Prologue
War. Terrible war. The Lienid armies destroyed mercilessly. After merely a weeklong sea journey, they finished with an abundance of supplies, only ten dead soldiers, and a complete annihilation of the Aajinabi Island.
The people of Aajinabi shouldn't have stood a hundredth of a chance. They didn't have very good weapons, only arrows and spears made of the soft wood of their native trees. They didn't even have an army.
The Lienid military had climbed back their single ship, well before nightfall, popped open wine bottles and began a nightlong celebration of a daylong, easy battle that ended perfectly. But before the captain poured his first glass, before the first couples could even step onto the middle of the floor to dance, a fuse was lit.
A secret bomb was constructed, made of an unknown, natural yet highly flammable substance. It was hidden beautifully on the ship, where no one would think to look: the prisons below deck. There was no one there; all the Aajinabi were still on the island, dead, or dying. The bomb blew up the cells one by one, and once a few sparks struck the barrels of unused oil, the entire ship exploded into a beautiful, fiery redness. It would have been perfect, a flawless revenge, but the bomber made one small miscalculation.
The youngest Lienid prince, leader of the army, and second heir to the throne, was not on the ship.