59

Kaylin

“I see guards,” Ash whispers to me as we crouch behind tree cover. I love how she leans in to share her observations. The westering sun is behind her, magnifying the red in her hair. She catches me looking and tugs the knit cap down, smiling shyly. “The guards?” she asks.

“Aturnian soldiers left behind to mind the sloop.”

“We aren’t worried?”

I shake my head and hold a finger to my lips.

She nods, pressing her lips together. Her cool, turquoise eyes are calm, and she’s recovered from her shock of battle. I have to get her off this Isle, away from the enemies of both land and sea. I wish there was a better plan, but the sloop is all we have.

The little ship rides high in the water, moored at the end of the pier. It’s large enough to sail us over the channel yet not so big I can’t handle it on my own. Remembering them all on board the Sea Eagle doesn’t give me much hope of seaworthy assistance. I shift Belair’s dead weight and gaze at the docks.

“How do we get past them?” Ash follows my eyes to the hundred or more warships across the channel.

“First things first,” I whisper.

“The sloop?”

“Exactly.”

“Again, how?” she asks.

I’m about to explain, then shake my head. “It’ll be easier for me to show you.” As we creep forward, I hum my favorite battle tune to myself.

She gives a nervous laugh. “The world’s in ruin and you’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?”

Heat needles my skin. Did my lass hear me or is she just that sensitive to my expressions? “This is not the world in ruins, lass. Nothing close.”

Her smile falls, and I regret my words, wondering how I can undo them.

“You see the flag?” She lifts her chin to the banner tied to the mast. Like the ones from the camp, it has a white background with two stylized spheres—the large one bright orange and smaller dark red. “The twin suns. Is that the new Aturnian emblem?”

“Tann’s, I’d say, given he leads this fleet.” I give her a wink to lift the mood. “I won’t be long.”

The guards are not terribly alert. Dressed in Aturnian coats and sheepskin boots, they aren’t geared for the sea, either. But some are savant. I lift my face to the phantom birds circling overhead, mixing with the gulls, terns, and cormorants.

“Oh,” she whispers, looking up as well.

There are also three hounds at the base of the pier—tall, liver-colored dogs with tan legs and pointed ears. Their hackles are up and their long faces snarling. They smell us already. One of them breaks into a series of deep, throaty barks.

“We have to wait for the others.” Ash checks back up the hill for them.

I study the bay, spotting a rowboat full of savants pulling their way through the water, heading for the dock. They could reach it before I do. “I don’t think we can.”

She sighs. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

I shift Belair higher on my shoulder and we hurry down the hill, crouching low to stay out of sight.

“Kaylin!” A lilting voice sounds in my head.

“Salila?” For once, I am not opposed to the Mar woman’s presence…that is, if I can persuade her to help.