Deeper. She still needed to be deeper. Gasping and panting, she ran along the corridors, heedless of the shouts she heard back the way she’d come, forced to sacrifice the shadow ability of her dress as her breath ran ragged.
Ella hauled open yet another hatchway, and then she was in the great hold. The entire length of the ship was filled with barrels, piled high, one on top of the other.
“Lot-har,” Ella said, activating the cube and throwing it down in the vessel’s lowest point.
Ella began to count to ten.
One.
She climbed back up to the next deck above, tripping over the edge of the hatch in her haste. Ella sped along the corridors looking for the way up.
Two.
Ella wondered if she was lost; she’d been so consumed with finding the hold that she hadn’t been paying attention.
Three.
She finally found the next ladder and began to climb up, but fell away as a snarling face and white eyes peered down. A series of bolts from her wand flew into the creature’s head and torso, and it fell down the ladder to crumple at its base.
Four.
Ella’s heart raced and her blood roared in her ears as she ignored the fallen revenant and climbed the rungs, muscles burning as she raced up to the next deck. She smelled sea air and the burned tang of black powder. The last exit to the open deck wasn’t far.
Five.
Pain clutched at her stomach, overriding all thoughts of counting, consuming her consciousness as a thousand needles pierced every part of her body. She screamed against the agony and fought it down, running for the ladder to the open deck and climbing, feeling cool air against her skin.
Ella sent a series of bolts from her wand through the hatch, heedless of how much she drained the wand. She rolled out onto the open deck and crouched as she took stock, knowing she had to get far from the cargo ship as quickly as possible. How much time had passed? The danger wasn’t the detonation of the cube, as powerful as it was. The danger was in the essence itself. It would spill into the water, and though it would merge with the sea, anyone caught in the thick black liquid would die.
As Ella scanned the ship, looking for the fastest route to the side, her gaze flickered to the Sentinel. The wall was gone. The statue was exposed.
A black figure landed on the deck beside her.
Light suddenly bathed the ship, revealing the scene, and Ella saw a bright sphere rise from an outstretched hand.
For the first time, Ella met the ice-blue stare of the Lord of the Night. She couldn’t look away from his eyes; he didn’t scowl or glower, but simply looked at her with a dead gaze that made her feel insignificant. His blood-red hair was slicked back to his head, and faint silver swirls of runes decorated his hands, face, and neck. He was as tall as Killian, which meant he looked down his nose at Ella, and though his shoulders were broad, he was slim rather than muscular.
“I know you. Ella, you must be,” he murmured. “Ella of Altura, sister of Miro. Tell me, Ella, what are you doing on my ship?” Sentar’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done?”
Ella opened her mouth to speak her defiance or to activate the blinding power of her dress.
Ten.
The ship blew apart underneath their feet. Decks heaved upward with titanic force as the cube fed on the essence around it, adding to its destructive power. The explosion wracked the vessel, shattering the timbers, launching Ella and Sentar upward.
But the Lord of the Night wasn’t finished with her.
Even as the deck heaved, Ella felt a hand go around her neck, taking hold of her throat, robbing her of breath. The detonation of the cargo ship filled the sky with a cloud of smoke and flame, but Ella felt herself lifted higher still, and she realized her eyes were closed and opened them.
If Sentar Scythran’s face had been expressionless, it was now twisted with rage. He clutched Ella’s neck and rose high into the sky, above the circle of destruction, as high as the clouds and still ascending.
Ella saw him look down at what had once been his cargo ship, filled with the essence he needed to bring his brothers home. The power of the explosion surprised even Ella. Only beams of blackened timber would be left, for now it was all flame and destruction. Sentar screamed in rage and glared at Ella as he took them up while she gasped and choked, her lungs starved for air.
The city of Seranthia became a small circle of glowing lights, and still Sentar climbed higher, dangling Ella in his grip while her legs twitched and her feet scrabbled at nothing. Finally, just above the shifting clouds, he stopped. Even the harbor was now an expanse of black, ships indistinguishable, only the occasional tiny flash indicating the cannon blasts.
They were so high that wind tore at Ella’s hair.