The waves were pounding on the rocks below us. The Waking Tide, cutting off any retreat.
“Hells,” he continued, “I couldskewerCrake for this. If we had more people…”
“How many are you?”
“Less than twenty,” said Zennia. “And not all Orha. Some Floodmouths, a couple of Mudmouths, one Gustmouth. And Kielty, of course.” She flashed him a grin.
Still not enough to challenge Crake, not to mention the Cormorants and their Orha, too.
“They’re wearing their own laconite,” I said, grim faced. “Except their Orha, and the son…Iovawn.”
Kielty’s face darkened. “He’s with them, is he? Fabulous.”
I thought of Llir, somewhere in the keep. Barricaded in with his family, maybe. Had Crake got to them by now?
Something in me had stoked into a blaze. As much as I wanted to stay stuck to Zennia, I’d made a promise to myself up there, hadn’t I? I’d vowed I would do what I could to help the family.
And I realized now, with a shudder of shame, how wrong I’d been about Emment Shearwater…His hesitation, his hollow stares and dark moods. That hadn’t been guilt; it had been uncertainty.I’dplanted the creeping suspicion in his head that he might have done something horrible to Zennia. He’d played a convincing villain in their play, but that was all it had been: an act.
“I need to go back up there,” I said. “See what’s going on.”
Kielty eyed me. “You’d be much safer down here with us. There’s nothing we can do. Crake’ll sweep through them in minutes. Trust me, he won’t leave anyone alive. Well, maybe the Orha, but he’ll find a use for you.”
“I have to,” I said. “I can’t just—” My limbs were trembling.
Kielty’s gaze now seemed almost knowing, and I wondered if he’d guessed what was drawing me back. Either way, he said nothing.
“I’m coming with you,” Zennia said.
I shook my head, turning toward her. “No. I already thought you were dead once. I don’t want to be the cause of it actuallyhappeningthis time.”
“Too bad,” she said with an infuriating smile. “Because I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
My shoulders slumped. I couldn’t exactly stop her.
“What do you have in the way of a weapon?” Kielty was examining my crumpled garments.
I reached for my knife before remembering what I’d done with it: stabbed Nemaine in order to escape. My blank face must have given me away, because he shook his head and handed me his own rapier: a little rusty but still pin sharp.
“I don’t know how to use one of these.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Zennia said, at the same time as Kielty quipped, “Point and stab.”
The three of us laughed, all a little nervously.
After that the rebels turned back to their boats, from which they were unloading more weapons, leather armor. A few scouts fanned out, seeking hidden places to safely wait out the assault raging above.
Zennia and I began the hike up to the castle, keeping to the mist-wreathed, rarely used paths. Kielty’s rapier felt odd at my side, an unfamiliar, unbalancing weight. For her part, Zennia had a crossbow in aholster. It looked strange to my eyes after a decade of desks and black uniforms at Arbenhaw.
“You sure you don’t want to just leave them all to it?” she murmured, gazing warily up at the castle. More shouts drifted down toward us, the crash of something splintering inside.
I followed her gaze. I couldn’t find the words. I hardly understood how I was feeling myself, let alone felt able to explain it to another. The silence was heavy, and after a moment, I looked back at my friend, taking her in. “They all said you’d drowned.” My voice came out hoarse. “Rexim, Tigo…Emment said hesawit.”
Zennia stiffened but didn’t break her stride. “Emment,” she repeated, scowling slightly. “Yes, he did. He saw me drown.” She met my stare. “Because that’s what I wanted him to see.”
I opened my lips to say, “I don’t understand,” but she must have seen my bafflement.
“I decided to do it before we got into the boat. Before we headed back to the island.” She paused. “How much do you know already?”
