I rested my hand on my belt where Lady Mary usually was and slowly stood from the ground, staring out at the eerily calm water. There was a cold bite in the air that wasn’t there before. So chilled I thought I was going to see my breath.
“Cap’n?” Mullins said.
Before I could focus too long on how impossible it was that Gus was in the water laughing at us when we’d left him on the ship, a gunshot echoed from town. Our heads snapped in that direction. It was distant, but unmistakable. Every fiber of my being wanted to rush inland and find Dahlia. The thought of her being overrun flooded my head. Humans. Sirens. It didn’t matter. Either one in great numbers could bring her to heel.
“Fuck,” I grumbled.
“This isn’t right,” James whispered.
“We stay here,” I said, staring intently at the road leading into Dornwich. “That’s what she said.”
Another gunshot rippled through the air. I balled my fist and braced it on a tree beside me as if the tree would hold me back.
“Cap’n,” David said.
“Keep your eyes on the water,” I ordered, keeping my own on the road.
The moments passed slowly and every second felt like torture. Like, perhaps we were in a dream. A very bad dream. I took a deep breath, waiting for something, anything, that would tell me what was going on. There was a splash near the docks that drew all our gazes. Immediately following, I heard screams. Familiar screams.Dahlia’sscreams. They came from the water. My head swiveled toward them, but I saw nothing. They continued, shrill and tormented as if she was in great pain.
“Vidar, help!” she shrieked.
They were so close and yet there was nothing there. Then, in my peripheral, something ducked beneath the water. I whipped my head toward it and saw another just out of my immediate line of sight. Heads, peeking out of the water, fleeing my vision before I got a good look at one. I stepped toward the shoreline and stopped myself. The men around me were all standing now, alert and on edge, hands on their weapons. Another gunshot rang through the air, much closer that time. My eyes were torn back toward the road.
“What the fuck?” Mullins said, unable to decide where to look.
Instinctively, the four of us stood close, back-to-back, so our eyes could see in all directions. The screams from the water were joined by Meridan, Gus, and even David, who was standing right next to me. I wanted to run right into the sea and get to Dahlia, but my feet wouldn’t move. There was something in my gut telling me it was wrong. It was all wrong. Mullins took a step as if to flee toward the ocean—toward Meridan—but I grabbed his arm.
“It’s impossible,” I said to him, feeling crazed.
The ruckus of a wagon plowing across uneven terrain and the heavy footfalls of a horse’s hooves refocused my attention. I pulled all four of us further from the water and deeper into the brush as a wagon finally came into view up the road. A massive horse pulled it with two figures in the back. Behind them, a small group of villagers were sprinting to catch up and unless my eyes were deceiving me, a couple of them were missing limbs.
“Vidar!” Meridan screamed, leaping out of the wagon before it came to a full stop.
My men opened fire on the villagers as I sprinted toward Meridan on the road. I aimed my weapon and fired a shot above her head, hoping to deter the barefoot man who was hot on her heels. Another figure jumped out of the wagon, unruly hair bouncing around her face. James rushed to her side.
“Christ, Addison!” he barked. They both began unloading sacks of heavy material, wasting no time on a reunion yet.
But Dahlia wasn’t among them and when I realized it, my heart dropped to my stomach.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“They have her,” Meridan said.
“They who?”
“Kroans. They knew who she was.”
I hissed a curse and reached into my belt pouch for a slug and another charger. I ripped the charger with my teeth, emptying the gunpowder into my pistol as I turned to my men.
“Get everything back to the ship.”
“What are you doing?” David said.
“Going after Dahlia.”
“It might be what they want,” Meridan said. “They know she’s been sailing with you and most Kroans want you dead. And she wouldn’t want us to go after her. You know that.”
“Are you saying we should leave her?”
