“ We have to go,” Evrial said. The well-trained marines would be harder to subdue than security officers.
Maldynado glanced from Evrial’s hand on his arm to the approaching marines. He looked like he wanted to leap onto the deck and charge those men. And they looked like they’d be ready.
He shook off Evrial’s hand and grabbed the bottom rung of the railing. The four men halted, the two in front dropping to one knee. All four lifted their rifles.
“ Get down, you fool.” Evrial tried to yank Maldynado toward the protected navigation cabin, but he weighed more than a lorry full of pig iron.
Fortunately, he saw the danger and ducked out of sight in time. Four rifles fired, balls whistling through the air. One clanged against the metal railing, throwing a spark in the air.
Evrial sliced through the rope tying their craft to the steamboat. “Get us out of here.”
“ Sicarius!” came a distant cry. “He’s back.”
“ Get him!”
Maldynado hesitated.
Evrial shoved him in the back. “We can’t do them any good if we’re dead.”
Growling, Maldynado stomped down the steps and into the cabin. Evrial shoved the steamboat’s hull with her foot. The marines had reloaded and were racing toward them again. She scrambled into the cabin after Maldynado. She was no coward, but picking a fight with marines was never a good idea. Better to escape and regroup.
Their boat drifted toward the churning paddles.
“ Maldynado,” Evrial said, struggling to keep her voice calm. “You didn’t cut off the engine did you?”
“ No, I’m trying to figure out how to reverse us.”
The marines reached the railing. One flung a leg up, preparing to vault it. Evrial cursed. They’d have to fight the men after all. Assuming their little boat didn’t get smashed into bits by the paddlewheel.
“ All men to the lower deck, mid-deck,” someone cried through a megaphone. “All available men report for the slaying of the most notorious criminal in the empire!”
That didn’t sound promising for Maldynado’s friends, but it made the four marines pause. They argued for a moment, then the one perched on the railing dropped back to the deck, and the team ran to the dining hall.
“ Got it,” Maldynado said.
The power of the engine thrummed through the boat. It pulled away from the hull, though not without clipping the wheel. Wooden paddles drummed against the bow, battering the frame.
“ Careful,” Evrial said, “you’ll wreck our boat.”
A paddle flew off the wheel and sailed into the river.
“ Or theirs,” she added.
Two more booms sounded, one right after the other. “Somehow I doubt we’re that boat’s main problem,” Maldynado said as he steered them clear of the wheel.
He guided their craft into the center of the river, where they had a good view of the steamboat-and the two marine vessels secured to the port side. The men that had been running all over the decks had descended on the dining hall like ants on a dropped lamb skewer at a picnic. Evrial couldn’t help but feel daunted on Amaranthe’s behalf over the number of uniformed men. Even Sicarius couldn’t defend himself against that many.
“ Those were Ravido’s men,” Maldynado said. He sounded numb. “I recognized the insignia. That’s his battalion, people he brought down especially for…”
Evrial avoided his eyes. Would Maldynado forgive her if his comrades didn’t make it? When she’d been the one to stop him from climbing aboard? She was surprised Amaranthe hadn’t given the order to jump overboard long ago. Just how deadly were those magical weapons?
Maldynado thumped his fist on his thigh. “I’m about five seconds from ramming this craft into one of those marine boats. Maybe both if I can manage it.”
“ What would that do?” Evrial asked. “Besides irk a lot of marines with guns.”
“ Cause a distraction. An explosion maybe. Give the others time to escape.”
“ And would we survive this explosion?”
“ We could jump out before the boat struck.” Maldynado’s hand left his thigh, inching toward the control panel.
“ Give it a couple more minutes. I can’t believe Lokdon would get herself into a situation she couldn’t handle.”
“ You can’t? Really? ”
“ Not with Sicarius with her. For all we know, this is all part of some plan of hers. If they jump overboard, they may appreciate an escape vessel rather than the charred, inoperable remains of an enforcer boat.”
Maldynado lowered his hand. “One more minute.”
CHAPTER 12
Amaranthe stared at the cement-encased weapons sitting on the cut out piece of hull. “We’ll go down with it,” she said in a fit of inspiration. Whether it was good inspiration or not, she didn’t know. “And try to slow it so it lands lightly.”
Books’s wild-eyed gaze latched onto hers. “Yes. It’ll be heavier than an anchor, but maybe if we’re all kicking against gravity, we can slow it.”
“ Whatever,” Akstyr said.
Basilard stared at the oblong block, and Amaranthe could see the moment when he figured out what exactly concerned Books. He swallowed, then squared his shoulders and nodded at her.
Something squealed above them. The marines were back to tearing into the stage and searching for the team. She hoped that meant Sicarius had escaped.
Amaranthe gripped one corner of the cutout, her shoulder pressed against Akstyr’s. There was no room for Sespian to wriggle through and grab an edge, but he waited behind her like a sprinter ready for a race. She knew he’d dive in after them and help slow the load.
Before giving the order to move the planks and let the hull drop, Amaranthe met everyone’s eyes in turn. “I want to take this moment to tell you that I care about all of you, and my life would have been extremely bland and unfulfilling if I’d never met you.” That sounded like a doomsday salute, so she smiled and added, “Also, I’m terribly concerned about all of your mental states. I can’t imagine any sane person who would engage in such a ludicrous plan.”
That drew a round of snorts. Better than tears.
Amaranthe nodded once. “Drop it.”
At the same time, Books and Akstyr removed the planks supporting the cutout. Even with four people gripping the corners, the weight yanked at Amaranthe’s fingers, almost tearing free of her grip. Fighting the force would have been futile, and that wasn’t the goal anyway. She let it pull her through the hole.
Icy water swallowed her, frigid as it tunneled into her ears. The burden swept her downward rapidly. She twisted her body, turning upright, and kicked, using the powerful circular kick Sicarius had once taught her for holding a brick above her head.
Night had come to the river valley and no light filtered through the water, so she couldn’t see the others. She sensed them, though, through the cutout they all held. The descent slowed, and she knew everyone was kicking. They weren’t able to slow the heavy load as much as she’d hoped though, and they plunged ever deeper. The depth surprised her-she’d expected the bottom to be no more than twenty or thirty feet down. Pressure built in her sinuses, and pain arose behind her eardrums. She worried that she hadn’t inhaled a large enough gulp of air to last her for this plunge.
She was on the verge of trying to signal the others to let go when her foot slammed into the bottom, her boot sinking into deep mud. Her back bent under the weight of the cutout, and soon mud squished beneath her fingers as well. She couldn’t see a thing, but let go of the load, trusting the others to do the same.
When she pushed off the bottom, mud oozed over the lip of her boots and under her trousers, coating her leg with cold slickness. Her enthusiastic kicks were as much to try and rid herself of the gunk as to reach the surface.
