Niya pulled open Alōs’s door, gliding down the hall with her two sisters in tow.
As soon as they stepped on deck, the echoing sound of metal singing, blades being pulled from sheaths, quickly told her they had been seen.
A ship full of armed pirates circled them, more still hanging above from ropes and clinging to masts. All eyes beady and ready for a fight. Saffi stood the nearest, her gray magic a haze around her as her gaze was pinned to Niya’s.
“We didn’t realize we had the pleasure of visitors aboard,” said the master gunner. “Especially ones as esteemed as you three.”
Though her words were cordial, her tone was anything but.
“How would you like us to handle this?” asked Arabessa from behind Niya. She could sense the vibration of each of their gifts gathering.
But the last thing Niya wanted or needed was to waste any more time with a fight.
“We have come to retrieve your captain,” said Niya, deepening her voice slightly. These pirates had been around her enough to most likely know her tone by now. “We were told he is in need of help. We are not here to harm any of you, but if you try to fight us, we will. Now stand down so we can pass.”
The sound of the sea hitting along the ship and the screech of gulls above were the only responses for a beat.
“Our captain has sent for you?” asked Saffi suspiciously. “Where’s Niya? And Kintra?”
Frustration gripped Niya then; she had no time for explanations! This could be sorted out later.
“We have no time for this, pirate,” said Niya. “Now will you part and let us pass? We merely wish to get onto the island.”
Saffi glanced to the crew then, and Niya watched each of them grip their weapons, smiles spreading. “If our captain be needing help,” said Saffi, eyes shifting back to Niya and her two sisters, “it is we who will give it.”
Stupid prideful creatures, cursed Niya silently.
“As you wish,” she said. “But know it is you who asked for this, not us.”
The master gunner frowned. “What—?”
But she was cut off as Niya spun, shoving out her magic to send Saffi flying.
“Knock them out!” shouted Niya to her sisters. “But try not to hurt them.”
“It is impossible not to hurt someone if you want to knock them out,” explained Larkyra as she ducked and twirled from Boman and Emanté charging her.
“Then don’t hurt them too badly,” clarified Niya in a huff as she sent another wave of her magic into Green Pea and Bree.
She hated shoving her friends away, watching their heads smack against wooden crates before they slumped unconscious, but it needed to be done.
They’d wake up eventually, she reasoned.
Larkyra began to sing a tune of the sea from behind her, a lullaby that spoke of rocking waves and sleeping babes. Yellow tendrils of her gifts curled around pirates, glazing their eyes to eventually droop closed.
Arabessa knocked a fiddle out of Felix’s hands, snatched the bow from the air, and strung out an accompanying tune.
Mika charged her from the side, but Niya watched her sister twirl out of the way, not even missing a note as she continued to play.
The rest of the scuffle went fast then, with the ship being doused in the conjoined serenade of the Mousai, their powers a thick shimmering of red, yellow, and violet to send every last pirate to sleep.
Niya regrouped with her sisters along the port side as their performance drew to a close. She stood by the railing, breathing heavily under her black robes as she took in the scene of bodies slumped about all over deck.
“Well, that was fun,” said Larkyra. “We’ve never taken down a whole ship of pirates before.”
“Yes,” agreed Arabessa. “And this fiddle was even an out-of-tune mess.”
A twist of guilt gripped Niya at her sister’s words, given she had actually done this once before to this very crew. A crew who had only just begun to treat her with kindness again.
They don’t know it’s me, she reasoned.
Plus, when they woke up, especially once their captain was back, all could be sorted. Currently, however, Niya couldn’t have any of the crew trying to follow and getting in her way.
It would assuredly have them all ending up meals for giants.
“All right.” She turned, pushing away the nagging of remorse to stride past her sisters. Gripping the railing, she peered over, down toward the rowboat still tied far below. “Who wants to help row to shore?”
Niya crouched in the shadows of a thick bush atop a hill, Arabessa and Larkyra at her side. Their gold masks now removed, they looked down into the massive sprawling city of giants in the center of a gorge, three serpents coiled as they planned their strike. As it was morning, however, it was an altogether different scene than what Niya had experienced last night. The town was now alive with the massive green and blue beasts. The rumbling of each of their footsteps echoed against the valley walls, their deep voices carrying far in the wind.
“This place is extraordinary,” whispered Arabessa.
“Wait until you see inside the chief’s home,” said Niya, unable to disagree. “The entire thing is a pristine garden.”
“How fascinating.”
“Yes, fascinating.” Larkyra stifled a yawn.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” snapped Niya. “Is sneaking into a city of giant cannibals boring you?”
“I told you,” said Larkyra with a frown. “I was kept up late. It is not my fault I didn’t predict you’d be pulling me from bed mere sand falls later.”
“I still do not understand why we are even here,” added Arabessa, letting go of the branch she had been holding down, covering up their view of the giants’ city with a whoosh. “Isn’t it a good thing if Alōs dies? Your binding bet would end immediately, and so would all of our headaches regarding the insufferable man.”
Niya chewed her bottom lip, uncertainty swirling. “Things have changed,” she admitted.
Arabessa narrowed her gaze. “Changed how?”
“They just . . . have.”
“Nope. Not good enough.” Arabessa crossed her arms, sitting back on her heels. “You dragged us all the way here, without us putting up a fight or peppering you with questions, I might add. We understand the need to find this final piece to the Prism Stone, but why must we save Alōs in the process?”
A flutter of nerves ran up Niya’s spine. “Uh, actually there is something I haven’t mentioned yet, about the Prism Stone . . . well, we actually found it.”
“That’s great!” said Larkyra, clutching Niya’s arm.
“Yes,” agreed Niya.
“Why do I sense a but coming?” asked Arabessa.
“But,” began Niya, “it’s back on the ship, with the rest of the stones. I put it there before I went to get you both.”
Her sisters blinked, tense silence stretching, before Arabessa abruptly stood, retracing their earlier steps back into the woods.
“Wait!” hissed Niya as she chased after her, Larkyra following on her heels. “We still need to save Alōs.”
“No, we don’t.” Arabessa ducked under a vine. “Your mission is done. Once you return the pieces to Esrom, your oath to him will be complete. The city will be saved.”
“And how do you suggest we get to Esrom?” Niya reasoned. “No one on board the Crying Queen is from there to give us access to the kingdom.”
Alōs had told her that Kintra knew the means necessary to take them to Esrom in case he didn’t return, but Niya wasn’t about to admit that to her sisters. Not now.
Arabessa waved a hand. “Father will know someone.”
“Arabessa, please”—Niya tugged at her sister’s robe, forcing her to stop—“I can’t let Alōs die!”
Her demand echoed into the treetops, sending birds into flight.
Arabessa regarded her with raised brows. “By the Fade,” she breathed. “You’ve fallen for him.”
Niya drew back, defenses rising. “No, I have not.”
“Don’t lie to us. We are your sisters. We know when you lie.”