Page 38 of The Isles of the Gods
She wore a padded green coat over her robes, her black hair braided back so tightly, not a single strand escaped. Her soft voice was somehow audible over the sounds around us.
“I know,” I said, looking past her to check that Jude was on deck, ready to identify the prince. He looked like he wanted to be sick, both hands clenched around the railing.
They were still waving at us from the prince’s fleet, and I turned my gaze away from them to look up at the captain on our bridge and nod.
Our cannons boomed, and a ragged hole appeared in the nearest ship. As our sailors streamed up from belowdecks, ready to hurl the grenades across the gap between us, the screaming began.
It didn’t stop for nearly half an hour.
Their boats listed to one side shockingly quickly as weripped their sides out, and they tried to turn away and run, but they were far too big, far too cumbersome, to manage it intime.
We knew, and they knew from the start, that they had no way to outpace us.
We demolished them methodically, breaking their boats into pieces and pouring oil into the water, then setting it alight.
Bodies and flowers both burned.
I didn’t expect them to scream for so long, to live long enough to try to swim away. To come close enough I could see their faces.
I hadn’t thought about the fact they would bepeople.That they would look like people I know.
Sister Beris never left my side, never took her hand from my shoulder. I’m not sure even now if she was strengthening me, or stopping me from trying to back away from this horror, or something in between.
There was a lot more fire than I’d expected, and we’ve had to wait until it started to burn itself out before we can throw in the bodies we brought with us.
They were in the morgue at Port Naranda a couple of days ago. We picked a few that were past the point of stiffness, white-eyed and pliant, so we could stuff them into Mellacean navy uniforms.
Now I look up the deck as the sailors heave them overboard in a series of quiet splashes. They’ll tangle with the wreckage and wait for whoever finds the ruins of the prince’s progress fleet.
There’ll be no question as to who should be blamed for hisdeath. No way out for our government, who should have been strong enough to fight for their god and to start this war themselves.
Then again, it’s Barrica who was the Warrior. Macean is the god of risk, the Gambler, and I think he’d approve of the one we’ve just taken.
Sister Beris is walking toward me, and I squeeze the railing one more time and make myself straighten up to greet her with a nod.
“Shall we go downstairs, and find something to eat?” she asks quietly.
I think of what’s waiting in the galley for tomorrow morning and close my eyes. But I make myself nod.
The plan has worked. I did what I promised I would.
Finally, Ruby will know I’m ready to step up.
So why do I feel like this?
“It had to be done,” I say out loud, as if I’m answering myself.
“And you were the one to do it,” Sister Beris says, squeezing my shoulder again and sending a trickle of warmth into the iciness of my body. “Your sister knows that. I’ve watched her attitude to you change since you brought her this plan. She sees you’re ready to realize your potential, Laskia.”
“You really think?”
“My child, I know it. You are doing great things, for your sister and for Macean. It’s time for the Sentinel to loosen her grip on him. And to ensure that, we must see she is not strengthened. Maceanwillawaken, Laskia. He will rise, and so will you.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, and I’m not sure what I’m thankingher for, but I’m keeping my gaze away from the dead boy on the deck, the carnage below, the blood and fire in the water. I’m keeping it focused on Sister Beris’s pale blue eyes.
“If I have not said so before, let me say now,” she murmurs. “I am grateful for you, Laskia. For your faith. I am grateful you came into our path, with the understanding of what must be done, and the will and the means to do it.”
I blink at her, unsure whether it’s the wind or her words making my eyes tear up.
