“I think we do,” he said. “The ironmages are going to start repairing the Dreadwall, and we’re going to get the Navy to chase us…”
He scrunched his nose.
“…whilewe close the Channel behind us.”
Smoke blinked.
“The Channel.”
“Aye,” said Dev.
“ThisChannel?” asked Smoke, gesturing to the wide swath of water surrounding the island on either side.
I nodded. “Sealing the Cloudgate within the wall and trapping theRhi’Ahrin the south.”
His expressive eyes widened.
“While the Navy is at our stern?” asked Smoke.
I bit my lip. Itdidsound like madness. Suns, maybe it was.
“If they’re unlucky or cocky, or if they try to fire on us instead of making knots, then they get caught in the Dreadwall,” Dev said. “But if not, we lead them on a merry chase and hopefully, everyone goes home alive.”
“Racing through the foggin’ Dreadwall with the foggin’ Navy on your foggin’ heels, while you close the biggest foggin’ gap in the entire foggin’ ocean behind you as you go doesnotfoggin’ sound ‘merry,’ Dev,” he groaned, and he ran a hand over his forehead. “What ifwe’recaught in the Dreadwall as well?”
“We die,” said Dev. “In spectacular fashion.”
“Oh,” said Smoke. “Oh my.”
What magik, to have silenced his elegantly profane tongue.
“I’ll definitely need more rum for that.” And he swung around and marched down to the main, shouting orders as he went.
The canvas thundered as they caught the wind, and theMarelethanglided out of the bay as swift as a sailfin. The wind was behind us, and we were making full sail. A “run,” it was called, when you sailed with the wind. You went fast and you went far, and you made knots by harnessing the rushing bank of air.
I smiled to myself at the irony. Sometimes I fought. Sometimes I ran. I’d fought all these last months. Now was the time to run.
That wind was strong now, almost a gale, as we neared the Channel between the walls of the Dread. Waves were rough, the currents clipping, when suddenly, there was a flash of white as Kier dropped to the deck. He strode up beside me, saying nothing, eyes fixed on the island even still.
“I’ll gather the spinners and let Smoke know the course,” said Dev, loud enough to be heard over the wind and the Dreadwall. He turned to the masts but paused and threw a look over his shoulder. “I don’t know if this will work, but…”
He nodded swiftly, first at Kier, then at me.
“Your future king says, ‘Well done.’”
And with that, he headed off to assemble the crew.
I looked up at Kier. His eyes were shadowed, his mouth tight, and his sea-dark hair whipped across his noble brow.
“I do not know if they have the strength, Aro’el,” he said. “The spells they are weaving are Archaic. It will take time for them to cast enough magik to summon the Dreadwall.”
“We just need to buy them the time they need,” I said. “Trust me, my mother is stubborn enough to succeed on sheer will alone.”
He glanced down at me, and his lips twitched. “Like her daughter.”
“Just like her daughter.” And I beamed at him.
TheMarelethan’s sails thundered as the boom swung port, and we both looked up just as the ship banked hard. The Dreadwall loomed ahead, its furious, glittering waters raging to the skies, and we tacked port at the very last minute, heeling deep in the currents, the spray of the Dreadwall stinging and sharp.
