attack and surprise him into loosing the single shot at the wall or ceiling. If she’d guessed the type of poison correctly, then the most she risked was being knocked unconscious and taken to an interrogation area. Not ideal, but she wouldn’t be much worse off than they were right now.
“ And your wizard,” Maldynado’s enforcer said. “We already have him.”
Evrial hoped that was a bluff. Amaranthe had given her a chance to command, and she’d already lost a third of her team. No, he’d been lost before, she reminded herself. Now he was captured. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t wanted to command outlaws to start with; she couldn’t help but feel she’d failed.
“ Well, you can keep him,” Maldynado said. “He’s a pain to deal with, and we won’t miss him.” His hand brushed the side of Evrial’s thigh in a quick downward motion.
It might have been nothing, but she interpreted it as a, “Let’s try something,” signal.
“ I will miss the way he can start fires,” Evrial said, having no idea if the youth had that skill or not. She whispered over her shoulder loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Did he get a chance to booby trap these lamps?”
The enforcer’s gaze flicked toward the lamp burning near his head. It was only a split-second distraction, but it would have to do. With the man’s eyes averted, Evrial sprinted two steps and launched a straight-kick at his crossbow hand. The enforcer recovered and started to leap back, but her foot caught the tip of the weapon, ripping it from his grasp. It clanged against the metal bulkhead.
Evrial didn’t slow her advance. She followed up with a kick to his shin, hoping it would distract him, then launched a jab-punch combination.
Unfortunately, he possessed the same training as she and reacted quickly, dodging the kick and blocking her punches. She pressed, hoping her aggressive style would keep him off balance. He backed up a step.
“ Don’t touch the lantern, you idiot,” she blurted, “or we’re all dead.”
She doubted the man would have fallen for it if they hadn’t been talking about wizards, but Turgonian superstition played into her favor. He cursed and leaped away from the lamp. Evrial lunged, feinting with a punch while she threw her body behind her real attack, a leg sweep. He lifted one boot in time, but she caught the inside of his other knee. The vulnerable joint gave, and he went down. Evrial dropped, pinning his legs. She yanked her knife out and whipped it to his throat, stopping shy of drawing blood.
Before she could make any warnings or demands, a shadow fell across her shoulder. She tensed, fearing the second enforcer had shot Maldynado and meant to stop her next. But it was Maldynado who stepped around her, leaned down, and grabbed her prisoner. Evrial scrambled off his legs, and Maldynado hauled him upright, locking the man’s arms behind his back in the process.
“ I’ll take this one,” he said. “Can you manage that one?”
That one lay on his back in the intersection, eyes open but with the pupils rolled back in his head.
“ Manage him how?” Evrial asked.
“ We either need to lock them up somewhere or throw them overboard. Given that we’re still four days out of Stumps, I suggest the latter.”
“ These are some of the same men that we threw overboard before.” Though she made the comment-and felt badly for so mishandling men who should be colleagues, not enemies-she couldn’t think of an alternative. She searched the downed enforcer for weapons. She found a hidden dagger and tossed it down the corridor, in case he woke up while she was toting him.
“ Yes, we are,” Maldynado’s enforcer growled.
“ Guess you shouldn’t have coming looking for us then,” Maldynado said cheerfully.
Evrial’s knuckles brushed against something hard during her search. She unbuttoned the enforcer’s shirt pocket and pulled out a small journal. She debated whether to snoop inside or not. These were lawmen, she reminded herself, not criminals-she was the one in the wrong for manhandling them. She slid the book back into his pocket.
“ We were looking for the wizard.”
“ He’s one of us, and you don’t want to pick a fight with us.” Maldynado shoved the man. “Start walking.”
Evrial eyed her unconscious charge. Dragging him over raised hatchways wouldn’t prove feasible, so she grabbed his wrist and ducked to hoist him onto her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. When she straightened with the man’s weight balanced over her shoulder, she caught Maldynado gazing back at her, his eyebrows climbing into the shadows beneath the brim of his hat.
“ What?” Evrial didn’t want to dawdle. Carrying the fellow would tax her.
“ Oh, nothing,” Maldynado drawled and went back to shoving his prisoner down the passageway. He picked a different corridor than the one they’d come down-toting enforcers out in front of a room full of entertainers might not be good. “It’s just that the occasions I’ve had to… entertain a strong woman, it’s been quite intriguing.”
“ What kind of entertaining?” Evrial had a feeling she shouldn’t ask, but she couldn’t help herself. If he truly preferred strong, athletic women to the sort of delicate milksops she’d always imagined him with, that might explain what she’d considered an inexplicable interest.
Maldynado tossed her a wink before opening a hatch. “The sort where upper body strength and agility can be quite the boon.”
She rolled her eyes, making sure he could see the reaction.
Cool wind blasted through the open hatchway. A back route to the deck, good.
“ I don’t see anybody around,” Maldynado said before stepping outside. “Everybody’s enjoying the show.”
“ Let’s hurry and finish this then.” Evrial shifted her weight and leaned against the wall to alleviate some of the burden on her shoulder.
“ I want to make sure security isn’t about.”
Maldynado pushed his fellow ahead of him, heading straight across the deck to the snow-dusted railing. The enforcer balked before they reached it. He tried to ram an elbow into Maldynado’s gut.
The man on Evrial’s shoulder stirred and uttered a confused, “Huh?”
Not wanting a second fight, she hustled for the railing, striding around Maldynado and his man. She envisioned herself simply rolling her enforcer into the water, but it was a more laborious process than expected, especially with the cold air reviving him. She hoisted him onto the railing, but his hand caught her arm before she could shove him overboard.
“ Wha’s happening?” he slurred.
Evrial blurted a, “Sorry about this,” and slammed the back of her forearm into the side of his jaw. His head flew backward, and she shoved his legs after him. A boot almost caught her in the chin. She jerked her head back in time and turned to see if Maldynado needed help. A resonating smack sounded as his fist connected with his enforcer’s nose. The man stumbled back against the railing, and Maldynado hefted him over the side.
He heaved an exasperated sigh as the second splash sounded. “It’s like these blokes have some experience with being hurled overboard and aren’t that fond of it.”
“ Imagine that.”
“ I suppose the weather is colder this week,” Maldynado said.
Yes, Evrial certainly wouldn’t want to take a dip in that frosty water.
Something on the deck caught her eye-the journal. She groaned. It must have fallen out of the man’s pocket. Great, now she was a thief as well as an obstructer of justice-and who knew what else she’d get pegged with if reports of her collusion with outlaws made it back to her district?
Evrial picked up the journal and buttoned it into her own pocket. She’d no more than straightened when someone shouted from farther up the deck.
“ There!”
“ Uh oh,” Maldynado said. “There’re the other two enforcers.”
Something sharp pierced Evrial’s shoulder with enough force to spin her back toward the railing. Pain burst from the wound. She gasped and clasped a hand to her shoulder. Her fingers bumped against the fletching of a tiny crossbow quarrel.
“ Poison.” She spat the word like a curse. In a fit of rage and fear, she grabbed the protruding part and tore it free. Another wave of agony went through her, almost forcing her to her knees. “Cursed ancestors, how can something so little hurt so-”
