Commander Arduani would be furious if she found out Lawrence had slipped away from the battle. But he didn’t care. Kicking his legs, he ran up the trail, his body slapping through ferns and twigs.

When he crested the hill, the cove became visible through the trees. Their branches swayed in the winds of the coming storm. Now was a terrible time to be embarking on the high seas—right before bad weather.

But it will be riskier to stay. We have to get out—I have to get Sakura and her family to safety!

The boat, the Akaima Dancing Fan was there, anchored and safe from the chop of the open water. There was a dock on the beach with a cutter tied up there. He turned, looking back the way he had come. He couldn’t see the Yukai City harbor over the hills, and the trees were too thick besides. But he could hear the men, the sounds of thousands of warriors at battle blew over the hills and fought with the onset of the coming storm for prominence in his ears.

At least the ship was still here.

Now he had to go back and aid the emperor’s escape. Before that, he would meet with Hitomo and Tomiichi. They were waiting for him to give them word of the ship. Somehow they would have to find an able-bodied crew or else they’d never make it through the storm—that, or wait out the weather before setting sail. Looking at the ship, it was clear that if there were any sailors on the Akaima Dancing Fan, that it was the barest skeleton crew at best.

The failed mage turned and ran back in the direction of the harbor and the battle. He would then cut up toward the temple to tell the Nakamuras to make for the ship.