Sacrifice: The First Book of the Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

too many Danites lose flesh to that wintry color.
    He took another bite of his roll, then drank some of the milk. Even as the pain left, he felt unsettled. He had not completed his morning ritual. But, if the truth be told, he had not achieved the sense of peace he sought for a long, long time. This intrusion had simply been a little more startling.
    He leaned his head back, then heard footsteps in the corridor. They had more urgency than they had had before. The knock, even though he expected it, was sharp and frightening. No vision, then. He had seen ships.
    “Come,” he said.
    Matthias was already halfway into the room. He closed the door tightly, then hurried down the small flight of stairs. “Ships,” he said. “I saw ships. Dozens of them. Should I send for the head of the Port Guild?”
    The Rocaan rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. The pain in his feet was gone, but a headache had started above his eyes. “Before you go, tell me what you saw.”
    “It took a moment, in the darkness,” Matthias said. “That floor is damned wet in there.”
    “It’s the rain,” the Rocaan said tiredly.
    “Then I saw masts, and if I looked carefully, I saw the ships themselves. They’re not Nyeian. I’ve never seen them before. And it was quiet except for low voices.”
    “What were they saying?”
    “I couldn’t make it out.”
    “Neither could I.” The Rocaan let his hand drop. He opened his eyes. Matthias’s face was flushed, his eyes sparkling with the excitement. The Rocaan sighed. “I think you must go to the King.”
    “Holy Sir?”
    A thread of irritation ran through the Rocaan. Did he have to explain everything? Matthias was sharp. He should have figured the problem out already. “The ships are unknown, Matthias,” the Rocaan said. “They are not planned for. I suspect our visitors are uninvited.”
    Matthias shook his head. “That’s impossible. No one can get to Blue Isle’s shores without guidance.”
    “Someone had to once,” the Rocaan said, “or we would not be here.”
    Matthias took a step backward, then sat in the armchair near the bed as if he needed something to support his weight. “What would anyone want with Blue Isle?”
    The question was soft, almost rhetorical, but the Rocaan chose to answer it. “We are one of the richest countries in the world. To ignore us would be foolish.”
    Matthias looked at the Rocaan, his gaze piercing. “You know who this is.”
    “I have a suspicion,” the Rocaan said. “Nye has shared our waters for centuries and still needed help to arrive at Blue Isle’s shores. Occasionally other seafaring folk have tried to come to Blue Isle, only to wreck on the Stone Guardians or be savaged by the current. But there is a group that has never tried to attack us before, and now they hold Nye.”
    “The Fey,” Matthias breathed.
    “Just so,” the Rocaan said. He sounded calmer than he felt. “And if the tales we have heard are true, they are vicious. You must go to the King, and quickly.”
    Matthias nodded and stood. He hurried toward the stairs and then stopped. “Even if it is the Fey, we’ll be able to defeat them, won’t we?”
    “With God’s help,” the Rocaan said. He folded his hands across his bulging stomach. Matthias scurried from the room, apparently satisfied with the Rocaan’s answer.
    But the Rocaan wasn’t. He looked at the closed door. “No, Matthias,” he said softly, as if he hadn’t answered the question before. “They are soldiers and we are farmers, and we shall be slaughtered before we have a chance to learn how to defend ourselves.”
     
     

 
     
    SEVEN
     
    The Cardidas River was over a mile wide at the site of its natural harbor inside the Blue Isle city of Jahn. Although Rugar had known this before he’d arrived, nothing had prepared him for the immensity of the river itself. It had strong currents and dark, brownish waters that spoke of copper in the mud. And the bridge that spanned