Silver Jungle

Chapter 19

"Why can't anyone find them?" Seth screamed. Falk looked at the Dawon, raising a dark eyebrow. He was sitting on the ledge of a cave, overlooking the sea as it glittered in the morning sun. His mother would have some sage expression for this, some wisdom as she combed out Falk's sister's hair with an ivory comb. Fengge, don't forget to buy a lily today. Something like that.

"I assume you're talking about Zammi Coatl, her son and the Selkie?" He inquired. Seth snarled at him, showing his teeth.

"Who else would I be talking about, Falk?" Seth snapped, his hands balled into fists. "They're battle masters. And if the rumors about the boy's father are true..." Seth shook his head.

The zhenniao just shrugged, unconcerned. Battle wasn't his area of expertise. The rigors of strategy meetings, planning battles suited Falk much better. Seth had ridiculed him for it before, but Falk didn't really mind anymore.

"They probably are being blocked by something, Seth." Falk deadpanned. "A natural barrier maybe."

"Where are natural barriers?" Seth demanded. Falk rolled his dark eyes.

"Everywhere. Where ever there is a source of powerful magic. An old Silver Land, a Druid ceremony gone terribly wrong, so on and so forth." Falk listed, ticking them off on his fingers.

"Like a massacre?"

"Why is everything about death with you? Yes, it can be a massacre point, but also a point of a pivotal ceremony, like here." Falk sighed.

"So, we have to find them by tracking where we can't see." Seth replied. Falk thought about it for a second, shocked.

"That... was more poetic then I give you credit for."

"Oh shut up." Seth grumbled, but Falk saw a hint of a smile on his face. Then it turned serious. "Send my best trackers to find the boy. Every barred place in the world."

Falk's eyes glinted dangerously and he stretched out his arms, poisonous green feathers forming on his arms, catching the sunlight. "As you wish, my King."

***

Dani blinked, his mind connecting the pieces. "That actually makes sense now. She said a lot of things that I understand now, knowing that."

"Yeah." Amber rolled her eyes. "It probably does."

"What else do you know about Zaza?" Dani questioned Amber.

"She's- wait, Zaza?" Amber looked at him, her orange eyes crinkled with amusement. "You actually call her that?"

"It there something wrong with that?" Dani bristled. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"No, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's funny. Anyway, other things I know about Zammi." Amber tapped a finger against her chin. "She's a demigod, although no one really knows of what. As far as we can tell, she's kept it an open secret, so she could deny it at any time." Dani was confused why she would have to deny it at all, but didn't say anything and just listened. "She was involved in a progressive movement that ended once she left to become Advisor."

"She told me that." Dani said. "Dra said that she was a pretty good leader."

"Still is." Amber said. Right. Amber didn't know about Dra yet.

"Not anymore. She was replaced." Dani grumbled. Amber's eyes widened in terror.

"What?" Amber gasped, suddenly in front of Dani, her hands on his shoulders. "What did you say?"

"Dra replaced Zammi as Advisor." Dani said. "It makes sense. She opposed Seth, so he replaced her."

"This is really bad." Amber said, her horror evident on her face. "At least with Zammi, I knew she wouldn't crown him. But with a different Advisor... wait, how do you know this?" Amber shook his shoulders.