“I’m sorry,” he whispered at last.
“Don’t be.” Nico’s voice was thin and muffled by the coat. “I kept my promise.”
“You shouldn’t have had to,” Josef said. “This is my war.”
“Your war is my war,” she whispered. “You should know that by now.”
“Well, you won’t have to fight it anymore,” Josef said, folding his hands over hers. “Rest, Nico. I’ll win it from here.”
“I know you will,” she said, her fingers going slack.
Josef raised her hand to his lips for a moment and then carefully tucked her arm back into the coat. The cloth rustled, pulling Nico back into its protective swaddle. Josef stood and turned to see Eli hovering in the doorway.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t help her.”
“You brought her here,” Josef said bitterly. “That was more than I could do.” He met his friend’s eyes. “I’m going to win the war, Eli. No matter what, I’m going to win.”
“I know you are,” Eli said with a grin. “Why do you think I’m still here?”
Josef shook his head. “Come on,” he said, starting for the door. “We’re not done yet.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Eli said, his smile widening at Josef’s murderous look as they jogged down the stairs.
Nara frowned at the gap left in the line of her palace ships, and her scowl only deepened as she turned to the man kneeling at her feet, his forehead pressed against the tile floor of her balcony.
“Well?” she said. “Did you crush those buzzing gnats holding up our assault? I would like to get close enough to launch the war spirits before we lose the entire front to whatever idiocy is going on at the front.”
“The Oserans have retreated, Empress,” the general said, pressing his head harder against the ground. “But we must pull back as well. The tide is going out. Your fleet will be stranded on the rocks if we do not retreat.”
Nara looked away with a sniff. “I do not retreat.”
“But, Empress,” the general’s voice trembled. “We’ve already lost three ships. If we do not retreat now, we could lose the rest of the first wave.”
“General,” Nara said, glaring down. “Do you know who I am?”
“You are the Immortal Empress,” the man said, crouching lower. “Queen of all the world.”
Nara lifted her chin. “And do you think that the queen of the world fears something as trivial as the tide?”
The general swallowed. “No, Empress.”
“You must have faith, General,” Nara said, opening her spirit.
The general shook visibly as the enormous pressure landed on him. “I believe,” he whispered.
The Empress began to smile as she opened her spirit wider. When her power was roaring in her ears, she reached out, plunging herself into the current that was still waiting below her ships. The mob of water spirits screamed and thrashed as she grabbed it, but her will was absolute.
“The fleet moves forward,” she said, her voice thick and resonant with power. “I don’t care how many troops it takes. Beach the ships if you have to. We conquer the island by nightfall.”
“Yes, Empress,” the general said, crawling backward out of her presence all the way to the stairs before standing and running down to the command center to signal her orders to the fleet.
“Well?” Josef said, joining his admiral on the stone walkway above the bay. “How much longer?”
“Not long,” said the admiral, dancing from foot to foot in his anticipation. “Tide’s nearly out. There’s no way they can escape now.”
“Good,” Josef said, nodding to the crowd of gawking sailors and guardsmen crowding the beach. “Get those men onto the cliffs. Once the ships hit the rocks and start taking on water, the crews are going to head for the shore. If they land, it’ll be bad. No one fights harder than men with no retreat. We have to sink their boats before they reach the shore.”
“Yes, sire,” the admiral said. He saluted and started down the stairs, barking orders as he went. Josef stayed put, glancing at Eli as the thief stepped up beside him.
“You’re growing more kingly by the minute.”
“Save it,” Josef grumbled, glaring at the distant shadows of the palace ships. “We’ve bought some time, but if the Council reinforcements don’t get here before the tide comes in again, that’ll be that. I can’t sink the whole fleet by myself. All it’ll take is one of those ships making landfall and we’ll be overrun.”
“If it happens, we’ll deal with it,” Eli said firmly. “You’ve bought us a reprieve for the moment. That’s something to be—”
Eli stopped midsyllable, his face screwing up in a look of surprise.
Josef tensed. “What?” he said. Because Eli looking surprised was never good.
“It’s just—” Eli bit his lip. “I’m no sailor, but isn’t the water supposed to be moving toward the sea when the tide goes out?”
Josef blinked and looked down. Sure enough, the ocean was rushing into the bay, pushing the line of the surf back up the beach.
“Don’t tell me the Empress can even change the tides,” he whispered.
“No,” Eli said. “Look.” He pointed, moving his finger back and forth from the sea to the bay, tracing a faint line of darker, deep running water running in through the Rebuke’s protective cliffs. “It’s a current. She’s pushing against the tide with a current.”
Josef cursed and ran for the stairs. “Admiral!”
The admiral, already halfway down the storm wall on his way to deliver Josef’s orders, looked up. “Yes, sire?”
It would have taken too long to explain, so Josef jumped the short wall onto the stairs and ran down himself, grabbing the admiral’s shoulders and pointing the man at the sea. The admiral struggled a moment, and then his body went slack as a look of pure dread crept over his face.
“Powers help us,” he whispered.
Josef let him go. “What can we do?”
The admiral ran a trembling hand through his thin, gray hair as he watched the ocean swell back up nearly to the storm wall’s base. “She’s pushed us neatly back to high tide,” he said, his voice despairing. “More than enough to get her ships over the reef. After that, it’s a straight shot to us.”
“You think she’ll hit the Rebuke?” Josef said.
“Undoubtedly,” the admiral said. “This is the most strategically valuable spot on this side of the island. It’s also where our fleet is and a clear path to the city itself. She’d be a fool not to take this bay, and I very much doubt the Immortal Empress is a fool.” The old man clenched his teeth. “We can’t let her enter the bay. If they land a ship on us here, we’re done.”
“Can we take the fleet out again?” Josef said. “Sink the ships as they come in?”
The admiral shook his head. “It took you two hours to sink three ships. By the time you cut one down, we’ll be overrun.”
Josef cursed loudly. “So what do we do?”
The admiral licked his lips, but before he could answer, another voice spoke up.
“Abuse your advantages,” Eli said, walking down the stairs to join them.
The admiral frowned, but Josef turned to face the thief. “Go on.”
“This is a nice, deep bay,” Eli said. “But those palace ships are ten times the size of the biggest Council freighter. They’re heavy, loaded for conquest, and running deep. Even with the current lifting them, they’ll have to enter the bay carefully to avoid scraping bottom. But raise that bottom a little, and you make a difficult task impossible.”
Josef stared at him. “How am I supposed to raise the bottom of the sea?”
“Put something on it,” Eli said, glancing pointedly at the ships filling the bay.
The admiral almost turned green. “You can’t mean—”
“Are you suggesting I sink my fleet,” Josef said over him. “My only fleet, to make a wall?”
Eli nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Are you an idiot?” the admiral screamed.
“No,” Eli said, crossing his arms. “But I might start to think you are if you can’t see that your runners are no
