Sophia stood at the prow of her flagship, watching the enemy ships chase it down. She stood there deliberately, standing as tall and proud as any commander could, so that the chasing ships would see her there.
Sienne tugged at her arm, her mouth pulling at her.
“No, Sienne,” Sophia said. “I have to stay here. They have to see me so that they’ll chase.”
Sophia doubted that the forest cat understood any of her words, but she seemed to understand Sophia’s determination to stay where she was. She crouched beside Sophia, glowering out at the advancing ships instead.
It was impossible for them not to see her. The flagship had every royal pennant and flag it possessed hanging from it, declaring Sophia’s presence even as the vessel kept her moving away from their foes. The half dozen ships with her hung back, making the flagship into the point of an arrow formation, making it even more obvious that Sophia was there for the taking.
Their foes seemed to understand. At least, Sophia saw the advancing fleet swing, turning from the city toward her.
“It’s working,” Sophia said.
Sienne growled, her ears flat. Sophia didn’t need the forest cat’s warning to know just how dangerous this was. So few ships couldn’t hope to stand against a whole enemy fleet for long. The best they could hope to do was run and keep running.
“Cut along the coast!” Sophia called out. “We need to draw them away from the city!”
“Yes, your majesty,” the captain called back, and he started to yell the orders that would put it into effect. The sailors there moved to obey, not questioning the danger of it even though they had to know just how poor their chances of surviving this were. The soldiers aboard started to load cannon and strap on armor, ready for the sea battle ahead.
Their wedge of ships raced parallel to the coast, drawing the enemy ships in closer, the ones from the city following in their wake while the larger fleet moved to cut them off. Sophia could guess the moment when they would catch up to them, but she delayed the moment when she would have to say anything as long as she dared.
“Turn!” she yelled, and the ship’s captain seemed to understand what she had in mind. Their ship jerked to starboard, the timbers groaning with the effort of making the maneuver. Behind her, the other ships swung around in her wake, heading for a gap between the two advancing groups of enemies.
To Sophia’s surprise, she saw the fleet ahead already moving to check the maneuver. One of their number, faster than the others, was swinging into the flagship’s path. Sophia heard the boom of its cannons, and had to steel herself to stand as the shots flew by. Her own ship’s weapons barked their response, and for a moment the world was filled with cannon smoke.
Sophia reached out, feeling for the minds of the other ship’s men. She could feel them ahead of her, and Sophia did her best to throw confusing thoughts their way, trying to slow them in their pursuit. The flagship’s captain brought the vessel around again, more cannon firing, and this time Sophia heard the splintering of wood as an enemy cannonball struck home.
“We need to keep going!” she yelled, high above the sounds of the battle.
They swung in close to an enemy ship, the soldiers on both vessels lining up to fire at one another with muskets and bows, the rattling rain of small missiles seeming to connect the two for a moment. Sophia forced herself not to dive for cover, because she knew right then that her presence was the main thing giving her men strength. She reached out with her power, grabbing the thoughts of a soldier aiming a musket at one of her men. He stood there, unable to remember what he was doing, until the moment when an arrow took him.
Briefly, they slid past into open water. For a moment, Sophia thought the ships might resume their chasing, and she might be able to lead them further away from the city. Then she saw the incoming fleet spreading out, forming a kind of net of ships that stretched against the backdrop of the open sea.
The flagship’s captain ran forward, cursing as he looked out.
“They’re trying to catch us against the shore. If they can pin us there, they’ll be able to surround us and capture us.”
“Not if we keep running,” Sophia said.
“There’s nowhere to run to, your majesty,” he said. “We can stand and fight, or we can try to surrender. That might at least keep you safe. They’ll want such a valuable prisoner alive.”
He didn’t say what would happen to everyone else there, but Sophia could see it in his thoughts. She shook her head.
“Surrendering isn’t the point,” she said.
“Nor is a fight which we lose in minutes,” the captain shot back.
“Which is why we run,” Sophia said.
“Run where?”
Sophia pointed to the shore. As far as she could see, it was the only option remaining to them. “Ishjemme’s boats are made to be beached, aren’t they?”
“Not something this size,” the captain said.
Looking out, Sophia could see the enemy fleet closing in. She made her decision.
“Do it anyway. There’s a beach there. Aim for it.”
“That’s—”
“It’s the best option we have,” Sophia insisted.
The captain bowed. “As you command, my queen. Men, bring the ship around. Anyone who isn’t needed to steer the ship, brace yourselves!”
The flagship swung around ponderously, until its prow faced the shore. Sophia went back close to one of the masts, clinging to it as they got closer and closer. Beside her, Sienne crouched, her claws digging into the wood.
“Hold on, girl,” Sophia said.
She felt the moment when the ship’s keel scraped along the beach in a moment of grinding, wrenching contact. Sophia felt the deck below her shudder and jolt, threatening to fling her clear if she didn’t keep her grip, the way a building might have shaken during an earthquake. Beside her, Sienne mewled, and Sophia had to reach out with her mind to soothe the forest cat’s fear. She wished someone could soothe her own.
She saw soldiers shaken free by the impact, plunging into the water as the ship’s momentum dragged it up onto the beach. She felt the moment when it started to topple, standing balanced for a moment before the whole world seemed to tip sideways.
“Jump,” Sophia yelled to anyone who would listen, before flinging herself free from the mast and plunging into the shallows. She came up spluttering, half tangled among the rigging and kicking it clear. She dragged herself toward the beach, where Sienne was already pulling herself out, looking anything but pleased by the drenching. Around Sophia, the soldiers and sailors were doing the same.
The soldiers from the other ships were flinging themselves from their own vessels, taking boats or dragging supplies, pulling them in toward the beach as they grounded. The beached shells of the ships formed a kind of barricade there, and Sophia could only hope that it would slow down the army that was coming for them.
“Hurry!” she yelled. “We need to form up. They’ll be coming for us.”
Already, she could see the chasing ships swinging after them, moving slower than they had only because they didn’t want to crash into the shore. She looked around, taking in the grassy dunes of the beach and the broad expanse of the open ground behind.
“There!” she called out, pointing to the dunes. “We need to fight and move back, draw this out as long as we can.”
She didn’t say the obvious: that there was no hope of winning this. The men there had to know that by know. Probably most of them had known that even when they’d begun this desperate distraction. The most they could hope for was to delay the inevitable long enough for the forces at the city to do their part.
“A lot of the black powder is wet now,” a soldier complained.
“But not all of it,” Sophia insisted. “We’ll use what we have. Drag cannon up onto the beach. Load them with cannon shot.”
The men worked with the kind of speed that said they knew how desperate the situation was, officers shouting orders as they labored. They dragged cannon in among the dunes, pulled landing boats upside down to make rough cover, and set loaded muskets and crossbows down, ready for use. Even so, Sophia wasn’t sure they had enough time to do all they needed, because the enemy already had a flotilla of small boats in the water, the men closing in on her and her much smaller force.
“Wait until they start to land,” Sophia said. “They’ll be vulnerable as they come out between the ships.”
“You should get away, your majesty,” one of the soldiers called to her. “We’ll hold them here.”
Sophia shook her head, then snatched up a musket. “They’ll only attack while I’m here. I don’t want them going back to the fight in the city.”
She waited with the rest of them among the dunes, watching as the enemy’s boats got closer, the men pouring out of them up through the shallows. Sophia realized in that moment that they might be able to cover the ground from the ships too quickly; that they might not bring them down before it descended into brutal hand-to-hand fighting.
She had to slow them down, so she reached out with her powers, pushing her way into the minds of the men there, drawing on the pulsing strength of the land beneath her feet. She held them there through sheer strength of will, cutting off the space between one thought and the next. Sophia didn’t know how long she could hold it, but for now, it left men out in the open with no protection.
“Now!” she yelled, and her forces fired. Cannon boomed, cutting down swaths of the attacking troops. Muskets sounded, bringing down men individually. The roar snapped through the power she’d been using to hold them there, and men came forward at a charge now. Sophia pulled the trigger on her musket, the kick from it slamming the stock back into her. An enemy soldier fell, but another rushed to take his place. Sienne leapt on that man, rending and tearing.
Around Sophia, men fought and died. She saw a sailor struck by a bayonet reaching forward to stab his attacker with a knife, and an Ishjemme soldier leap in amongst a knot of the enemy, flaying about himself with an axe until they brought him down. Their initial barrage at the men who’d made the beach had torn the heart out of the first attack, but there were still plenty of men to fight. Even as Sophia watched, men hacked and cut with sword and axe, dagger and bayonet.
Then, as suddenly as the changing tide, the mercenaries in Ashton’s employ turned back to the shore, running until they could shelter among the boats.
“We did it!” a man called. “We beat them back!”
A great cheer went up among the men. Sophia didn’t join it. They’d beaten back one attack, but she could see that the next wave of attackers was already in the water, crowding for position as they approached the beach. Worse, she could see a knot of them landing further up, too far away to do anything about, moving out into the open ground beyond the beach to surround her forces.
They weren’t done there yet. They’d barely even begun.