“Why are we fighting this war?” repeated Kol.

“Don’t think, just speak,” I said.

“Great elf, I do not know, please bring back the clouds, I cannot answer your questions when I am this afraid!” said Taoc.

“You’ll be fine, the clouds weren’t doing anything anyways. You know you can’t actually stand on those things, right? You’re being held up by my magic and my magic alone. So hurry up and answer the question already!” I said.

“The war?” said Kol. “The Izlandi Kingdom is fighting because the Immortals surrounded my capital city with a barrier!”

“And the Lux Republic must fight to avenge the many cities, towns, and villages that were burned. We have lost many crops and our economy has been ruined for the foreseeable future. Not to mention the trauma of being made to disappear into the future! Who will explain to our children what happened to them and their families during those terrible days?” said Taoc in a quick flurry of words.

I exhaled. A weight had fallen off my shoulders, but my relief was quickly replaced by confusion. Clearly, Taoc had been influenced by the Simurgh before I left for the mountains to practice my new magic. Why wasn’t she mentioning the Book of Annihilation now? And I was sure that Kol would be under the Simurgh’s influence as well, since she was the leader of one of the two countries the Simurgh was manipulating into fighting a war with the Horde.

I stared at the two of them while thinking about their answers. I’d had another question planned. I was going to ask them about why the book was important enough for them to spill blood over it, but their answers clearly made that question pointless. Perhaps bringing them up here had messed up their emotions enough that the Simurgh’s manipulation wasn’t working as well as it would have on the ground? There was also the possibility the Simurgh was being more subtle with these leaders than with the foot soldiers I had interviewed before. Perhaps important leaders like Kol and Taoc were being manipulated directly by their relevant emotions. Kol with her indignation at being isolated in her capital and Taoc with her desire for vengeance for the burning of her people’s lands and their temporary disappearance.

“Okay,” I said as I rushed forward and grabbed the two of them by the arm again. They were startled by my quick approach and the panic in their eyes made me think they thought we were about to fly up again. I smiled. “You win!”

We dropped to the ground like stones.

---

“That wasn’t funny!” complained Kol.

“If I have wronged you, great elf, please punish me some other way next time,” said Taoc.

“Come on, it was just a bit of fun,” I said as I brushed the dirt off my shoulders.

Kol glared at me. Taoc fell to her knees and began begging for mercy. Their reactions told me I had gone too far.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I picked Taoc back up and used air magic to brush the dirt off of Kol’s clothes. “If it makes you feel any better, this was an important part of my plan to defeat the Immortals.”

Kol raised an eyebrow. “Defeat the Immortals?”

“You know, the reason you’re going to war,” I said. “It’s a little complicated, but I had to…”

“The Izlandi Kingdom is going to war to retrieve the Book of Annihilation,” said Kol.

I stopped. My heart froze in my chest and I took a step back, involuntarily.

We were standing in a pit in an otherwise flat plain. The armies weren’t too far away and I was expecting to the first scouts to come to our position in a few minutes. I’d dropped us down here in full view of the armies, and the loud rumblings from our final impact would have alerted everyone even if they weren’t paying attention. Of course, this meant we would attract attention from across the border too, but that was part of the plan.

“The Book of Annihilation?” I repeated. “No, no, that’s not what you said. You two wanted revenge. Cold, justified revenge. Kol for the isolation of her capital, and Taoc for the burning of your settlements and disappearance of your citizens.”

Taoc frowned. “Those things matter to us, yes, but the Lux Republic cannot allow the Singing Horde and the heathen gods to possess the Book of Annihilation.”

What was going on? I bit my lips. Okay. Clearly, their attitudes had changed completely as soon as they’d touched the ground. No, in Taoc’s case, she was hovering over the ground, but still, not only were they giving different reasons for war, their entire demeanor had changed drastically. I had been expecting them to be complaining about the sudden ascent and bumpy descent. Instead, the two of them were looking at me coolly and with expressions that were completely unfazed by their recent experiences. In fact, it was worse than the sort of manipulated emotions they had had before. Almost as if whatever spell had been cast over them had gone into overdrive to compensate for falling off of them while they were up in the sky.

I felt like I could continue to investigate this by taking them back up into the sky a few times and noting when and how their emotions changed, but something told me it wouldn’t as easy as last time. Not only did I not have the element of surprise, but the two of them seemed to be struggling with their renewed emotional manipulation. Who knew what would happen if I made them go through this again? I was worried I’d mess up their heads permanently.

“Right, well,” I said as I scratched my chin. “Guess that means I can ask the next question. Hey, why do you guys think the Book of Annihilation is important enough to die for?”

Kol frowned. Taoc tilted her head. Their movements seemed mechanical and they had strange expressions on their faces. Expressions that were a cross between confused and disturbed. I waited for their replies. A couple of times, I thought Kol might say something, but she always looked to her feet at the last moment, her brows furrowed and her demon tail unnaturally still. Taoc opened her mouth and then closed it. Perhaps the one time I wished a spirit would blurt out everything and yet she actually held her tongue. Terrific.

My motion detection magic was triggered. A party of fairies was marching over from one side while another group of demons would be approaching from the other side. Did they want to trap me in a pincer formation? That wasn’t the sort of thing they should be doing to the nominal leader of their united army. I looked back at Kol and Taoc and saw them looking back at me, unblinking. Their eyes were unnerving; stretched to their limits, their eyes reflected my image back at me, letting me see the thoughts that were plainly crossing through my mind and onto my face.

“It’s okay,” I said, breaking the silence. “I think I have my answer already.” A dozen or so more demons and fairies were approaching from different directions. I mused in my head whether the beastmen really deserved to be called the horde when these guys were acting this way, but I didn’t share my humor with my companions. I knew I wasn’t going to get any laughs out of them. Not in this state.

“I am still in charge of this war, Simurgh,” I said, lowering my voice so it wouldn’t carry over to Kol and Taoc. “Unless you think someone else can take on those Ikons?”

The parties converging on my position stopped. Kol and Taoc blinked their eyes and grabbed their heads in their hands for a moment, before looking up at me as if nothing had happened. I nodded and smiled at the two.

“Hey, sorry about the whole shooting you up into the sky and jumping back down like a meteorite thing. Don’t worry, you don’t have to come with me next time. Just thought I’d let you try it once,” I said as I took a step back. “So yeah, I’ll be up there. Maybe I’ll be able to see the humans or even the enemy if they get close enough. Just send up smoke signals if you need me, although I have a feeling I’ll know when you do anyway. That sound good? Okay. Well, take care then!”

I bent my knees and shot up into the sky again.