'She's better.' Bradan ignored the frosty looks.
Jasweer approached Kalipuram at speed, as she did everything. 'You stay near the stern, Rajaraja. If the Thiruzhas start to fire at us, keep your head down; I don't want to be known as the captain who lost her raja.' She yelled a mouthful of orders that saw the loola veer from left to right. 'And keep out from under my feet, Your Majesty, if you please.'
'I won't get in your way,' Rajaraja promised. Bradan noticed the smile that twitched the corners of his mouth.
Two Thiruzha scout boats sped from the lee of the island, both wearing a giant flag.
'Here they come,' Bradan said.
'Archers! Port bow!' Jasweer shouted orders. 'Helmsman, on my mark, two points to starboard. Trim that foresail, you lubbers! It's flapping like your granny's sari on a windy day.'
The Thiruzha scouts closed rapidly, with their archers opening fire the moment they thought they were in range.
'Amateurs.' Jasweer shook her head as the Thiruzha arrows fell well short. 'Helmsman: now! Archers: fire at their quarterdeck!' The loola eased to starboard, giving the archers a clear view of the closest Thiruzha scout. They fired in a body, with a dozen arrows flying toward the Thiruzha boat. 'Marines, take your shields and cover the raja, but for Shiva's sake don't make it obvious!'
As the first Thiruzha ship veered sharply away, the second joined it, so both were side by side, observing rather than attacking.
'Lookout!' Jasweer shouted. 'Keep your eyes open! The Thiruzha might try to block us from returning. They're up to something.'
The first rock landed fifty yards from the loola, raising a large fountain of water but doing no damage.
'That's what they're up to.' Jasweer had not flinched.
'Take us closer to the fort,' Rajaraja ordered. 'I want to see this place for myself.'
Dodging the occasional rock and keeping a wary eye on the two scout ships, Jasweer steered them to within two hundred yards of the island, where the sea shattered on ragged rocks. Thiruzha archers tried vainly to reach them with the lightest of their arrows.
'There, Your Majesty.' Bradan pointed to a cleft in the rocks. 'The Thiruzha have a chain boom beneath the water at that point. When the previous fleet sailed that way, the Thiruzha allowed some to pass and then hauled the chain up from the seabed to block the remainder.'
Rajaraja nodded. 'All right, Jasweer, I've seen enough. Take us back.'
Melcorka saw the movement on the battlements and looked up. She knew instinctively who the figure was, even at this distance, and nudged Bradan with her elbow. 'Can you see that woman?'
'That's Dhraji,' Bradan said at once. 'She's been watching us ever since we left the main fleet.'
'How could you see her all that time?'
'I couldn't.'
'So how?'
'I don't know how,' Bradan said. 'It feels like she is still inside my head, as if she is watching everything I do.'
Melcorka shivered. 'Maybe she is.' She looked back at the fort. Dhraji was still there, with her glare never straying from the loola. Melcorka wondered if Dhraji was the rakshasa she had fought two days before. Walking slowly to the mast, she climbed until she could balance on the yard and directly face Dhraji.
'Have a good look, Dhraji. Next time we meet, I will kill you.' Melcorka could feel the power of Dhraji's gaze like a physical force.
'Helmsman!' Jasweer yelled. 'Now!'
The loola eased round, followed by two catapult shots that soaked half the crew. The marines adjusted the shields that protected Rajaraja.
'It's all right, men, I've been wet before,' Rajaraja said. 'I'm not completely fragile.' He smiled. 'I've learned a lot this trip, thank you, Jasweer.'
The disturbance in the water erupted two hundred yards in front of them, raising a surge that crashed against the loola's hull.
'Hard a-starboard,' Jasweer ordered. 'Pull, lads! Pull!'
'I don't like the look of that.' Melcorka slid down the backstay to the deck. 'Or that!' She pointed to the tentacles that had just thrust out of the water, waving in the air as if seeking something to hold onto.
'It's a rakshasa.' Jasweer spoke as calmly as if she was talking about a cloud in the sky. 'Marines! Line the bulwarks, cut off these tentacles the second they touch our ship. Spearmen and archers, you can't miss that target!'
'I like this woman.' Stepping to the bulwark, Melcorka drew Defender.
'So do I.' Bradan lifted a spear from the deck.
'Oh, you would,' Melcorka said. 'You would like anything female, even if it has tentacles and a sharp red beak.'
'You've been looking in the mirror again.' Bradan followed Melcorka with his heart hammering inside his chest.
'Rajaraja!' Jasweer shouted. 'Get below deck. It's not much protection, but you'll be a bit safer here. That big lump of a bodyguard can look after you.'
'I'm not hiding when my people are in danger,' Rajaraja said. 'You concentrate on working your ship, Captain.'
The rakshasa shifted through the water with its tentacles spread out like a spider's web.
'We can't get past it,' Jasweer said, 'so let's go through it. Let's see how it likes a fully-laden loola smashing into it at full speed. Put your muscles to work, boys! We'll ram the thing.' She glared at Rajaraja. 'Get below when I order you! On this ship, I am in command!'
Melcorka touched Bradan's arm. 'Stay with the raja, Bradan. Don't let him leave the hold unless the ship goes down.'
'Be careful, Mel!' Bradan shouted, as Melcorka dashed forward.
Melcorka felt the usual surge of power as she held Defender, mixed with a new sensation of trepidation. She did not know how this fight would turn out. She had failed to kill the demon on two previous encounters, so why should this one be any different? Try again! If Kulothunga can kill it, so can I.
'Come on, you foul beast!' Placing herself in the bow with the wind tossing her hair and Defender
