The inhabitants of the Mud Whale have been split into two. There is the Unmarked, who are trapped in Duke Dachtyla’s dungeon. Then there are the Marked, who are desperately trying to save the Unmarked as the threat of the Allied Empire looms over Amonlogia.
The sons of the Duke try desperately to push Karcharías back, in order to stop the invaders, but Orca chooses to take his own two feet to land, along with a trusted group he’s personally raised. What will happen as he, Lykos, and a group from the Mud Whale all march to Amonlogia’s capitol?
I see now why the Duke of Amonlogia has been acting so irrationally and erratically, extremely unlike himself. Of course it’s because of a prophecy, but as so often happens, he got the figures wrong. The Mud Whale and all of its inhabitants served as but a distraction while a more dire threat loomed on the horizon. And perhaps Orca is Thanatás, and not Ouni, unlike as the Duke of Amonlogia had suspected.
Also, the twins aren’t necessarily wrong in assuming Lykos to be a spy or something similar. The reader, and her close friends in the story, have known her thus far to be a stranded former soldier of the Allied Empire, now taken in by the inhabitants of the Mud Whale. She struggled to fit in for a long while, but she at last has, and she’s even given up all manner of knowledge on the Empire in order to help the inhabitants of the Mud Whale. But what if all of it was a calculated trap? Or this “betrayal” of the Empire doesn’t actually impede her true mission? The story has not revolved around Lykos for several volumes now and even the story itself is beginning to amass suspicion on Lykos, especially with spies from the Empire claiming Lykos to be a spy as well for the Empire on the Mud Whale. They could be liars, their information could be a misunderstanding, or it could be outdated. Perhaps she started that way, perhaps she’s the reason for that initial attack but it has long since changed. And if so, obviously she’s never, and might never, tell them the truth, because how could she? It was a catastrophic event that catapulted their peaceful lives into seemingly never-ending tragedy and peril. Speaking of Lykos, her brother Orca is an amazing force. I now see why he seems so indispensable despite the storms he had caught himself up in with the Empire. He’s just as valuable to a ship as a Nous, so said a spy and so says I, as a reader. No wonder that board from a previous volume seemed to chastise him with such a heavy heart (so to speak, as none of them seemed to feel remorse, only an inconvenience). No wonder it was a discussion and not an automatic execution… despite them having already decided. Though, with his charismatic charm and his intelligence, he was able to talk his sentence exceedingly far down. Almost unbelievably so, as his charm and intellect alone saving him didn’t make sense in that moment, but now that I see the berth of his worth to the Allied Empire, it does. He’s absolutely incredible with his command of a ship’s artillery forces, aka, he’s a human cannon. He needs no men, only weaponry and his use of thymia. All of it while completely stone cold and calm as well. Orca has an incredible, overwhelming presence that demands the surrender of any ship or territory that might be so unfortunate as to find itself in his own ship’s wake.