When Aina reached the train platform a few minutes later, she spotted Teo, Ryuu, Lill, and Mirran in front of the large brass train that would take them to the ports. Looking up toward the roof, she shuddered a little, hoping any fights she got into today wouldn’t be on a moving vehicle.
Before she reached them though, she heard a familiar voice to her right. Tannis and Raurie stood in the doorway to one of the station waiting rooms.
“I’m really glad you and Lill were able to make it today,” Tannis said.
“And miss all the fun? Never,” Raurie said, drawing out a laugh from Tannis.
Aina was about to move on, not wanting to eavesdrop, but Tannis’s next words caught her attention.
“I was also worried I wouldn’t be able to see you before going to the Tower,” she said in a haltingly nervous tone. “I’m usually never afraid before missions; I don’t think about the idea of failing because it’s not an option. But with this one, I fear failing more than I have with anything else.”
“You won’t fail,” Raurie said in a reassuring tone, brushing a strand of Tannis’s blue hair behind her ears. “What makes you so sure you will?”
“I always seem to mess up everything,” Tannis said, shaking her head sadly. “I’ve spent as long as possible trying to ignore my past and my guilt, focus only on the Dom—ignoring the problems affecting my people in this city just because I’d gotten away from it myself. And now that I’m finally deciding not to do that anymore, it’s scary thinking it might backfire.”
Raurie rolled her eyes. “And what have I told you about giving up? Remember when you had to remind me not to do the same? It’s worthless. Why would you do that when you can do so much for the people you care about?”
“You’re annoyingly encouraging.”
Raurie shrugged with a playful expression. “You’ll have to get used to it.”
“Good thing I like challenges,” Tannis said, then leaned forward to kiss Raurie.
Aina turned away then, her ears hot. She hadn’t really wanted to listen in, but she couldn’t help herself—Tannis deserved some happiness.
As she approached the others, Teo saw her first, and the smile he gave her was brighter than the sun. Her cheeks burned at the memory of almost kissing him yesterday. She wanted to believe she deserved some happiness too—but her heart sank a little and she wondered how she would ever prove to Teo that he could trust her again.
She looked over her shoulder toward the clock hanging over the platform—only a few minutes before the train would open for boarding. Then she turned to Ryuu and pulled him into a hug. “Ryuu, thank you. The new manor looks beautiful.”
“Maybe too beautiful; people will definitely try to rob us more often,” Mirran said with a grimace. “But seriously, thank you.”
“It was the least I could do,” he said with a shrug, but Aina still noticed the pride in his eyes as Tannis and Raurie joined them.
“We should go,” Mirran said to Tannis in a low voice. “We’ll have to start early to get the Kaiyanis out unnoticed and to a place where we can escort them all.”
“You’re right,” Tannis said. “Aina, make sure the ports are safe by the time we get there. I don’t want to lose any of the people we’re helping.”
The two of them left with a quick wave, Tannis’s eyes lingering on Raurie for another long moment. Minutes later, the rest of them boarded the train and searched for an empty compartment as it sped away toward the coast and left the clouds of the city behind. Sunlit fields began to flash by in the windows. Aina walked at the front of the group, with Lill right behind her.
“About your mother…” Aina began slowly.
Lill gave her a sharp look. “Was she the one who told you that Bautix would attack? I saw you look at me when you were telling us.”
Aina nodded. “She wanted me to get you out of the city, because she knew it would happen.”
“If she cared, then where has she been all this time? She just wants to avoid feeling guilty if I die because of her choices.”
“I didn’t say she cared,” Aina said, falling back to walk next to Lill in the narrow hall. “I don’t know what she feels. But she didn’t want you to get caught in it. There’s a chance she’s thinking about changing sides.”
“I don’t know about all that. I’ve already agreed to this crazy plan of yours with the Sentinel. That’s enough trust for one day.” Lill went quiet for a long moment. “I used to be so afraid of living underground. It was so dark and I felt suffocated. I’ve always been afraid of ghosts, and one of the others was messing with me one day and told me the ghosts of all those who died in the civil war haunt the city from its tunnels. I was always afraid of the mines collapsing on us too. So many forgotten bones and secret passages and hidden stories there. I didn’t want to join them. I feel better now, even here, just because we’re above ground. And being with all of you.”
“It’s much better than being afraid alone,” Aina said, knowing that was something she often did; tackling problems on her own rather than ever admitting she needed help.
“Afraid or angry? Both?” Lill shook her head. “I’m tired of being angry and afraid all the time; I’m tired of being alone. I want this to be the last of it.”
Minutes later and halfway down the train, they found an empty compartment and gathered around the table together.
“Did you two have to sneak out again?” Ryuu asked Raurie and Lill once they’d all been seated.
“Not this time,” Raurie said while Lill shook her head. “June and I talked about it last night. For the longest time, I thought she underestimated me … but she only wanted to keep me safe. She’d already lost her sister—my mom—fighting for Inosen rights. She doesn’t want to lose me too. But she admits we need to do something, and that using the Mothers’ magic might be the only way. If anything, she thinks the ports will be safer than the city—so I think she’s actually glad I’ll be gone, but somewhere I can still help.”
“I’m glad you two made up,” Teo said. “I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore, though.”
“It never has been for us,” Lill added. “You just pick from multiple bad options and hope the one you chose is best.”
Aina blinked. “Like being friends with us?”
“Yeah,” Lill said with a wink. “But I made the right choice with that one.”
Ryuu smiled back at her as he pulled out a map of the ports, and then they began their last stages of planning. Sunlight flickered through the windows, illuminating the map as Aina pointed out the best vantage points to take out the Jackals.
“The shipment will come from the northwestern port this time, it’s confirmed,” Aina said. “We assume most of the Jackals will be concentrated around there, but it won’t hurt for us to have eyes everywhere. Raurie and Lill should go with Ryuu and look for the weapons—take as many as you can and throw the rest out to sea. Teo and I will search for the smuggler and take out any Jackals we see, and we’ll look for the weapons too.”
Once they finished planning, she sat next to Teo for the rest of the train ride. The whole way there, she tried to shake off the memory of Kohl touching her lips, but it clung to her like a heavy cloak.
A sharp wind gusted over from the ocean as Aina stepped off the train an hour later at the southwestern port. The sound of boats bobbing in the water blended with their breathing. It was deadly quiet here, with none of the usual clamor from sailors or passengers. The silence made her tense, one hand going to a knife already.
“That way,” Ryuu said, pointing northward.
They walked past the piers, the sun shining so brightly, it was difficult to see ahead without squinting. Aina looked everywhere for a sign of the Jackals: behind the ships bobbing in the water, amid crates stacked along each pier, in the shadows of warehouses and sheds spread along the port. The farther they walked with no sign of the Jackals, the more on edge she became.
“There,” Aina said, pointing to a small boat bobbing in the water next to pier eleven, the one that marked the split between the northwestern port and the southwestern port. “Like Kohl said.”
Ryuu, Raurie, and Lill climbed into the boat, grabbing sets of oars as they did. A sharp breeze gusted down the docks and made their boat wobble in the water. All three of them tensed, and Aina couldn’t blame them.
“You’ll make it to the storage entrance of the ship if you go up behind it,” Aina said, reminding them of the plan. “We’ll take out as many Jackals as we can at the front and enter there. We’ll regroup on the deck in an hour and then leave.”
“Good luck,” Ryuu said, dropping his oars into the water to push the boat onward.
“Not taking any chances now,” Teo said, withdrawing two guns from the holsters at his belt and holding one in each hand. “Even if we haven’t seen them yet, I bet they know we’re here.”
With a tight grimace, she nodded. Like before any fight, adrenaline flooded through her, spurring her onward down the piers with Teo at her side. But right now the sharp edge of fear struck through the confidence she usually felt. Any moment now back in the city, Kohl would be giving the poisons and fake antidote to Bautix. She imagined Bautix’s smug smile as he slithered through one of the secret entrances into the Tower. If she stopped his men and weapons shipment from getting through the ports, Bautix wouldn’t have the backup and firepower he needed to take over the Tower. But if they failed, his men would outnumber every Diamond Guard left in the Tower, and he’d win without even needing to poison anyone.
When they reached pier seven, a gunshot rang out. Aina leapt out of the way as a bullet flew past her and into the metal side of a shed behind her. Teo fired in the direction of the attacker, behind a collection of storage crates at the edge of pier six, and someone fell to the ground with a thud.
She and Teo ran toward the crate in a crouch, then took cover. Her breath came quickly, her eyes darting to every potential hiding place at the piers ahead. Shadows moved at some of them, and she halfway lifted her dagger, ready to throw it into the throat of the first Jackal she spotted.
“If they didn’t know we were here before, they definitely do now,” Teo said, wiping sweat off his forehead.
She drew in a deep breath and stood. “Let’s go meet them, then.”
“I’ll cover you.”
She nodded and, without wasting another moment, jumped up from behind the crate. Approaching the fifth pier at a run, she drew close to the warehouse at the pier. Heads peered through the windows, raising rifles that shone in the sunlight. Bullets slammed against the pier, wooden docks exploding at her feet as she ran. Teo returned fire as he ran behind her. Bodies fell from the windows of the warehouse, landing with loud thuds on the docks or smacking against the water.
The remaining Jackals in the windows fell back, none of them wanting to join their colleagues.
Turning to see how close Teo was, she spotted a Jackal approaching them from behind and lifting his gun to aim at Teo’s head.
She launched her dagger into his throat. Teo tensed as it flew by him, and looked back as the Jackal fell to the ground with blood spilling over the docks.
“Get to pier four!” she called to Teo as she ran to retrieve her dagger. Anticipating another attack from the Jackals at the window, she pivoted away as a bullet landed where her foot had been. Heart in her throat, she raced toward the crate Teo hid behind at the edge of pier four.
A tall, wooden ship bobbed in the water ahead, its sails waving in the afternoon wind. The Kaiyanis flag, pale blue with a white lily in the center, flew on one of the masts. More crates were stacked all along the pier. Straining her ears, Aina heard the cock of a gun. It was a bottleneck leading up to the ship’s entrance; the Jackals wanted them to try. Her pulse raced in anticipation to the challenge. One look at Teo told her he was ready to run for it, guns blazing. They would either get trapped in here, or do the trapping themselves.
She withdrew her blowgun, loaded a poison dart, and held three others ready to go. Her other hand gripped the handle of one of her scythes.
Teo nodded at her as he withdrew a second gun, and then mouthed, “You take the right, I’ll take the left.”
They moved in sync then, neither needing to confer with the other what they were doing, and elation filled her despite the fact that they were probably going to be shot full of holes. They would win this yet.
When she and Teo worked together, nothing could stop them.
At the edge of one crate, the wooden dock creaked under a footstep, and Aina pivoted, blowing into her blowgun just as a Jackal stepped out from behind the crate. The dart hit his neck and he stumbled toward her. She swept her foot behind his knees to knock him to the ground. He’d be dead in a minute. The click of a gun sounded to her right.
She ducked as the bullet fired, then barreled forward before the Jackal could load the gun again and slammed into his waist. She swept her scythe across his chest, then pivoted to avoid the next fighter who came running out from behind a crate. Her scythe swung into his neck and she pushed until it nearly took off his head. He dropped to the ground, drowning in his own blood.
Yanking her scythe free and ignoring the blood dripping down it, Aina raced forward. Twenty more feet, and she’d reach the ship.
Her eyes flicked toward Teo, who’d just shot a Jackal flying at him from behind a crate on his side, but as she did, an arm reached out from behind the crate closest to her and slammed into her throat. As she stumbled back, another Jackal lifted her up by the collar. He slammed her into the crate, the breath getting knocked out of her with the force of it. His knife appeared at her neck.
Grabbing his hand, she began to push back, her feet scrabbling for purchase on the crate to lean into the knife even more. Sweat dripping into her eyes, she pushed the knife toward him instead. With one more forceful push, she sliced it through his throat.
As he fell back, blood pouring over his clothes and onto the dock, Aina lurched to her feet and nearly slipped in the blood.
Across the pier, Teo shot another Jackal. One more approached behind him, and Aina flung a knife at him before he could reach Teo.
With one more quick glance around at all the bodies, she and Teo ran forward, encountering no more Jackals as they approached the gangplank.
They raced up it onto the empty deck, and Teo pointed to a staircase that led to the lower levels.
The thrill of winning a fight worked through her, spurring her onward to follow Teo down the stairs. They were so close; all they had to do was kill the smuggler and get rid of the weapons. She could almost taste their victory, like the salt of the sea ahead.
It was dark inside the ship, lit only with a few oil lamps hanging on the walls. Blinking to adjust their eyes, they began to search through narrow, labyrinthine halls. They passed empty offices and storage rooms, with no sign of any more Jackals. It grew so quiet, she could hear her own heartbeat.
“The weapons will probably be on the lowest level,” Aina said, glancing around as they reached an intersection of four hallways. Her footsteps approaching Teo made the floor creak. “The smuggler above.”
“We’ll find him,” Teo assured her. “Let’s look for another staircase.”
They chose one of the hallways and raced down it, searching for a staircase that might take them to the highest level of the ship. When they finally found one, they ascended to the next floor, their footsteps the only sound. They reached the next landing and turned the corner. But the light of a flare ahead caught her attention. Someone passed in front of it, their shadow extending like a scythe across the floor.
Three Jackals stepped around the next corner, guns aimed at Aina and Teo’s heads.