Chapter 59 Ahnna
Ahnna
As though the winds themselves knew the urgency of her mission, they filled the tiny ship’s sails while they headed south to Vexis.
She and James said little, her focus on navigating Ithicana’s dangerous waters and his on scampering around the small ship to adjust the rigging.
Despite being in each other’s presence every day since their escape from the Furnace, it felt as though they’d barely had a moment to focus on each other since he’d asked her to marry him.
Every second had been choked with anxiety, the focus survival, and she wondered if it would ever be any other way.
Or whether the stars that foretold Cardiffian fates had decided to dangle that which they most desired before them like a carrot before a donkey’s nose, ever leading them on but never to be consumed.
Focus, she silently chided herself. Lives are on the line.
But her heart still skipped as James turned his head to look at her, amber eyes bright in the sunlight.
Unbidden, she felt the sensation of his fingers tracing lines on her wrist echoing across her skin, the memory of his touch through that small hole between their cells in the Furnace somehow the most poignant of all.
He’d been what had kept her sane, what had given her hope, and what should have been the worst experience of her life felt instead like a foundation for a future.
“How much farther?”
Instead of answering, she lifted a hand and pointed to a series of shadowed islands in the distance.
A merchant vessel lurked near them. She eased east behind a series of towering karsts to keep from being spotted, but dread pooled in her stomach.
The ship sat high in the water, its hold empty of cargo.
A second Amaridian ship was easing slowly into the warren of rocks. How many fucking ships of poison did she send?
“Do we wait until they’re gone?”
She couldn’t wait. Her people wouldn’t be sitting on their laurels but swiftly loading the grain into small vessels to transport to other locations.
If Ahnna didn’t warn them soon, what happened in the north would happen here.
“We can’t wait, James. All it takes is one sack being opened to make bread for lunch, and every Ithicanian on that island is dead. ”
His jaw tightened and he nodded. “How do we warn them?”
Vexis could only be accessed through a gap between towering cliffs.
Like Midwatch, it had a chain that could be lifted to block access to the cove, and Ithicana frequently used it to hide vessels that had been commandeered.
They couldn’t reach it without passing the waiting ship—but fortunately, that was not Ahnna’s plan.
“We need to be clever about this,” she said as James moved next to her, reaching for the shirt he’d discarded on the deck earlier in deference to the heat.
The sun was no friend to his pale skin, but he was starting to take on a golden hue that emphasized the sharp lines of his thick muscles, and the faint dusting of freckles on his face was more apparent.
He looked handsome and rugged, but she shoved away the vestiges of her selfish thoughts and cleared her throat.
“If we go in there shouting alarms and warnings, this will turn into a fight.”
And enough of her people had already died.
“There are scouts on the cliffs.” He lifted a muscled arm and pointed. “I just saw a glint of metal. Can we signal them?”
She considered the many lookout positions, all equipped with signal horns, but discarded the idea. “Not without also getting the attention of the Amaridians.”
“I sense you have another idea,” James said. “An idea that I’m not going to like.”
“We’ll circle wide and come in from the south.
” Her focus moved from the island to James as he pulled his shirt over his head and retrieved his sword, slipping it through his belt.
“There is a route we can take using a series of rock formations that will keep anyone from spotting us. I think we can get onto Vexis without the Amaridians seeing us, and we can sneak around to warn Aren discreetly. We let them drop off the grain and leave, and Katarina will be none the wiser.”
Because the last thing she wanted was Amarid’s queen determining that her plan had failed and turning to violence to achieve her ends.
“How long will it take to get a ship to Eranahl to warn them?” James asked, his eyes tracking west.
Too long. She bit the insides of her cheeks, knowing that she was banking on the heavy surf slowing the process of transporting the grain into the island stronghold, for the merchant ship would be far too large to access the harbor.
Except all it would take was a few sacks of flour distributed to make bread, and the whole city would be dead within days.
If not for the horror of it, Ahnna might almost admire the perfect efficiency of Katarina’s plan.
“The choice is made.” James slid an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “Focus on the battle before you.”
Instead of allowing herself to take comfort from his presence and his words, she gave a tight nod and let her mind descend into the place it always went during a battle.
She eased the ship wide to avoid the eyes of the ship lookouts before circling around to the scattering of karsts that hid the harbor entrance from easy view from the open sea.
Spotting the one she was looking for, she said, “Lower the sail and tie everything off.”
James did what she asked, and Ahnna eased the small vessel into a narrow slot between two karsts. “Lower anchor.”
It rattled down, and taking hold of a mooring line, Ahnna waited until the vessel swung close to a small ledge of rock and jumped. She landed with ease on the slick surface, then tied the rope to a hook ring embedded in the stone for just such a purpose. “Let’s go. Watch for snakes.”
“That seems to go without saying,” James said as he leapt over to join her, and together they scampered up the sharp rocks. She led him on a path between the rocky pillars jutting from the sea, leaping gaps and keeping low until finally, they had a vantage point that overlooked the cove.
The large ship was anchored in the midnight-blue water, the cove full of smaller boats ferrying sacks of grain to the beach.
And returning to the ship loaded with something else. The something else revealed itself when two of the sailors fumbled a chest, spilling coins across the sand.
“That bitch is taking our gold,” Ahnna hissed, her cheeks burning hot with anger as she noted the stacks of wine crates and barrels in the shadows of the trees. “It wasn’t enough to poison us, she had to rob us as well!”
And it wasn’t gold Aren could afford to lose, given he’d likely had to borrow it.
James shaded his eyes, surveying the scene. “Both ships are packed with soldiers, Ahnna. If it comes to a fight, the casualties are going to be high. It might be better to wait for the transaction to happen and for the Amaridians to set sail.”
“No.” She ground her teeth. “I’m not letting her have any form of victory here. They are not taking that gold.”
He caught hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him. But rather than arguing with her, he said, “You have a plan to stop them?”
Ahnna did have a plan. But it was one she knew he wouldn’t like. “I’m going to blow up the ship containing the gold.”
James’s eyes tracked to the cove, following the multitude of sharks lazily circling the ship in the hope of receiving an easy meal.
“The cove is deep but not unreasonably so,” she said. “It will take a bit of time, but we can retrieve the gold.”
James didn’t look convinced, but all he asked was, “And just how, pray tell, do you plan to blow up that ship without anyone seeing you, Ahnna? They have eyes all around, so they’re going to goddamned notice if you row up to the side and start setting explosives on their hull.”
“I’ll swim. I’ll go deep and come up on the opposite side from where they are unloading—they won’t see me.”
James blanched. “Absolutely not!” He jabbed a finger toward the cove. “It’s full of sharks. Sharks with a taste for human flesh, and I’ve seen firsthand how swift they are. You can’t outswim them.”
Ahnna shrugged to hide the fear in her stomach, because he wasn’t wrong.
“I’m aware. That’s why you’re going to bait them out of the cove.
I’ll only need a few minutes, and then they can come back and feast on Katarina’s soldiers when their ship sinks.
Then we’ll move on to the other vessel—Aren will have reinforcements nearby. ”
Hopefully.
“No.”
Ahnna blew out a long breath between her teeth. “James, if that ship full of gold sets sail, we will never get that coin back. Ithicana can’t afford that sort of loss.”
“Your arm is—”
“It’s healed. Tighten up my splints and I’ll be fine.” And because she knew what he’d say next, Ahnna added, “I’m faster in the water than you’ll ever be, and if a shark decides to take a look, I’ll know how to deal with it.”
James scrubbed his hands through his hair. “There has to be a better way. A smarter way. A way in which I don’t have to watch while you—”
He broke off and Ahnna felt a pang in her chest, because she’d been in this position when she’d left him to fight Carlo on the beach in Riomar.
She considered pointing out that she’d done what he’d asked then, despite the risks, but instead she said, “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it would work. Please trust me.”
The muscles of his jaw stood out even with the thickness of his beard, his teeth surely on the verge of cracking beneath the strain of his frustration, but then James said, “Fine. How do I bait them?”
“Blood.” She winced. “Ideally, yours.”