"When you see the black smoke, that's when you attack," Lindsay said, reviewing the plan with Sirix one more time as he stood on the plank, ready to debark. "Not a moment before. We don't want to give them any reason to think something's wrong until it's too late."
"I'll see you in a few hours," Sirix said, giving her a kiss.
Lindsay held Donil, rubbing her cheek against the tender blue one. "Donil, stay safe."
"I will. I love you," Donil said.
"I love you, both. We'll be back home soon." She took a few deep breaths, tilted her head back and forth and swung her arms a few times, as she'd always done when she was about to take her turn to serve when things were tense. "Alright, let's do this!"
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The sweet, oily smell of the accelerant made Lindsay feel a bit queasy as she steered the ship on. She'd spent the last hour spreading the semi-gelatinous substance that was to act as an accelerant all over the deck and interior. When she made the spark, she'd only have seconds to get off the ship and maybe five minutes, tops, to get far enough away before the blast.
And that was where the problem was. She was a solid swimmer, but this was sea water, it took almost twice as many strokes as in a pool. Five minutes wasn't very long, and if she didn't get to shore by the time it went, she could be caught in the percussion wave. That was, assuming it took five minutes. Even a minute less and there was no way.
She hadn't mentioned the problem to Sirix, she didn't want to give him a reason to decide it should be him, as if he'd somehow be miraculously faster. She'd given the challenge a lot of thought in the ensuing hours, but still, nothing was coming.
She sat in the captain's quarters, emptied of all but a wooden chair and table, and stared at the painted stars hoping for some inspiration. It was such a cool room; it was a shame it would soon be reduced to ashes.
Her eyes followed the curve of the ceiling to the tip of the door. It was intricately carved with images of the sea with large whales swimming about in it and angels flying above them. Suddenly, she noticed something strange. The whales had far more flippers than the whales she knew of!
She was at the door in a flash. It was the five races of the council! The Desni swam about at the bottom, then the scene was split by a tall tower that rose to almost the top peak of the door, where there stood a Bonat on a balcony. On one side, were a number of chubby, hamster-like beings in the desert standing in front of a city. Lindsay traced it with her finger.
"It looks like a termite mound and Montezuma's castle had a baby," she said to herself. "Probably the Olaru. And these must be the Korsuch."
They looked stranger than the ones she'd seen, less human in the way the eyes were carved, perhaps it was just a mistake because they were so small? They were depicted working in fields as a quaint looking little town lay in the background behind.
Above them, flying around what must have been a depiction of the Citadel, were the six-winged Nobillo. At the very top, just below the point of the door, was a globe, with two globes in a line underneath, one small and one large. And then something that left her staring, mouth agape.
"What the hell?" she whispered, fingers tracing the relief of Africa from behind the Olaru city. It was one of those weird globe maps that looked like someone had tried to iron them. There were four of them, besides the earth, serving as the background for the other carvings.
She recognized the shape of the continent of the globe on top. That was Okeshi, the planet she was on. She'd know the diamond shape anywhere. Four circles were carved into the diamond at the points she recognized as the locations of the portals from Sirix's stories.
She looked at the Earth map. There was a portal smack dab in the middle of the US, alright, and one in Greece, one in Africa, and the final one in what looked like it was in Canada, if Canada was a big chunk of land that had eaten Greenland and met with Russia. Which was strange. The artist had been so careful and meticulous and then the Earth map was slapdash with fat continents and an unfinished Canada and the top was all... connected... Oh goddammit. She knew that map, not well, but she knew it. It was the goddamn Ice Age!
But the ship was from 1770-something! Which would mean... She examined the door frame more closely, feeling around the arched edge. A chink of paper met her fingers. She pulled it back, tearing a corner of blue paint with it leaving nothing but a cheap piece of arched wood framing and a hollow. She picked at the other side. There was paper there as well. Now she could see clearly the original door frame was a square. This door had been added later for some reason, but it wasn't original to the boat!
Not only that but, looking at the wooden frame, she could see the indentation of metal hinges, but the door was being held by thick leather hinges that had been nailed on. They had the same form as metal so she hadn't thought to notice them until now. The nails were rusty, but clearly not original.
Someone had put a good deal of effort into hiding this door in plain sight. But why? Clearly, it was old. Possibly ancient if the carving was accurate. Something the Bonat had wanted to save for some reason.
She stared at the carving again. There was Okeshi at the top. The diamond shape in the middle. And... four other continents surrounding it! Sirix had said they only knew of the one!...Because of the Desni... The Desni would eat anyone who tried to cross their territory... But obviously people had crossed at some time in the far distant past.
Each continent had portal spots in them as well, as did the other maps of other planets. Her mind swam with questions. Sirix had to see this! Whatever it was, it would certainly be important to him.
It was a shame it was about to be lost forever.
Unless...
Lindsay took out her knife and cut the leather straps, pulling the freed door back to her. It was surprisingly light for its size. Good, she'd need it to be. She brought it out to the deck and began stretching. The carved surface would probably provide enough traction. Still, she'd only seen people surf using a door on Youtube. But it was possible. Ridiculous, but possible. It was better than trying to outswim the explosion. But she'd have to go soon, she could see the Nobillo ships coming into view. And if she could see them, they could see her.
She took off her shoes and tied them to her belt loop. Just a few more minutes. The element of surprise bought them time. No one would be looking for a ship. In a few minutes she'd be upon them. Her heart raced. She took a few bracing breaths, cracked her neck from side to side and shifted her shoulders, loosening them up. "Eddie would go," she mumbled.
Now!
She lit the frayed end of the rope they were using as the fuse for this ship bomb, waited for a tuft of flame to rise from it, and ran. She grabbed the door and threw it into the water, then, taking one last look to be sure it was still burning, she threw a bucket of water over the side and jumped in after it, feet first, spreading her arms and legs as soon as she was under to stop her from going too deep.
The frigid water stabbed at her eyes and burned her skin, erasing her mind for a moment. She sought for direction, fighting to remember to hold her breath. She needed air! But where was it? She turned over and around. There! It was bright up there! She fought her way through the thin water.
She popped up, thrashing in the waves, gulping for air. Where was the board? Ah! There! She swam toward it in long strokes, pulling herself up on it. She lay on her back a moment, catching her breath. It had been too long since she'd done that without a wetsuit. She was going soft!
She looked over to the ship as it moved past, watching the thin line of grey smoke. Suddenly, it turned black.
"Drop in, pull in, kick out," she reminded herself, trying to keep calm. She could do this. "No waves no glory!" She turned over and began paddling as though her life depended on it. She heard cries from the shore, saw Nobillo take flight from their doomed ships. Listened for the call.
"OOOOEEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE!"
And there it was. The Nobillo scrambled, not sure in which direction to go. Blue soldiers poured out from trees north of them. She could just see the Nobillo soldiers jolt back as though they'd run into an invisible wall, then fall forward as the Bonat soldiers yanked the harpoon ropes.
She heard the sound of her ship splintering as it crashed into the armada. Behind her, she heard fireworks, the early warning system to give them notice that the explosion was about to happen. She sprung to her feet, crouching low, ready, and quickly shoved her fingers into her ears. On the shore, the Bonat ducked down, covering their ears.
The explosion was deafening. A large wave rose up behind her as debris began to rain down. The door rose with it, she felt the motion in her feet, holding steady as the wave pushed her forward to the shore, feeling the sparks landing on her back.
Reaching the beach, she grabbed the makeshift surfboard and ran with it over her head to protect her from the sparks. Another explosion. She winced. The Nobillo must have had more than just axes and saws in their ships. She felt something heavy bounce off the door.
Then the second wave of Bonat poured in from the south. The Nobillo were running back and forth, shouting. She couldn't understand what.
It was pure pandemonium as the panicked Nobillo were quickly cut down by the Bonat forces. Even in the chaos, she couldn't help but notice a number of them weren't Children of the Immortal, but true Nobillo, like Rivuk -which told her, in no uncertain terms, they did not expect to be attacked. Chances were, the bulk of the military forces were sitting in the southern fields, waiting for a battle that would never come.
A shrill whistle pierced the air. Suddenly, the Nobillo stopped running. Another whistle. They formed into ranks with fire and flaming wood falling all around them as smoke billowed into the sky, blotting out the light of the sun. She covered her face with her sopping wet mask. The goggles immediately fogged. She yanked them off, leaving only the mouth and nose shield.
She saw the Third Prince standing in front of his tent, looking resplendent in a white military style uniform with shining gold buttons and links for his white gloves, black cape with a scarlet inside flowing behind him. He gave another long whistle and the Nobillo attacked.
Not that it did much good. No, instead of running from the harpoons, they were practically running into them, ill equipped with their axes and spears to handle the strange weapon that was able to fight at both long range and short with equal efficacy. Nol was having a blast. She was literally jumping from soldier to soldier, taking full advantage of her physicality and light weight to deliver killing blow after killing blow to the necks of the Nobillo.
She saw Sirix fighting beside the large form of Veralosa. Dropping the door and grabbing a harpoon from the quiver of one of her soldiers, she leapt into the fray. She cut through three Nobillo, narrowly avoiding the thrust from a spear as she dispatched one and spinning along the wooden shaft to deliver a killing blow through the side.
"Sirix!" she shouted.
He glanced over in her direction and smiled. Then he threw his harpoon through the skull of one of the Children. She indicated with her head where Rivuk was. He glanced over and nodded.
"To the right!" he ordered. "It's the prince we want!"
Lindsay turned to Rivuk who appeared strangely unconcerned about the slaughter all around him, even as Sirix's unit was almost on him.
Suddenly, it felt like her entire mind went Boom. She was inside of darkness, watching through two portals as Sirix approached. She heard the faintest laughter.
"SIRIX! STOP!" she shouted.
But it was too late. Sirix leapt into the air, harpoon ready to strike the prince.
Rivuk twitched his gloved hand.
Sirix flew backward into his troops, Lindsay saw his body ripped from the harpoon of one of his own soldiers as he rolled over them and onto the ground. Rivuk watched dispassionately.
"Attack!" Nol shouted. The Bonat soldiers charged at the prince.
