Page 101 of Rhuyin

“Kopanos has been on my radar for some time, but I didn’t have anything specific I could use to tie him back to Alexandria,” he said. “Until now.”

“Are you going to arrest him?” Tik asked eagerly. He was furious at what the man had done to Naya.

A sinister smile spread across my brother’s face.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to arrest him,” he said. “I’m going to do something much worse. I’m going to use him.”

He turned and pointed at Allard.

“And you, Elusian, are going to help me.”

***

Before we knew it we were on our way to Alexandria.

Hey, trouble, Betts signed as she came toward Hel and I as we chatted on the deck of theChrysalis.

To my surprise, I had learned she held the rank of Captain in the Illyrian navy. My surprise was due to her age, not because of any doubt that she was an able leader. I had seen how well she handled the crew of theChrysaliseven though she couldn’t be that much older than I was.

Hey there!I responded. I’d been working with all of them on improving their signing skills.

You ready for your first real mission?she asked.

I snorted.

I’ve been on missions before,I responded.Just…not to freakin’ Alexandria.

She chuckled and switched to speech.

“I get it. I remember the first trip I made along the Alexandrian coast. We ran dark all along the coast and past the Alexandria Harbor. I don’t think I was able to take a deep breath between Boughazi and Silsila.”

“I read that it gets pretty shallow all through there,” I said.

Betts nodded.

“The harbor is like this,” she said, taking her hand and making the shape of the letter C. “Think of it like a circle, but with two narrow entrances here and here,” she said, pointing to her thumb and forefinger.

“That, plus the barrier reef, makes it almost impossible to attack Alexandria from the sea,” she said. “Which has been a major problem throughout this whole damn war. A lot of our strength is in our Navy. Those two openings keep us from getting enough shipsclose enough to do any major damage to the city. The harbor is as shallow as six feet for much of it, which means any ship that sails it would have to have a very shallow draft.”

I felt the approach of my Bonded, glanced over my shoulder and smiled. Luke and his brother had been napping. Neither of them were experiencing the bouts of seasickness this time around but both were a little more fatigued than normal. Elex had speculated that it was due to the fact they were both now Tesseris Mages and thus connected to all the elements.

Luke returned my smile with one of his own and wrapped his arm around my waist, resting his head on my shoulder. The warmth of his touch made me smile. It made me happy that he felt comfortable enough to be openly demonstrative with his affection.

“How do the Alexandrians get around it?” I asked, turning back to Betts. “I don’t remember hearing about any problems maneuvering through there.”

“That’s because they use their Mageians mercilessly,” Luke responded for her, that strange vibration flicking across my skin, causing his words to be understandable even though he was behind me. “Water and Air Mageians are stationed around the clock at Boughazi and Silsila. They are forced to use their powers to transport ships through the ports of entry and keep them high enough in the water to safely traverse the harbor.”

“Why don’t they just dredge the harbor?” I asked.

“Because that would remove the protection it’s offering to the city,” Betts responded. “Deepen the harbor and it makes it too easy for a warship to blast its way through the gap and pummel the city.”

“Couldn’t an Earth Mageian help?” I asked.

Betts shook her head.

“No single Earth Mageian would be strong enough. Plus, moving that amount of earth would take time. The Alexandria defenses at the lighthouses would pummel any fleet that approached. They’d be sitting ducks until they were done.”

When I considered the amount of power my Bonded had used to protect us from the explosion in Nymphaeum I wondered if she might be wrong about that fact.