Forty-Five

Safire had difficulty determining how long they’d been out at sea. There was no light in the hold except for the occasional flash of lightning that managed to squeeze through the cracks in the deck above.

She’d cut the other captives out of their rope bonds long ago and they now crawled through the darkness, looking for any object that might prove useful against those above deck. In their search, they’d found barrels of water, bottles of spirits, sacks of potatoes, and a variety of salt fish and pickled goods. The closest approximation of a weapon was a broken broom, which Safire gave to a girl several years younger than her. Some of the men were currently smashing bottles and handing them out—their broken halves would be able to slice a man as easily as any knife.

“Once we’re up on deck, we’ll need to use the element of surprise to our advantage. The point isn’t to fight them. The point is to lessen their numbers as quickly as possible. As soon as your feet hit that deck, don’t think. Just do whatever you can to get them over the side of the ship and into the sea.”

There was a mumble of assent.

“Don’t be afraid of them,” said the man who’d broken the bottles, now standing at Safire’s side in the dark. His name, she’d learned, was Atlas. “Damaged goods fetch less of a price—or no price at all. And that’s what we are to them: goods. They’ll do everything they can not to damage us.”

Surprised by this, Safire looked to Atlas, but could make out nothing but the rough shape of him. “I hadn’t thought of that,” she said.

“I wasn’t so different from them once,” he said. “I know how they think.”

Now for their most pressing problem: getting out of this hold.

The ship’s crew had pulled up the ladder leading down into the hatch, and the space between it and the floor was now too high for a single person to reach.

To solve this problem, they rolled barrels full of salt fish and set now-empty boxes of spirits below, creating makeshift steps up to the hatch. Safire selected five others to go with her as the first line of defense, while the next five would ensure everyone escaped from the hold.

Once everyone was on deck, they would do whatever was necessary to thin the crew and take the ship.

When they were all in position, Safire pressed both her palms to the door of the hatch. She was just about to push, when someone screamed from above, “Monster!”

Safire froze.

“Sea monster!”

A shout of alarm rose up, echoing across the deck over Safire’s head. The thud of running boots filled her ears.

“A sea monster will sink us,” came a voice near Safire.

Panicked murmurs filled the room around her.

“We’ll be drowned in here,” said someone else.

“Hush!” Safire ordered. “Stay calm.”

But it was too late. The unity of their common purpose broke. So Safire calmed herself, ignoring the fear bleeding through the captives around her, and listened.

She felt the ship rock, its wooden frame creaking beneath a massive weight, and the little bit of lamplight trickling into this room disappeared. As if a great shadow blocked it out.

She heard the sound of bodies being hurled through the air. Of men and women screaming as they were sent overboard and into the sea.

And then, drowning it all out, came a ferocious roar.

The sound sent chills through everyone in the hold—everyone except for Safire. She knew that sound. It made hope spark within her.

“It’s not a sea monster,” she realized. “It’s a dragon.”

This did nothing to calm the panic.

Suddenly, the hatch clicked from the other side. The room hushed as it swung open and the rain gushed in. With it came the light from a lantern.

“Found you.”

Safire looked up into her cousin’s scarred face. Asha’s dark hair was a damp, windblown mess and her eyes were fierce as they scanned Safire first, then the crowd of captives below her. Behind Asha, one big yellow eye came into view as Kozu looked down into the hatch, fixing on the people huddled there. Several of them stepped back. The girl with the broom stood staring though, awed by the sight of the First Dragon, his scales slick with rain.

“It’s all right,” said Safire. “They’re here to help.”

Beyond Kozu, the sky was dark with storm clouds as Spark flew in lazy loops around the ship’s ocher sails.

Asha grabbed Safire’s arm and pulled her onto the deck, then wrapped her in a tight hug. Her clothes were soaked through.

“How did you find me?” Safire whispered into her shoulder.

Asha let go, then turned toward the young man at the helm. Torwin gripped the wheel looking like he had no idea what he was doing.

Beside him gleamed a white dragon with a broken horn.

“It was Sorrow,” Asha explained. “Torwin was on his way to Firgaard when Sorrow suddenly turned back. There was nothing Torwin could do to sway him. Sorrow found us in the air and started flying in circles, clicking furiously at Kozu and Spark. When he headed out to sea, they followed him. He led us straight to you.”

Safire frowned, glancing up into Sorrow’s black eyes, which were now peering curiously at the captives huddled in the shadows.

“You’re linked,” said Asha. “It’s the only way he could have known where you were.”

“But wouldn’t I feel it?” Safire watched the white dragon hop down from the upper deck and cautiously make his way to where the captives were climbing out of the hatch.

“He might not bond like other dragons,” said Asha, watching, too. “Maybe you’ll never sense it. Or maybe it’s the kind of link that grows stronger over time.” Suddenly, she turned away from Sorrow. “I take it things didn’t go well at the citadel. Where’s Roa?”

“Leandra has her.”

Safire’s conversation with the empress came flooding back. She thought of the hood coming down. Of Leandra’s last words.

I’ll watch the daughter of my enemy die a slow and agonizing death.

“She has Eris, too. She’s going to kill her, Asha. I need to find her. She said she was taking her somewhere called the immortal scarps?”

Asha’s gaze snapped to Safire’s face. “The immortal scarps . . . According to the stories, the Shadow God turned Skye into Skyweaver at the bottom of the immortal scarps. They’re the highest point in the Star Isles. Atop the red-clay cliffs on the northern side of Axis Isle. But I doubt a ship will get to them in time.” She looked up at Kozu’s massive black form coiled on the deck. “A dragon, on the other hand . . .”

“Asha!” Torwin called through the wind and rain. “Trouble’s headed our way.”

They all turned to find Torwin frowning into the distance.

A boom of thunder made them all flinch. Safire joined Torwin as lightning flickered across the sky, illuminating the silhouette of another ship sailing rapidly toward them. When lightning flashed again, Safire saw a man at its helm. The lantern in his hand illuminated a scar over his right eye.

“Jemsin,” Safire scowled.

As if hearing his name, the pirate captain looked directly at her. Their eyes met across the water.

“We can assist,” said a voice at her side. Safire looked to find Atlas, the burly man who’d broken bottles of spirits and helped her roll barrels of salt fish in the hold. His clothes were dripping now, and his face was slick with rain. At his side stood a handful of other prisoners. Nodding to the helm, he said, “I’ve sailed ships almost as big as this.”

Safire looked from them back out to sea. There was something familiar about the cliffs in the distance. If she squinted and waited for the lightning, she could see the familiar shapes bobbing in the water.

Sea spirits.

“The ship wrecking grounds,” she murmured, remembering Eris’s name for them. Remembering the advice Kor didn’t take.

“See there?” said Safire, pointing to the dark silhouettes in the waves. “There are rocks just beneath the surface. They’ll put a hole in your hull and you’ll be easy prey for sea spirits.” She looked back to the masts of Jemsin’s ship, getting closer by the heartbeat. “If you can get around to the other side of them, you might be able to lure those pirates straight into the wrecking grounds.”

When she turned back, the wheel had already been taken from Torwin, who was watching Asha mount Kozu.

Sorrow stared at Safire across the rain-slick deck, wings spread, ready to fly. Safire crossed to him in five easy strides, then mounted up.

A heartbeat later, she nodded to Asha.

Together, their dragons leaped into the storm.