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A s the Earth Queen spoke, Ryton inhaled, the beast on his back clicking like it enjoyed every breath Ryton owed to its existence.

“I need a way to lift a bunch of fallen rock from a group of homes,” Vahly said.

Blood ran from her nose as if she’d been hit.

Most likely the result of being in the water under that spell for too long.

Her kynd didn’t function well in the sea, just as his didn’t on the land.

“My birthplace sits beneath the mess,” she added.

“Kyril and I can’t even swim properly with that current that sweeps through there every other minute. ”

“If your elf removes the stink of his spell from my spear,” Ryton said, “I can probably shift the water out of that area.”

Vahly’s eyes narrowed, and she almost seemed to grow a foot in height. “You will show him respect, General Ryton.”

“I don’t need anything from him, my queen,” Arc said, quiet authority and confidence carrying through his voice.

Vahly ignored Arc and stepped up to Ryton, her face inches from his.

The scent of the land came off her, turned dirt and roots and four-legged beasts.

He could almost hear the gryphon screeching in his mind.

Ryton tried to stop inhaling the smell, closing his gills in instinct before correcting himself and flaring his nostrils to no avail.

“I am truly thankful for your help in the sea,” the Earth Queen said, “but don’t get so comfortable that you think I will put up with insolence. Now, on your knees to my king.”

Anger flashed through Ryton. He raised a hand, wanting to strike.

Kyril’s wings spread wide, and he stood over Ryton, the gryphon’s gaze throwing daggers.

Nix stepped closer and a stream of black smoke drifted between her pearl-white teeth. “Go ahead, fishy. See what happens.”

But Arc was the most frightening. He had no need to intimidate with proximity or anything like that. Just standing there, his ability to end Ryton’s life in a creative and horrifying way was as clear as if the elf had written the spell on parchment and held it up for all to see.

Ryton reined in his pride and took a knee before the Elven King. “Apologies, King Arcturus.”

“Much better,” Vahly muttered. “Now, up.” She yanked Ryton to standing, her strength surprising, considering her size. “You have work to do. Arc, please give the sea kynd his spear.”

Arc spoke another spell over Ryton’s beloved scarlet spear, then handed it back. The coral fit to Ryton’s grip, and he took simple pleasure in holding it again. Vahly flexed her sword hand, and Ryton realized she hadn’t retrieved her weapon.

As he walked toward the water, Vahly beside him and the rest a step behind, he tried to remember the spellwork needed to move a collection of water.

“The sword you lost. Was it as important to you as my spear is to me?”

Vahly’s gaze flicked to his face, then away as she stared over the water.

Her cheeks were dirty with traces of blood and bits of earth, but it suited her, made her look fierce.

She truly did resemble Selene. The spark to her eye.

The braid. The line of her nose and jaw. He wanted to hate her, but he couldn’t.

“It was a gift from my mother,” she said. “It had an ivory hilt.”

“I had thought you were taken as a babe…”

“From my dragon mother, Matriarch Amona.”

Ryton bristled and cut the conversation off. “You will have until sunset to do what you must.”

“Just there.” She pointed. “About where we surfaced.”

Ryton nodded, swallowing the bitterness that came with aiding the daughter of Amona.

“If my guess about my current strength is correct, I won’t be able to hold the currents away past sunset.

And know this, I could be wrong. This might fail entirely.

Or I might succeed, but only for a moment, and then the water will return, and I won’t have the ability to stop it, I don’t think. Not in my current condition.”

Nix leaned in. “And what are we to do once the water is gone? Can you move that rock if the sea is no longer a problem?”

“I’m not certain,” Vahly said. “I’ll have to work quickly, and the sea bed doesn’t obey me like the land does.”

Arc wove a sphere of light between his hands.

“I can help with removing the rock. Once it’s done, you go straight to where your power leads you,” he said to Vahly, passing the light to her.

“I will help General Ryton control the water. And Nix, I will create a circle of protection around you so that the spelled salt water doesn’t touch you. ”

Ryton whirled. “And how will you manage to do that, Elven King?”

Arcturus smiled like a demon. “You will have to wait and see.”

How Ryton loathed that elf. Pushing his anger away, Ryton spoke the spell over his spear.

It’d been too long since he’d visited the Blackwater well in Tidehame to renew his strength.

The spell felt clumsy and ill-spoken on his lips, but the sound of water magic crashed in his ears all the same, and the buzz of power cloaked the bright red weapon.

He lifted it and pointed the tip at the water, a blend of pride for how Selene’s good nature had touched him and horror for how he was helping the enemy swamping him and threatening to drag him under.

“Please don’t let this end us all,” he whispered.