Chapter 55

It was already daylight when I woke up the next day. Selene was gone, but I was sure she had spent the night here. I sighed. I wished she had stayed, and we could have spent the whole day in bed instead of doing whatever would come today.

Chaya stirred next to me. She seemed quiet, and I assumed the people she had met yesterday had taken a toll on her.

“Are you okay?”, I asked.

She nodded weakly.

“Stay close to me today”, I said. “They will stare at me rather than you”

She nodded and got up.

The others were already seated when we arrived for breakfast, and Aki grinned as we came over to the table.

“We will go to the Kingdom of Kaldarim!”, she announced.

“What?”

Karim sighed.

“With so much traffic on the river, the news about your arrival has already spread.”

Selene pointed to a letter lying on the table.

“Nestor, Satrap of Kaldarim, has invited us to come…”

I sighed and sat down.

“Where is it?”, Chaya asked.

Uruk pointed to a city on the map, located across the river.

“How long…?”, I sighed.

Aki straightened out with another grin.

“We’d leave here tomorrow and then stay two or three days in Kaldarim. It will take us another three to reach Zarion after that”, she recited.

I knew she only tried to be helpful, but… I sighed.

“Are we going somewhere else after that?”

She shook her head.

“Not after that. Then we will go straight to Zarion.”

She pointed at the map.

“Because going to Tirnath would add another six days, and going to Ito…?”

She glanced at Karim.

“Another week…”, he said with a smile.

She shook her head.

“We cannot afford so much time”, she said seriously, and Selene tried to hide a chuckle.

I sighed. At least there was someone who enjoyed it…

We finished breakfast, and I spent the next hours pacing the hallways, accompanied by one official after another. I soon got lost among the endless reports, but at least Selene did most of the talking, and Aki served as a pretty good distraction with all her countless questions. I had hoped they could at least have invited us to their office instead of walking to and fro, but Selene explained that it was their custom to meet in public to be transparent with their intentions.

By the time it was lunch, I was exhausted. Our latest host led us to a huge dining hall that was already crowded, and I could see the uniforms from the different Kingdoms spread out in the room. They glanced at me as we came in, and a few of the people from Fa’a brought their clenched fists to their chests in greeting. I forced myself to smile. I had to believe…

We sat down at an almost empty table and were being served food by one of the blue-clad priests when Uruk and Karim walked in and joined us.

“We saw ships of the Islanders in the harbour and more are apparently sailing upriver”, Uruk said.

“So they have also come?”

Selene looked at him, surprised.

“How many of them will there be in the end, do you think…?”, Karim wondered.

“Who knows, but there is a priest on every vessel …”

“Do you think the Saldarans will come…?”, Selene asked.

“They may… Now when Queen Nashka has sent them her reassurance…”

I zoned out, staring out the window. Soon, we would be back in Zarion, and then we would march north. We were going to war, and if I didn’t believe, nothing would work.