The sea was full of damaged ships. Full of fire and debris. But they kept coming.
And one by one, they picked off Ornak’s shipbreakers. Worse still, with each strike on the island, more of her people fell. Men and women sat in the dirt burned beyond recognition while others lay still, their eyes as glassy as the pools of blood around them.
Then there was only one shipbreaker left under her command.
James heaved a rock into the sling, their stores of sap and pots long ago spent. With the aid of two Ithicanians, they shifted the machine so that it was directed at a ship, then let it loose.
Crack!
The large rock soared through the air, but the very same ship let loose a fireball at the exact same time. Ahnna’s chest tightened as the projectiles passed each other, and then she took note of the trajectory.
“Move!” Her scream was loud and shrill as she lunged at James. Her shoulder hit him in the side and they both rolled, going off the side of the cliff right as the fireball struck the breaker.
Ahnna clawed for purchase on the tree roots, then her whole body jerked as her fall was abruptly arrested. “I’ve got you,” James shouted, one hand holding tight to her belt and the other latched on the roots. “Climb!”
She scrambled up, her burned hands screaming in pain against the rough roots, then rolled over the top and helped James up.
The shipbreaker was nothing but a smoldering mess of charred wood and metal, a human form half melted against it. The other soldier who’d been working it sat a distance away, hands pressed to her ears and rocking side to side.
Ahnna stumbled to her, falling to her knees. “Are you hurt?”
The woman stared at her, and Ahnna realized she was just a girl. Sixteen, if a day, but old enough to have joined the service. She carefully pulled the girl’s hands from her ears. “Are you hurt?”
“Why are they doing this?” the girl asked. “What did we do to deserve this?”
“Nothing.” Ahnna pulled the girl against her. “To find meaning in why Harendell is here is the path to madness. Instead, remember why you are here. To defend your home. Your family. Your friends. Know your own heart, and care not for the hearts of those who try to take what is yours.”
“Ahnna!” James shouted. “They’re coming!”
She twisted in the ash and debris, eyes fixing on the ships with siege towers, their decks teeming with soldiers with shields. The other ships were parting to make space for them to sail through, giving her a first good look at them. They’d been reinforced, especially on the bow, with thick wood and metal plates to protect each ship as it came up against the cliffs. The weight of the vessels had to be extraordinary, and they sat low in the water, primed to sink if she could hit them just right.
“Bring forward the other shipbreakers,” she shouted at her remaining soldiers. “Get them mounted and then shoot at will! Archers, get ready!”
Ahnna dragged the girl to her feet. “Help get the injured to Nana. Go!”
All she was doing was delaying the inevitable, but Ahnna didn’t want a child on the front lines of the fight to come. Getting to her feet, she ran to help James and the others moving the three shipbreakers they’d kept hidden.
The war machines were murderously heavy, and sweat streamed down her back as she pushed one up the slope on top of log rollers. Fireballs still flew overhead, striking the island with thunderous booms, but the pace decreased as they made way for the other ships.
A teen boy raced up to her. “Commander, Jor sent me. He says thatthe boarding ships are focusing on the south and west sides of the island because the surf isn’t as fierce. We’re sending reinforcements.”
“Any word from the other quadrants?” Her real question was whether Aren was well. Lara, Taryn, and Bronwyn. Though in truth, she knew almost everyone on this island, so every loss was a knife to the chest.
The boy only shook his head.
“Go find out.” She gave him a push to the path leading into the jungle. “Go across.”
She wasn’t protecting him any more than she had the girl. There was nowhere to hide once the island was taken. Nowhere to run. Yet she couldn’t fight the desire to stand between death and those who’d barely had the chance to live.
“One more push!” James shouted, and they heaved the catapult onto its mount, two soldiers falling to their knees with tools to secure the heavy bolts. The other machines were moving into place, but as Ahnna stood, it was to find that the ships were close enough that she could see the faces of the men. See their panic.
Oars tangled up as they tried to reverse course, but it was too late. “Shoot!” she screamed, the crack of it deploying making her ears ring. The rock shot through the sky and exploded into the siege tower, carrying onward to smash through the deck behind it. The tower swayed, then collapsed on the deck full of soldiers, but Ahnna didn’t pause to watch the carnage. “Another! Don’t stop!”
Rocks flew, smashing into the ships as they tried to retreat out of range, but the weight of them made it impossible for the oarsmen below to reverse progress. Oars tangled or broke, and Ahnna knew that belowdecks, those manning them would be suffering. Injured and crushed by the heavy wood, splinters driving into flesh. Not even soldiers, just desperate men willing to take on the hard labor for a bit of coin.
Fire flew from the Harendellian ships as they resumed bombardment, and to her right, the cliff collapsed beneath one of theshipbreakers from the force of impact, its crew falling screaming into the waves below.
“Get the chum ready!” Ahnna screamed, wanting to give those who’d fallen time to swim to the cove even though she knew they’d never make it, for dark shapes were already moving in the sea, called by the noise.
