Ella calmed herself and started again. She forced down the ache in her limbs and the clutching pain in her belly. She fought the fatigue and the pounding headache in her temples that was even now shifting to the front of her head.
Ella gasped the runes in between breaths of air. She was between the protective circle and the hulk of the cargo ship in the center. She couldn’t stop now; she had to go on.
She reached the side of the cargo ship, wheezing, but she never stopped her constant chanting, and with a surge of relief, Ella realized she’d made it.
She tilted her head back, looking up to the ship’s rail, scanning for a way to climb up.
As she peered up from under her hood, Ella caught the gaze of a pale-skinned man with gray robes and a hooked nose.
The necromancer’s eyes widened with surprise as their eyes met. He opened his mouth to call out, and Ella’s hand darted into the pocket of her dress.
She moved faster than she’d ever had to before, pointed her wand, and interspersed a single word into her chant. Ella released a bolt of golden energy into the air, directly into the necromancer’s mouth.
He cried out and fell forward, tumbling through the air to hit the water with a splash, only a few paces to Ella’s left. Against the roar of the cannon and the shatter of stone, the sound might have been lost, but the attack on the wall around the Sentinel was a mixed blessing, for though it drowned out sound, it provided light.
Ella didn’t wait to find out.
She swiftly scanned the side of the cargo ship. Lord of the Sky, it was massive. Ella saw matrices of runes covering the beams on the sides, with not a single part of the surface left bare. The protective symbols gave Ella confidence. Sentar had expended a great deal of precious essence to give this ship the strength to endure cannon fire and the blasts of prismatic orbs.
She’d come to the right place.
Starting to wobble, Ella picked up pace once more, skirting the side of the ship as she tried to find a way up. As she sped along the huge vessel, Ella finally spotted a rope hanging down to the water. She ran now, each footstep sinking into the water. She saw that each splash her slipper made sank deeper than the one before it. The power was leaving the runes.
As she approached the rope, her footsteps were sinking several inches. She had to jump for the thick hemp and grab hold, just as she looked down and saw the runes she’d drawn on the slippers fade altogether.
Ella didn’t wonder how she’d get back to Seranthia. She was going to die anyway. The important thing was to complete her objective.
She was forced to abandon her chanting as she climbed the rope, pulling her body up with arms already weak. She groaned in agony, each exertion a supreme effort of will. The next moments passed in a blur as she reduced her concentration to this one task. She forgot about the fact that she would be visible once more, and about her own danger, even her fear.
Ella had to make it on board Sentar Scythran’s cargo ship.
She finally clutched onto the rail, grabbing hold with her other arm now, and threw her body over the edge to tumble down onto the deck.
Something heavy and metallic smashed down onto her enchantress’s dress, sending a fountain of sparks flying in all directions. Ella rolled onto her back and looked up into the white-eyed stare of a revenant. He was a tall barbarian, holding a double-bladed axe, with a horned helmet and ragged furs on his torso.
“Sahn!” Ella called forth a bolt of energy from her wand. Her aim was awkward, but the yellow beam of light tore a head-sized hole in the revenant’s chest. The creature moaned and then fell.
Ella climbed to her feet and once more activated her dress’s shadow ability, chanting as she scanned the decks, looking for a hatch—anything that would lead her down into the vessel’s belly.
She heard shouts and cries but ignored them, ignoring even the shadowed figures dotting the deck as she spotted a closed hatch.
Ella sped to the hatch and yanked it hard.
It was locked.
She raised her wand and the metal lock vanished in a glow of fierce yellow light. Ella heaved again, and the hatch burst open. She threw herself down the opening, grabbing hold of the ladder at the last instant and narrowly avoiding a broken leg as she fell sprawling onto the deck below.
Essence. Ella had to find the essence.
There were barrels everywhere, all sealed tight with a metal clasp. Ella fumbled at a latch and opened the top of a barrel.
Black liquid greeted her. She sniffed, and it was odorless, the way essence was supposed to smell.
Ella reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out the destructive cube. She hesitated. The cargo ship was huge, and she had to be sure of success.
Ella left the barrels and found another hatchway leading down into the bowels of the cargo ship. As she descended she saw more barrels, stuffed into every crevice and filling every compartment.