“How?” Vi whispered. Certainly, they had been consumed with Adela and rescuing her father.
Vi hadn’t so much as spared a thought for the fact that she wasn’t the only one being hunted. For every step of theirs, Ulvarth had taken one just behind, following their tracks. She could imagine him casing the towns around the Twilight Forest—setting checkpoints on the main road. She could see him getting word from Toris that the pirates had been made fools of by a girl with a strange accent, accompanied by a morphi and an unknown Lightspinner.
It wasn’t hard to piece together their intended route. Mother, the Swords of Light had likely known Adela had captured her father. He’d been coming to Meru under their order, after all. Adela may have even tried to sell him back to them.
Her hands clenched into fists at her side. She’d been so focused on herself and her own missions that she’d forgotten to account for the other pieces in play. And now everyone she loved was going to pay for it.
“Your hold over the Voice would not last forever.” Ulvarth smiled, teeth shining in the darkness. “He was bound to call out to us.”
A pulse of magic drew Vi’s gaze upward. Arwin was perched on the stern railing. “There’s no way they found us in a dark sea. He betrayed you, Vi! Don’t trust him.”
“What?” Something wasn’t adding up.
“Archers!” Ulvarth shouted across the waves. Arrows peppered the back of the boat and water behind, but it was too late; Arwin had already taken flight again, disappearing into the dark night. “Keep your eyes on the morphi!”
Vi didn’t know how they could—she had already lost track of the nightwisp. But a second pulse of magic above the large warship gave away Arwin’s location aboard a mast’s crossbeam.
“Taavin,” Arwin shouted at the top of her lungs, so loudly that her voice was perfectly clear even over the crash of waves and creaking of boats. “I will not forget your promise to me. You will pay in full, and then some. I will have blood!”
The archers had readied another volley. But by the time they shot, she was off again. Vi watched as the nightwisp flew across the dark water, blending in with the sky and sea.
“Morphi scum,” Ulvarth muttered. “My work is never done.” Vi glared up at him and Ulvarth must have sensed it, because he locked eyes with her once more, an amused expression sliding across his face. “Do you have something to say, dark-dweller?”
Vi opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Ulvarth continued.
“Consider your next words carefully. Come peacefully, use no magicks, and I shall not be forced to gag and shackle you.” Ulvarth took a step forward, trying to loom over them. But he seemed so very small in Vi’s eyes. To her, he was little more than a boy wearing too-big armor. “Come peacefully and you will receive an imprisonment befitting your station. Fight me, and you shall know the full spectrum of pain I inflict on all those who stand against Yargen.”
He said it like he was doing them some great favor. Vi wanted to punch him square in his teeth. No magic required.
“We surrender peacefully,” her father said for both of them.
As much as Vi wanted to object, she didn’t. She’d reached much the same conclusion as her father—there was no point in fighting this now. They were out maneuvered and outnumbered and their best bet was to keep as much ground as they could beneath them as they tried to plan their next advance.
Plus, her jaw ached at the mere thought of another gag.
“Take them toLight’s Victory,” Ulvarth commanded his soldiers. “And torch this dinghy.”
Vi looked back to the cabin. Her meager supplies. The journal with all her notes and maps. Once more she was ushered away from what little she’d managed to scrape together and claim as her own.
The knights directed them to the side of the vessel; Vi took a step forward. Ulvarth snatched the scythe from her grasp.
“Give that back,” Vi demanded, knowing it was both foolish and futile. But seeing the man holding the weapon was enough to curdle her stomach. Ulvarth opened his mouth and it was her turn to interrupt. “You don’t know what you’re holding.”
“You dare question me?”
“I will not fight you, but that is mine to carry.”
Ulvarth leaned forward, passing into her personal space with a sneer. “Get in the rowboat before I change my mind.”
Vi stood her ground, hands balling into fists.
“Daughter, come,” her father said sternly. But she still didn’t move.
“Listen to your father, girl.”
With one last glare, and one last look at the scythe, Vi moved forward. She was oddly reminded of theDawnskipperand her last moments aboard that vessel. Life on the high seas was exhausting, and seemed always to end badly.
She and her father slowly climbed down into one of the two rowboats. They sat side by side, right at the front, as the rest of the boat filled with Ulvarth and his knights. The remaining men and women piled into the other dinghy and were off rowing in an instant.
