“Ella?” a voice came from the other side of the door.
It was morning, and Ella gulped, forcing the bile back down into her stomach. She was sitting at a table, rummaging in her satchel, taking out scrills and lining them up on the wooden surface. She couldn’t bear the thought of eating, and if someone was bringing food, she planned to send that person away. “Yes?”
Shani opened the door to the small bedchamber they’d given Ella in the palace, and glanced in. Her nose wrinkled as if she smelled something bad. “There’s news.”
“What is it?” Ella said.
“The Buchalanti scouts have sighted the enemy fleet. They’re going to attack the city by both land and sea.”
Ella glanced up. “How long?”
“Not long. I’m going up to the High Tower. Rogan’s there and he wants to see you. Will you come?”
Ella took a deep breath and then nodded. “Of course,” she said.
Shani filled her in with the details she’d gleaned from Rogan as they climbed up the stairs to the palace’s higher levels.
There had been early skirmishing, out in the Tingaran Sea, and they’d already lost two storm riders, in return sinking a dozen enemy vessels. Sentar’s tactics had changed from those employed at the free cities: rather than looking for a place to land, he was throwing his ships at any vessel coming close. His most powerful warships clustered around the center while the rest rushed ahead to do battle. Sentar was protecting his center; the sailmasters said that much was clear.
Ella and Shani reached the top of the High Tower, and Ella saw Rogan turn to greet her. His gray hair looked disheveled, but he’d lost none of his stature, and he looked leaner than ever. As Rogan said something in greeting, another spasm clutched Ella’s chest with searing pain. Ella gave Rogan a halfhearted wave and moved to the rail, anxious to avoid his gaze.
Ella saw that with the naval battle expected to take place at any moment, dirigibles were being sent out to hover over the docks. The ships of the Imperial fleet clustered around the Sentinel while the graceful Buchalanti vessels sailed in circles on the flanks.
Then the distant horizon filled with ships, sails growing larger with every passing instant. Ella had only heard Miro’s accounts of the titanic clash in the deep waters of the Great Western Ocean. Seeing the naval battle slowly unfold in this way was terrifying.
Ella sensed Shani and Rogan come to stand with her at the rail, and none of them spoke as they watched the armada approach. The island barring the harbor looked vulnerable; the Torak-built wall surrounding the statue suddenly wasn’t enough. From this distance the sturdy ships of the Imperial fleet looked puny, and most of the Buchalanti vessels weren’t much bigger.
The huge warships built in the lands across the ocean drew closer, and the defending vessels looked smaller still.
The city sounded the alarm as a dozen ships of the Imperial fleet and six Buchalanti vessels went out to meet them.
Ella almost couldn’t watch.
Puffs of smoke rose up from the ships, and it soon became impossible to see through the thick clouds. Rogan passed Shani a Louan seeing device, but Ella declined.
The pain in her abdomen grew greater with every passing moment. Ella now leaned hard against the rail, a hand on her hip and another on the stone. Each puff of smoke and blast of cannon sent a wracking shiver through her stomach, clenching her bowels, blurring her vision.
More of her golden hair had fallen out in the morning. Soon she wouldn’t be able to hide it. Ella felt fatigued in a way she never had before.
“Two Buchalanti ships are down,” Rogan said. “There goes another.”
The clouds of smoke now surrounded the tiny island, rising to cloak the walled statue. Now and then the wind tore holes in the clouds, and Ella saw big warships bearing down on the defending vessels, rows of cannon opening up fire in solid broadsides.
An enemy cruiser drew up between two Imperial ships, and then Ella flinched as a thudding boom resounded throughout the harbor. The cruiser exploded, vanishing in a single instant, becoming a boiling blur of flame and ash. Even as she struggled against the pain, Ella recognized the signature of black powder.
“He must have filled his ships with explosives,” Ella murmured.
“He’s sacrificing them. He doesn’t care if he destroys his entire fleet,” Rogan said.
“How can you stay so calm?” Shani said.
“Calm?” Rogan said. “I’m terrified.”
Shani turned and then gasped. “Look,” she said, pointing. “Back at the hills.”
As she whirled to look back at the landward side of the city, Ella saw the revenant horde pouring down the slopes of the hills to surround the city.
The city now sounded the call to arms, a heavy deep blare that shook the ground and sent tremors through Ella’s belly.
“We’re now under siege,” said Rogan.