Smoke still curled off the sea. Waves rolled sluggishly against the hull, black with ash and oil. The tightly packed mass of ships had started to open, preparing for a final push against Herjard's wall.

  Although the work to get underway was pressing, around Riko no one was doing anything. No movement of the sails, no sailor tightening ropes.Every single man had moved to the port, leaning on the railing and staring at the horizon.

  Tension was palpable. Riko could feel it as tight as the dry blood stiffing his bandages.

  There was no speaking of victory. No cheers, no yells. What was unfolding ahead was too difficult to believe.

  The planes, which moments before had been advancing like a swarm to destroy them, had plumped into the sea without having been shot. Of them, perhaps a couple were still flying, though aimlessly and destined to crash farther away than their companions.

  The dreadnoughts were moving wrongly. Some, not at all. But that wasn't the most shocking thing. Some of Herjard's ships had fired, as they had tirelessly done against them, but this time they were firing at their own allies.

  "They're destroying each other," Timo said.

  Riko narrowed her eyes. Timo was right. But the miracle was even better than the quartermaster had described. Not only were they firing at each other, but some were even aimed at the Herjard rear. The rearguard comprised Kraken's good old ships of the line. As such, same as Riko's navy, they didn't have many options other than to fight unsuccessfully, or escape.

  A dreadnought broke formation, turning against the Adamant's broadside. Before it was rammed, Vega's flagship rolled across the water. Its turrets faced the Kraken ship,but they didn't shoot.

  “What the hell are they doing?” someone muttered.

  Riko didn't know. And it didn't matter. What did was they had a chance, and to take advantage of it, they needed to move fast.

  He roared orders that spooked even Timo. The entire crew, like woken up from a bad dream, fidgeted for an instant and darted to their tasks.

  "Adamant is comin!" yelled someone from the crow's nest. "Only one ship to pursue!"

  "I don't want to be the one who breaks the fun, but that thing, even alone, can take all of us," Timo said.

  "Full sails, gents!" Riko turned and headed to the mainmast. "South at full speed!"

  Riko headed to the base of the mainmast with the world rolling around him.

  Ced was lashed to a loop of rope, ready to be hoisted toward the crow’s nest. He'd been tortured for long in the dungeons of Tampra, and who once danced gracefully in sword duels; a formidable force difficult to match, was no more. He pitied him. Being a man who could recover from anything, he couldn't imagine what he would do in such a situation.

  A sailor shoved a woven strap under Ced's arms and another pressed a weathered fusil into his hands.

  “You are not a sharpshooter,” Macha stood at the mast's side. Warry,almost annoyed.

  Ced's face tightened around a smile that was all confidence. “Better than staying in the guts and waiting to be drawn.”

  The sailors started the lift. The rope went taut. Ced’s shoulders rose while he attempted to keep his smile longer.

  Following groans of effort from the man pulling, Ced spoke once more; “See you later Mon'Lads… maybe.”

  Macha snapped his teeth. Ivy signed something at him, although Riko didn't catch the signs.

  “I know, I know,” Macha added, softer. “I’m just nervous, that’s all.”

  Wood cracked behind them. Uri, a Jo woman with mysterious ways of doing, was ready for war. A fusil slung across one shoulder, two pistons tucked into her sash, tiny daggers at her hip, a long sabre at the other side. She smelled of oil and powder. She moved with the practiced economy of someone who knows when to waste energy and when not.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Riko felt himself watching her for too long.

  “What are you looking at?” she said, catching him looking.

  Macha spoke, saving him from an answer he didn't have. “Tell me Sandree has more common sense than Ced.”

  “She agreed not to join boarding.” Uri sounded as confident as she looked. “I can’t focus if I have to protect her.”

  Macha blew out a breath. “Good.”

  Her mouth quirked. “But she will join the crow’s nest too. She’s not bad at shooting, after all.”

  Color rose in Macha’s face. as he flung off.

  Ivy caught Riko’s sleeve and pulled. "You should stay on the ship as well," she signed. "You are in no shape to fight barehanded as usual."

  A grunt escaped him, the kind that could be counted as agreement or protest. His eyes drifted past her, to anything else. She was right, but he had neither the time,the strength, nor the will to push the talk any further.

  Uri’s brows rose as she read Ivy’s sign. Then she frowned and started checking each corner of his shape.

  “What are you looking at?” Riko said.

  Then the world answered with a blast. Distant and from behind.

  A nearby ship shuddered under the impact. Its mast snapped, and the hull listed violently. Ropes whistled; sails slapped. The deck rolled, tilted and capsized. in an instant, it was gone.

  "There's no escape from that ship," Riko said, returning his attention to the girls. His head wobbled when realizing Uri was gone.

  No one left Riko’s side without him noticing; ever. And that Jo woman had slid away like a shadow in the night. Admiration burned within him, a deed very few spurred in him.

  “Are you sure that plan will work?” Riko said, still scouting around. "What makes you think they will stop engines and not run you over?"

  Ivy shrugged. Her hands moved again. “We will be ready to jump if they try. We’ll just have to swim further.”

  Riko pictured her in the water. Holding the barrel and swimming as fast as any creature of the seas. It was not the first time she'd pulled such a trick. He'd seen her blast Tampra's ships many times. It could work, yes. But the Adamant was not an old sailing ship. It was a beast with iron skin.

  “But if they don't stop, you cannot get close to the propeller.”

  She signed with little determination. "Let’s see."

  The weight o uncertainty piled over his shoulders. He drew in a breath that hurt too much. After twitching to the pain, he continued. “How is that thing going to reach the ship? It doesn’t float, does it?”

  “Neutral buoyancy. Rob is working on barrels and bladders counteracting his weight. Attached to his body, he will not sink, neither float. Then, he will dive using planks in his hands, like—”

  “I don’t know,” Riko cut out loud. “I almost prefer you just stay here with us. We turn, we spread in all directions, and we cross fingers we reach close enough before they blast us down. It sounds madness, but it is still a better idea than yours.”

  “You know as well as I do,” she signed back with urgency. “If we don’t incapacitate them, we have no chance of reaching a boarding with these winds. It's not crazy. For some miracle is now only them. Vegas' Adamant: Alone. This is no longer a suicidal charge. There is a chance of victory.”

  The quick, tense movements of her hands, almost trembling, were no secret to him. It was her way, desperate and immature, of making her point valid. He nodded reluctantly, hoping it would be enough to stop her, but she pressed on, relentless.

  "Why are they coming then? Because they have orders! They want me. If I show myself surrendering, they won't waste the chance."

  He lifted a hand and pointed at the horizon. Farther out, the kraken was retiring, and Herjard succumbing to incompressible failures. yet, the Adamant was closing quarters.

  "They are coming to finish us all." He said. Ivy raised her hands again, but Riko stopped her with his. “Girl, I'm giving you my opinion so when we meet in the afterlife, I can rub it in your face. That's all."

  He felt her temper ease.

  Going against her idea might have been appropriate, but considering his own wasn't much better, he knew well it was a time of reassurance and support, not opposition and discussion. “I have been against your crazy plans since always, and you have proved me wrong each time, so shut up, get into your ship, and do what you have to do. It’s a captain’s order.”

  She beamed. A quick flash. With it, she brought warm in his chest.

  A rumble rolled across the deck, drawing every eye. The machine man was a towering figure with an extremely big, rounded head and skeletal, long limbs. A surreal sight difficult to ignore. Even with all the men briefed on the what, who and hows, there was not a single soul who didn't scramble aside at his stomping. Prayers and curses muttered in its wake. Barrels and bladders clung to its frame, along with many blades of varied sizes. Its eyes blinked with light. Then, in a reverberating voice, she spoke with unshakable energy: “Avast, ye lily-livered sea dogs! Time to give ‘em a proper thrashing!”

  She followed the machine, shoulders steady. Then, with one last look back, she called, plain and free.

  “Hey, see you on that ship.”