With a roar, she drove her sword through his chest.
Usti’s eyes widened. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I’d ask the ancestors to welcome you home”—she yanked her sword free—“but I don’t think they’ll take you. Not even your mother can help you now.”
Behind her, the mountain groaned. A fresh crack split the wall, and water erupted in violent torrents.
Atsadi, Fala under one arm, seized Kai around the waist. “Run!”
Usti dropped to one knee, all the fight gone from his eyes.
They crossed into the tunnel?—
And the ledge gave way, swallowing Usti whole.
The cannon deck tilted under Oskar’s boots, groaning as the ship’s spine finally gave out. Beams cracked overhead, hurling splinters through the air like darts.
Oskar yanked a wide-eyed Fish off the wall by the collar, just before another beam snapped abovethem. “We need to go!”
“I was just about to say that!” the boy yelped, tumbling after Oskar.
The ceiling shuddered. Dust rained down in thick sheets. A cannon tore loose from its straps and rolled down the slanted floor, smashing barrels on the way.
Oskar grabbed an overhead pipe and swung past the wreckage. He landed hard on the rising angle of the next deck.
Fish scrambled after him with less grace, slipping and swearing.
They ran up the stairs, ducked beneath a crooked bulkhead, and leapt over the jagged gap where the middle of the corridor had collapsed entirely. They emerged into the open sun just as the deck cracked beneath them.
Thorne’s remaining crew were already abandoning the ship and swimming for shore.
Oskar spied theEntia’s bulkhead nearby. “Jump!” he yelled.
They did. Air roared past Oskar’s ears. The sea rose fast. Then, the cold caught and held them, punching the breath from his lungs.
Gasping, Oskar broke the surface moments before Fish. Beside them, Thorne’s ship slid under in a slow, reluctant death.
They all did. In every direction, Thorne’s mighty fleet was broken or on fire or both. One that would haunt Thorne’s name—and etch Triarius’s fleet into legend. All thanks to Selene’s planning—and a few brave, troublemaking teenagers who had a knack for sneaking aboard enemy ships.
Fish bobbed beside him, soot-streaked and grinning. “We actually did it.”
Oskar clapped the back of the boy’s head. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the ship.”
Thorne’s fleet might be sinking, but the war wasn’t done with them yet.
Blaze didn’t know how much longer he could keep going—but he couldn’t stop now.
He ducked a swinging blade and drove his dagger up beneath the man’s ribs. He didn’t pause to watch him fall—just turned and crossed swords with the next. Their blades locked, and the two grappled for dominance. Finally, he twisted free and slammed an elbow into the man’s face.
Thunder cracked overhead—no storm, just the beasts locked in battle above. Blood soaked the sandbelow.
Blaze had only a moment to track the dronsian’s battle as he and the Vorash vanished over the dune.
And racing after them, two figures, hands locked. Augustus and Selene.
Too far for Blaze to be of any use unless he could find a clear path through this bloody beach.
Blaze staggered under the next swing, and the pirate raised his sword high for a killing blow?—
