I didn’t get half of the trees cut down.

  My sword was chipping away as fast as I could swing it, but nine hours of hacking at trees was a lot more labor than I thought. Add in that it took me longer to chop all the limbs off, and what I’d thought I’d be able to do had turned out to be a huge overestimation.

  I was glad to see the group walking towards me just after the sun had crested. Fyga was in Val’s arms and still unconscious. Eveth had brought up the rear where Captain Jace was showing the children how to cause grief to Dame Isough.

  Before I could go pull the one-legged man away from his mischief, the gray-haired man that Val had put in charge of the guard stepped in front of me.

  “Excuse me, mister Bokor.” His voice was steady, devoid of the timid edge most people used when approaching a Bokor. “Miss Val said that you were the one to talk to about security.”

  I glanced over at the fretting older woman and laughing sea captain. Eveth was barking orders at a group of young men. I wasn’t sure if she was taking the opportunity to flee or focusing on the tasks at hand. I decided that for a least a few moments, I could help get things set up before stopping their pranks.Most of them were already black from the soot that I hadn’t managed to get cleaned up.

  “What would you like to know, mister…?” I had never caught his name.

  “Emes Sadu.” He motioned at the scattered logs I’d been working on. “Miss Val said that we needed to build a wall around the cave.” The old man pointed at the hole where Fyga was being lowered. “Can you tell me about the pirates?”

  I thought about asking him why, but if he was the one in charge of security, decided that he needed to know.

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  “Theo said it was a Brigantine.” I tried to remember the dimensions the entitled traitor had gushed. “One hundred feet long, twenty five feet wide, and twenty feet deep. Two masts, three swivel-harpoon launchers on either side and a crew of about twenty people, though Master Fyga killed nine.” I pointed at the logs that had been the trees the ship had been tied to. “They tied off the ship there and there.”

  I debated on whether or not to add in the last bit of information, but I didn’t need him to lower his guard. “They flew a Bokor flag and claimed to be from the Bokor, but were using this island to store supplies that Port Reggo needed and refused to submit to me and Master Fyga after we identified ourselves, which led us to decide they were pirates who had stolen a Bokor flag to get ships and ports to lower their guard.”

  The older man sighed. “Sounds right. No one is going to refuse a Bokor and nobody is going to complain in case it was a sanctioned ship.” He looked around at the trees. “You’ve done a lot for one person, but if I may make a suggestion?”

  When he didn’t continue, I realized that he was waiting for permission. I nodded. “Go ahead.”

  He pointed at the trees to the west of the storehouse and some of the ones to the north and south. “If we clear away the trees from around the cave, then we can start building a wall around it. Once we have a wall up, we can build more structures to shelter more of the people.”

  I nodded. “Where do you need me to help?”

  He raised his eyebrows as he looked at my goggles, then shrugged. “Once they get the kids into the cave, we can start felling trees again.” He looked at the sword that I’d stuck in the ground. “I don’t suppose that thing would be able to dig?”

  I pulled the blade out and turned it over in my hand. “I doubt it.” While I’d seen masters use their swords to cut through lots of things, the blade wasn’t wide enough to shovel out the dirt. It could cut through the roots, which would be helpful. The dirt had so much sand in it, that there were roots all over the place. I was curious how well they’d be able to dig because no one had a shovel even though I had seen a few axes.

  “Can your magic do anything?” For the first time, there was hesitation in his voice.

  “I can try, but my magic is geared more towards fire.”

  He glanced around at the scorched area. “I can see that.”

  I sheathed my sword on my back. “Let’s see what I can do about some trenches.”

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