by Elly Blake
The other two ships in our armada were barely visible on either side.
Everything inside me wound tight. Had they been following us, or had we sailed right into their territory? The latter made more sense. We were close to the Isle of Night. There would be large numbers of Servants here. Our ships had prepared for this, but with everything that had happened, the imminent threat hadn’t seemed real.
Two ships appeared in the mist, the third’s sails barely visible as it split off from the others.
I joined the Fireblood masters at the rail, waiting for the enemy to come within range.
On Kai’s order, we projected streams of flame. Their ship returned fire. Our Frostbloods blocked with frost. A gout of fire made it past our defenses, setting a barrel alight.
One of the enemy ships’ mainsails caught, then their foresail, with small fires springing up all over their deck. The captain shouted orders and his crew sprang into action. The burning ship heeled as it put about. We continued our onslaught, while the enemy crew emptied buckets of water on their deck. No Frostbloods on that ship, then.
The fog thickened.
Meanwhile, a second enemy ship had aimed at us, its bow straight abeam, its shrouds bellied out with a sudden tailwind, as if a wind had intervened to run the ship straight at us, broadside. Our masters sent out streams of flame, but even if their sails burned, that wouldn’t stop their momentum. The impact would surely split our hull.
As Kai spun the wheel, the crew worked the sails to move us out of the way. The Fireblood masters and I made room as Frostbloods lined the rail.
“Freeze!” Kai shouted. “Now!”
Arms out, they began freezing the water between us and the other ship. Ice built up in layers until it formed a barrier several feet wide. The enemy ship slowed but continued forward, its hull plowing through the ice.
I spotted Arcus among the others. His gift wasn’t back to full strength after our escape from the Servants’ keep. I watched him worriedly.
“Enemy to starboard!” the lookout shouted.
A third ship had maneuvered itself on our other side, careening at us through layers of mist. More Frostbloods rushed to repeat the same defense on that side, freezing the water to slow the enemy’s approach.
Kai jumped to the rail, joining the other masters, adding his fire to theirs. In seconds, the two enemy sails raged with flames. Their sails caught, and burning sections of yardarms fell to the deck. But still, their momentum brought them closer.
Even if the ice slowed them enough that they wouldn’t crush us, we’d find ourselves boarded within minutes. The Servants’ stolen Tempesian ships were larger than the Errant Princess, their crews probably double ours. We’d be captured or killed. Judging by the number of survivors of their other attacks, our chances of survival were slim.
As orders were shouted from the quarterdeck, I watched it all as if from a distance.
“We can’t stop them,” I murmured, struggling not to give into terror.
The Minax fed off my fear.
Defend! Fight! Kill!
I flashed back to a memory of my demonstration in the arena, when I’d used the Minax to possess and frighten the Frost Court. The Minax had essentially broken itself into pieces, all part of a whole.
The Minax urged me on. Fight! Kill! But the very fact that it was encouraging that course of action made it suspect. If I used it too much, would it take me over?
I shook my head, trying to think. There was no other way. I had to do whatever I could to stop the Servants. But if I was going to break the Minax into pieces, I needed to be able to direct those pieces. I couldn’t risk losing control the way I almost had in the arena when the bloodlust would have taken me over if not for Kai.
Two ships. Impossible. I couldn’t divide my attention between two ships. If only someone else could wield the creature with me, could help me direct it when its shadowy form was dispersed over such a large area.
Marella.
The moment her name popped into my head, I was scrambling down the companionway and pounding toward her cabin.
She’d survived the Minax’s possession longer than anyone else, aside from me. Growing up hearing the whispers from the throne of Fors must have given her a level of tolerance. She was the one who had first proved that the Minax could be controlled—albeit by using the creature against me in Sudesia.
Could I trust her? Could she bear to let one of the creatures touch her mind again?
No time for doubt.
As I swung her door open, her hand flew to her throat.
“What is it?” she asked, sitting up on the bed with wide, frightened eyes. So different from her previously fearless personality.
“Remember when I said we’d send Eurus packing?”
“Yes,” she answered hesitantly.
I motioned briskly. “Now’s our chance. Come on!”
TWENTY-EIGHT
MARELLA CLUTCHED HER CLOAK closed with one thin hand as she followed me up the steps, shivering at the blast of cold as we reached the deck.
“We’re under attack,” I said, leading her to a spot by the starboard rail. “On both sides. I need you to help me wield the Minax to control the enemy sailors. I’ll command one half of the creature against one ship while you take the other.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” she said, sounding both annoyed and terrified.
“The Minax can possess more than one person at a time, but I’m not sure I can control it over that large an area.” I waved a hand in frustration, willing her to understand my frantic stream of words. “I need you to connect with its mind and make sure it doesn’t get out of hand on one ship, while I focus on the other.”
“No!” she said, fists clenched. “I’m not strong enough! It will control me.”
“You’re stronger now!”
“I’m not!”
With darting glances, I took stock of our enemies’ positions. The two ships had slowed to a crawl in the ice, but they still moved toward us. Their Firebloods were melting the ice. They weren’t yet close enough for our forces to attack.
Our other two ships were under attack nearby. Fire and ice flashed through the air. Screams echoed eerily through the fog.
I spotted Lucina on deck. Her eyes were closed, her face pointed up at the sky, her lips moving in prayer.
When I called her name, she opened her eyes. I beckoned her over. She looked distressed and frustrated as she rushed toward us. “There’s no sunlight! I can do nothing without sun.”
“Never mind that now. Do you have any light left? Inside you?”
“Yes,” she replied, curious.
Quickly, I explained my idea. Lucina turned her assessing stare on Marella.
“Can you help her?” I asked.
She nodded and put her hands out, palms up. She met and held Marella’s eyes with her own. “You trust me by now, don’t you, my lady?”
Marella hesitated, then nodded. “You gave me hope when we were locked in that cell. You used sunlight to heal me.”
Lucina smiled. “That’s right. So you know this sensation already. Hold on to me. When you feel the Minax gaining power over you, take some light from me to fight it back. We can do this. Together.”
Marella looked frightened, but she nodded and took Lucina’s hands.
“Can you control the creature?” Lucina asked, searing me with an intense golden stare. “Don’t try this if you’re not sure.”
I was only too aware that I’d lost control the previous day. But we were fighting for our lives. There were people I cared about here, people I loved who would die if I didn’t do something. I desperately hoped that connection, that love, would give me control. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt someone again.
“I can do this,” I told her.
She nodded. “We are ready.” She conveyed so much with her expression and her tone. Confidence. Faith. Reassurance.
A scream rent the air as a plume of enemy fire hit one of our sailors in the ri
gging. She lost her grip and fell to the deck. Her cries echoed in the fog. Someone ran to help.
This meant the enemy ships were so close they were within range. And we were within their range, too.
More injured, more cries. Impossible to concentrate. The Minax had woken fully to feed on the pain and terror.
“Marella,” I said, “help me.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. She knew what to do.
“Return to me,” she whispered.
I imagined the Minax being separated into two parts. A stabbing pain filled my chest. I had the agonizing sensation of my heart being rent in two as the shadows divided.
One shadow left my skin and sank into Marella’s raised hand. When it disappeared, she took a deep, shuddering breath and grabbed Lucina’s hand again.
“That ship’s yours.” I pointed starboard. “I’ll take the other. Do whatever you need to do to stop it, or at least create chaos. Target their helmsman. Incapacitate their Firebloods if you can.”
I rushed to port, near Arcus. He panted with exertion as he added more ice to the water. Our enemies waited with eager eyes, holding hooks with net bridges attached. In seconds they’d be close enough to throw the nets and swarm over to our deck to slaughter us.
Clutching the cold rail with one hand, I turned the palm of my free hand toward their ship. The Minax shot out like an arrow from a longbow, the shadow disappearing into one of the sailors. He dropped his hold on the net. Then the creature leaped into the next sailor, making him do the same. Their captain screamed at them, furious and confused.
“Disperse,” I ordered it, showing it what I wanted with a mental image.
A miasma of shadow spread out, extending until it covered everyone on the main deck. Its strength was diluted, but it was exerting influence over all of them at once. I might not be able to focus enough to coordinate their actions, but I could confuse them.
“Fog their minds.”
Orders were misunderstood or ignored. The wheel turned sharply. Their stern slid starboard, offering us the full broadside of the ship. Our Fireblood masters wasted no time taking advantage of this easier target. As their ship turned, their sails flapped, no longer catching the wind at the best angle. The sailors in the rigging hesitated, struggling to remember what to do.
The captain of the other ship stared at me with burning eyes. Somehow, he’d figured out that I was the cause of this.
“Target the girl with black hair,” he commanded, pointing at me.
One of his Firebloods managed to obey. Flames roared toward me. My other hand came up and met that flame with my own, redirecting the inferno up and back toward the other ship.
Flames engulfed their deck. Terrible screams.
The Minax fed on the glut of fear and pain all around us. My fire burned brighter than ever before. Pure, hot exhilaration, feeding me power.
As the shadow and I moved in harmony—command, obey—something shifted. The separation between myself and the Minax dissolved. I became both commander and servant, moving in the minds of the sailors without the intervening step.
I could even feel the other half of the Minax, heard Marella commanding it, felt it obeying her. I floated into the consciousness of all our victims. Mortal toys, ours to play with.
Moving in their minds like gossamer silk, I told them to jump ship. Watched as they stepped to the edge, crawled over the rail, and flung themselves off.
Falling. Screaming.
The bliss of it.
Irresistible, heady triumph.
Invincible.
No one could ever hurt me again.
I lifted my arms and tilted my head back, letting all that glorious power surge through me. I was incandescent. Unstoppable.
Almost… divine.
So now you understand.
I blinked, shaking my head. It wasn’t the voice of the Minax I’d heard—
Eurus’s voice came softly again. Clearer. Finally, you understand.
The Minax’s attention sharpened, listening. My whole body tensed.
“Where are you?” I asked, searching the ships, looking from deck to deck, from water to sky, all over. “Where are you?”
The east wind blew fiercely, filling sails, rocking the ships like cradles. Everywhere.
“I’m killing your followers.” I made three more of them jump over the side. Trancelike, eyes unblinking, I stared as they fell. Their arms pinwheeling in the air made me smile.
Eurus laughed joyfully. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”
That drew me up short. “You want me to do this?”
“Power over these mortal creatures is your birthright. Your inheritance. I gave this to you as a gift.”
A stillness came into my mind. An image. Two paths, just like in my dream of the tunnels. I could choose the one I’d intended to follow, or I could choose a brave new path, uncharted.
“Take the night throne,” Eurus invited silkily. “Take your due.”
An onyx throne rose up in my imagination, all sharp corners and polished surfaces.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Eurus asked. “See how it shines.”
A figure appeared on the throne, with long black hair and amber eyes.
“Me?” I asked. “How?”
“You are not quite ready. Not yet.”
“How do I become ready?”
“Are you brave enough to do what needs to be done?” he asked.
“How?” I demanded.
“Kill them all!”
Throwing my arms out, I sent streams of fire at the Servants’ ships, setting the hulls ablaze. I forced more of their people to jump.
Screams filled the twilight.
“Ruby!” Arcus’s voice in my ear, his arm around my waist, drawing me back. “Enough!”
I shuddered in reaction to his touch, loving and hating the contact. Too much light! Familiar, welcome. Repugnant! Safe.
Snapping back to myself, shaking my head to clear it, I sent one more command to the Minax. “Return to me.”
The shadows arrowed back into my heart. I gasped at the sharp burn of its presence. Leaning against the rail, I watched the flames rising from the Servants’ ships. The crews were dead or dying.
Horror threatened to crash over me, a storm wave I couldn’t survive.
I shook my head in denial. I couldn’t think about anything, not yet. I pulled out of Arcus’s arms and ran to Marella. When I put out my hand, she took it immediately.
“Return to me,” I repeated, and the rest of the Minax moved without hesitation into my fingers. Pain bit into my chest as the two halves rejoined.
I bent over and rubbed the aching spot over my heart. When the pain eased, I straightened, allowing myself to bask a little in relief and satisfaction. We had controlled the creature. We had done it!
Marella’s eyes held a gleam of feverish excitement, and she wore a small smile of triumph. I had a feeling my expression looked very much like hers.
“She needs rest,” Lucina said, her tone brusque and disapproving, which wasn’t fair considering that we had just won. She put a hand under Marella’s elbow and hustled her toward the companionway as if eager to get away from me. Or was I imagining that? Was the Minax making me see things that weren’t there?
As the euphoria wore off, exhaustion pulled at every muscle and bone, and I swayed.
But cold hands were there, ready to catch me, closing over my shoulders in a protective grip.
Afraid to look at Arcus, of what he might see in my face, I merely leaned into his strength.
I had become the Minax. Eurus had spoken, had told me what to do to prepare for his throne. I had followed his orders without resisting. Without question.
A shiver ran through me, and Arcus’s arms tightened.
But I was in control, I told myself desperately. I was in control.
The muffled strains of Lucina’s voice came through the door. “We cannot wait!”
I stood outside Brother Thistle’s cabin, my ear
to his door. Brother Thistle and Lucina had disappeared inside while Kai supervised repairs to the ship. I wasn’t invited. Which made me all the more determined to know what they were saying.
“We dare not go to the Isle of Night before the Tempesian navy arrives,” Brother Thistle said. “For all we know, there are many more ships carrying hundreds of Servants in nearby waters and we cannot stop them all. And we need the Sudesian fleet as well. Both Frostbloods and Firebloods in strong numbers to make frostfire.”
“Frostfire is a stopgap,” Lucina argued, clearly annoyed. “It merely stuns the creatures.”
“Which may be necessary,” Brother Thistle said.
“Stunning the Minax won’t make a bit of difference if their cell door is open!” she replied. “The Gate must be repaired, and Ruby is the only one who can make sure it is never opened again. We must get to the Gate soon, before she is completely lost. Did you see her today?”
“I saw,” Brother Thistle said. He sounded… almost sad. Or disappointed? I wanted to burst through the door and scream at him. How dare you judge me? I saved us all!
I shook off the distracting impulses and struggled to hear. Lucina was saying something about Eurus. “He could be directing her actions even now. You have no idea how powerful he is!” She added something in a lower voice. I couldn’t make out the words.
“Far from it,” Brother Thistle said. “I know her, flaws and all. She would not turn as easily as you think.”
Lucina sounded sad but with an edge of steel as she replied, “He will do anything to turn her to his will. You underestimate him at your peril.”
Brother Thistle’s reply was too quiet to hear. I pressed my ear harder to the door, frustrated. Why couldn’t they speak up?
“She’s right, you know.”
I jerked upright and spun around. Marella leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “You’re not the only one who listens at keyholes.”
“She’s wrong to think I’m so weak,” I whispered adamantly. “I saved us. We did, you and I, together.”
“And I’m still feeling the effects, Ruby.” She swallowed, closing her eyes tight. “I know you’re too strong, though. I can’t take the Minax from you. And for that, I’m thankful.”