32
Eira didn’t have time to process the full implications of her discovery. She had to escape, get back to her friends, tell them what happened, and then they all had to figure out a way to thwart what the Pillars were doing. Under no circumstances was she about to let the Pillars take these back to Ulvarth. But rather than attempting to dispose of the flash beads here and now, she started with the escaping part.
She had other ideas for how to make the Pillars pay and Eira was ready to play the long game.
Sinking back into the water, Eira didn’t swim back through the cavern so much as rode on a current of her own making through. Cullen was just at the opposite end of the cave as she shot past. Hooking his arm, she pulled him up to the surface with her. The water swelled around them, taking them all the way back up the hill where their friends were waiting, thankfully already dressed.
Cullen landed more clumsily than she did, sputtering a bit. He no doubt inhaled some water with the surprise of her grabbing him. But he seemed to compose himself quickly.
“Could you always do that?” Noelle blurted. Even though her brows were high with surprise, her mouth had curled into a prideful grin.
“No, Adela taught me. But that’s not what’s important. There are Pillars.Here.” It felt like Eira spoke a dozen words a second as her mind raced.
“What? Pillars?” Olivin was on his feet. “Are you all right?”
“Are you some kind of Pillar magnet?” Ducot asked incredulously.
“Sometimes I think I am. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t. But this time I’m glad I have this streak of bad luck. I’m fine, but they won’t be, soon.” Eira was frantically pulling back on her clothes, tugging them into place. Luckily her friends picked up on the urgency without needing to be explicitly told. “They’re getting a shipment of flash beads. There were six bags—no, seven.”
“From who?” Ducot asked.
“I don’t know who the person was, but they were definitely from Carsovia—the Pillars are getting flash beads on the order of the empress herself.”
That stilled them all with shock. But only for a second.
“What are we going to do about it?” Olivin asked, a knowing gleam to his eyes. He could see her mind working.
“We can’t let them get that much firepower to Meru,” Eira said with nod to what they were all thinking. “Our options, so far as I can tell, are to try and stop them here and now. Or, we go back to theStormfrost.”
“Still amazed you didn’t just stab them on sight,” Noelle muttered.
“I certainly thought about it. And in thinking, I came up with a better idea to make them pay—but I wanted to solicit all of your insight. I’m not the woman who acts first and thinks later anymore.” Eira grinned at her friend, too aware of her past faults to be offended.
“So you keep saying. Yet, every time I have proof, I’m astounded.” Noelle’s expression became serious once more. “But I think we should just get the bastards. Blow them up with their flash beads they find so precious.”
Olivin hummed.
“You’re not convinced?”
“Kill the men, and we stopthisshipment. Sink the ship, and we probably slow a lot more shipments down the line, especially given the state we left the Ofok port in. This might be one of the Pillars last ships out, at least on this side of the continent. And bringing another around Meru will take some time. I say go for the ship.” He put his hands in his pockets with a slight shrug. “But I’ll do whatever you want to do.”
“Cullen, Ducot?” Eira asked each of them.
“I’m following you,” Cullen said without hesitation.
“I’m following her.” Ducot tilted his head in Noelle’s direction. “And she seems to be following you. But we’re wasting time with this caucus.”
“I know.” Eira turned to Olivin. “You and I are of the same mind on this one. Cullen and Noelle—you two go over the ridge there and see where they’re taking the flash beads. The rest of us will go and get theStormfrostand come around this side of the island. When we’re in sight, signal us, Noelle.”
“What in ‘I’m following her’ made you want to split us up?” Ducot folded his arms. “I’m just going to slow you both down running back to the city, anyway.”
“Then go with them, too.” Eira nodded at Ducot. “You and Noelle can stop the people on the shore. Cullen, I need you to slow the ship itself if they try to get away.”
“Understood.” For once, there was no hesitation. No sideways looks in Olivin’s direction. It prompted Eira to reach out and squeeze his hand.
“Good luck, you three,” she said warmly.
“Move quickly,” Cullen urged her and Olivin as they started down the path.
