Page 13 of Frostforge, Passage Six
"Is that—" Ashe began, her voice faltering as another bolt of lightning split the sky, illuminating Roran's silhouette against the gathering darkness.
"Yes," Thalia breathed, unable to tear her gaze from the spectacle before them.
The water around the schooner churned with unnatural energy, bright tendrils of electricity dancing across its surface.As Thalia watched, Roran made a sharp, slashing gesture with his right hand.The sea responded to his command, rising again in a violent surge that slammed into another Warden vessel.This ship didn't capsize but listed dangerously, its hull visibly cracked, water pouring into the breach.
Kaine swore softly beside her, his icy eyes fixed on the schooner as it cut a path through the enemy formation.At her other shoulder, Ashe sighed and shook her head.
"He sure has a flair for the dramatic, doesn't he?Always knows how to give his comrades silver hairs."
Thalia nodded in silent agreement, though a fragile smile touched her lips.
The schooner swung in a tight arc, bringing its broadside to bear against the approaching Warden ships.A sharp crack split the air as a glacenite cannon fired from the vessel's deck.The magical projectile streaked across the water, leaving a trail of frost in its wake before striking a third Warden ship just above the waterline.Ice bloomed across the black hull like crystalline flowers, spreading with unnatural speed, freezing ropes, sails, and rigging in place.
A deafening cheer rose from the crowd gathered at the harbor's edge.Thalia turned to see faces transformed by sudden, desperate hope.People who moments before had resigned themselves to recapture or death now surged forward with renewed purpose, their makeshift weapons clutched in white-knuckled hands.
"The ships!"someone shouted, pointing to the Warden vessels still moored along the docks."Take the ships!"
The cry was taken up by others, spreading through the crowd like wildfire.Thalia watched in amazement as hundreds of former prisoners rushed toward the nearest vessel, swarming up the gangplanks and over the sides.The few Warden guards left behind were overwhelmed in moments, their black-clad bodies disappearing beneath a tide of vengeful humanity.
"They're right," Kaine said, his expression fierce in the fading light."If we can take those ships, we can fight back."
Before Thalia could respond, a man in tattered fishing clothes pushed through the crowd toward them.His weathered face was alight with a fervor that erased years of hardship in an instant.
"TheNorth Staris mine," he announced, gesturing to a sleek black vessel moored nearby."Or was, before these devils stole her and painted her black.I know every line, every sail.Who among you can work a ship?"
Dozens of hands rose, belonging to sailors, fishermen, and dock workers—the backbone of Verdant Port's maritime economy.The man nodded in satisfaction, then began issuing orders with the confidence of someone long accustomed to command.
"You three, secure the rigging.You, check the cannon mounts—see if they left us any shot.The rest of you, clear the decks of any Wardens still aboard!"
Similar scenes played out all along the docks as Verdant Port's people reclaimed vessels both familiar and strange.Those with seafaring experience shouted instructions to those without, showing them how to unfurl sails, secure lines, and prepare the ships for combat.
Out in the harbor, Roran's schooner darted between enemy vessels with impossible agility, harassing the much larger Warden ships like a wasp among wolves.Lightning arced from his fingertips, striking masts and rigging, while the sea itself rose at his command to batter wooden hulls.One Warden ship already lay capsized, another half-submerged as it took on water, and a third drifted aimlessly, its sails torn open from the cannon shots.
Yet for all his power, Roran was vastly outnumbered.Nine Warden vessels still pushed toward the harbor, their black sails unfurled, their decks swarming with reinforcements.Without help, he couldn't hold them back for long.
"Come on," Thalia said, drawing her ice-glacenite blade."Let's make sure he doesn't have to fight alone.Kaine—you stay here.Help them board the other ships.Ashe and I will join theNorth Star."
Ashe nodded, checking that her crossbow was loaded before following Thalia toward the commandeered ship.Thalia could feel Kaine’s eyes on her back as she moved away, could feel the reproach in his gaze, but to her relief, he didn’t argue or try to run after her.In truth, she wanted someone from Frostforge on the docks in case the Wardens turned back, or reinforcements came from the direction of the city.Someone needed to hold the ground they’d just bled to reclaim.Verdant Port would stand or fall by its people’s control of the harbor.
Thalia and Ashe joined a group of former prisoners climbing aboard a massive Warden battleship, its three masts rising like spears against the darkening sky.
Thalia leapt from the dock to the ship's deck, her boots landing with a solid thud on unfamiliar planking.The vessel reeked of unfamiliar herbs and salts—Warden preservatives, she guessed, nothing like the pine tar and linseed oil used by continental ships.Black metal fittings gleamed dully in the fading light, each one engraved with unreadable glyphs that made her skin crawl.
"Secure the hatches," she called to those following her aboard."Check below for stragglers."
The deck proved mercifully empty of enemies, but as Thalia approached the gangplank to help others board, she spotted movement on the dock.A group of Wardens, perhaps a dozen strong, sprinted past the ship without attempting to defend it.They ran with the single-minded focus of those fleeing for their lives, ignoring the freed prisoners who reached for them with makeshift weapons.
"They're not even trying to fight," Ashe observed, her crossbow trained on the fleeing guards.“Where are they going?”
Thalia’s gaze followed their trajectory; when she realized where they were headed, she felt a fierce wave of triumph."The dinghies.They're abandoning the city."
At the far end of the dock, a row of narrow sailing vessels bobbed in the water—small, swift craft designed for a handful of sailors.The Wardens made straight for these, shoving aside anyone in their path with desperate force.
As she watched, the water around the dinghies churned, dark shapes breaching the surface in sinuous arcs.Storm sharks—massive predators with skin that sparked with electrical energy, their bodies streamlined for speed, their jaws capable of shearing through oak.
Thalia had read of such creatures in Frostforge's libraries but had never seen one in the flesh.Each was easily twenty feet long, their skin a metallic blue-gray that reflected the lightning still flashing overhead.
The Wardens showed no fear of the creatures.Instead, they scrambled into the dinghies, slashing at reaching hands with their black blades as they cast off from the docks.Each small craft had a tow line trailing in the water, which the sharks seized in powerful jaws.With unnatural speed, the predators pulled the dinghies toward the remaining Warden ships, leaving furrows of foam in their wake.
