The first sign anything was wrong were the airships leaving the area around the capital. I expected to find some, most of them heading south. While I could see those, there were also several heading in the opposite direction, and a few on various other courses. While the stream of reinforcements to the south seemed to be ongoing, with an airship leaving at least every few hours, there was too much other activity for my peace of mind. I wouldn’t have been able to see all of them without my cultivation, but by now I had enough experience to be fairly good at judging distances and flight times, and I could tell the pattern had changed since we’d left.

The second sign was Mother’s expression when she greeted us on the rooftop of the palace. Our airship had set down quickly and I disembarked with Lei and Tenira at my side, followed by Kajare and the others. Aston brought up the rear. He’d caught up to the airship shortly after the end of the meeting, before we could get too far away. I’d interrogated him about that in detail, but hadn’t learned much new information.

“Is something the matter?” I asked after I bowed to Mother and stepped forward.

She nodded tightly. “It looks like the war has now begun, more or less.”

“Really?” I turned my head to look south, although, of course, I couldn’t see anything from here. “Last I heard, things were still rather quiet, all things considered. So the Zarian attacked? Did the fortifications hold, or were they overrun?”

Mother shook her head. “They did attack, but not here, not us. They started on the Earth Continent.”

“Oh.” I sighed.

After a moment of thought, I glanced at Kajare. Guards lined the perimeter, and the ones from the airship had joined them, while my group lingered a little behind me. He didn’t look any more upset than he’d been before.

“The Zarian Dominion attacked the Velisha,” Mother explained. “It was a quick, brutal strike that overwhelmed their defenses with the Zarian elites. From the last news we have, a significant portion of the kingdom has already fallen to them.”

I swore softly, shaking my head. I knew that was the largest of the Empire’s vassal states on the Earth Continent, a petty kingdom situated in a strategic location near the center of the continent and surrounded by other Imperial territories or dependents on one side.

“That country doesn’t border the Dominion, does it?” I asked, recalling the map.

Mother shrugged. “They do on a narrow strip of land. Besides that, it seems like their northeast neighbor wasn’t quite as neutral as we thought, and allowed the Zarian Dominion to launch troops from the Dominion’s closest province through there.”

I sighed again. Then I glanced around the rooftop and back to Mother. “Shouldn’t we take this to a conference room?”

“In a moment,” she replied. “If we have time. I want you to get going as soon as possible.”

I started. “You’re sending me to the Earth Continent?”

She smiled, although there wasn’t much humor in it. “All things considered, I think it’s still better than the front in the south. Back there, you’ll be able to do more good, dealing with our vassals. Not to mention the Kingdom of Terbekteri has territories nearby, too.” She glanced at Kajare. “With your husband, it makes sense to send you there to coordinate with our allies.”

Kajare took a step forward, bowing his head. “I will do my best to ensure that things work smoothly and promote the Empire’s cause among the Terbekteri leadership, Your Majesty.”

She nodded. “Good. Anything else?”

I glanced at Tenira and Lei, who were now stepping forward, as well. Tenira asked, “Who will accompany Inaris, my lady?”

“Her personal retinue, I’ll leave to you to figure out,” Mother replied. “Though you won’t have much time and there’s no need for a large following. I assume you and Lei will accompany her?”

They both nodded, and I couldn’t help but smile at how casually they agreed.

Mother smiled. “Then let’s not waste time. You’ll be taking a different airship, and I want you to be on your way as soon as it’s ready.”

I hesitated, even as the others turned to go. “Mother,” I said quietly, in English. “How bad is the domestic situation?”

She remained silent for a moment before she answered. “It’s okay. Many people aren’t happy with the way things have gone, but few are openly blaming me or our clan. We’re focusing the people’s anger on the Zarian, and most of the populace is still firmly behind us. I wouldn’t trust many of the eighth stagers, but that’s hardly a new development. In any case, there should be less trouble for you in our overseas territories.”

I nodded my understanding and turned to go as well. If I could manage it, I’d visit some of Kariva’s people and gather some more information, perhaps pick a few to accompany me in addition to whoever we would have on the Earth Continent.

I didn’t like being blindsided, but I couldn’t blame Mother.

Of course it was too much to hope for that our trip would be quiet. The way things were going lately, we were lucky we weren’t running into a fleet of Dominion warships.

I sighed as I stared out at the dark spots in the sky that were steadily growing larger. This was manageable, at least.

“Sorry for bothering you, but I think this needs attention,” Lei said. “Bad luck to run into something like this.”

I nodded. I’d read through briefing materials, spent the night with Yarani, then started to work on a small project when Lei had called me away from it. We were over the open ocean now, with land nowhere in sight even with enhanced senses, well on our way to the Earth Continent.

It was a strange feeling to be over the open ocean. Although the airship flew in the sky, I could still feel the weight of the waves clearly in my qi senses. The tide felt different here, but it was still noticeably present, and I could have easily found my way to the nearest landmass even in complete darkness. It also meant there was nothing to obstruct our view, nothing we could use if it came to a fight except for tons of water and open air.

Aston joined us on the deck, a faint frown on his face. “Your Highness. I would suggest that we adjust our course slightly and try to avoid these beasts if possible.”

I glanced at the black spots again. By now, I could make out suggestions of beating wings in the forms. “Of course.”

“How many soldiers do we have here again?” Lei asked.

“Not many,” I admitted. “But most are Imperial Guard and in a high stage.”

He nodded and turned to watch the approaching spirit beasts again. Their numbers only seemed to increase as they got closer, though I knew that this wasn’t a real swarm. Not yet, at least. It was possible these were just the vanguard of a big one.

“Shouldn’t you take cover, Inaris?” Yarani asked as she stepped up to join us.

She looked relaxed, but there was a faint tension in her posture, and I noticed that her hands hovered in position to draw a weapon from her storage ring. Her eyes flicked around, switching between me, the sky, and scanning the rest of the airship, in what I assumed was a subconscious search for threats. I’d almost forgotten that my lover was a soldier, and now felt acutely reminded of it. It reaffirmed my decision to bring her along.

“Maybe later,” I answered. “There’s not much call for it now, and it’s not like I’ll be safer in the cabin than on the deck. Here, the guards could actually defend me more easily. Have you ever crossed the ocean?”

She shook her head. “I’ve heard stories, but I’ve never been more than a few leagues from the coast.”

I nodded. Sea travel was relatively safe these days. With the agreement I’d brokered with the sea dragons, it should be even safer. But there was always a bit of luck involved, and perhaps the recent fights had stirred something up.

Aston came back from talking to the captain, and I waved him over. I noticed the way he was watching the sky, on alert but not as if he had to fight every moment now, and figured we still had some time.

“So, what do you and those more familiar with this think?” I asked.

“We are going to detour and try to avoid the spirit beasts, or at least the worst of it,” he told me. “With your permission, it’s best if we leave that to the experts. Finding the best path needs experience and the airship’s equipment. We may have to fight, but it should be manageable. Please stay close to me, Your Highness.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

My finger brushed against the cool metal of the storage ring on my left hand, and a moment later, I held my new weapon in hand, the weight of it a little reassuring. Despite the bright day, Fides’ tip didn’t sparkle, and only the runes set into the spear’s shaft glowed darkly to my sight. I fed some qi into it, watching as the glow intensified, then brought the spear into position.

I didn’t have long to wait before the fighting started. The flying spirit beasts, birds that looked like overgrown migratory birds with too sharp claws and beaks, closed the distance quickly. Some of them changed course towards us, and I could see bright lights as some of their feathers seemed to light on fire without actually burning them. Quickly, the first fireballs flew towards us, followed by gusts of wind.

I created a technique, forming darkness qi into shape for a Void’s Nibble, and launched it towards the nearest bird. The blob of darkness shot from my spear’s tip faster than usual, and struck true, burning through its wing, putting out its fire, and sending it spiraling downward. I nodded in satisfaction.

Over the next few minutes, I really came to appreciate my weapon. Fides sucked in darkness qi like a sponge, held it in place for me and anchored the form of my techniques, then let me launch them swiftly and precisely at my targets. I knew it wouldn’t work so well for light, but most of my real attacks were darkness-based, at least the ones where a weapon would help.

But the swarm didn’t show any signs of thinning. Many of my shots missed the agile birds, and the others, including the guards, didn’t have much better luck. Even if a bird was hit, it often took several attacks to put it out of the fight, since they were strong, resilient, and seemed to regenerate quickly. One of them kept flying without its tail feathers as they were ripped away, then they swiftly regrew in time for it to dodge my attack.

After a while, I took a step back from the railing and closer to Aston. “This isn’t working so well.”

He nodded. “We’re going to turn around even more and try to avoid the worst of the swarm. It’s getting closer, but we should be able to keep to the outside and let most of them pass us by. We’ll lose some time, but I’d rather not take risks with your safety.”

“Alright.” I shook my head. “What is up with them, anyway, do you think?”

Aston frowned. “I’d say they were roused by something, and they’re not the only spirit beasts that have been stirred. Looking closely, there’s more activity in the sea as well, and I spotted some other bird types. It’s probably the fighting on the continent. It may have displaced some spirit beasts and lead to ripple effects.”

I sighed. That indicated that things were really heating up on the Earth Continent.

The airship slowed down and started drifting further away. It seemed to work, at least for now, and we saw less of the birds as the bulk of them shifted in relation to our position and heading, moving further to the side from my perspective.

I took a breather and tried to pull in some qi while I had the chance. Darkness qi was hard to find, even though it was what I’d primarily used so far. Normal light attacks didn’t have the same punch against their resilient forms, and I was reluctant to try playing around with radiation. I hadn’t even managed a real laser, one that would be focused enough for longer distances.

After half an hour, I noticed that the number of birds we fought was increasing again. We drew closer to the center of the swarm once more. Maybe they’d changed their heading a little. We were still moving at an angle to them, but more of the birds dove at us. There had to be thousands altogether, a bigger swarm than usual from what had been mentioned in one book I’d read.

I turned back to Aston. “I have an idea. If we can wing it, pun not intended, I think we should descend. We’ll be harder to see on the water.”

Aston raised an eyebrow and looked like he wanted to say something, then he simply nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

I watched him go again, grabbing onto the railing and chewing my lip. He was an air cultivator close to the seventh stage. And at least a third of the other guards with us cultivated air or water affinity qi. This shouldn’t be a problem. I had to force myself to relax as I waited, tense seconds dragging on.

I was still caught by surprise as we suddenly started dropping like, well, a multi-ton vessel hanging in the air should. I’d expected them to do maybe a gradual descent with an easier landing. It took me a moment to adjust, relaxing my grip on the railing and looking around to make sure that nobody was adversely affected. Luckily, we were all cultivators here and the others didn’t even stumble.

Not that I’d complain, this was actually better than I thought.

We set down on the water with a quiet splash. If not for the sudden stop of our momentum, I wouldn’t have thought we’d impacted the ocean at all. My stomach tried to climb into my throat, but a moment later, I was focused, assessing the situation and calling on my qi.

“Tenira, Lei, help me, please,” I said.

Then I concentrated on finishing my technique. A moment later, I sensed Tenira and Lei adding their work to my own, patches of qi that intersected with mine so each of us had to cover less ground. It didn’t take long for everything to happen, and I finished the work quickly.

Glancing around, I had to force my eyes to perceive what was going on. I could still see the ship and people around me, but it took focus to process what the outside, the ocean and sky, looked like. For anyone looking at us from the outside, we should now be invisible.

I wasn’t that practiced with conventional illusions, but it seemed to work. None of the birds came closer, at least.

“Your Highness, the ship doesn’t have a drive we can use on water, although it’s not hard to keep it afloat,” Aston said as he came back. “We could still move it manually, though we would have to be careful not to stir the ocean too much, I assume?”

I nodded. “Yes, the less disturbance we cause, the better. But please do.”

It didn’t take long for us to start moving again. A much slower pace than we’d had in the air, but better than nothing.

I watched the swarm of spirit beasts fly past. After a while, the bulk was past us and seemed to shrink as they moved farther away. I’d still wait until they were really gone until we took to the air again.

At least we don’t have to worry about attacks from the Dominion’s ships on the ocean, thanks to the sea dragons. We’ve only lost time.