“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.
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Aina braced herself, knowing she’d have to take a hit, and lifted her blowgun. As she fired out the first dart, a bullet struck her upper arm. Teo shot the middle Jackal between the eyes as Aina shot a dart into the neck of the last one.
As soon as he collapsed, she leaned against the wall, clutching her arm and hissing as a dull, throbbing pain spread down her arm and along her chest. Glancing down, her vision blurring, she tried to squeeze her hand into a fist, but the fingers wouldn’t move.
“Aina,” Teo said, placing his fingers gingerly on her arm. A crease formed on his forehead as he pulled bandages from the pack strung over his back. Her arm shook on its own and her head spun, suddenly dizzy.
“We should keep going,” she said through gritted teeth.
But Teo ignored her, removing the bullet and bandaging the wound. She watched him, her nerves settling and the rapid beat of her pulse slowing as she did. Not long ago, Kohl had taken care of a bullet wound for her too. But this was so different from Kohl. When Teo touched her, his fingers were soft and gentle enough that she hardly felt them. Or maybe it was the numbing sensation spreading through her arm.
When Teo finished bandaging her wound, she grabbed his hand with her other hand, twining their fingers together. The ship fell quiet around them, so she could almost pretend no more danger would find them.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said, smiling as he squeezed her hand. Her heart swelled, first with warmth at his words and then with sadness—she’d fought alongside him so many times, yet not until now did she really fear for him, even though she was the one injured. Like with the Inosen being targeted because of her choice to use magic, her friends were now all on this ship because she and Kohl had planned it.
As if reading her mind, Teo placed a hand on her chin so she would meet his eyes, and said, “We can still win this.”
“I know,” she said, her voice shaky. “But there are more Jackals than I expected.”
“There are fifty total, right?”
“At the piers,” she said. “I don’t think that number included however many people the smuggler has on this ship.”
“Let’s get moving, then.”
There was a strain in his voice as he spoke, anticipating—as she did—how much fighting still lay ahead of them. But the only option was to keep moving forward, and hope that Raurie, Lill, and Ryuu weren’t facing as much difficulty on their part of the ship.
They traversed the next two halls, peering into every room for some sign of the smuggler, and finally found him in an office close to the wheelhouse. He was turned away from them, rummaging through a drawer. Keeping her movements as quiet as she could, Aina lifted her blowgun, fired a dart into his neck, and pulled the door closed behind her. A moment passed, and then the smuggler shouted from within and began yanking on the door to open it, but Aina and Teo managed to hold it shut. Soon after, the man’s grip relinquished, Aina nodded to Teo, and they pushed open the door.
The smuggler knelt on the floor, weak and shaking as the poison worked through him. Knowing he didn’t have long, she grabbed him and pinned him to the floor with her knife at his throat. He coughed up blood and his eyes widened at the sight of the blade against his skin. “I have an antidote,” she whispered, and like a puppet, he slackened in her arms, ready to do anything she said. “All your pain will go away. But you have to tell me: How many men have you brought in to fight for Bautix? And where are the weapons? Speak fast or the poison will kill you.”
The words tumbled out, so fast she could barely catch them all. “All I do is bring in the people he’s hiring from Kaiyan, all right?”
“And what about the weapons?” she asked.
Sweat covered his skin, making her blade slide easily over his throat. His eyes bulged as he marked its progress.
“I have those too. I get them in Duroz, then I pick up the hired men from Kaiyan. They’re on the bottom floor of the ship, and when they get to the city, they’re led through the mine tunnels to wherever Bautix is storing them. I don’t know where he puts them after that or what he’s planning to do with them. The man’s so desperate, he practically threw kors at me, but he’s not stupid—he doesn’t tell me anything more.”
“Good to know,” Aina whispered as she swept her knife across his throat. “You won’t be a problem anymore.”
As his blood spilled over the floor, Teo grimaced. “You didn’t really have an antidote, did you?”
Shrugging, Aina said, “I told him his pain would go away. Come on.”
They left the room and turned down the next hall, stepping over the bodies of the Jackals they’d killed. When they reached a staircase, they raced down two sets of stairs, looking in each room they passed for a sign of the weapons or for any glimpse of Ryuu, Raurie, and Lill.
But as they rounded a corner, a Jackal met them, his knife striking out. Teo grunted and doubled over as the blade thrust through his side. Aina shoved the Jackal back and punched him in the jaw—his head slammed off the wall, and before he could recover, she cut his throat. The moment he collapsed, his blood slicking the floor, Aina dropped to her knees at Teo’s side.
“I’m fine,” Teo said, his breath hitching. “We need to find the weapons, Aina.”
Blood seeped from his wound, and he tried to staunch it by pressing his hand on it. Sweat dotted his forehead and his next few breaths came shallow. She withdrew more bandages from the pack he carried and used some of the fabric to press down on the wound.
She swallowed hard, her throat dry. Her left arm had gone nearly numb, the fingers of that hand stiff when she tried to move them. Neither of them would last much longer if the Jackals found them again. Her confidence began to slip away like water from cupped hands and she imagined them failing, shot to death on this ship, Bautix taking over the Tower.
“Let’s keep moving,” she whispered after she’d wrapped bandages around him as well as she could.
As they continued onward, the scent of smoke grew in the air. Her breath caught in her throat as she remembered the Dom burning before her, the bombings through the city shaking the earth. She gripped Teo’s sleeve with the stiff fingers of her left hand. Pulling him close, she asked, “Do you hear that?”
Something crackled nearby, a sound that had grown
familiar: the spark of flames preparing to spread. Her eyes flicked to the wooden walls around them and she pictured them burning, melting to charred husks and burying her and Teo here. This place would be devoured in minutes if there were a fire on the ship.
She and Teo exchanged a panicked glance, then looked down the hall to see a door ajar. The hallway curved around a corner at the end. Straining her ears, she heard no footsteps or other signs that Ryuu, Raurie, or Lill might be close. There was only the faint crackling noise coming from somewhere nearby, and the growing scent of smoke in the air.
“Let’s check that room, then get out of here,” she said, then coughed on the smoke. “If there’s a fire, that’ll take care of the weapons better than we could.”
As they moved toward the room, she wondered why the Jackals would set their own ship on fire—unless they’d already gotten the weapons off and her plan had failed. She shook away the thought, not even wanting to consider it.
But when they entered the room, a few crates stood scattered, with one flickering lamp illuminating them. She quickly knelt in front of one. Lifting the lid, she almost laughed in relief. Grenades and guns stared up at her.
“Found it,” she said, turning to look at Teo. He leaned against the wall, his hand still pressing down on his wound. His face had paled slightly, and instead of replying, he bit his lip and nodded.
“Teo,” she said, going to him. “Let’s grab as many of the weapons as we can—the fire will take care of the rest.” She fumbled for a diamond in the pouch at her belt, the fingers of her left hand shaking as she withdrew it. “I’ll try to stop the blood flow.”
She murmured a quick prayer to the Mothers. Please let me do this. Please help Teo.
But before she could draw a cut on her arm, the door swung closed. A bolt latched in place. A Jackal’s smirking face appeared in the slit of a window, then vanished.
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