been, and patted the blood-sodden robe. She found a glowing opal pendant, the chain broken, just as the voice spoke again.
“ Is the Kyattese girl dead? Jeela, do you need help?”
Though her education in the mental sciences was not ecumenical, she could sense the soft hum of a practitioner-made device. She held it up to her mouth, then waved at Rias and mouthed, “Make some noise.”
She partially covered the device with her hand, hoping to disguise the fact that her voice would not match the practitioner’s, and spoke in Nurian: “Yes, mission complete. She’s dead.” Then, fearing further conversation would only hurt her chances at pulling off the ruse, she dropped the device on the deck, so it clanked against the wood.
“ I doubt that fooled anyone,” she apologized to Rias as they exited.
The grim cast to his eyes suggested he agreed, but all he said was, “We’d best hurry.”
CHAPTER 6
The Nurian captain’s cabin offered a distinct contrast to Bocrest’s quarters. Behind a desk painted with flowers and vines, lace curtains decorated a bank of windows. Velvet furniture and lush rugs covering the deck might have invited one to lounge, but the cannons booming in the distance suppressed the cozy parlor ambiance.
Tikaya and Rias slid inside, shutting the door behind them. For the moment, the Nurians were busy attacking-and defending against-Bocrest’s warship, but sooner or later someone would figure out “Jeela” had failed her mission.
“ Check those trunks.” Rias jogged around the desk to the windows. “Let me know if you can tell if the captain is a wizard or not. If he is, he’ll likely have wards protecting his orders.”
Tikaya threw open the trunks and lifted a sword and a lacy brassiere. “I believe she’s a warrior.”
“ Should be safe to search then.” Rias tore his gaze from the windows and cocked an eyebrow at the lingerie. “Unless you want to model that for me first?”
Startled, she dropped the sword. The hilt banged onto her sandaled foot.
Rias winced and lifted an apologetic hand. “Sorry, I, er, two years, you know.”
“ It’s fine.” Cheeks warming, she threw the sword back in the trunk, relieved she had not cut off any toes. “I’ll just, uhm, find those orders now.”
Tikaya yanked open a desk drawer and rummaged through letters and supply receipts. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Rias shaking his head, fingers splayed across his face, before he turned back to the window. A grin tugged at her lips.
A moment later, he found his fearless-soldier-in-charge tone and reported: “All four Nurian ships are even with the Emperor’s Fist now, two on each side. Bocrest is doing damage, but…if we’re going to help, it’ll have to be soon.”
Tikaya tried another drawer. She wanted those orders, and she wanted them to say something significant to justify detouring here. Rias helped her search, checking cupboards under the bunk, but she sensed restless energy emanating from him. He wanted to assist his people, though she could not imagine how he planned to take over the ship.
Under a pile of log books in the bottom drawer, she found a parchment displaying lines of gibberish. “Got it. Encrypted though.” She tapped the nonsensical Nurian letters. “Given enough time, I can work it out, but it’d be helpful to have the key. The captain ought to have it, right?”
“ Yes.” Rias joined her at the desk and opened and closed all the drawers.
“ I already looked in there.”
He paused at the lower one, yanked it clear, dumped the contents on the deck, and ripped out the bottom. His vandalism revealed a secret compartment from which he plucked another sheet of parchment.
“ Guess my looking skills need improvement,” Tikaya murmured.
“ I get suspicious when inside dimensions don’t match outside ones.”
“ Ah.” She laid both sheets on the desk and quickly memorized the key.
The clanging of a bell echoed through the ship. More footsteps pounded, this time on their deck instead of above.
“ Alarm,” Rias said. “They know we escaped. Take that with us. We’re out of time.”
“ Wait, I’ve got it.”
“ Already? How could you…”
She skipped the introduction and translated the meat of the orders: “‘Search and destroy the Emperor’s Fist before it reaches the Northern Frontier. If any artifacts with strange symbols are found, sink them in the ocean. Use extreme caution in handling them. Do not bring them home and do not try to destroy them.’”
“ Honored ancestors,” Rias murmured. “What have my people uncovered?”
“’ In addition,’” Tikaya finished grimly, “‘the Kyattese linguist allied with the Turgonians must be killed at all costs.’” Allied? She was no cursed Turgonian ally.
The windows exploded.
Rias tore Tikaya off her feet before she knew what was happening. Wood cracked louder than thunder. Rias came down on top of her, protecting her with his body. Glass and splinters rained about them, tinkling as they hit the deck.
“ What was that?” Tikaya asked when her heart left throat. Wind whistled into the cabin.
Rias pulled her up. He nodded to a cannonball lodged in the bulkhead perpendicular to the broken window. “Friendly fire.”
She gulped and plucked a shard of glass out of the side of his neck. “Glad your reflexes are faster than mine. Thank you.”
“ Welcome.” He shook more glass from his jacket, then headed for the door. “Still got my back?”
“ Of course.” Tikaya grabbed her bow.
They had reached the captain’s cabin without trouble, but, with the alarm clanging, search parties clogged their deck. Fortunately, Rias seemed to know the layout of the Nurian vessel as well as the Turgonian ironclad. They hid in cabins and shadowy nooks to avoid men before slipping down a ladder to the deck below.
“ How’re we taking over the ship from down here?” Tikaya whispered, neck bent to keep from clunking her head on the ceiling.
Rias’s shoulders brushed the walls as they crept single-file down a dim passageway. “This is a Nurian striker. Not a big vessel. I think I can handle the tiller by myself. It should be located…there.”
He pointed at a door marking the end of the corridor. He jogged past a ladder well and charged inside, cutlass leading.
As Tikaya passed the ladder, movement stirred the shadows. A woman dropped from above, legs swinging out to wrap around Tikaya.
“ Rias!” she called.
Steel rang out in the tiller room. He was busy.
The Nurian tried to pull Tikaya into the ladder well with powerful legs. For a woman, she had surprising bulk and muscle. Tikaya spread her stance and braced herself against the wall. She tried to maneuver her bow to prod the woman loose from the rungs, but it proved too unwieldy for the tight passage.
The Nurian woman released the ladder and threw her arms around Tikaya. The momentum slammed Tikaya back into the wall. A second form dropped into view in the ladder well-a black-robed man.
“ Who’s got my back?” Tikaya cried as the woman plucked a dagger from between her teeth.
She released the bow and tried to knock the blade away. Sharp steel bit into her arm.
The practitioner hanging on the ladder narrowed his eyes in concentration. The female fighter clung to Tikaya with one hand and raised the dagger again with the other.
Tikaya bit the arm wrapped around her shoulders. The woman hissed and her grip softened. Tikaya pushed off the wall and tried to shove her foe into the ladder well. The move jostled the practitioner. He cursed, his concentration disturbed, but the woman stuck to Tikaya like a tick. She raised her knife again.
