“Then there’s less for someone to find when the corpse washes ashore.” Vi stared at him. In that moment, it was painfully clear that he was sitting where she had been months ago. He had never killed—at least not with his own hands—and had never considered doing so. Vi swallowed hard, looking over her shoulder. “Just freeze one, I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Charlie,” the woman cupped her hands to her lips and yelled. “Have you seen an ice moon?”
It was clearly some kind of code—a code neither of them knew the answer to. “Get a little closer,” Vi whispered, glancing over her shoulder. Taavin kept rowing.
“Charlie,” the man bellowed, “have you—” At that moment, he was cut short by a sudden jolt of magic. Vi heard him make a gurgling groan before he landed heavy on the deck with a dull thud.
“Narro h—” the woman began.
“Loft dorh,” Taavin said, eyes focused on the woman.
Vi turned in the rowboat, careful not to knock it over or rock it so much that Taavin lost his focus. Arwin was on deck pulling her spear from the dying man. Before she could thrust it through the woman, Vi uttered, “Juth calt.”
With that, Taavin’s magic was broken, and the woman fell limply to the deck. Arwin stood at the railing, looking down at them, regarding them both warily. Vi locked eyes with her, as if in warning.
As if to say,Yes, beyond the Twilight Forest we are as deadly as you feared.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Throw down the lines,”Vi called up to Arwin as they positioned the rowboat under two arm-like pulleys at the stern. “I’ll tie them off to the boat and you can hoist.”
Arwin walked over to the low deck rail, looking down at them. She wore a stony expression that guarded her innermost thoughts. Instinct would have Vi just as guarded, but she kept her face calm, relaxed. She didn’t want to risk escalating tensions in an already-tense situation.
Without a word, Arwin threw the ropes down and Vi caught them, quickly fastening them off to either end of the dinghy. “Stay here,” she murmured to Taavin, pulling off her scythe and setting it in the boat.
Grabbing one of the ropes, Vi hoisted herself upward with a small jump that set the dinghy to rocking. Kicking out her feet, Vi landed them on the side of the larger vessel. One hand over the other, one foot then the next, Vi walked up the side of the ship with the help of the rope.
“What was that for?” Arwin asked.
“Now you don’t have to pull alone.” Vi rubbed her palms on her thighs, working out the aches in her fingers.
“That was unnecessary. I could’ve done it on my own.”
“Or you could accept help and make it easier.” Vi moved to one of the pulleys, making sure everything was looped through correctly. Unsurprisingly, the riggings seemed to be in top shape, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“All right, let’s get our dead weight aboard.”
They pulled together until the small boat was up at deck level, tied off the ropes to secure the dinghy in place, then Vi reached out a hand for Taavin. He wasn’t too proud to take it, allowing her to help him over the railing and onto the deck. Vi reached in after him, retrieving her scythe and slinging it back over her shoulders. She was finding the longer she carried it, the less she liked being without it.
“You’re fairly confident on a boat,” he observed.
“This is the third I’ve been on.” Vi shrugged. She had a strong suspicion that neither Arwin nor Taavin had been on a ship. Maybe Taavin. But if he had been, it wasn’t in any kind of sailing capacity.
Vi knelt down, taking the earrings from both of the pirate’s ears. They were identical to Charlie’s, further confirming her suspicion that this was the token.
“Are those some kind of trophy?” Arwin asked.
“No, they’re communication tokens to Adela,” Vi pocketed them. “They could be useful… or perhaps not. Either way, I’d rather keep them than lose them to the sharks. Now, a little help please?”
Taavin and Arwin both helped Vi push the bodies to the railing, twisting them until they slipped through the wide gaps and off the sides of the boat. Vi fetched a bucket attached to a long rope, drawing up seawater and splashing it across the deck twice to remove some of the man’s blood. There was still a long red streak on the main deck, but it was clean enough. Spending too long cleaning a pirate ship felt like an exercise in futility.
“All right.” Vi wiped her hand across her brow, taking stock of the setting sun. It was little more than a sliver on the horizon now. Was it just her imagination, or was it setting earlier than normal? “We should set sail before anyone can find the bodies. I can imagine there’s at least a few in Toris who will be sympathetic to Fallor and Adela’s men.”
“Or who will at least want Adela’s gratitude and bounty for turning over the people who killed them.” Taavin leaned against the railing, a few steps away from the red smears.
“Taavin and I will give the ship a quick once-over and see the status of things. Arwin, will you fly back and gather up our supplies?” When the woman didn’t immediately respond, Vi turned to face her. She looked back at the coastline with a conflicted expression. “Ar—”
“I heard you.” The woman leapt into the air, soaring upward and back toward the cliffs where she’d stashed their bags.
