But I see another girl first. She looks about the same age as the first, not more than sixteen. She has long, straight auburn hair, pale skin and golden eyes I would know anywhere.
In a deadpan voice, she says, “Hi. Glad you’re alive.”
“Th-thanks?” I stammer.
The girl turns to my rescuer, who’s wringing out her black curls, the bubble around her face now gone. “So, how’d the Autumnfire drill work?”
“Perfectly,” my rescuer responds. “First time I’ve ever said that about one of your experiments.”
Autumnfire. Those golden eyes. I hold the gaze of the second girl and know we’ve met once before. Eleanor, Farron’s little sister.
One of the women who dragged me onto the boat turns to the young girl who saved me. “What are your orders, captain?”
The young girl walks to the wheel and grabs the spokes. “We secured the cargo. Set sail for the open ocean. Let’s see these bastards try to outrunThe Deathly Sky Dancer!”
Now, I know. We have met before. With all the adrenaline coursing through me earlier, I hadn’t been able to place her. But the confidence I saw in her just now has assured me of it.
I was rescued by Dayton’s little sister, Delphia. The steward of Summer.
CHAPTER 8
Dayton
Our skiff cuts through the turquoise water, white sails filled with wind. I shift the rudder at the stern and peer into the horizon. There’s something ahead, too far to make out.
“Grab the tiller,” I tell Wrenley. She takes my place without complaint.
I stand and walk carefully to the bow. The fishing skiff Claudius lent us is small, barely big enough for two, but it’s quick and can handle the open sea without too much fuss.
I hold onto a rope and lean forward. The salty air whips my hair back. It’s been decades since I’ve been upon the ocean like this. No land in sight, only the sky and sea before me. Though my magic has long been empty, my heart stirs. Just as Kel is most at home in a frosty wasteland,thisis where I belong. Salt on my tongue and a whole horizon to tame.
“What do you see?” Wrenley calls from behind me.
“Nothing yet.”
“There’s a spyglass down by the lamp.”
I rifle through the junk Claudius left in the skiff: three fishing harpoons, a net, a jug of oil, a lamp for late-night expeditions, and a packet of matches. Finally, I grab the spyglass and hold it up to my eye.
“Stars be damned,” I whisper.
“What is it?”
“I think … I think it’s the First Sands.”
“Thewhat?”
“The First Sands,” I say louder, so my voice carries over the wind and she can hear me properly. Every Summer child knowsabout the Arena of the First Sands. It was Summer’s first colosseum, not a structure of rock and dirt like the one in Hadria, but a giant floating barge. It was built so both the land people of Hadria and the sea people of Aerantheis could celebrate together.
That was centuries upon centuries ago, a relic long thought shipwrecked or lost. Mentions of it disappeared from recent history, the same time as the people of Aerantheis did.
Wrenley releases the tiller, walks up beside me, and gestures for the spyglass. I take another long look before I give it up. The barge is circular in shape, with massive arches and columns complete with Summer’s intricate carvings. Everything has been reinforced with metal: steel plates cover the hull and bars crisscross between the pillars. This kind of metalwork has only been seen in …
“Spring’s taken it over,” I snarl, handing the spyglass to Wrenley. “It looks like a damned prison.”
“If that’s true, we have to be careful,” she says. “Kairyn’s forces could be all around us right now.” The boom of a cannon echoes across the waves, and I snatch the spyglass straight from Wrenley’s hands. Then I see it, east of the barge. A wooden schooner, white sails filled with wind, streaking away. A black flag snaps back and forth painted with a horse’s skull over crossed bones. Though I’ve never seen the flag before, the ship I recognize instantly. How could I not?
“That’sThe Trident’s Glory,” I say. “The fastest ship in Summer’s navy.” Though, the name has been scrawled out. I close my left eye to get better focus with my right while looking in the spyglass. Yes, there’s paint smeared over the name. I can barely make out the new letters:THE DEATHLY SKY DANCER.
