Rasia didn’t know what to do. They could try entering the Graveyard at a different point of entry, but what if the facehunters weren’t a coincidence? What if, for some unfathomable reason, all the scavengers were after Kai? Alternatively, they could go around, but that would lose them three whole days compared to the one if they went straight through. Depending on the moon, they had about twenty days of their Forging left, and Rasia needed at least twelve of those to get back home.
Kai sailed the ship at a parallel from the Graveyard at four vibrations, enough distance that if any scouts were looking, they were far enough away to be mistaken for a scavenger ship, an easy thing since Rasia’s ship wasn’t a standard of the Grankull.
“What do you want to do?” Kai asked.
“I want to try again,” Rasia said with a sigh. “Timar definitely sent facehunters after you. If she were expecting me, she’d have sent more than three.”
“What about a whole armada of windships?” Kai asked, straightening. Rasia followed Kai’s gaze toward the armada breaking over the horizon. Red flags adorned their masts.
“Yep, that looks about right. Kai, full speed!”
Rasia grabbed her longbow and climbed the mast to the scout’s nest. She nocked an arrow, but the scavengers stayed outside her bow range. They weren’t taking any chances. This definitely felt like Timar. Any other scavenger would have underestimated her.
Rasia jumped back to deck. “They’re playing it safe. Steer toward the gonda breeding grounds. We’ll lose them there.”
Kai curved around a sand dune to find another line of sails on the other side. The opposing ships formed a line with a chain-link of bones between them. Behind the link sailed a warship with a ram four carapaces thick and three times the size of Rasia’s small ship. It too waved a bright crimson flag.
“We should probably turn around.”
“On it.”
Kai jumped the outrigger to turn, and set the ship at an angle, aiming for the hole between the ships at their front and the ones at their back. The scavenger ships moved to join with one another and close the hole. Kai and Rasia were going just fast enough to make it through, but it would bring them well within the range of scavenger arrows.
Rasia ran for the oil lamp jostling against the mast. She wrapped the tip of her arrow in linen, soaked it in the lamp oil, and set the arrow afire with the strike of a flint. Unlike Rasia’s dragon-wing sail, scavenger sails were made of flax, easily flammable.
On the decks of the five windships across from her, archers lined up. She shot off her arrow before they got off a shot and set the closest of the five’s sail ablaze. Rasia raced to the underbelly hatch and jumped inside.
“Kai, any moment now, the sky is going to be full of arrows. Get in here!”
“What about the ship?”
“Trust it to steer us straight, but you’re not steering anything if you’re dead.” Dark clouds of arrows filled the sky. “GET IN HERE NOW!!!”
“Wait, let me just-” Rasia reached for him as he passed with the steer rope. She snatched him into the underbelly where they fell down the ladder. The air knocked from her as Kai slammed into her chest. Hundreds of arrowheads pierced through the deck, pinning sharp edges through the ceiling.
Rasia peeked her head out of the hatch and cursed at the sight of the chain-linked ships joined together, blocking off Rasia and Kai’s escape. The ships slowly began curving, to trap Rasia and Kai at the center.
“I’ve got an idea.” Kai squeezed passed her up the ladder. He sidestepped the arrows stuck to the deck and rushed over to the steer. He turned the ship toward the sand dune. Once Rasia realized his aim, she grinned. Then caught herself against the hatch door when the entire ship shook.
Sand exploded.
Rasia covered her eyes to avoid the sand shower. A massive dragon incisor had landed a vibration away from their ship, barely missing them.
The large warship launched another incisor in their direction, and Kai deftly steered the ship to avoid the projectile. Rasia grabbed a spear. They sailed closer and closer to the line of ships, speed increasing at every vibration.
Kai launched the windship off the sand dune’s side, up and over the ship’s bone link chain.
Rasia gripped the railing with her thighs, pulled back her arm, and launched the spear. She struck the windeka steering the ship below them. The scavenger ship careened into another, and another, and toppled their line.
Rasia and Kai landed with a heavy thud, safely on the other side of the chain. Kai got the ship under control as they sailed toward freedom. Rasia cheered in excitement, jumping at their victory, then fumbled her triumph when a large fang soared overheard and crashed in front of them.
Kai swerved the windship hard. Rasia flew off her feet, catching herself against the railing. Rasia’s eyes widened, sighting the warship charging them at full speed. Rasia pushed herself off the railing to do something, but she knew it was too late. They couldn’t go forward. The dragon fang had angled them right into the warship’s path.
Kai met her eyes with the same realization, then his irises flashed gold, so bright it forced Rasia’s eyes closed.
When she opened them, she watched an out-of-body experience as the warship rammed into her windship. The impact echoed like thunder. Her windship rolled three, four, five times. The mast cracked, the deck ripped open, and the carapace hull bent and folded unto itself. The wreck of her ship landed on its side. Through it all, the dragon-wing sail fluttered, unharmed.
Rasia sucked in a gasp at the damage, then realized in growing horror that she was outside the ship. She sat four vibrations away at the top of the sand dune Kai had jumped earlier. Below her, the scavenger ships had stopped to disembark. Somehow, she had been whisked to safety.
Rasia searched frantically for Kai. Finding no one, she swiveled back toward the wreckage.
Rasia could easily sneak behind the scavengers, steal their windship, and get the fuck gone. Maybe return for Kai with a grand rescue, but she didn’t know if Kai were alive or dead. That was the sort of wreck people didn’t get up from.
Rasia slid down the dune and sprinted toward the ship. She heard shouting over her shoulder. Surprise and shock stumbled the scavenger’s steps, while Rasia beat them to the crash site and slid into a crack of the overturned hull.
“Kai?” Rasia called out. She crawled through tossed items and ripped deck boards. Any other time, Rasia would be mourning her poor mangled ship, but a windship could be fixed, Kai couldn’t.
Rasia found him hanging limply, the steer of the ship pierced through his shoulder. At this distance, she couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. Rasia rushed over, broke the steer, and carefully slid the bone through his flesh. She found linen to staunch the blood, quickly binding up and under his underarm to apply pressure. Blood dripped down his face. The light was too dim to check for a head injury, and she prayed to the Elder he’d be all right. She crouched down and lifted him onto her back.
Carrying Kai, any possibility of escape was unlikely, and Kai might not survive if he didn’t get help soon. Which meant Rasia was going to have to talk her way out of this.
Rasia crouched under the warped railing and rose to find herself surrounded by two dozen archers all pointing arrows at her.
“A little overkill, don’t you think?” Rasia asked.
The line of archers parted to make way for the Han. Bones rattled with every step as Timar, leader of the crimson scavengers, stopped before Rasia.
Timar wore an impassive bone mask, bone beads in her hair, tally marks down her arms, and a bone peg strapped under her right knee. She had a white dragonsteel sword strapped to her waist, unsheathed, showing it off.
“Shoot her. We’re taking them both.”
“Hey! Wait—fuck.” An arrow pierced Rasia’s thigh, and she buckled under Kai’s weight. Although painful, the arrow was a good sign. It meant Timar wanted them alive.
Rasia snapped at Timar as she approached. “If you need us alive, why the fuck did you slam into us with a warship?”
“I never let anyone get the better of me twice.” Timar paused, looked Rasia up and down. “What happened to your hair?”
“What happened to your leg?”
Timar cocked her bone leg back, and Rasia saw stars.