Eira staggered at the initial explosion of flames. The whole ship was ablaze in an instant. She jumped, nearly bumping into Adela to stand in the cool shelter of the woman’s presence. Just as fast as the flames
began, they hissed, extinguishing into a thick mist that blanketed the vessel.
Adela cursed under her breath. Eira thought she heard the words “flash beads,” but couldn’t be sure.
Ice crackled across the deck, underneath fresh tongues of flame, as two mighty magics warred. Men and women leapt onto the vessel. Adela swung her arm. A sheet of frost covered the wood before their feet landed. Three of the four scrambled, falling back as the grips of their shoes lacked purchase. The fourth managed to find his footing but Eira dashed forward, tackling him to the ground. Even though the frost wasn’t of her making, and even without her magic, she still understood ice and water as though it were an extension of her. An old friend that was eagerly awaiting her return.
The fourth cracked his head and blinked into the rain. Eira had his body to break her fall and she could recover faster, pushing onto her knees at his side. The man’s eyes quickly regained focus as they met Eira’s. She could feel his body tense beneath her, almost quivering with a sick excitement.
“It’s you.” The man wore a pin on his breast with three circles interlocked, stacked vertical. However, instead of one line connecting them, as was traditional for the symbol of Yargen, there were three lines—the symbol of the Pillars.
These people weren’t fellow vagrants. They weren’t the law of the land who had uncovered pirates in their midst. They were Pillars. Even this far
from Risen and Warich, the Pillars were here. They were organized.
And they were hunting her.
Eira had stayed her blade when she’d tackled him because she didn’t want to kill one of Ofok’s leadership or law. She wasn’t a pirate; Adela had made that much clear to her. But a Pillar changed everything.
He opened his mouth to speak again. Eira moved faster than he could get a word out, drawing her blade across his throat. The man gurgled blood, hands flying to try and apply pressure. It was already too late, and she moved on to the next.
The woman hardly saw the flash of Eira’s silver dagger in the rain. She swiveled and slit the woman’s throat without a second thought the moment she saw the Pillars’ pin on her breast, too. Blood splattered Eira’s cheeks, washed away almost instantly by the thundering rain as she moved on to the third man.
But he had recovered enough to regain his focus. “Mysst soto larrk!” Light condensed into a dagger, parrying hers. Magic exploded behind them. “You’re lucky he wants you alive,” the Pillar snarled.
Him. Ulvarth.
“Yet another one of his many mistakes.” Eira disengaged, dodged the wild swing of his blade.
“You’ll go to him.” The Pillar closed the distance again. Eira danced around the blade, parrying it with her own. “He has your uncle after all.”
Her stomach dropped from her body. “Liar,” she snarled. The Pillars would say anything to try and get her to go back.
“Is that a risk you’ll ta—” He didn’t have a chance to finish before Eira shoved her blade straight through his throat. Ulvarth should have killed her when he had the chance. Now she would leave a trail of bodies of his followers as she made her way back to cut off the serpent’s head. If he really did have Fritz, or her parents, it would only make his agony that much worse for that much longer.
A flash of light. The ship crunched and exploded, lurching to the starboard side. Eira lunged for the port railing, grabbing on. The vessel stabilized, still at an awkward tilt. When Eira glanced back behind her, the river was a sheet of ice that the ship had been frozen into—the only reason it hadn’t completely capsized.
Circles of light surrounded her hands. Eira let go right as the wood and deck exploded. That would’ve been her fingers if she’d waited another
second. She slid down the deck, bracing herself for impact on the hard ice waiting for her below. To her surprise, the ice curved, making a chute for Eira to slide down and land easily on her feet.
Adela stood amid the pile of bodies that had slid off the deck and onto the ice. Their blood was striking against the sheet of white. “You’re not as worthless as I thought.”
“Just wait until I get my magic back.”
Adela’s other boat was a commotion as well. The deck was crowded with eleven people, all bustling about crates and sacks that hadn’t been there mere hours ago. Eira recognized each of the faces—from the pirates, to her friends. Guilt tried to choke her, but selfish relief got to her first. They hadn’t left her after all; and the Pillars hadn’t managed to corner them in the streets.
“Don’t delay now.” Adela was already halfway to the other boat, running up a bridge of ice.
Eira raced behind. As soon as she was on the bridge, the ice holding the broken boat they’d just been on turned into water. The remnants of the vessel plunged back into the harbor, sending a wave across the docks, soaking the Pillars that remained. It then tipped back. The sounds of cracking wood and the cries of people filled the air. It was too quickly replaced by the calls of more Lightspinning.
“Juth—”
“Mysst soto larrk!” a male voice cut off the first speaker. Eira paused, two thirds of the way across the bridge. Her heart sank as the familiar sound drew her attention.
“Mysst xieh!” a young man shouted as he stepped in front of an attacking Pillar, holding up a shield of light with his fingertips alone.
Olivin and Yonlin. The two brothers had engaged the Pillars on the docks. Olivin was no doubt still nearby when he had heard the commotion. She couldn’t imagine any world where he wouldn’t run back. “Somewhere safe” for Yonlin must’ve been just out of sight, ready to support his brother.
“Eira!” Noelle shouted from the deck. Adela was just crossing the threshold of the vessel. She reached into her coat and handed a small key to Pine, who subsequently began going to each of the Solaris and Qwint competitors and unlocking their shackles.
“Get over here!” Cullen called as Pine was fumbling with the shackle on his wrist.
“It’s Olivin,” she shouted back. Cullen’s eyes darted from her to the docks behind them and back. “If we leave him, they will kill him.”
Perhaps it was Olivin the Pillars had been following the entire time— because of his sister, Wynry, he was equally a personal target. Wynry no doubt wanted to end their family line and finish the job she’d started years ago. Or they had picked up Eira’s trail in Warich and had been hunting her. We have your uncle. The words haunted her. Real, or not? Either way, they wouldn’t stop and this was their best opportunity to tie up a loose end with the other.
Cullen’s expression was one of pure torture. Eira remembered the night neither of them could sleep during the tournament. I can’t stand seeing you with him, he’d said. Wounds were still there. Tensions. Questions. But things had changed. They had all changed. This was more than complicated feelings; it was life and death.
“If we don’t help them, their blood is on our hands. The Pillars want them dead as much as us.” With those simple words, Eira brought Cullen back to the reality of the situation. She’d never felt more helpless. If she had her magic, she could go over there. She could make it.
Cullen ran to the opposite side of the deck. She didn’t know if he was trying to get help, find a way over, or if he had abandoned her plea. If she’d asked for the one thing he wouldn’t give.
Eira turned back to the docks where Olivin and Yonlin were fighting. She thrust out her hand, willing her magic to come. Heed me, Eira commanded.
It didn’t.
She repeated the motion. With a shout and all her might, she searched the depths of her very being for power she knew was there. Still nothing. Shoulder aching, fingers straining from the tension of the movement, Eira resolved to make the attempt one more time. If not now, when her friends needed her, when? Taking a deep breath and gathering her focus, Eira threw out her hand.
And the ice moved.
The bridge shifted and stretched, connecting to the other dock. Eira stared at her palm. Had she… No. The bridge wasn’t shaped like she’d been intending. There wasn’t the same pull of power she was accustomed to when she used her magic.
A hand made of ice clasped her shoulder. “You are a hassle, girl, and a breathtaking trial of my patience.”
“Adela?” Eira’s voice had gone soft with shock at the pirate queen’s presence, little more than a whisper.
“Well, then, let’s get your friends. They seem useful enough to be worth the trouble of saving them. I can always use more powerful sorcerers in my debt.” Adela looked over her shoulder and shouted to the crew, “Cast off! We’ll rejoin you at the gate.”
“Understood!” Crow shouted back.
“Eira.” Cullen leaned halfway over the railing. “Please be careful…and good luck.”
The words were like a beam of sunlight striking through the night. His worried expression tempered with confidence. The grim line of determination his mouth was set into. There was no guilt, or grief. No pained twisting of his lips. He wished her well. He supported her—even when it meant her running back to Olivin.
“I will be.” She nodded, trying to exude more confidence than she felt. “You do the same, all right? Keep everyone safe until I get back.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Eira didn’t dare waste any more time. Adela was already halfway to the opposite side of the river. The pirate queen was truly a sight to behold. It looked almost as if she were flying. Her leg and arm of ice merged with the bridge, propelling her across.
The second I get my power back, I am learning how to do that, Eira vowed, and she began to run behind.
Adela made it to the opposite docks before she did, landing with an explosion of ice. The Pillars were ready, having seen them coming. But their Lightspinning shields did little against icicles that moved like sentient spears. Eira maneuvered around Adela, finishing off two who had managed to deflect the brunt of her attack.
Olivin and Yonlin stood in the center of a V of ice. Completely unharmed.
“Eira, what…” Olivin was at a loss for words.
“This is the friend you wanted to save?” Yonlin’s attention darted from Eira, to Adela, to Olivin, and back. “The one from Solaris who was involved with the pirate queen?” He slapped his brother’s shoulder. “Dummy. In what world would she need your help when she has that?” He
motioned to Adela, who was making quick work of the Pillars without even taking a step.
Eira bit back a laugh.
“I am inclined to agree.” Adela outstretched her hand, summoning her cane. Eira didn’t miss how she had been swaying slightly before its use. Adela always seemed so strong and capable. Like she could conquer the world. But she was also at least eighty-five years old. Even if what Ferro had told Eira long ago was true—that Adela had elfin blood in her—that was still past middle-aged for most long-lived elfin and elderly for any human.
“You two need to leave,” Eira said firmly. “We came to save you,” Olivin protested.
“Oh yes, saving them. We’re doing a great job of it.” Yonlin nodded sagely. Eira was surprised to find Yonlin had a marvelous sense of humor. Though, it was hard to be jovial when on the brink of death, and she hadn’t seen him since his recovery. “I think they just saved us.”
“Just, go.” Eira turned to Adela. The other boat was already beginning to get speed in the harbor, no doubt thanks to some Cullen-supplied wind. “We have to get back to our boat.”
“No. We’re on foot and these two are coming with us.” Adela started down the docks.
“I’m sorry?” Despite his objecting tone, Olivin did as he was told, following behind Adela with Eira.
“I’m the infamous pirate queen, not a charity.” Adela glanced over her shoulder at the three of them and a scowl twisted her lips. She muttered under her breath, “Nor a bodyguard…”
Rather than be offended, Eira found amusement at the comment. The whole situation was surreal. Pillars were hunting them down. The only other boat they had was leaving without them. Olivin and Yonlin weren’t supposed to be here at all. And the pirate queen, miraculously, was the one keeping them alive. Genuinely helping as she was able.
“What do you want from us?” Olivin stayed one step ahead of his younger brother, as if trying to keep himself between Yonlin and Adela.
“You are young and capable. I’m going to need your help with Ofok gate.”
“Ofok gate?” Eira repeated.
Adela reached the top of a stairway and pointed. They stood high among the buildings of the tiered city of Ofok. Eira followed the river with her eyes. It was the largest gap between structures in the marshy city—a ribbon of golden haze from all the lamplights and storefronts that lined it. Where the river joined the sea was a massive gatehouse, nestled into a thick sea wall, that arched over the river’s mouth.
The arch was the only structure made in stone. It loomed over the river with a raised portcullis that resembled jagged teeth.
“Look at my monument.” Adela was full of bitter pride. “They honestly thought such a thing could keep me out.” She scoffed.
Eira passed up the opportunity to further inflate the pirate’s ego, instead asking, “What do you need us to do about the gate?”
“Open it,” she said casually.
“It’s already open,” Yonlin pointed out.
“Your powers of observation are truly astounding.” Adela began to walk again. “Best not to delay.” She held up three fingers, not looking back. “Three.”
“Delay what?” Eira exchanged a confused glance with Olivin. “Two.” Adela lowered a finger.
“Adela—”
“One.” As Adela’s hand lowered, so, too, did the gate. It came crashing down with a thunderous splash that seemed to rattle the whole city. Adela glanced over her shoulder. “You three had better hurry. If the boat makes it to that gate before you do, then everyone on it is going to be stuck in the river—easy pickings for the Pillars and guards.”
