"Sir! A boat!"

Arlen woke up from nightmares. A fighter was shaking him. Arlen said, "Spotted from the tower?"

"Yes, from towards Decim!"

Arlen had been laying on a thin sheet, wishing he could make blankets. He got up with stiff muscles and joined the current sentry at the entrance to the little lookout turret. He caused that outcropping to melt away into sand so that nothing much would appear above the waves. While it was still fading over a minute or so, he said, "Good work. Did you see how many?"

"Just the one. Maybe watching for an invasion like we've been doing, or coming ahead of a fleet."

"Let's find out."

They woke two more people including a caster able to breathe underwater. A woman, in that case; one of the few who'd been allowed to tag along over some objections. After a few minutes' wait she deployed in front of the base. Everyone else kept hidden but readied a fast boat.

The scuba scout returned, out of breath and peeking over a stone block. "Just the one boat, war-chief."

He breathed deeply of the cool, salty air. "Thank you. Let's ruin their evening."

The boat was of course headed right for the usual reef, which put Arlen in its path. To Thoko's sailors the sea probably had nothing here at all. Its current direction would make it miss the mark by a few degrees, not perfect for the trap. Arlen asked, "Think they're planning to wait on the reef? Strange to see them so far out from Decim."

The troops agreed, though one man was puzzled. "You don't _wait_ on Guiding Reef. You rest and move on."

"Well, Thoko is an innovator."

The team woke up Opaline's chief and asked if he wanted to let it pass, completely missing the war fleet, or to attack. The chief grinned wickedly.

They let the scout boat pass by, then struck. Arlen was behind them and below, pulling a tower up from the seabed. He began waving a spell around in his hands, glowing brightly in midair. His spellcaster scout floated fifty yards farther out with a flashy spell of her own. The scout boat shuddered like people were staggering around in confusion. Arlen nodded in grim satisfaction. He'd given them information that something was going on, so would they act on it by turning back to report? No harm done if they only moved on.

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As hoped, they turned around. And tried to avoid the two mysterious lights by turning, which sent them toward the ambush boat.

It pounced, led by the chief and two others rowing. Over the short distance they caught up. The scouts weren't the best fighting men either; they were slow to react. Arlen was swimming to intercept. By the time he got there, the chief had bloodied his iron machete and he and the rest had overpowered three sailors.

They forced the boat over to their hidden lair and called in a healer to save the most wounded man. The chief said, "How goes it on Decim, you three? We decided to visit."

The scouts hardly believed anyone could ambush them here, or that this false island even existed. They got talked into describing Thoko's army, supposedly well over a thousand men strong, and they boasted about rushing the enemy with invincible courage. Arlen's group recoiled at the figure, but Arlen himself saw it as thin. "Still more 'warriors' than 'soldiers', and some will be busy on Catacomb."

One of the scouts eventually said, "You rebels are going to get it! It doesn't matter how many tricks you have. Thoko and his Black Arrows will make quick work of you."

"What can he do against a stone wall that comes to him?" said Arlen.

"You'll have to step out from behind it someday."

The chief said, "What do you want to do with them, Arlen?"

"We'll leave them here without a boat and rescue them when we're done."

#

Sleeping in a stone room with few furnishings wasn't pleasant, but it still beat the ships. After a night's rest everyone woke up ready for war.

The army of the free islands approached the shore of Decim Island. They assumed more scout boats would be guarding the most obvious side routes to circle the island, and so came directly for the stone breakwater that marked the biggest town of the capital island. Alarm horns blared in the distance.

Opaline's chief laughed. "It's time, everyone! They'll have a bigger surprise than they expected."

The army had given Thoko less warning than the tyrant would've hoped for, but Arlen was less confident. "They'll know about my tower-building. Probably not about the more aggressive power, but we'll see."

A shout carried unnaturally from shore, as though echoed by the ocean itself. High Chief Thoko spoke to the fleet. "Rebels! Surrender at once!"

The overlord of the islands stood with his mighty hammer, shield, and armor, and a growing swarm of fighting men near shore. Others on his side were standing on wooden towers with bows, and wisps of smoke coiled from them as they prepared to ignite boats with flaming arrows.

Arlen sat at the prow of a boat. He yelled back with the help of a wind mage. "It's over, Thoko. Remember how you fought that monster on Gull Island to a draw, and managed to be the only man to run away? I just killed it for practice."

There was an awkward pause. Then Thoko said, "You betrayed me, Arlen. I gave you food and shelter, and an honored place at my side, and offered you women. You had a chance to help me build. Now you've been killing my men."

"And you've been killing our women and children. Voz, I see you there at Thoko's side. Did you kill them personally?"

"What!?" shouted Voz.

"The fort you collapsed!"

"It was a war fort! Your men were hiding in there!"

"It wasn't just men."

"You people didn't tell us that!" Voz said, screaming a few expletives too.

Around Arlen, men growled. The chief sat in the boat beside him. He said, "They were in the way; was that it?"