Page 84 of Virelai's Hoard
Someone cheered, half-hearted. Someone else retorted, “Our lives do depend on it! Think they’re just gonna treat us to tea and biscuits after they beat us?!”
Thorian snorted at her back. “I see the mantel’s fitting you well, captain.”
“I’m not the fucking captain,” she snapped as she swung her blade, severing a hand from its owner.
“No. No, you’re not.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
Sweat beaded on her forehead, dripping down her face, her muscles pulled tight and aching with exhaustion. They cut down two enemies and three more sprung out in their stead. Sable didn’t look at the corpses littering the Moonshadow’s deck anymore, terrified of who she’d recognize.
When her eyes locked on the black eye of a gun, she froze. This was it. She would join those corpses in the span of a breath, already halfway down her throat. Sable could do nothing but stare. At the black eye, at the finger–pressing on the trigger. But suddenly the arm fell. The bullet meant for her hit the wood planks. Gadrielle would throttle her for that. Her gaze slowly dragged up. To Riley. She clung to the back of Sable’s would-be killer like a monkey, her dagger buried in his neck to the hilt. He fell, clutching at his bleeding neck, and Riley landed on her feet in front of her. She threw Sable a wink.
Sable’s mouth was dry, her ears rung, she still couldn’t move. When Riley was just about to slip away, Sable forced herself out of her stupor, caught her arm. “Go to the powder store,” she told her, or hoped she did. She still couldn’t hear herself over the ringing. “We’ll blow them off the fucking ship.”
Riley’s eyes widened, but she gave her a slow nod. A moment later, she was gone.
Sable’s eyes darted around the battlefield, and she noticed two pirates making a run for it, heading for the longboats. Fury made her blood boil, and she ignored the fighting around her as she intercepted the stragglers. She caught the slowest one by his shirt, spun him around to face her. He cowered under her glare, and the other made themselves lost before she could see their face.
Sable shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, making the pirate flinch. “If I catch any of you running now, you’ll die with your backs turned.” She pushed the man back toward the deck. “I won’t tolerate cowards on my ship, and that’s the only warning you’ll get before I skewer you on my sword. Get back to it!” she shouted in his face.
This time, no one dared question her.
“About fucking time you showed some teeth, pup.” Ignatius grinned from the helm as he reloaded his gun.
“I’ll skewer you, too, if you call me pup again!” Sable shouted over the noise.
The gunner laughed, then fired three shots in quick succession, two dull thuds answering his calls. He turned to Sable to say something, his mouth parting. A surprised gasp made it out.
Ignatius looked down, bewildered. At the throwing ax sunk into his chest. Then up at Sable. Blood sputtered past his lips, and he fell to his knees. Sable could only watch as a Stinger kicked Ignatius on his back, reclaimed his ax with a wet squelch, and swung it down on Ignatius’ head.
She couldn’t breathe. For one horrible moment, the world went silent. The blood. The ax. The way Ignatius had looked at her–like he still had something to say.
Then fiery hot rage swallowed everything.
With a feral snarl, Sable charged head first at the Stinger. Air whooshed out of his lungs as she tackled him to the ground. Her fists sank into his face before he had any time to recover, blood spurting from his nose with every hit. She ignored the burn in her shoulder, the numbness in her left arm. She hit him until her knuckles were numb and bloody, and some more after that.
Around her, the crew was panicking.
Sable kept punching the pirate’s face until there was nothing left but bloody pulp.
26. By Blood and Salt
Riley
Riley didnothead to the gunpowder stores. There was no way in hell Riley would allow Sable to sink them to the bottom of the sea, captain or not.
That only left her with two options, each as bad as the other.
The first would be to jump ship. Sell everything she knew about the treasure in exchange for her life, forget about getting her hands on it. She could find Eryx, knock them out, steal the compass from their pocket and use it as leverage. After observing Eryx tinker with it, Riley knew what the compass did and how it worked. It would keep her alive long enough for her to plan her next move from there.
But she didn’t go through all of this trouble to walk away empty-handed. She didnot.
That left her with the second option. The option that could see her throat slit either in the next few moments or at the end of the battle, if they were going to survive it.
So Riley braced herself and did the only thing that made sense amongst the chaos. She pushed the brig’s door open. Grabbed the keys to Calla’s cell.
She did not drag things out. She rushed to the cell, slid the key in, and unlocked it. As the door swung open, Calla’s eyes flashedto hers. Alert, in control. She hadn’t moved an inch from where Riley had seen her bells ago.
