While a fleet assembled, Arlen took a single boat outward toward Decim, with just himself, a good oarsman, a wind-mage, and a store of well-preserved dried fish. They had a long, dull trip under a cloudy sky, and arrived at the Guiding Reef.

Arlen's companions began to tell the story. Arlen waited it out while resting. Then he said, "We'll travel for another hour."

He'd explained the plan already, but it was a dangerous one. Once they'd sailed onward along the known, obvious route everyone insisted on using, Arlen went overboard. He spotted the seabed and pulled on it. In several dives he made a stone tower inch upward, until it broke the surface. Instead of building another obvious watchtower, he made an underwater base. Just a dozen or so feet down, with enough space to store supplies. And to rest. And to have a lot of pre-formed stone spears ready to lift and fling.

He wasn't sure yet exactly how it might be used. If Thoko attacked Opaline very soon, it'd get ignored and be no real loss. Otherwise, it was positioned as a surprise attack point.

For the moment he extended thin stone arms in several directions from the hidden tower for possible later use. He sealed the sunken room off and removed its entryway. Of course, he'd now need to find it again! To that end he made a thin pillar a few hundred yards off as a hint.

His companions called out while he was fooling around with the details. "There's fighting to do, war-chief."

His ears drooped. "Yeah. Let's head back and finish preparations."

They talked about Guiding Reef on the way back, too.

#

No word came from Catacomb, a bad sign. Arlen had been aiming for the main threat because once again, Thoko was using hostages located on Catacomb itself, with knives at their throats to prevent any resistance. In a way the system of captives was a method of peace; it could prevent fights before they began. The high chief had tried to arrange a marriage between his family and the Opaline chief to tie everyone further together with himself in charge, and that wasn't greatly different.

Arlen met once more with Opaline's chief, and with the doctor, and with a few other trusted people including Meadow. They spoke at length about the possible outcomes. "There's no getting around this completely. For all our blessings, we must either do as Thoko says or risk him murdering innocents."

He'd brought this up before, but the final reminder made everyone grim. The chief said, "You come from the outside, some place of amazing tools. Do you think us foolish and backwards because we fight like this, over such things?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Arlen took a long drink. "Your islands are beautiful, the people friendly, and you already have more knowledge and skill than I would have expected. What I've been teaching are more powerful ways to fight, but they're not happier ways. In my lands there was a great war among many mighty chiefs who were related by blood, and then a war of revenge, and many lesser wars after that. In a way they've taken themselves hostage by building weapons that could destroy a whole island, and threatening to use them on each other."

The doctor stared at him, aghast. "Why? No, I think I understand. It's not all that different from threatening to slit the throat of your rival's sister if he disobeys you, is it?"

"No. So you have a choice, once more. Call Thoko's bluff and he may kill many people you care about. Or don't, and he will keep enslaving people to throw to the murderous ghosts, and leave you as prey for the Mirefolk, and make constant demands of those he doesn't kill."

"An ugly choice," the chief said, not for the first time.

"But I can make sure that if Thoko is the kind of man who will carry through with that sort of threat, he will die. And that's an effective threat, because isn't he the one person he cares about the most?"

#

A war fleet had assembled on Opaline. Every available boat was loaded, and the wind favored them. The soldiers were fewer than Thoko's total army, but they had the training of the "Sunset Style", better arms and armor, and experienced fighting men rushed from Death Island. And Arlen's ruinously destructive magic. Several hundred fighters were ready along with spellcasters and medics. The chief of Opaline would be leading much of the party but deferred to Arlen as war leader.

What if Decim's forces did the unthinkable and sailed around them, ignoring the standard trade route by Guiding Reef? Or struck with the small occupying force on Catacomb? Then the Opaline civilians would flee and hide. If Thoko's warriors attacked them anyway, Arlen would make sure that those warriors returned to find their homes gone. Most likely, Arlen's army would add that their families must be killed in revenge, too. And Arlen would lecture and give orders about not committing atrocities, and angry men would have to decide how far down the spiral of bloodshed they wanted to go.

Damn Thoko. And damn himself, if he didn't try his best to stop it.

Women, children, and the old prayed and sang for the departing heroes. Maybe they'd still be around when the fleet returned.

The ships set sail early in the morning by wind and oar and magic. The journey would take roughly a full day and night as usual. They'd left a small food cache in the hidden underwater base but that wouldn't feed the army. What the base did do, was provide a better resting place than the tiny reef platform. So they all traveled from Opaline to Guiding Reef, stopped just long enough to tell the story and orient themselves toward Decim, and pressed on for another hour into the night.

Arlen sweated as he tried to find his secret lair in the dark. Maybe this was a dumb plan. Eventually his mages risked casting their brightest spells, and they spotted the marker spire. He used that to guide him beneath the waves and finally reached the base. There, he stretched the stonework until it broke the surface again, opened the way into the sunken room, and happily fooled around with expanding it. He added something like covered underwater parking for the boats, and a little tower.

The soldiers were spooked to have this hidden island suddenly available. But he was giving them a safe place to rest and they were all tired from sailing.