The wind was gusting harder now, and her vessel kept pushing the other one sideways, slowly but surely.
Hooks flung up to catch hold of her ship’s railings, and then more Ithicanians were climbing up from the small vessels that had come alongside. They fell upon the remaining crew and soldiers, slaughtering them until she had total control of the ship.
“Ahnna!”
She lifted her face to see James standing on the clifftop, sword in hand and face splattered with blood. She’d not said goodbye. Not told him that she loved him, and there was no time now. Instead, she willed everything she had in her heart onto the wind, praying that it would deliver it to him, and she spun the wheel.
Her ship tore loose from the vessel it was pushing, and she veered away from the cliffs before shifting back to strike yet another vessel unloading soldiers onto Ornak. The impact slammed her against the wheel, but she righted herself and carried on.
She knocked loose two more ships before the first strike came. An explosion of fire across the deck, burning oil splattering.
“Abandon ship,” she shouted at her crew, knowing that Ithicanian vessels were keeping pace and would take them aboard. But everyone held their positions, and someone shouted, “Not until we sink as many as we can!” They raced to throw sand from barrels on the flames.
Ahnna cast one backward look to Ornak, seeing James standing with Aren at the edge of the cliff.
Then she turned toward the enemy.
100
James
“What is she doing?” Tarynshouted. “Has she lost her mind?”
Ahnna hadn’t lost her mind, but watching her sail away on a burning ship felt like having James’s heart torn from his chest. In one risky move, she’d struck an incredible blow to Harendell’s attack, and while there were still skirmishes going on across the island, she’d bought Ornak time to take a breath.
Even if that breath only gave clarity that the worst was yet to come. Already, more ships were moving in to resume bombardment. Dozens upon dozens of them, and with every shipbreaker on the island a ruin of char and splinters, Ithicana had no way to fight back.
Except for Ahnna, twenty Ithicanians, and a burning ship.
A hand closed on his shoulder, and James turned his head to see Aren. The king of Ithicana’s face was splattered with gore, and blood soaked his shoulder where an arrow had torn a gash through skin and muscle. “Our people are trailing her,” he said. “She might intend to ram as many as possible until it sinks, then she’ll abandon ship and escape on one of our vessels.”
Even if that was Ahnna’s plan, she’d be sailing through ships with catapults that had already struck her once. Ships full of archers, and she stood on the quarterdeck entirely exposed. And beneath all of itswam sharks that had been stirred into a frenzy, which meant no one who went into that ocean was coming back alive.
But ramming ships wasn’t Ahnna’s plan. “She’s going in pursuit of theVictoria.It’s flying purple, which means there is royalty aboard. It means Lestara is aboard.”
Everyone was silent, and though the island was alive with the noise of waves striking cliffs, swords clashing, and screams of the wounded, it all felt distant as he watched Ahnna’s ship set its track north to where theVictoriawatched on. It was possible that killing Lestara would end this. Just as possible that it would enrage his people, because they would perceive Ithicana as having taken yet another of Harendell’s rulers.
“Aren.” Lara’s voice seemed loud, and James twitched as though he’d been struck. “They’re readying for another wave.”
Ships were moving in, and James suspected they’d be more cautious this time. That they’d turn this island into nothing but rubble and ash before risking more men.
The side of Lara’s face was crimson from a cut at her temple, but tear tracks cut pink lines through the blood. “Athena and Cresta are dead. Sarhina is with Nana—she took an arrow to the stomach. But that’s just the beginning, isn’t it?” She doubled over with a sob, but when Aren reached for her, she pushed his hand away and straightened. “I’m fine. We fight on. It’s what we do.”
A fireball soared into the air, swiftly joined by two rocks as ships drew nearer, and all three struck the island with force. They rolled through the jungle, tearing down trees, but before they ceased their carnage more came on like a hailstorm of flame.
All while Ahnna sailed to strike the one last blow they had in their arsenal, even if it meant her death.
Aren abruptly stiffened. “Do you hear that?”
All James could hear was the noise of battle and the hammering of his heart. No…not his heart.
War drums.
Jor abruptly exploded from the trees. He had an arrow punched through one arm above the elbow, and his face was red with blood, but his eyes were bright with elation as he shouted. “The Valcottans are here! And they aren’t alone!”
Spotting a spyglass laying on the ground, James lifted it and looked through the smoke, past the Harendellian fleet, south to where dozens of ships were pounding through the surf, Valcottan and Maridrinian banners flying in the rigging. On one Valcottan ship, purple banners of royalty gleamed in the sun.
It was impossible. Utterly and entirely impossible that Keris and Zarrah could have reached Valcotta and returned with a fleet, short of some form of witchery. Yet there was no denying that they were here.
