Shadows emerged. Great ships with bright white sails, decks full of soldiers, and all of them bearing siege equipment mounted to theforedecks. Five, six, seven, she counted, and then the numbers leapt into the dozens and she gave off counting. With them was the familiar shape of theVictoria,royal purple flying in her rigging.
Harendell had been prepared for this moment, and the full force of the jewel of the north had arrived.
Ahnna caught hold of James’s hand, her palm slick with sweat as she whispered. “God have mercy on our souls.”
98
Aren
“Everyone to their positions!” Arenshouted, his mind filling with flashbacks of the siege of Eranahl. Countless ships pressing in, steel and flame flying through the air, and defenses falling one by one as Silas tried to pull out the island’s gate.
This was a thousand times worse.
“Don’t show them your true range,” James said, falling in alongside him. “Let at least a few of them find out the hard way. The debris and sinking vessels will get in their way, and they’ll have to deploy ships for rescues.”
Nothing he didn’t already know, but Aren gave the orders to keep the shipbreakers at the ready, no deployments. Then James grabbed his arm, his amber eyes intent as he shoved a spyglass into Aren’s hand. “It’s not just weapons those decks are mounted with. They’ve adapted siege towers and other mechanisms that we’d use to gain entrance to fortresses. They aim to use them to get soldiers onto the island.”
Aren lifted the spyglass, focusing on each individual ship.
“It’s warfare we haven’t used in a generation.” James’s expression was grim. “Someone did their research, and this doesn’t feel like something Alexandra would have included in her plans. Theseretrofits couldn’t have been accomplished so soon after my father’s death. They were in the works well before, I think.”
“Edward’s own designs.”
James gave a tight nod. “I think so. Sea warfare isn’t my expertise, but it was my father’s.”
“And we gave him all the information he needed to take Southwatch from Silas.”
“He’d invested in the shipyards,” Ahnna said from where she was strapping on weapons that Sarhina had brought with her in the longboats. “It was marked as repairs in his banking records. I suppose now we know the truth.”
“I assume you didn’t know, James, so it’s not your fault.” Aren tried to pull out of James’s grip, but the other man’s fingers tightened.
“I’m not apologizing for my father’s ambition—I’m telling you he would have aimed to command this sort of battle himself. Would have been preparing and doing his own calculations and strategies in secret, because he didn’t want anyone to know his endgame. He’s dead. Which means whoever is in command is unlikely to have the skill or knowledge needed for this. He’ll make mistakes. That is where our advantage lies, because none of them”—he waved a hand—“have done this before. You have.”
“They’re dropping sails and running out oars,” Lara called. “Forming a line. They’re not waiting. This is happening now.”
Aren’s eyes filled again with Eranahl, his ears ringing with the screams of the injured. The shriek of steel dragging against rock.
Lara, dead in his arms.
His breath caught, chest tightening so fast it hurt. He wasn’t on the cliffs of Ornak—he was back in the harbor of Eranahl, crushed beneath the weight of loss, grief strangling his will to go on.
Aren blinked, forced air into his lungs, and shook his head roughly.Lara is alive. And you won that battle.
Lara won that battle.
And from the way she stood surveying the threat, the queen of Ithicana intended to do the same thing again.
The sea surf was quiet, belying the chaos that was about to unfold atop it. The Harendellian fleet was moving into formation with their typical efficiency, sleek cutters flanking heavier ships loaded down with siege towers and catapults, none of it anything Aren had seen in his lifetime. Sunlight flashed on the spray made from oars moving in perfect unison. Glistened off the shields and weapons of the uniformed soldiers lining the decks.
The line of ships curved, spreading outward and encircling Ornak like a noose.
He turned and took in the lines of Ithicanians stretched across the cliffs. Warriors—his people—waiting with weapons ready. Brave and determined, but very much targets.
“Everyone get behind cover!” Aren shouted. “Do not let them see you. Do not let them see so much as a glint of steel. I want every third shipbreaker removed from its mount and put behind obstacles that can take a direct hit. The rest need to be kept behind vine screens. They are the targets, so don’t make it easy for them!”
Voices called back, affirming the order. Then came the clatter of movement—grunts of exertion as the crews scrambled to obey. The grinding sound of heavy bolts being unscrewed from stone. The massive shipbreakers, painstakingly mounted to defend Ornak, were dragged back under jungle cover.
Ahnna remained on the cliff edge, silhouetted against the water. Her hair was pulled back in a tight braid, and though his sister’s face was grim, her eyes were alive with calculation.
