They whirled around, ready to fight, but it wasn’t Isabel. A warrior clad in black armor flipped her golden hair and twin braids from her face. She stood with a sword still sheathed at her back, a bow and arrow notched in hand. She drew back, her hazel eyes staring them down.
Chapter 40
Amaris
The ship wasworse than Amaris expected. Her imagination rallied with what she’d seen in movies, but nothing compared to the ominous gloom shrouding the ship in darkness. It reeked of damp mold and decaying fish.
Rain continued to pelt against the hull, and some trickled through the floorboards overhead. The continuous bounding of feet and the drop of cannonballs above had her skin prickling and her mind on alert. With her luck, a cannonball would break through the floorboards and hit her on the head.
Amaris stumbled through the dark, her hand sliding over the wooden wall as she snuck deeper into the ship. If those drag marks were Adelaide’s, Amaris thought she’d likely be taken to the brig. At least that’s what happened in the movies. She hadn’t come across Adelaide dead in the sand, so she was hopeful she was alive.
A rickety ladder held together with rope and twine bore her weight as she descended further. Running on a sheer whim, she kept moving. A creak of the ladder had her halting as she clung to the death trap.
This is crazy, she laughed to herself. She was running after Adelaide and was probably going to get herself killed.
She released a shaky breath, steadying her hands against the rail of the ladder. With a few more rungs, her feet touched solid ground. Even with her eyes open, the world was cascaded in darkness. She was used to it. At work, she moved through thick smoke, unable to even see her glove in front of her face.
She released her hold on the ladder and allowed her hands to reach for the walls. Her fingers slipped from plank to plank, following their warped nature. Her feet shuffled across the ground, feeling for furniture or holes in the floor. This was what she’d trained for, moving through deadly, blackout conditions.
Her hand slid off the wall and met the soft, mesh fabric of a hammock. She kept moving, feeling where one ended and the next began. Counting each step, she knew she’d only have to turn around to find her exit.
The ship rocked as a wave crashed against the hull, dropping her to her knees. With her pulse climbing, she latched onto a post. The ship teetered back and forth, but Amaris gripped tighter to keep herself from being flung across the room. She dug her nails into the wood, begging for the ship to right itself.
She’d managed to row an excruciatingly tough boat all the way to the ship and scale the deadly ropes. She wasn’t going to lose whatever was left in her stomach to the rocking of the ship.
The teetering stilled, and she released her claws from the post. She pushed farther, moving at a quicker pace. She had to find Adelaide before the fight ended and they were both stuck here.
Her foot left solid ground. She gripped the last hammock, ripping the fabric as she danged over a hole. Flailing like a maniac, she found a ladder.
More darkness consumed her, gobbling her up like that fire almost had. She landed, but a single lantern hung in the distance. It swayed over a table with several weapons littered on it. The ship rocked again, but Amariswas too slow to grab a hold of anything. She flew to the side, smacking into iron bars. She cradled the back of her head, waiting for the nauseating swaying to end.
“Who’s there?” a vengeful voice hissed in the darkness.
Amaris was on her feet and reaching for her knife. She displayed the weapon as she stepped closer to the voice, readying her stance as she waited for something to jump out of the shadows.
“Who’s asking?” Amaris threw out.
“Amaris?” Adelaide’s once dark hiss turned to startling relief.
Amaris ran toward it, grabbing a hold of the single lantern to begin checking through the bars.
“Over here.”
Amaris spun around, thrusting the lantern through the bars to spy Adelaide leaning against the back wall, holding her side, as blood leaked from a cut on her temple and dripped from her nose. Dropping to her knees, dread filled Amaris as she took in Adelaide’s injuries.
“What hurts?” she asked.
Adelaide winced as she made small movements closer to the door. “Is everything an option?”
Amaris sat back on her heels, her hand gripping the metal bar as rust smeared in her palm. “Yes.” She nearly laughed, but the muscles around her chin tightened. Adelaide was alive.
“How did you find me?”
“Later,” Amaris muttered. “First, we’re getting you out of here.”
“Do you have the key?” Adelaide rolled to her side, attempting to get her feet beneath her.
“No, but do you know where it might be? Who locked you in?”
