heard her toot.
We finally got into position just as the ship passed the tower, and so we had to wait another endless fifteen minutes for it to circle all the way around again, but finally I started hearing the flap of its sails and the whispers from the pirates around the tower, and I went into a runner’s crouch at the bottom of the stairs.
Ten seconds later, “Weet!”
I tensed, but didn’t go. What if she’d whistled too soon? I better wait. One, two, three, four, five—okay go!
I launched like a sprinter coming off the blocks and pounded up the stairs as hard as I could, then kicked off the wall of the landing and ran up the second flight, skipping more and more steps with each stride. Another turn and there was night sky above me and I rocketed up onto the top of the tower, jumped onto the battlements, and kicked up into the air with the empty plains dropping away a thousand feet below me—and the priests’ ship slipping out from under from me to my right.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ATTACK!
F uck.
So, I guess Kai-La musta counted to five to make sure I didn’t go too soon, and then I counted to five, and… and I was dead. The flank of the balloon was right in front of me, but too far out. My trajectory was angling me down toward the deck, twenty feet below, just like I’d planned it, except it was already passing me by. I was gonna miss the stern rail by about two yards. It was funny in Roadrunner cartoons. In real life? Not so much.
I had one chance—the trick I’d learned in gladiator school when we’d been trying to figure out some fancy moves I could do in the arena. I whipped my big-ass sword out of the sheath on my back and swung it as hard as I could to the right, then let the weight of it jerk me around after it.
It worked. Well, almost.
I needed six feet. I got five. The mid-air swerve swung me toward the ship just like I’d hoped, but I didn’t quite make it to the deck. Instead, I bounced tits-first off the back rail and started to fall away again, head spinning and nose bleeding, but at the last second, I managed to throw out a desperate hand and caught the bottom of the railing.
Saved!
Sorta.
I really coulda used a minute to just hang there and catch my breath, but there were footsteps pounding across the deck above me. I had to move. With a grunt I braced my feet on the hull and vaulted onto the deck—and ended up face to face with a shitload of surprised priests and paladins, all staring like a shark had jumped in the boat.
“It’s her!”
“The other one!”
“The demon!”
“But she was sent away!”
You know, back in the stairwell, waiting to charge out and do this, I hadn’t been sure I’d be able to get it up to slaughter a whole bunch of people I didn’t know, but that did it. These were the guys who’d sent me back to Earth. These were the guys who’d chased Lhan halfway across Waar and put an arrow in his side. These were the guys who’d tortured Rian-Gi and killed his lover. These were the guys who’d sent thirteen ships crashing to the ground and killed hundreds of men. This wasn’t going to be a problem at all.
I jumped forward, hair flying, blood spraying, screaming like a banshee, and landed in the middle of ’em, chopping left and right. Four of ’em went down like pinatas, opened up and spilling their insides everywhere. The rest scattered, bellowing for help. I charged after ’em, howling, ready to lose myself to the red rage, but then I remembered I had a job to do, and changed direction.
The reason the pirates hadn’t been able to pull this stunt before now was because every time they’d tried to hook the ship and reel it in, they’d been pin-cushioned with crossbow bolts or zapped with blue fire and had to fall back. That’s what I was here for, to keep the firepower busy.
I leapt for the starboard rail, slashing wide and wild at the crossbowmen lined up along it. They scattered, screaming, but I caught ’em in a step, cutting the legs off
We finally got into position just as the ship passed the tower, and so we had to wait another endless fifteen minutes for it to circle all the way around again, but finally I started hearing the flap of its sails and the whispers from the pirates around the tower, and I went into a runner’s crouch at the bottom of the stairs.
Ten seconds later, “Weet!”
I tensed, but didn’t go. What if she’d whistled too soon? I better wait. One, two, three, four, five—okay go!
I launched like a sprinter coming off the blocks and pounded up the stairs as hard as I could, then kicked off the wall of the landing and ran up the second flight, skipping more and more steps with each stride. Another turn and there was night sky above me and I rocketed up onto the top of the tower, jumped onto the battlements, and kicked up into the air with the empty plains dropping away a thousand feet below me—and the priests’ ship slipping out from under from me to my right.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ATTACK!
F uck.
So, I guess Kai-La musta counted to five to make sure I didn’t go too soon, and then I counted to five, and… and I was dead. The flank of the balloon was right in front of me, but too far out. My trajectory was angling me down toward the deck, twenty feet below, just like I’d planned it, except it was already passing me by. I was gonna miss the stern rail by about two yards. It was funny in Roadrunner cartoons. In real life? Not so much.
I had one chance—the trick I’d learned in gladiator school when we’d been trying to figure out some fancy moves I could do in the arena. I whipped my big-ass sword out of the sheath on my back and swung it as hard as I could to the right, then let the weight of it jerk me around after it.
It worked. Well, almost.
I needed six feet. I got five. The mid-air swerve swung me toward the ship just like I’d hoped, but I didn’t quite make it to the deck. Instead, I bounced tits-first off the back rail and started to fall away again, head spinning and nose bleeding, but at the last second, I managed to throw out a desperate hand and caught the bottom of the railing.
Saved!
Sorta.
I really coulda used a minute to just hang there and catch my breath, but there were footsteps pounding across the deck above me. I had to move. With a grunt I braced my feet on the hull and vaulted onto the deck—and ended up face to face with a shitload of surprised priests and paladins, all staring like a shark had jumped in the boat.
“It’s her!”
“The other one!”
“The demon!”
“But she was sent away!”
You know, back in the stairwell, waiting to charge out and do this, I hadn’t been sure I’d be able to get it up to slaughter a whole bunch of people I didn’t know, but that did it. These were the guys who’d sent me back to Earth. These were the guys who’d chased Lhan halfway across Waar and put an arrow in his side. These were the guys who’d tortured Rian-Gi and killed his lover. These were the guys who’d sent thirteen ships crashing to the ground and killed hundreds of men. This wasn’t going to be a problem at all.
I jumped forward, hair flying, blood spraying, screaming like a banshee, and landed in the middle of ’em, chopping left and right. Four of ’em went down like pinatas, opened up and spilling their insides everywhere. The rest scattered, bellowing for help. I charged after ’em, howling, ready to lose myself to the red rage, but then I remembered I had a job to do, and changed direction.
The reason the pirates hadn’t been able to pull this stunt before now was because every time they’d tried to hook the ship and reel it in, they’d been pin-cushioned with crossbow bolts or zapped with blue fire and had to fall back. That’s what I was here for, to keep the firepower busy.
I leapt for the starboard rail, slashing wide and wild at the crossbowmen lined up along it. They scattered, screaming, but I caught ’em in a step, cutting the legs off
Similar Books
