‘Rahim, you know these mountains; is there a way around?’ Shazad asked.
I found myself reaching for the sand almost without noticing it. The pain in my ribs answered, but so did the desert, shifting as I drummed my fingers against my side. I had the beginning of an idea. I just couldn’t tell whether it was the kind that would get us all killed or not.
‘The mountain is well defended,’ Rahim was saying. ‘No roads, only paths. There is one way we could try, but we’d lose at least a week and—’
‘What if we go through?’ I interrupted Rahim. ‘Not around, not over, but –’ I made a small forwards motion with my hand, like it was a knife cutting through silk, and even this far away, I felt the sand shift, like a current through water – ‘through.’ The wheels in my mind were still turning, wondering if we could really do this or if I was losing my mind.
‘No.’ Ahmed was already shaking his head. ‘You heard Shazad: a fair fight would be suicide with our numbers, and I won’t risk it.’
But Shazad knew me well enough to know that even I wasn’t reckless enough to suggest fighting our way through. She was watching me, mind turning quickly, trying to see what I was thinking. ‘You’re not talking about a fight, are you?’
‘Not a fair one, at least.’ I could feel the excitement bubbling up. ‘What if we sailed through?’ There was a moment of complete silence as everyone stared at me like I was insane. Everyone except Shazad, who understood instantly. Jin caught up with her a moment later.
‘So, just to be clear.’ Jin leaned forwards so that I was pinned under his gaze. He was speaking slowly. If I knew him any less well, I might’ve thought he was chastising me. But I did know him. He had that smile on his face. Like we were about to get ourselves in real trouble and he wouldn’t have it any other way. ‘You’re suggesting sailing a ship through the sand with your Demdji gift?’
‘You really think that will work?’ Shazad asked.
‘The sand runs deep enough,’ I said. I could feel the rush of being back in the desert. ‘I think I can try.’
‘You know a ship isn’t flat, don’t you?’ Jin said, but that spark was still there. ‘You’ll have to keep it balanced.’
‘Without the full force of your powers?’ Ahmed asked. ‘Amani, it’s a risk.’
They didn’t trust me. Not entirely. I could see the doubt hanging on every single one of their faces as they looked at me. That I wasn’t strong enough. They thought I was too confident. But if my power was draining out of me and my days were numbered, then I might as well use the dregs of it to do something big. I might as well pour it all out of me before I died.
‘Everything we do is a risk,’ I said. ‘And we’ve got a bigger fight than this one waiting for us in Izman. I don’t want to lose any more time.’
‘You’re sure you’re up to this, Bandit?’ Jin tightened his hands on the wheel.
I raised my shoulder. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘We could all die,’ Rahim answered.
‘So, what else is new?’ I asked.
I watched the circle of people around me as the idea that we might actually do this settled on us, one by one. What it might mean. That it might even be possible.
‘It’d be one hell of a battering ram,’ Shazad admitted.
‘If Amani can do this—’ Rahim started.
‘She can,’ Jin said, eyes on me. He was on my side, along with Shazad. We only needed one more person. Everyone looked at Ahmed. He was unreadable. A family trait he shared with his father. His head tilted forwards in thought for a long moment.
I was about to say something else, to keep fighting for it, keep making a case that I could do this, when he lifted his head. And the Rebel Prince had slipped away. He didn’t look like his father, I realised, he finally looked like a Sultan.
And he nodded.
Chapter 31
The sun rose bright and brilliant to the east side of the ship, the wind coming from the north, tugging at the sails.
‘It’s good weather for sailing.’ Jin tied a rope around my waist. He was so close, the sun blazing behind him making me squint when I looked up at him.
Everyone was tied to the ship, harnessed so that if I lost control of the sand and the ship toppled over, they wouldn’t be thrown overboard. Jin fastened the rope tighter.
We waited until the first light crested over the edge of the water before Ahmed nodded to us from where he was harnessed to the mast.
Jin started calling orders, like we’d planned – instructions I didn’t understand about sails and jibs. We started to move, the sails swelling, waves lapping against the hull below us, as Jin manoeuvred us straight towards the shore.
I took a deep breath and felt the sand on the floor of the sea swell lazily in response, trying to fight the heavy water clinging to it. I shut my eyes, pressing my palm downwards, pouring my focus into it as we picked up speed on the water.
I felt the sand strain against me even as the pain in my side doubled, almost toppling me overboard as I fought to cling to my power.
‘Now!’ Jin called.
I pulled on my powers at the same moment that the sailors pulled on the knots. Sails billowed to their full swell out into the wind, and the sand rose up to meet us, lashing into the bottom of the ship.
The whole thing rocked unsteadily under us, listing to the left. A few screams rang out across the deck, and I gripped the ship, fighting to regain my balance and balance the ship at the same time, letting the sand drop out from below us for a moment. Letting the water take back over even as the desert rose ahead to meet us.
We were running the ship aground. Except I was hoping I’d be able to keep it running.
‘Amani, now.’ I heard Jin’s voice again, and I knew we were out of time. I needed to get this right or we would hit a lot worse than a bad swell in the water. I whipped my hands up and forwards, dragging every bit of sand I could find around us like the swell of a storm, just as we reached the shore.
We hit the sand with a force that sent every one of us jolting against the railings and the mast, all bracing for impact, worried that we’d topple over as we hit the sand of the desert and crash, our bodies shattering among the debris of the ship.
And then we kept going. The sand didn’t stop us. It swelled around us, like waves, carrying the ship over the shore and into the desert.
We were sailing on a sea of sand.
The shock came over me so quickly that I almost lost control of the desert. I grabbed hold of it again as I stared at the sand banking the ship on either side, swelling up around us high enough to keep the ship steady. Driving us forwards like the current with the power of the wind on our side. We were speeding ahead.
A bubble of frantic elation swelled in my chest through the pain. This was impossible. But I was doing it.