The Power and the Glory

Book 5 Chapter II: To Catch a Zombie

"I don't like this."
"To be fair, Matthias, you don't like much."
-- Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

"I don't know," Ilaran said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Haliran hasn't had the courtesy to put a map in the zombie's cage! So I just don't know where it is!"

Abihira couldn't seem to get this very simple fact through her thick skull. "But can't you tell anything about it? Is it nearby?"

Ilaran closed his eyes and counted to ten. It would cause a great deal of awkwardness if he murdered his cousin. "You created it. If anyone can find it, it should be you."

"That's the problem! I can't!" Abihira turned to the other person present. She asked beseechingly, "Lian?"

Imrahil/Lian had been silent during this argument. He looked rather like a deer caught in the headlights now that he had been brought into it.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"You'd know that better than me. You've been a necromancer for longer."

The two of them started bickering about it. Ilaran squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think things through. Fact: Haliran had a zombie. Fact: it was almost certainly already on the planet. Obvious deduction: she planned to use it for something. Fact: causing a zombie apocalypse was not in her best interests, but threatening to cause one would provide her with a bargaining chip. Obvious deduction: it was contained in a very secure place where it couldn't bite someone. That ruled out a city, town, village, and even an ordinary house.

What didn't it rule out?

A castle dungeon. A prison. A cave somewhere in the mountains.

An island.

His eyes snapped open. That made the most sense. An island, probably quite small and privately-owned, somewhere that it would be hard for intruders to stumble across by accident. But where? Somewhere off the coast? An island in a lake?

Or an island in the Weinagan Sea?

In the background Abihira was whining about something and Imrahil was saying, "I am not going to ask Death!"

Ilaran ignored them both. He went to his desk and rummaged around until he found a map of Saoridhlém. Tananerl was the westernmost part of the empire. To the north-east, roughly in the middle of the country, was either a very large lake or a small inland sea. The scientists insisted it was a lake because it was full of freshwater. Everyone else ignored them and called it the Weinagan Sea. The map showed two islands. They were both too large for Haliran's purposes. But there were bound to be other, smaller ones in the sea.

He needed a map of its coastline specifically. And he knew exactly where to find one. Thank all the gods for Irímé organising the archives.

"You've got an idea," Abihira said, finally picking up on his thoughts.

"I've got a plausible theory," Ilaran said. "I need more evidence to prove it."

Haliran could have gone to an island off the coast, in the actual ocean. Ilaran could be completely wrong and she could be holed up in the middle of a city somewhere. But he was willing to bet on the Weinagan island theory. It would be damned difficult to land a spaceship on the coast unobserved. Too many lighthouses, magic academies, and warning spells in case of invasion. And unless she was actively suicidal, she wouldn't have too many people around where they could be bitten.

"The Weinagan sea?" Abihira asked, reacting to his thoughts rather than his words. "Does Haliran own any islands there?"

"Siarvin will know."