My patron had sent the fish into hiding once with a thousand devastating cuts. I had nothing quite as dramatic as that, but I figured that when fighting an endless enemy her methods held a simple lesson: continuous harm had more impact than a single well placed blow.

But just cutting blindly at the horde wouldn’t turn them back, either. Our forces would wear down first, hence the Tribe Master’s plea and our involvement. We needed to stop the flow of fish and other monstrous creatures into the delta, make them pay for every inch they traveled up stream until even the horde couldn’t continue with the losses forced on them.

I couldn’t stop Juniper from becoming the Water Frond Snake, so the three day limit mattered less, but at some point the whisper women were going to abandon the delta and that was deadline I couldn’t ignore. For Juniper, we had to get as many of the tribe’s people out before they became collateral damage, but it would be a delicate balance as the delta’s defenders were the main force holding the horde at bay.

I set Ana on coordinating with the tribesfolk and making sure Juniper’s mother knew about the proxy war so that she knew the help she asked for to save the delta wasn’t exactly what she’d be receiving. They’d have the Water Frond Snake like she requested, sure, but they wouldn’t be getting their chance to rest and recover. It was questionable whether there’d even be a delta for them to defend once the fight was finished.

Ziek was looking into what had caused the horde’s behavior to change and why they were encircling Bramble Watch rather than continuing up the river. Even without a tangible scent to track the others had been clear that she was the best at following a trial to its bitter end. If anyone had a chance of finding out leads on that front, it was her, and I hoped she found an answer or two we could use our advantage.

Ingrasia was no longer in the delta. I knew I couldn’t ask her to do menial tasks, that would be a waste, and Ziek and Ana had the main two issues handled that would otherwise distract me from the fight. So, instead, I asked her to use the authority only she had in our group to negotiate. The fish shouldn’t be the only ones allowed to have reinforcements in this exchange.

I immersed myself in understanding the battle. I made sure I had every lookout post and walkway memorized. Every fighter and their status—active, injured, recovering—categorized and connected into the chain of command as well as Tribe Master Toniva and her advisers. I memorized the tribe’s support network and supply lines, the fish’s estimated numbers and where they were concentrating their attacks. As the Tribe Master had told me it seemed as if they were forgoing all tactics and just throwing themselves forward until numbers eventually won them the fight which wasn’t at all like I remembered from the shore.

At first, I could tell that the others and Tribe Master Toniva doubted whether I could memorize and understand all the information I was taking in, but I had plenty of space around my memory tent now for new information and a mental map already made to hook the new knowledge into place. I was a bit irritated that I had to spend so much space on people I didn’t know and likely wouldn’t meet, but preparation was important—both for healing a wound and having a successful hunt. Making the wrong call because I didn’t know how many fighters we had and the state they were in seemed like an idiotic move. I mollified myself with the mental note that I could take the mental space back at the end of my time in the delta with a lot less anguish than the first time I cut information out.

Nor could I fully deny the satisfaction I felt with learning the influx of information, of categorizing it and getting it situated in my mind for easy retrieval. The confidence I gained by feeling like I knew all the information currently available on a subject. There was something to be said for knowing a subject inside and out.

I couldn’t do anything too visible to the delta while Juniper was still able to protest. She was still expected her people to have a home after the fighting while I had been informed that the goddess no longer protected the pine trees in the delta. That offered a lot more possibilities for what I could do to fight the fish—and plenty of tribes were nomadic. Juniper’s people could make a new home for themselves as long as they were alive.

I disregarded every concern that centered on the delta’s state in the future and instead focused on the short term gains of what would win us the fight now. Victory by a thousand cuts. All fighters still defending the smaller channels were pulled back to help reinforce the parameter around Bramble Watch and the river mouth, but only after numerous traps were placed so that the fish killed themselves as they swarmed into the suddenly undefended areas. Strike teams were enforced to go after the stronger fish and other creatures, so that they’d be killed before they could break through the regular defenses.

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My idea to poison the water turned out not to be viable as the water itself diluted the poison before it did anything, nor did I have enough ingredients or time to make enough poison to saturate even a small waterway, but my next idea had a bit more merit.

Growing up in a waterhole tribe, I knew my fair share about waterborne parasites. Most only affected the fish the tribe hunted or other wildlife, but some I would have to help treat when a huntress or child got infected from being in the water. Most weren’t lethal, especially when caught right away, but I remembered an tribe elder telling a horror story about one that got in the gills of the fish, ultimately killing it, and somehow turning the meat bad so the tribe living off the lake was forced to relocate after lots of hardship and struggle.

Ingrasia’s first negotiation was prying information out of the Beastwatchers about a parasite that matched the story. Apparently, they were more than reluctant to share information about one of their top eradication targets due to how quickly the parasite could ruin the fish population in a lake and they had their doubts about the parasites ability to survive in brackish, flowing water. Ingrasia still worked out the information in a matter of hours before getting a handful of infected fish from somewhere and dumping them into the delta. Just like that, our first recruits had arrived, even if they didn’t know it. If the parasites were able to infect the fish soldiers that would be the best outcome, but otherwise they’d get flushed out into the ocean and be unable to survive in the salty water.

A warning was given out to the Beastwatchers in the area so they would know to keep an eye out for any potential parasite ridden fish going towards First Shore Lake, but otherwise Ingrasia didn’t hesitate to take action. She said that since I was acting as the team leader my decisions were final. I had hesitated at first before going forward with the idea, but the fact was that things couldn’t stay as they were, and the more things we could do that the fish couldn’t anticipate, the more blows we could strike against them, and needed every strike we could get.

My plan was to eventually take the waterways away from the fish so that they would be forced to travel overland and be easier pickings for the delta’s fighters, but that had been a sticking point in my discussion with the others. On one hand, taking away their easy travel option would also take away a terrain advantage the fish have and make it easier to kill them, but, on the other hand, taking away the waterways could push the fish to widen where they were attacking from and into ground we didn’t have enough people to cover. There was also multiple arguments made for how to push the fish onto land if we did go that route, but none of it had to be finalized until the Water Frond Snake started to move. According to the tribesfolk, it was best follow in the Snake’s wake with traps or other plans as it could be a destructive force in its own right.

Part of me, a small part, itched for Juniper complete her rituals and start her rampage with the Water Frond Snake now that I knew for sure that I couldn’t talk her out of it, so I could move forward with my own plans, while the rest of me still hoped she’d change her mind at the last moment and help us fight the fish another way.

My respect for the Swirling Waters Tribe grew every day. They never let the pressure up on the fish, never complained about the endless fighting, and they never slacked at their post whether it was standing for hours as a lookout or killing fish after fish. They, more than anything else so far, were acting as the thousand cuts against the horde. It was a way of life for them. The only problem was their reluctance to stray too far from their habits, as they had trouble thinking of any new strategies to use against the fish and they balked at any plan that hinted at the idea that they might not be able to live in the delta in the future.

Ana was able to smooth over the problems more easily than I ever would have. I wasn’t sure if she was using her blessing, or if she could be that persuasive all on her own, but she was able to push the plans we discussed through without the tribesfolk rising up in revolt.

All in all, the waterways ran yellow with fish blood as Juniper completed her rituals day after day, but it wasn’t nearly enough to turn back the scaled tide before we ran out of time to stop her. We would have needed ten thousand more cuts before we did enough damage to turn back the horde pressing in on the delta.

We didn’t see each other in the time leading up to the final ceremony. She stayed in separate quarters that were specifically for the Pearl Bearer. Nor did we trade more than a few whispers on the wind about the situation in the delta. She had made her choice and part of that seemed to be keeping me separated from her during the process. I wasn’t sure if she thought I would change her mind or if the rituals simply specified no outside contact, and I didn’t try to hard to find out either way. I got my plans in place, learned everything I could, and then watched with the rest of the crowd as Juniper woke up the Water Frond Snake.