Ten
THEY’D MADE GOOD time since leaving Embre’s craggy coast behind five days ago, though a storm had pushed them much farther west than Charis was comfortable with. The faster she could hand over half the supply of moriarthy dust to Verace’s king, the better. However, now there was a swath of shallow water with huge rocky outcroppings jutting from its surface between her ship and Verace, so the safest path was to travel southwest and then cut east once they were far enough past the outcroppings.
She had no idea where the Rakuuna were, but if they were still hunting for her, surely the last place they’d expect her to be was sailing out of the icy northern seas and into the gray-green waters of the west. There was nothing out there but caves, islands, pirates, and sea monsters. No one in their right mind would choose this course when they could instead use the merchant lanes farther east, closer to the sea kingdoms and the illusion of safety they provided.
The storm had cost her time she didn’t have, but there was nothing she could do about it now. They would sail southwest for one more day and then turn east and pray for clear skies and favorable winds.
Making her way to the forecastle, she joined Orayn. “How long before we can go east?”
“I don’t like it,” Orayn muttered as he wrestled with the helm and barked an order for Finn to relay to the crew. Joren, a whip-thin boy with a shock of red hair, sprang into action, climbing the main mast with dexterity and speed.
“What don’t you like?” Charis asked.
Orayn grunted, his large hands gripping the helm as a gust of wind rocked the boat. When he had it under control, he gestured to the right. “See that?”
She squinted against the shards of sunlight dancing across the water. A massive island was slowly coming into view off the starboard side. It looked like a tree-covered mountain bordered by a strip of sand, but there were large, gaping holes along the base, as though it was pockmarked with caves.
“Another island?” she asked.
“Not just an any island, Your Majesty.” Orayn’s voice was grim. “That’s the basilisk cave. There’s a whole system of caves and tunnels inside, all partially filled with water. Many a sailor has lost his life to one of those basilisks when his ship took shelter in there.”
“Well, we have no plans to shelter there, so rather than worry over it, let’s figure out how far southwest we should travel before it’s safe to turn east for Verace.”
“That’s my point.” Orayn met Charis’s gaze, his dark brown eyes troubled. “The basilisk cave marks the line in the western sea where nothing is safe any longer. At least, not for the likes of us. Past that island, there are pirate hideaways, and they’d board us, kill us, and take everything we own before we could turn tail and run against this wind. Even if we do manage to avoid any pirate ships, there are sea monsters in those waters, and our ship isn’t built with spikes along the bottom to deter them.”
Charis pulled her cloak tight as the hairs on the back of her neck rose. It was bad enough they had to worry about the Rakuuna finding them. She didn’t want to face pirates and sea monsters as well.
“If we run into a big enough creature, they’ll get curious that we might be a food source, bump us hard enough to tilt the ship, and then take us down with their tentacles,” Orayn said.
Her stomach twisted, making her thankful she’d eaten barely three bites for breakfast earlier.
“What if we trim the masts and turn east now?” An errant curl drifted across her face, and she tucked it behind her ear. “Maybe we could steer along the edge of the rocky outcroppings and avoid the western sea altogether.”
“Not with this wind or this current. We need to either weigh anchor and wait for the wind to settle or keep heading southwest. Otherwise, we’d likely smash our ship into a rock.”
Charis strove to keep her voice calm, even as the familiar vise around her chest squeezed mercilessly. “If we’re anchored, I fear we’d be easier for the Rakuuna to find, but I also don’t want to go up against a kraken.”
“Are we going to see a kraken?” Holland bounded up the stairs to the helm, his face alight with eagerness.
“I’d strongly advise you to rethink that enthusiasm, Lord Farragin,” Orayn said sternly. “Even a baby kraken could punch a hole through the bottom of our boat. A full-grown kraken could wrap itself around this entire ship, snap the masts in half, and drag us into the depths.”
“Ship, ahoy!” Joren’s voice echoed down from the crow’s nest.
Charis whipped around, scanning the waters off their port side, her stomach knotting.
A small frigate with a trio of masts was on the horizon.
“Is it a pirate ship?” Her heart seemed to slam into her chest as she took a shaky step forward to peer into the distance.
“No one else would have reason to be out here.” Orayn sounded grim.
Charis forced herself to speak, though her lips felt numb. “No one but the Rakuuna.”
“I’ll arm the crew,” Holland said, already starting for the stairs.
“I’ll get more speed out of the masts,” Orayn said.
“Wait.” Charis’s voice was thin, the air in her lungs disappearing as the ship began speeding toward them.
The vessel moved unnaturally, as though the swells and currents of the northern sea had no effect on it. It was traveling in a straight line toward her ship, like an arrow released from a bow, and closing the distance between the two boats with impossible speed.
“How are they moving that fast?” Holland demanded. “And why aren’t the swells slowing it down? Is it pirates?”
“No pirate ship I know moves like that,” Orayn said.
The outline of the ship became clearer as it drew closer. A small frigate. Three tidy sails. And a trio of green lanterns hanging from the forecastle.
For an instant Charis couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything beyond fumble for the railing with trembling hands as panic slammed into her.
“It’s the Rakuuna.” She pushed the words through numb lips. “They’ve found us.”
“Weapons!” Holland cried as he took the stairs two at a time. “All hands, arm yourselves!”
Orayn gripped the helm so hard his knuckles turned pale. “We can’t outrun them, Your Majesty. Best to hide and hope they believe us when we tell them they’ve got the wrong ship.”
But unless they could somehow manage to make themselves look like pirates within the next few minutes, they’d never be able to convince the Rakuuna they had any business this far away from civilized kingdoms. Besides, all the Rakuuna had to do was send a single scout into the water to check for spikes embedded on the ship’s hull and the ruse would be discovered. Any ship that regularly sailed the western seas had spikes to defend against sea monsters.
“They won’t believe we’re pirates.” Her voice shook as badly as her hands. “They’ll either search the entire craft, finding our entire supply of poison, or they’ll just tear the ship to pieces and sink us without asking a single question.”
“But they’re after you.” He looked back at the ship, which was gaining on them rapidly. “They don’t want to drown you.”
“They’ll just fish me out of the water, and we’ll have lost our only weapon against them.” She squinted at the horizon. Better to face the possibility of pirates and sea monsters than to be caught by the Rakuuna. “Get more speed out of the masts, Orayn. We need to run into the western sea.”
Orayn shouted orders. Chaos broke out across the deck. Sailors trimmed the masts and grabbed weapons. Finn shouted orders to load the cannons. Holland ran from one end of the deck to the other, handing out weapons to those who didn’t have one yet.
The ship picked up speed, but still, the Rakuuna vessel in pursuit was faster. Charis frantically looked around for options.
She had the poison stored in the belly of the ship but no idea how to use it.
They had cannons and swords, but so had every other ship the Rakuuna had sunk outside Arborlay’s harbor.
Maybe if she loaded the poison into the cannons, she would have a chance at defending the ship, but doing that took time she wasn’t going to have.
Mentally kicking herself for not having created some kind of weapon already, even though she didn’t yet know whether the poison worked on contact or if it needed to be ingested, she started down the stairs toward the deck. Better to put up a fight than go quietly.
Her stomach pitched as she reached the bottom of the staircase, and she struggled to swallow past the terror clogging her throat.
She was going to be taken, and her crew was going to die.
Either the monsters would punch holes in her ship and drag them all to the depths, submerging the poison along with her crew, or they would board the ship, murder her crew who would surely try to protect her, and then take her back to Calera, where she would either be traded to Alaric for jewels or killed to put down the rebellion that was growing across Calera in her name.
Whichever choice the Rakuuna made, it all added up to the same thing: the poison would be lost, and Charis would have failed her people.
Bright anger lanced through the terror and flooded her veins like liquid fire.
She hadn’t come this far to fail. She hadn’t lost everything, only to be ruined by the very monsters she’d set out to destroy.
A gust of wind rocked the boat, and a flash of green caught the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw they’d been pushed closer to the basilisk cave.
“Get inside!” Reuben appeared next to her, grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her toward the cabin.
Charis dug her heels in as an idea, equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, took hold.
Maybe she didn’t know how the poison worked. Maybe there was no outrunning the Rakuuna. But she could hide somewhere even the Rakuuna were scared to go, and maybe it would buy her and her crew enough time to come up with a plan to defend themselves using the moriarthy dust.
“Your Majesty!” Reuben barked as he tugged her arm.
She glanced once more at the pursuing ship, her pulse thundering in her ears. The monsters were closing in fast. There was no time for a better plan.
“Captain!” Charis yelled as she spun on her heel for the stairs. “Head toward the basilisk cave. Full speed ahead.”