Chapter 73 Ahnna
Ahnna
Every War Tides, Ithicanians migrated, so it was nothing to Ahnna’s people to begin the process of packing up what they needed to disappear under the cover of night and storm.
Only this time, instead of going to Eranahl, they moved to the outer islands.
Places far from the bridge that held little strategic use and were unlikely to be investigated by the Amaridians.
It was, after all, the middle of storm season, which meant that winds and waves capable of putting ships at the bottom of the sea manifested without warning.
And for ships the size that the Amaridians used, there were very few locations in Ithicana capable of offering anything resembling safe harbor.
Aren ordered the evacuations to begin the same day James set sail for Cardiff.
He also ordered those who remained to begin digging.
Creating countless fresh graves, big and small, to set the scene in locations where the Amaridians were likely to come ashore.
The corpses of those lost in the north were mercilessly redeployed and staged, though it would be the ripening smell of rot that Katarina’s scouts encountered first.
The storms in the north remained vicious throughout, seeming to be buying them time to set the scene, though it came at a cost. There were multiple fatalities, people lost to storm surge, floods, mudslides, and falling trees, and everyone suffered minor cuts and scrapes from debris in the winds.
It was a miserable reminder why the bridge was needed, its indestructible stone untouched by wind or sea.
Everyone on Ahnna’s team was exhausted by the time they were finished, but their silence had nothing to do with the labor or injury.
It was because very soon the enemy would be coming onto Ithicanian soil. Walking through villages and homes with the same callousness the Maridrinians had employed, and then taking over the bridge. At best, it felt invasive.
At worst, it felt like a surrender.
“A ship has been spotted,” Lara said, coming up next to Ahnna. “They’re moving in close enough to take a look but staying out of range of the shipbreakers.”
Her tone was tight and clipped, and Ahnna looked sideways at her queen.
Lara and Aren had taken Delia to Southwatch to place her in the protection of Sarhina, all of it done under a cloak of the greatest secrecy.
Neither of them had spoken about their feelings on the separation, but Ahnna sensed the complex twist of emotion the sacrifice had elicited.
Delia was safer in Maridrina, but every day they spent away from her was a loss.
Please let them get back to her, Ahnna silently prayed. Please don’t let them be another family torn apart.
Though this was a strategy of playing possum, it would be suspicious if there was no one left alive to fight back, so skirmishes were planned.
As Ahnna took in Lara, painted with greens and browns of camouflage and armed to the teeth, it was hard not to feel pity for any Amaridians whom Ithicana’s queen came up against.
Aren appeared, seeming to have come out of nowhere. He scrubbed a gloved hand through his hair and then gave a sharp shake of his head. “I hate this. Every instinct in me screams fight. I don’t want to have to burn another house down.”
“We are fighting,” Lara answered. “Just not in a way we’re used to. And if you burn my house down again, love, it will be me you have to fear, not the Amaridians.”
Ahnna laughed softly as her brother frowned, but then all three of them fell silent.
Ahnna dropped lower behind the foliage as the ship moved closer, shifting cautiously inside the range of the shipbreakers as it sailed along the cliff sides.
Then closer still, and Ahnna lifted her hand to signal Lia, who was waiting below.
A heartbeat later, Lia stumbled out into the open.
The front of her tunic was splattered with fake vomit, and Ahnna silently applauded her commitment as she spewed a mouthful of crimson onto the ground and then fell to her knees.
“Help!” she screamed, holding out an imploring hand to the soldiers and crew watching from the ship. “Help us!”
Ahnna’s stomach tightened because it felt too real.
Felt like she had stepped into an alternative reality when she and James had not returned in time and her nightmare had come to pass.
Next to her, Lara took hold of her hand and squeezed as she lifted a spyglass to her face, carefully shading the glass so that the faint light coming through the heavy clouds wouldn’t reflect off it.
“They see her,” Lara muttered. “They’re watching.”
The Amaridians dropped the rest of their sails, drifting, and Ahnna’s nerves twisted with sudden doubt that this would work. What if Katarina knew that she and James had made it in time? What if she suspected this was a ruse?
“Let me see,” Aren muttered, reaching for the spyglass.
Lara leaned away from him. “No. You don’t want to see this. Neither of you two do.”
Lia crawled slowly to the edge of the cliff.
Her chin was covered with crimson, her cheeks slick with tears as she reached out her hand to the ship’s crew.
Then she shuddered and collapsed to the ground, twitching with feigned death throes with such horrifying accuracy that some primal instinct in Ahnna made her want to go to the woman.
Instead, she shifted her gaze to the tiny figures on the ship, the distance making it impossible to see their expressions.
But the way they pumped their fists into the air and spun one another in circles around the decks was painfully clear.
“They are celebrating.” Lara’s voice was cold as death as she lowered the spyglass, her grip on Ahnna’s hand so tight it hurt. “These men are no innocent pawns in Katarina’s plan. They knew exactly what was intended.”
“Good,” Ahnna replied. “That means we will feel no guilt and shed no tears when their allies come for their blood.”
The first step in their plan had worked, but the next step was entirely out of their hands. James’s ship should be nearing Cardiff’s waters soon, and everything depended on whether he could convince Ronan to agree to their strategy.
Please be safe, she silently whispered, hoping that the wind would carry it north to his ears. Please come back to me.
There was nothing else she could do to aid him, so together they pressed back into the wilds of Ithicana to watch Amarid take the bridge.