“The ships that attacked Hodgetown?” I asked.
“You were chasing their chimeric, yes?” said Echo.
I had been chasing theRhi’Ahrships, yes, but I hadn’t fully thought out what we’d do once we caught ’em.
“Captain thinks they may have formed a Dreadship,” said Echo. “Isn’t that right, Buck?”
“They do that,” the bosun said. “Fearsome big. Hard to sink.”
Now, that was definitely something I remembered from Berryburn Yard. A Dreadship was two or more ships joined together to form a larger vessel. The Emperial Navy had never been successful, but clearly, theRhi’Ahrhad mastered the skill. Another reason we needed the Dreadwall to keep them from our shores.
“Hand sail, Mr. Buck,” called Fahr over the winds. He was with the captain on the pup and holding a spyglass to his eye. “We have a Dreadship of two. There’s a third out here somewhere.”
The bosun grunted and left my side, shaking his horned head and barking commands to the crew. Hand over hand, they began to reef the sails, slowing our speed as we rode the choppy waves. The harpy, whose name I’d learned was Kithriit, or Kit, sprang between the masts, dousing the lanterns that swung from timber and beam.
I looked up to the high pupdeck, where captain and first mate stood. I had to admit they cut fine figures on the deck of this ship, like day and night, sun and moon. Thanavar wore mystery like a cloak, whereas Fahr was as bright as a coal fire. I watched the first mate lift the spyglass again, his dark hair whipping in the sea wind. He’d be a natural at the wheel of a Navy frigate or Emperial man-of-war. Why he would trade such a life to walk inthe footsteps of an enemy captain, I’d never know.
I studied that enemy captain now. ARhi’Ahrwarrior in the coat of a Navy officer, and it set my blood to boil. Tall and lean, he was wrapped in moonslight and fury. Black hair escaping its queue behind those bloody elven ears, and cheekbones that could cut paper. Like a stormshear, he was, all anchor and clash, a whirlpool of shadow and sky. I found myself pulled into that riptide, whether I wanted to be or not.
He turned his face, and, for a brief moment, our eyes met. Lightning shot down my spine, and I fought the urge to look away. Instead, I steeled my jaw, refusing to stand down, daring him to see me. Me, the wretched girl from the lost frigate. Me, the vain, insignificant ensign Blue, the wayward woman adrift on the sea, filled with the chimeric that called to us both…
Chase, whispered that voice once again, echoing the excitement growing in my chest.Aro’el, child. Chase.
Swiftly, I glanced away, pretending to study the ocean, but my toes curled inside my boots, and I took breath after breath to still my racing heart. Chimeric,Rhi’Ahr, Ship of Spells, war. I was alive with something that I didn’t understand, so I buried it deep down beneath my iron will and the anger that was my lifeboat. These were stormy seas, and with a captain like that, I’d need all the anchors I could get.
I tried to see the Dreadship’s lights, but it was a task as the rough waters pitched us in their swell. Suddenly, Kithriit cried out from high in the rigging and pointed portside, where another light flared into view. Fahr swung his glass.
“Marelethanto port!” he cried.
She had been running dark, with no lamp or lantern on the open sea, and I could see chimeric crackling in the gunports along her hull.
“Beat to quarters!” barked the captain.
“All hands beat to quarters!” Fahr shouted. “Gunners, roll!”
“Gunners!” echoed Smoke from the wheels. “All hands to the post!”
My blood hammered along with the drums as the crew scrambled to the carronades, rolling them across the deck like thunder.
“I must get to surgery,” said Echo. “One always hopes…”
His voice trailed off, and I looked up. His goatlike eyes were glassy, his brow furrowed.
“Another ship, very close,” he said. “I hear them.”
He bolted upright, swung around to the pup.
“Captain!” he cried. “Fourth ship, stormveil to starboard!”
And my arms lit up like fireworks.
7. Stormveil
“Stormveil to starboard!” Thanavar barked. “All hands!”
Stormveil? I didn’t think any other ship could stormveil! I scried the furious waters and could see no fourth ship off our starboard side. TheMarelethan,however, was sweeping in on our port side already. She had gotten close by running dark, her normal ship-song drowned out by the roar of wind and wave. Now, I could hear them shouting over the boom of cannons. The sky flashed, and two balls tore through our rigging, snapping a cable and swinging a yardarm into the mast.
“Return fire, Mr. Buck!”
