The next thing I knew, I was staring up at an orange sky, wondering if I'd slept through the night. My body was shivering—or perhaps it was just the way the ground under my body rocked and swayed. Something was burning, perhaps myself. No, the rain was on fire.
That doesn't make any sense.
Finally, my brain sped up. I wasn't staring at the daylight; it was fire reflected on the dark clouds. My body was lying flat on a boat that was reeling from the waves. The rain coming down was…
I lifted my aching head, and my heart fell into my stomach.
The wreckage was absolute and severe. All that was left of the massive, immovable gate was twisted metal fragments. Both fortresses were gone—nothing but white flames flying through the dry grasses nearby. There were probably no survivors.
"Brynna?" Riya's voice was far away. "Are you okay?"
She appeared in my line of sight, her face a sooty mess. She cupped my cheeks, calling my name once more. I shook my head, finally noticing the ringing in my ears then nodded to her.
"I'm fine," I croaked.
She helped me stand, and I took stock of my crew, holding my breath until I saw every one of their faces. We'd made it out all right.
"That was certainly a vigilante explosion," Luard said, coming to stand next to me. "Ammon'll see that from a mile away, I'm sure."
"And—" Riya's voice cut off abruptly. I turned to her, confused, my gaze dropping to the arrowhead sticking out of her chest.
In slow motion, she fell backward. The last thing I saw was her shocked expression before she disappeared over the edge of the ship.
"Riya!" someone screamed, perhaps me. I tried to run to her, to save her from the water, but something hard stopped me.
"We have to move," Luard said, waving his hand at something.
Another arrow landed in the center of the ship. Then another. Then a whole rainstorm of them. The crew ducked for cover, Jax using his knives to bat away one that had come for Elisha.
The ship stopped abruptly, and all onboard fell forward.
"We've run aground!" Hagan called.
"No shit," Jax groused, rubbing his head.
"Everybody off!" Luard called, grabbing me by the collar and pulling me off with him. My feet landed in thick mud—we were in marsh. The fire had illuminated the swamp, but so far, the grass hadn't lit, even with the raining debris from the explosion.
"We've got company," Jax called out.
I spun to the back, nerves fluttering in my stomach. Maarit had been more successful in gathering her forces than we'd thought. There were five ships in total—including two fishing vessels—each filled with Severian soldiers.
I grabbed Luard's shirt. "Go hide."
"What? No, I'm not—"
"Luard," I said, looking him in the eye. "I need you hidden. Elisha as well. Please…"
He swallowed then nodded. He grabbed the two large bags of hyblatha and the crossbow and smiled at me.
"Don't die, okay?" And with that, he dashed into the cattails. A moment later, Elisha followed, and I was grateful I wouldn't have to argue with them.
"You okay?" Jax's voice was clear and I looked up at him in surprise. "With your friend dying?"
Riya's face flashed before my eyes. "As I can be."
"Well, you'd better get okay, because I'm not doing this by myself," Jax said.
I snorted. Good ol' Jax.
I looked around at the others—Hagan, Nils, Ivan, Asdis—and gave them a nod. They pulled their swords and nodded back. And together, we climbed back on the ship to face our enemy.
Maarit stood at the front of the first boat, watching us with a sadistic sort of glee. She didn't care that she'd just lost a hundred soldiers; she was more concerned about getting my head on a silver platter.
I scanned the faces of the Severians on board and my heart sank. Jorad and Aline weren't among them—no Forcadelians were. We were on our own.
"Well, well," she called. "This was certainly a well-thought-out suicide mission. You've destroyed our gate. Queen Ilara will be displeased at this egregious act of war on behalf of the Niemenians."
"I'd say that closing the borders was act enough," Ivan barked back.
"But perhaps she'd be willing to overlook this grievance if you handed The Veil over to us," Maarit said.
"You'd really overlook all this destruction for me?" I said, resting my hands on my hips. "I must be a pretty high value target."
"The highest," Maarit said. She cast a look amongst my group. "Ah, and I was sure that I'd find Kellis in your little gang. Perhaps she died."
I took one step forward, before Jax put a hand on my shoulder.
Maarit just laughed. "Oh well, she was a terrible lieutenant anyway," she said with a disinterested shrug. "It doesn't matter. I'll bring your masked head to Queen Ilara and—"
"You seem to think you're going to win this," I said, channeling my anger into cool fury.
"I think you're outnumbered five-to-one," she said. "I think your only means of transport is marooned on this swamp. And I think you're stalling so your prince can make his escape."
"You must not know a lot about me," I said, as a whistle echoed in the air.
"Don't I?" Maarit said, pulling her sword.
"Because if you did," I said, tilting my chin upward, "you'd know that I always have an exit strategy."
Twin arrows sailed through the air, landing on the rim of the boat, and a cloud puffed in front of Maarit's face.
"Now!" I cried.
From my soaked pocket, I pulled the small bit of tinneum leaf and stuck it in my mouth. The hyblatha powder, carried by the blowing wind, dissipated around us and I held my breath as Maarit began to laugh.
"What is this?" she said, waving the dust around her. "Another one of your tricks? I daresay I'm growing…"
Her eyes widened and she blinked two, three times. To my left, a female soldier screamed and pointed at the fire. To my right, two men jumped into the water.
"What are they seeing?" Ivan asked.
"Whatever they fear most," I said, pulling my crossbow from my wet slingbag as an arrow landed at my feet. "We're not out of the woods yet. Jax, let's go. Niemenians, you stay here and bind them. Guard Maarit at all costs."
I tossed my wet cloak to the ground and took off toward the nearest boat, where I was met with three guards and their swords. I parried them with my knives then used my crossbow to pin one to the nearest mast. The other two went flying into the river with a kick.
"Stand down, traitor!" A sword blade came within a hair's breadth from my nose, and I only just moved out of the way.
The soldier was a Forcadelian, so I smashed a bag of knockout powder into his face and let him fall forward. I took the remaining bag and jumped to the next nearest ship, throwing it onto another man while I dealt with the others. But I'd miscounted—there were at least ten waiting for me. And I had nothing to use against them.
I turned to jump off, but they grabbed the back of my slingbag and wrested me to the ground. One of them pointed his sword at me, ready for the final blow.
"Here!" Jax cried from the next ships over.
He was bleeding from the cheek and holding three bags. With a heave, he tossed them into the air above the ship. I wrestled my crossbow free and shot toward at the bags, releasing the white powder into the air around us. The soldiers on the ship blinked, staring at each other in confusion. Then, one by one, they dropped their swords and ran to opposite corners of the ship, trembling in fear.
"Thanks for that," I said, stuffing another leaf in my mouth. "What's left?"
"Veil, look!"
In the distance, a new ship was sailing through the fire—Ammon's schooner. I could scarcely believe that he'd come, or that we'd managed to meet his deadline.
A loud boom echoed, and something black sailed through the air toward the nearest ship.
"Jax, get out of there!"
Jax tilted his head up, knocked out the soldier he was tussling with, and dove into the water just as the cannonball landed. A precious few seconds later, the ship exploded into timber and fire, sending debris flying.
"I thought he wasn't going to help?" Ivan asked.
"Everybody to shore!" I barked, jumping off the boat before another cannonball tore through the deck. I landed with a splash and pushed my way to shore through the muck. Jax joined me shortly thereafter, wiping soot from his face.
"What in the Mother's name…?" he asked.
"I knew you were working with the Kulkans," came Maarit's voice behind me. I turned to look at her—surprisingly clear-eyed, but bound.
"I gave her some leaf," Luard said, standing next to her. The bottom half of him was covered in mud, but he looked more pleased with himself than when he was showing me around his castle rooms. "Thought she might want to watch her pretty little soldiers fall one by one."
"This won't stand," she said, adjusting herself on the wet sand. "Ilara won't allow you to keep this city. She will reclaim it, the same way she claimed Forcadel."
"She got lucky in Forcadel," I said, wiping the sweat off my brow as Ammon's ship floated through the wreckage they'd wrought. "Now shut up while I deal with this asshole."
The schooner came ashore on the soft sand. A Kulkan sailor appeared, pointing his sword at me. "Surrender, or else!"
"Tell your prince to lay off the cannon fire," I called as loudly as I could.
"Oh, goodness." Ammon appeared over the bow. "Are you really alive? I thought for sure you would've perished." He tilted his head at me. "And what is with that ridiculous mask? Are you playing at some kind of secret identity?"
"I appreciate the assist," I said with an even smirk. "I thought you weren't going to provide any help?"
"Has the city been taken yet?"
"Not yet," I said, uncrossing my arms and pointing at the person behind me. "But all I have to do is return to town with their fearless leader in tow, and it's as good as mine."
"Or," Ammon said with a cruel smile, "I shall take her, and use my considerable firepower to take over the city myself." He squinted at the city in the distance. "I find I don't need you anymore."
Luard made a noise. "That was not your agreement, Ammon."
"Stay out of this, Niemenian," Ammon said. "But as it stands, you're merely one girl with a laughably small group of soldiers. How you managed to subdue all these people is beyond me, but it's clear you can't take them and my forces."
My mind spun. He certainly had more forces than we did, and our hyblatha powder was all but gone. There was nothing stopping him from taking Maarit prisoner and waltzing into the city with her.
"Forcadelians are well-versed in reneging on agreements, so I'm surprised you didn't see this coming," Ammon said. "But that just goes to show that you are—"
An arrow landed in front of him, and he jumped back five feet. "What the—?"
Another halo of arrows rained down, and I spun to the east. Was it more of Maarit's soldiers?
"Stand down, Kulkan," Jorad's clear voice echoed out from the darkness.
My heart leapt in my chest. Fifty Forcadelians—dressed in dark blue, a beautiful color, my color—stood on a boat that had snuck up in the dense fog. The archers who'd let their arrows fly had reloaded, and the others stood ready with swords.
"What's this?" Maarit cried. "You're pointing your swords at the wrong person, you fools. She's the traitor!"
"The only traitors are those who take up arms against our queen," Jorad said, nodding to me. "Our rightful queen. Brynna-Larissa Archer Rhodes Lonsdale."
A murmuring echoed from the captured soldiers behind me. "Hey, Brynna," Luard said, tossing me something gold and circular. It was a little muddy, but my circlet shone in the fire of the gate.
"Really?" I said with a look. "You brought this here?"
He shrugged. "Thought it might come in handy."
With care, I slipped the black mask from my face, the cool night air refreshing on my sweaty skin. And with little fanfare, I set the gold circlet on my head.
At once, the Forcadelian guards rested their hands on their left breasts, and bowed. Some of the captured who had their wits about them jumped to their feet and bowed as well, although they couldn't salute with their hands bound. Luard and his guards stood reverently, and the Severians gaped, most of them seemingly without a clue of what was happening.
But more importantly, Ammon had lost his confident smirk. He'd thought he'd be coming into a city in chaos, and his soldiers would quickly take the town. Instead, he found himself evenly matched with a queen. Not one who'd been shoved into the position because of her blood or circumstance. But one who'd truly earned the title.
"Ammon," I said, turning to the scowling prince. "I'll be sailing to the city with my soldiers. I'll honor the specifics of our agreement within three days."
"That was not—"
"I don't think you want to be broaching that subject right now, what with all these arrows pointed at you and your ship," I said, allowing Jorad to help me onboard the ship. "Three days. I'm sure you can find some way to amuse yourself."