Chapter 46
S O R E N
A scream rips from my chest and blends into the winds when all this spilled blood isn’t enough.
My body feels like it’s wrapped by a lighting bolt, every nerve alight, every thought consumed by the sight of Jane. She’s ushered on that ship, dressed in the same garb as the men, like they really think they can treat her like some cruel offering.
Even from this distance, I swear she’s looking right at me.
Smoke billows around the harbor, thick and acrid, filling my lungs as I grip my blade so tightly my knuckles go white. My body is soaked in the blood of others, cutting down any guards that were bold enough to attack me if they made it through the fire.
The flames crackle and roar behind me, painting this early morning in blinding hues of orange and red, their heat pressing against my skin. I take one step toward the edge of the harbor, as if sheer will could bridge the distance?—
A hand clamps on my shoulder, the grip like iron.
“We’ll follow on Storm's Fury,” Basilisk grinds out. “We need to create an opening for Jane, not get us closer to Misery.”
“She’s right fucking there .” My voice cracks with the rawness of being so close . “The sirens can get me to his ship. She just needs to be freed and into the waters. Misery can have me, then.”
He gives my shoulder a shake. “You see Misery there? Right at the prow? That staff is about to become connected to that vessel, and the ship untouchable. Only ramming it with another will work. Not even the sirens can get their claws in it.” His voice picks up the carnage and winds. “And there’s a massive storm coming! That’s Tempest’s signature. Let’s get to Storm's Fury before we lose our chance!”
Panting through the mask, my gaze leaves Darkwater to glance around as my powers search the area while my mind disassociates—I see it: a flicker of blue fire on the water in the far distance, pulsing and rippling in the wind. Storm's Fury . My heartbeat races, a fresh wave of fury and urgency surging through me. “Then, let’s move!”
I do what I can to direct everyone, finding them in the mayhem, Basilisk moving to help corral everyone to the ocean as I search for Bones—my body bends as I feel an assault at my back, dodging without witnessing a single movement, only to see a man—his face a mask of rage—overextend from missing the blow. I don’t hesitate. Jane’s blade finds his neck, swift and merciless.
The fire makes it harder to weed out who is where, as if it’s a barrier. From the magic, perhaps? As I near a corner of the courtyard, still feeling Bones in this direction, a woman in a black robe rounds the same corner, freezing when she sees me.
I felt her, but she’s so insignificant?—
Fear . She knows me. Why does she know me? Why does it feel connected to Jane?
I take a step directly toward her as she cries out, “No, please ! I’m trying to flee, not fight you. I missed the ship. I just need away.” She peeks around me, as if the sight of Darkwater is comforting, like she still has a chance.
“Why do you seem to know Jane?” I yell out, the cracking sound of wood preceding embers spiraling into the sky like a blizzard’s inferno, somewhere far behind us. Toward Bones.
Her eyes widen, her black robes billowing in the hot wind. There’s an echo of Jane within her, and before she can even hold her hands up to defend herself, I grip her by the collar of her clothes. “You know her enough to loathe her. What do you know? What happened to her while she was here?”
Her face pales, her mouth opening and closing as if searching for an answer. Dancing, golden light waves across her eyes, even glinting against her teeth.
Death. Murder. Jealousy. Her face warps into a sorrowful rage, tears welling in her eyes. “He left me, but then took her .” Her eyes flare, this woman knowing she’s lost everything she wanted; I can sense the depths of it. “I tended to her. I didn’t even hurt her when I could have!” she yells at me, as if it will help. “Oh, how I wanted to?—”
I slam her against the wall, her head cracking against the stone as she slumps to the ground, useless and in the way. I focus back on finding Bones.
Where is that lucky fucker? Why isn’t he moving with the others?
Relief floods me as I exhale when he appears through the carnage, the fire mage clearing a path for them and the Cinder, who still carries that torch like it’s priceless gold.
Bones is motioning to this building, or that one, and the fire mage follows his orders.
He’s enjoying himself.
“Bones!” I shout, and he straightens, standing to attention. “We’re getting in the waters, heading to Storm's Fury!” I motion for Roy. “You’re coming with us. The other Cinders can find their way out. Take that flame with you.”
The fire mage nearly lunges at Roy, who jumps back quicker than she moves.
“What if you don’t make it back!” the mage yells out. “I need that back within the week !”
I watch as Bones guides Roy, and I feel out for anyone I may have missed. The energy of everyone relevant to me centralizes in the harbor, and as the mage looks like she might throw fire my way, I throw a glare at her. “You can have your chalice back once we’re in the waters,” I say, not having time for this. “Roy will be given a choice to go with us, or stay with you. Once we’re far enough away from you, he will leave it in the harbor.”
The Cinder looks back when his name is mentioned, and I can already tell he will choose to go with us.
It’s a hustle forward, barely anyone around to challenge us. My attention is on the piers, then at the sirens that float in the violent waters. Darkwater is already sailing out, the back of her nearly turned all the way to us, flames still burning in the braziers at the prow.
As we make our way down to the piers, the water rocks them, and a few slip into the waters, only to surface and be pulled in the opposite direction of the current. One siren yells out to get my attention, the fires glistening against her skin. “Hold your breath! We will swim you to the ship, but not with marrowkelp. We are saving it!”
I motion for everyone else to get in. “I’ll go last!”
One by one, everyone plunges into the water, the sirens pulling them swiftly away from the burning wreckage. Ritter is one of the first, the energy of that man nearly frozen by desperation as I can feel the years of build up, so close to getting what he wants.
Basilisk is lost somewhere in the middle, and Bones is one of the last men in as it’s just me and the Cinder. “You will wait in these waters until we are far enough to not be in danger, then you place the chalice on any ledge.”
Roy actually hesitates as he looks at the lapping water, and I push him in, his scream swallowed by the waves, before jumping in myself. A wave crashes into my body, and hands are on me to pull me under while I hold my breath, two sirens grabbing me and swimming swiftly in the waters before I breach the surface.
The icy grip of the water shocks my system, extinguishing the heat of the flames that warmed my skin. Two sirens have a hold of me, their hands cold and firm, and we plunge beneath the surface once more. I hold my breath, the pressure building in my chest as they propel me forward with incredible speed. When we break the surface again, the storm’s wrath greets us as the heat of Ashfire is no longer on me. Rain lashes down in torrents, and the swells rise and fall like living beasts, tossing us like driftwood.
It was easy to forget about the storm with the inferno.
The harbor is a vision of hell. Flames devour Ashfire, their light reflected in the black waters. Smoke churns upward, mingling with the storm clouds above. Embers fall like fiery snow, carried by the howling wind. I stare at the devastation, my chest heaving as I struggle to process it all. All that effort, all that blood, and Jane is still out of reach.
The rain makes it hard to breathe, each gasp tasting of salt and ash. The sirens pull me onward, their strength unyielding. Finally, through the chaos, I see it—a massive ship looming ahead, its silhouette cutting through the storm that I completely missed, like it appeared right from the shadows.
The bow has a head of a wolf with silver on its teeth.
Tempest…
The Sea Wolf rises and falls with the waves, its red sails bright like bloodstains against the sky. Rope ladders dangle from its sides, thrashing wildly in the wind. One of the sirens surfaces beside me, her voice sharp and urgent. “Get on the ship! Tempest requests that you ride with her!”
“My men go first!” I shout. It’s one thing to lead an attack, but this is to ensure they’re all on board. I do my best to count as they all climb, Ritter going first, then Rorge, then quite a few more before Donna. Basilisk is among my people, with Bones the second to last before I’m upon the ship as it’s in the water.
It feels entirely wrong to touch the outside of the ship’s belly while out in the open ocean.
“Hang onto the rope loops if you hit a swell!” the siren yells.
I grab the rope, threading my freezing hands through a loop as a massive swell crashes over me, threatening to rip me away. My grip holds, and I climb as soon as I possibly can, each movement a battle against nature. It doesn’t help that I can barely feel my fingers.
Hands pull at me to get me over once at the top, the blue fire of Storm's Fury close behind us. Boarding the Sea Wolf, in a fucking storm that’s verging on a hurricane, wears me out more than the fighting we just did.
“You alright?” one of her crew asks. “Drink this—it’s a fire tonic. It staves off the cold of the ocean!”
I down it right away, the tonic burning my throat as if I swallowed liquid flames. Sure enough, my body warms from the inside even though I’m soaking wet. “Tempest wants you at the wheel!” the pirate shouts.
Glancing over when Basilisk laughs, I see that he cranes his head up, the sound of pure joy contrasting the violence that’s brewing in the air. “She’s got the bloody flags raised!”
I lift up my head to gaze up at the sails that are all bright red, visible from the fires that rage in Ashfire. Yes, the bloody flags.
It means a pirate ship carries no mercy.
No. Fucking. Mercy.