Theron nodded.
I leaned back, looking to Theron with a smile. “Speaking of Zeph,” I said. “Why don’t you have one of those giant sword things?”
Theron huffed. “It is not a giant sword. It’s a khopesh, and frankly, I’m hurt, my queen. I thought you, in your infinite wisdom, would have seen the limitations of such an unwieldy weapon. Knives, however, are suitable for any occasion.”
He gestured to his knife-lined breastplate, where at least twenty thin, deadly stilettos gleamed back at me. I laughed. “I think the point of such a weapon is that it frightens enough people that it’s rarely used,” I returned. “And I like it because it resembles a scimitar.”
“Ah,” Galen cut in. “But the curve is for an entirely different purpose. Did you notice the notch behind the curve?”
I shook my head, and he gestured with his fingers, showing a little hook right before the long blade curved outward.
“Here,” he said. “It’s meant to snare people and swords so he can slice through them with it.”
“No,” Theron interjected, pointing a finger at Galen. “It ends up just trapping people so he has to use something else. And the big oaf isn’t fast enough for that.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you could learn to use it too.”
“It’s too heavy for him,” Galen said with a smile.
Theron tossed down his piece of bread. “Three hells. It’s an inferior weapon; when will people understand that?”
I ate a piece of cheese, laughing happily to glimpse the boys inside the tough warrior men.
Before long, it was dark and Calix still hadn’t returned. Galen left us to go check in on him, and I felt tired enough that I went to the empty barracks room in the tower. There was another door out to the balcony there, and I curled up under two blankets, staring at the moon, which looked like she was waiting just outside for me.
Sailing in the Dark Sky
There was blood in my dreams.
That was the only thing I was aware of as I woke with a scream, the world bursting and shattering around me.
“Get down!” Theron yelled, pulling me off the bed and throwing a blanket over my body on the stone floor. A moment later he was beside me, his arm covering my head.
Glass and rough debris pressed against my body, and my panicked breath was unnaturally loud in the space created by Theron’s arm. “What’s happening?” I cried.
There was a horrible noise above us, and a jerking, tearing motion rocked the floor. I screamed, curling tighter against the rubble.
“There’s a thrice-damned ship flying through the air!” Theron yelled.
Something gave way, and another shower of stone, wood, and glass hit us. Something struck my leg, and I cried out, but the sound was swallowed by a low keening groan as the bunks started to tip over.
Theron was so much faster than I was. By the time I saw the beds moving, he had already grabbed me, shoving me out into the middle of the room. Jagged fragments scratched at my skin, but Theron crawled out right before all the beds tipped and collapsed.
“Where’s Calix?” I wailed.
“Not back,” he said. He looked at the door, totally blocked by beds, and then raised his eyes.
I saw where the noises were coming from. A ship’s anchor tore its way through the roof, wrenching the whole tower with it.
Theron hauled me to my feet, pushing me forward. “We need to get outside!” he roared. The glass and rubble cut into my feet as we ran for the balcony.
We halted when a series of loud, booming cracks sounded out.
“Down!” Theron yelled, pushing me to the ground inside the balcony doorway. I huddled against the wood, and he braced us both in the frame.
The tower lurched and rocked as one final, shuddering boom rang, and I looked up to see nothing but sky. Several long heartbeats later, I heard screams and a loud crash as the roof must have fallen to the ground below.
Soldiers ran out to the balcony, lighting arrows on fire and shooting them. I followed one to see what Theron had meant—there, barely visible, was a ship, sailing in the dark sky. There were still beads of water dripping from the hull, and the black sails were indistinguishable from the night around us. It was moving fast, coming back toward the tower.
One of the flaming arrows struck the sail, and I could see with alarming clarity as the big anchor came back around, swinging on a long rope to strike underneath the lip of the wide square that formed the top of the Oculus.
The top of the tower rocked hard to the side, and Theron grabbed me, slamming us against the wall as the square lifted up fast. A soldier beside us lost his footing, and he cried out. As the floor rose, he seemed to move in slow motion, his arms wheeling backward. “Here!” I yelled, holding my hand out from the protection of Theron’s body.
The soldier met my eyes, but my hand was nowhere near close enough.
And then gravity took him, and he rushed down the balcony floor. I saw him hit the rail and flip off the edge into the night, and I couldn’t breathe.
The tower gave a rumbling protest as the stone beneath us tipped more. A loud groaning noise vibrated through our feet as the floor jerked and slid, and I could see the rope attached to the flying ship drawn taut.
Theron untied a belt from his waist and wrapped the thick piece of leather around us both, tying it tight. “The top of the tower is about to fall,” he told me, meeting my eyes. “We have to get off the tower.”
“What?” I screamed, whipping my head around. The stairs were blocked, the whole floor was tilted up—if we moved off this wall, there was nowhere to go but open air.
“I need you to follow my orders without questioning them, my queen,” he told me. “Can you do that?”
The floor shuddered and wrenched, and I nodded frantically.
“Grab the breastplate as tight as you can. Do not let go of me,” he roared. I wrapped my fists around his breastplate, careful to avoid the pointy ends of the knives.
He turned and leaped onto the balcony rail, wind whipping hard around us and almost knocking him off. The white stone enclosures below us were faint and small and dim in the darkness, and I shook my head wildly.
“No,” I cried. “No, no—”
But he jumped off the edge.
I couldn’t close my eyes. I couldn’t breathe as fear swamped through my lungs, much less scream or thrash or fight. Everything solid fell away, and we were still rising, rising, a tiny bit, and then the feeling changed.
We were falling.
Air rushed around me and we turned, too fast for my eyes to follow.
Theron somehow managed to catch the rope, and the sharp stop flung us around so hard my fists slipped free from him.
I flapped backward, but the leather around my waist jerked and held, digging in deep to my skin. Theron’s face swam above me, and behind that, the dark, looming ship that we now seemed to be attached to.