion about what to do with them. Some—like Maile—thought we should use them in battle, the way the Kalovaxians do, that it would level the playing field. Others disagreed.”
“Heron,” I say. Of course he would have disagreed—I’m not sure what I believe as far as the gods go, but Heron believes in them absolutely. He believes that someone who hasn’t been gifted by the gods shouldn’t use a gem, the way the Kalovaxians do. That it’s sacrilege. “Who else?”
“Blaise, me,” Artemisia says, and then pauses. “My mother as well. And though you weren’t there to speak for yourself, we all knew how you felt about the gems. How you refused to use one yourself until…” She trails off, her eyes falling on the Fire Gem pendant around my neck. Ampelio’s gem.
“So what was done with them?” I ask her.
“We left them where they were,” Artemisia says, shrugging. “Sealed the entrance to the underground storeroom so no one could get them.”
I nod. “Good. We’ll do the same thing here.”
Maile frowns. “But—”
“It’s a settled decision,” I say. “One that has already been agreed on.”
“It’s superstition,” she says.
“Maybe,” I say. “But it’s one that Astreans believe. And Astreans still make up the bulk of our troops. If our beliefs—our superstitions, as you so condescendingly put it—are disrespected, people will begin to rebel. We cannot be splintered now, not with Goraki already gone.”
For a second, Maile looks like she wants to argue, but Artemisia speaks before she can.
“Astrea was conquered for those gems,” she says, her voice soft. “Many of us were forced to pry them from the earth until our fingers bled and our minds became frayed at the proximity to them. Nothing good will come from distributing them widely.”
Maile nods, but she still looks annoyed. “There’s something else,” she says after a second.