Page 100 of Suffer No Fools
"I'm able to ... what?"
"You're our emperor." Petri shrugged. "The legends say that's how Embertide was formed. Empress Moira was pushedinto a volcano because an evil dictator couldn't stand the way the people flocked after her. She said they should be free to live however they wanted, not under the strict moral rules and high taxation the dictator had put in place."
"She became the first fire weaver," Hugo said.
"She killed the dictator by causing an earthquake beneath him and knocking him into the volcano."
Hugo blinked. "An earthquake."
"The land is scored with fault lines and old lava beds." Petri laughed. "No one goes there because it's encased in ice now, but it's there."
"You've seen it?"
Petri grinned. "Aye. In my village, a group of us dared each other we couldn't walk there one summer. Even in summer, it was frigid, and we ended up wearing our hide pants, heavy coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. It still wasn't enough. A healer had to fix our hands when we returned to Landale." Petri wiggled their fingers. "Sometimes, I still lose feeling in my fingertips."
"But you saw the volcano ringed in ice? It's there?"
"Aye, it's there."
"Embertide was much more inhabitable, before ..." Now, Hugo had new ideas to make his home a better place, but now was not the time. They had to remove Coryn, first.
Later that day, a ship arrived from Glamiere. Their coast guard now stopped every ship with an Embertide flag. Glamierian guards marched a handful of loyalist prisoners into the conference room beneath the sentinel oak.
"We were only following Emperor Hugo's orders," one blubbered as he was shoved to his knees beside Elder Beatrice.
"Whose orders?" Hugo tried to look angry, but he couldn't hide his mirth.
"Emperor Hugo! We thought you were dead!"
"If I were dead, how would I have given orders?" He sighed. "Question them, give them the option to sign the new contracts with Vadim, and then let them go." Since Vadim had crafted the airtight contract with Elder Allora, Hugo had agreed to use it going forward with prisoners and refugees alike.
"Let us go?" the loyalist asked.
"You'll understand when you read the contract." He started to object, but Hugo stopped him. "If you can't read, it will be read to you."
"There have been fewer than I expected," Elder Beatrice said once the prisoners were escorted from the room. They would be taken into the dungeons to meet with Vadim and Yvette. Neither wanted to use the interrogation techniques of old, but their prisoners didn't know that. Sitting them bound before two healers in a dark cavern had already uncovered two assassination attempts and one island coup led by Martiz's oldest nephew.
Hugo felt like he was walking a tightrope over an ocean filled with Efren's sharks with no end in sight. They had months to go before they would be ready to sail for Hearthstone.
Each day, Stan and Trin found ways to use the fresh growth Renald inspired on the island to weave sails and build structures for the influx of weavers joining them from Glamiere. They also needed to extend the docks as more and more ships flocked to their shores for trade.
Gulde was overwhelmed with requests for clothing like what Emperor Hugo wore, which made him laugh every time she mentioned it. He wore less each day. He'd taken to wearing a pair of cut-off breeches around the house from the bed to the tub, often eating breakfast in them. After their evening meal, he would dress in his new robe. Sometimes, they all stripped on the patio, leaving them with only their towels after a bath.
The rains came with the new year and stayed through the first dark months. Toward the end of the third month, Hugo sensed the ice shelf starting to melt.
Elder Beatrice gathered the elders, pirates, and Hugo around the conference table beneath the sentinel oak after he shared his discovery. "Hannah can protect us with fog," she said, "but our strongest defense will be our offense."
"It's time to sail for Glamiere," Efren said.
"I'd like to meet with Sovereign Oton in Luminest, if that can be arranged." Hugo also wanted to inspect the ships Jermain had fashioned for them.
"Even with the extra ships," Nola said, "we'll be crammed to the gills with people who want to return to their homes."
"People willing to fight for their homes are welcome to join us," Efren said.
"Aye," Nola said, "but it will be uncomfortable, and if we do hit a patch of fog, we'll be running into each other in ships made of eggshells."
Hannah looked like they wanted to argue, but they rolled their eyes and looked to Hugo instead.
