Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(106)

Tom stared unblinkingly at the ship’s deck, his tension tangible. Thunder rumbled, and I wondered what the men were doing inside. When a ladder unfurled over the hull, Tom relaxed. “Excellent. Let’s go.”

We brought our skiffs in closer and boarded the ship. The five scouts had already subdued the topside crew, and the rest of us spread throughout the ship to search for other crewmen. Tom once more warned against using guns. There were more sailors here than on the Queen Grace, but their busy storm preparation had given us an advantage. After only a handful of scuffles, we were able to round them up and confine them to the brig.

“Move,” Tom ordered us, once the brig was locked. “The storm’s helping us right now but won’t for long.”

We had a lot more cargo to transport this time, and it was heavier too. As I climbed down to a lower deck and heard the wind howl outside the rocking ship, I once more had that disorienting feeling of being on Good Hope again, tossed around by the elements, not knowing if I’d live or die.

Elijah nudged me. “You okay?”

“Fine.” I kept moving. “Just thinking about another storm I was in. It was worse.”

“This is going to get worse, and Tom knows it. He hasn’t been away from the sea that long, but he wants this—badly.”

Lowering the heavy, bulky crates down to the waiting boats took time and had to be done carefully. It created a bottleneck. That was the disadvantage of raiding a ship that was anchored instead of docked. Sneaking aboard might be easier, but getting everything off wasn’t.

Lightning tore apart the sky, and soon the rain came. One of the hired men and I carried a crate together and set it down near an expanding pile by the edge. I started to return below when I heard shouting: Tom and Elijah arguing.

“Even if we get it all off, the skiffs won’t make it back in this chop!” yelled Elijah over the thunder.

After a little more back and forth, Tom grudgingly yielded. “Get everyone back here,” he called to us. “We’re going to load what we’ve got and—”

A bright flash near the stern made him stop. A hanging lantern had been knocked off by the wind and smashed to the deck. I knew from crossing the Sunset Sea that most lanterns were doused during storms, but these sailors hadn’t had time to finish their preparations. Flames started to spread over the deck, and sparks blew up onto some of the rigging. The rope ignited too quickly for the rain to put out, and the fire jumped up to a loose sail that also hadn’t had a chance to be properly brought in. That sail whipped into another sail, and I watched in horror as the blaze expanded and expanded. I looked at Tom and saw him wrestle with indecision. He glanced at the remaining cargo and finally shook his head.

“Everyone, off! This’ll bring the navy.”

He didn’t have to repeat himself. Everyone raced to the edge, lining up to scramble down the ladder. Anders threw a second one over. I started to join the line and then stared back at one of the doors leading below.

“Tom,” I called. “What about the crew?”

“There’s no time, Aviel. The wind’s feeding the fire, and this ship is gone when the cargo lights up. Go!”

I couldn’t. Not when I thought of all those sailors locked in the brig, burning to death. “I can get down to them! I won’t take long.”

“There’s no time! Don’t be stupid!”

“I’m going!”

“Aviel—”

I’d already turned around. As I started to run, I just barely heard Elijah say to Tom, “Get the others off and away. I’ll stay back with a boat and wait for her. She can make it before the ship blows.”

“The longer we wait, the more the cargo we’ve taken is at stake.”

“You shouldn’t have brought skiffs out in—”

I didn’t hear the rest as I climbed below and ran to the brig, trying to keep my footing as the ship heaved violently back and forth. When I finally made it, I grabbed the key off a hook in the hall and unlocked the brig’s door with shaking hands.

“The ship’s on fire!” I shouted to the men inside. “You have to get off!”

I raced back down the hall and was soon overtaken as sailors thundered past, shoving me out of the way. I saw no fire below yet, but I could smell smoke. We emerged into the tempest, and I fought my way over to the rope ladders so that I could climb overboard.

But there were no boats down below. Lightning flashed, and I just barely caught sight of the skiffs bobbing on the waves—well away from the Sun’s Promise. I turned around and stared. Nearly half the deck was burning now, and wet ash blew at me along with the rain.

Someone grabbed my arm. “Lady, come on! Follow me!”

It was one of the ship’s sailors, an older man with dark hair slicked back from the rain. He tugged me over to where the rest of his fellow sailors were frantically untying and lowering dinghies into the water.

“Give me a knife,” one of them yelled. “This rope is stuck.”

Before anyone else could act, I handed over my dirk. The sailor used it to chop the rope, and as he was giving it back, a burst of wind hit me from the side. I grabbed hold of the rail to keep myself steady, but in doing so, the dirk slipped from my hand and fell into the dark sea below.

Sixteen of us scrambled into three dinghies being tossed around on the sea. As soon as we were all in, sailors began to row us away. Through the flares of lightning, I could make out one of the naval ships slowly parting from its mate. The other two dinghies rowed toward it, but mine headed in a different direction.