Page 101 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

“God help us,”Jor muttered, rising to stand next to Aren, both of them staring at the chaos encircling the island.

There were over a hundred ships, but that wasn’t what drew Aren’s attention. It was the numerous fires burning on Eranahl’s slopes. The shipbreakers, the island’s primary line of defense, had been reduced to rubble and ash.

It was a gain, however, that had cost Silas badly.

Ships burned and listed, some sinking, the waves covered with debris. Yet dozens of crafts converged on Eranahl, sailors risking their lives against the towering cliffs as they tossed up grappling hooks.

Aren could make out the shadows of his people fighting to keep them from reaching the top, but archers on the ships were picking them off. The myriad blazes illuminated the sky like it was day.

The only gap in the fleet was near the entrance to the cave leading to Eranahl’s underground harbor, and it was a result of the lone remaining shipbreaker still firing projectiles at any vessel that came close. But the soldiers on land were moving on that breaker. If it fell, the full force of Silas’s fleet would converge on that cave, the portcullis the only thing that would hold them back.

“Harry them from the rear,” he ordered, his words passing to the other vessels. “Keep them distracted.”

“Distracted from what exactly?” Jor demanded.

“From us as we try to get inside.” Retrieving a horn, Aren blew a series of notes, repeating it three times. His personal signal. He waited, his heart in his chest, then Eranahl answered the call. “Go!”

The sails pulled taut and the vessel flew across the waves, Lia guiding them between the ships, heading toward the mouth of the cave while the rest of his soldiers attacked the rear of the fleet, shooting arrows and deploying explosives in the way only they knew how.

But even with the distraction, it wasn’t long until the enemy fleet caught sight of them.

Arrows whistled past his head, forcing them all to duck low, only Lia staying upright where she manned the rudder. Then she shrieked in pain, clutching at her arm. Pulling her down, Aren took hold of the rudder himself to guide them into the dark opening, the rattle of chains filling his ears.

“Hold on,” he shouted. The speed they were sailing at verged on suicidal as they hurtled into the cavern, arrows thudding into wood and bouncing off rock.

The boat slammed against the side of the cavern wall, the outrigging smashing, and Aren nearly fell into the water, but the momentum was enough to keep them moving forward.

Beyond, he could see the lights from his people on the other side of the rising portcullis, weapons in hand and faces grim.

And for good reason. Behind him longboats were rowing in pursuit, all of them full to the brim with soldiers.

The mast caught on the half-raised portcullis. “Jump!” he shouted.

With Lia suspended between him and Jor, they all dived into the water, swimming beneath the already lowering portcullis toward the arms of friends waiting to haul them in.

The air filled with the splintering and cracking of the boat as the portcullis smashed into it, dragging it down into the depths, arrows from the encroaching longboats pinging off the heavy steel.

Ducking behind his people’s shields, Aren crouched over Lia, examining the arrow wedged in her bicep. Her face was twisted with pain, but she said, “I’ve had worse. Find me a knife and I’ll fight.”

“Take her back,” he ordered the soldiers in the boat, and without waiting for a response, he jumped into the neighboring vessel, sending both of them rocking wildly.

Half of those in the boat were shooting arrows at the enemy, the rest holding shields and wielding spears to ward off the Maridrinians just beyond the portcullis. An arrow whistled past his ear, and Aren ducked down between two soldiers.

“How kind of you to join us, Your Grace.” Ahnna lowered her bow to give him a wild grin, then she dropped the weapon and flung her arms around him, fingers digging into his shoulders.

But this wasn’t the time for reunions.

Letting his sister go, Aren peered between shields, seeing the chains and ropes grasped in the Maridrinians’ hands, his stomach tightening. “We’ve only got one breaker still functioning on this side, but it’s been damaged. They’re starting to breach the cliffs, and we don’t have the manpower out there to keep them off for long.”

Ahnna’s jaw tightened, then she loosed an arrow, taking a Maridrinian in the throat. “We’re nearly spent on arrows.” She reached in the water to pluck up two that floated past. “I don’t know how much longer we can hold them off.”

Fear bit at Aren’s guts. The enemy outnumbered them, but worse than that, all of Ithicana’s vulnerable were in Eranahl. Children. The elderly. Individuals who couldn’t fight. And there was no escape.

“We have them in the storage caverns,” Ahnna said, reading his thoughts. “Locked and barricaded from the inside.”

Which would keep them safe for now, but it would be where they’d all starve if Aren couldn’t keep control of the island.

“Last breaker is down!” A voice filtered through the cavern. “They’re gaining the cliffs.”

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