"Careful!" Araris called. He had his shoulders pressed up against the mainmast on the starboard side. "The pirates have a Knight Flora with them. Crow-begotten good one, too."
Tavi nodded and ducked to one side, putting the solid wood of the cabin between himself and the oncoming Mactis. He swept a quick glance around the deck and asked Araris, "Where is she?"
There was another scream, this time up in the rigging, and a man plummeted from above to land on the deck ten feet away. An arrow had transfixed his throat, bloodied point emerging from one side of his neck. His hips and one arm were bent at an unnatural angle, and the sailor made a few frantic gurgling sounds, feebly thrashing, as his blood pooled on the deck.
Araris drew his sword, his jaw tight with anger. "Not in the cabin. She must be forward."
The door to the cabin opened, and Ehren poked his sandy-haired head out of it, looking blearily around. "What? What's going on?"
There was a hiss, a cracking sound, and another arrow smashed through the cabin's door, just above its latch and so close to Ehren's hand that its haft touched the bare skin of his wrist.
Ehren peered owlishly at the arrow. "Ah," he said, and shut the door once more.
Tavi glanced at the arrow and recognized the distinctive fletching again.
"Crows take it," he snarled. "Iris the Hawk. Navaris and the rest of Arnos's thugs are out there."
There was another scream from the rigging, though at least no one fell to the deck this time.
Kitai leaned around Tavi and peered to port for a moment. "Four hundred yards at least. This archer is quite skilled."
Tavi called out to Araris, and told him what he had seen. The singulare let out a sulfurous curse. "How did they catch up to us?"
"They must have used Arnos's Knights Aeris," Tavi replied. "They could have learned the ship's identity, and it wouldn't be too hard to figure out where we're headed. They got in front of us, flew down the coast until they found a captain willing to intercept us."
"This is going to get complicated," Araris said. "Stay there. I'll go find Isana."
"We go together," Tavi said. He didn't give Araris a chance to argue-he just darted forward, moving quickly down the deck. He shot one swift glance off to port, to see the Mactis under sail. At this distance, he could make out the moving shapes of the crew, but he couldn't make out any details. That was good news, at least. It meant Arnos's woodcrafter couldn't pick out specific targets. She was shooting at motions and outlines, not at particular men.
Tavi went forward, crouched as low as he could get, hurrying as much as he could, and had no doubt that the motion looked more ridiculous than was probably appropriate for a Princeps of Alera on the edge of battle. An arrow flashed by, several feet away. One of the feathers must have been loose and dragged the shot wide, because it made an odd buzzing sound as it flew past him.
Tavi crouched even lower and moved even more quickly. To the crows with dignity. He felt more than willing to live with such humiliations, especially when he might not without them. The Mactis was steadily closing.
They reached the bow and found Isana there, crouched behind the wooden planking of the prow. Tavi rushed forward and threw himself down beside her. Araris and Kitai were hard on his heels.
Isana flinched as Tavi landed, but when she looked back at him, he felt a surge of relief flash through her, only to be replaced with renewed anxiety an instant later. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Tavi said. "We've got a problem."
Isana lifted a dark eyebrow, her voice dry. "Oh, dear."
"Arnos's Knights are on that ship," Araris said, his mouth set in a tight line.
Isana's back stiffened. "I see. Can we escape them?"
Araris crouched and lifted his head up for a moment, peering over the ship's rail, and ducked down again. "I'm not much of a sailor, but I doubt it."
"Their captain isn't going to turn back because we're sailing into the Leviathan's Run," Tavi said grimly. "Navaris wouldn't let him."
"We have to fight, then," Isana said. "Can we beat them?"
Tavi glanced at Araris.
The man shook his head. "Not if we're outnumbered as badly as Demos believes. Navaris is extremely skilled. I'll have to focus on her completely."
"If we can't run, and we can't fight, what can we do?" Isana asked.
"We find some way to change the rules," Tavi said. He rose for a quick peek at the other ship, then glanced quickly at the sea ahead of them. He started to drop down again, when he froze, staring.
Ahead of the ship, the relatively calm seas were washing against slate grey rocks that rose seven or eight feet up out of the waters. There were perhaps two dozen of them, any one of them large enough to smash open the Slives hull like the lid of an ale keg should the ship collide with them.
"Captain!" Tavi bellowed. "Rocks ahead! Captain Demos, rocks ahead!"
Some of the crew took up the call, relaying it back along the length of the ship. Seconds later, Demos hurried down the deck, crouching low the way Tavi had done it, though the ship's captain moved far more swiftly and confidently than Tavi had.
"Demos!" Tavi called. "Rocks!"
The captain frowned and moved forward, rising to look.
"Scipio?" shouted Ehren's voice from somewhere at the ship's stern. "Where are you?"
"The bow!" Tavi called. "Get up here and..." Tavi broke off as Demos's calloused hand clamped suddenly over his mouth.
"Quiet," said the captain, his voice and face unreadable. He let out a pair of sharp, single whistles, and the sounds of sailors talking and calling out to one another abruptly stopped.
Tavi pushed Demos's hand away, staring at him, and lowered his voice. "Why?"
"Because those aren't rocks," Demos said calmly. "They're leviathans."
Chapter 26
"Oh dear," Isana breathed. Demos, like Tavi, was capable of concealing his emotions-or perhaps he simply didn't feel them with any particular intensity. Either way, Isana had been able to discern very little about the mans state of mind at any point during their voyage.
Right now, Demos was radiating a cold, carefully restrained fear.
He stared ahead for a few seconds more, then waved his arm in some kind of signal. The timbers of the Slive creaked, and the ship changed course slightly.
"Will we get by them?" Isana heard Tavi ask.
"We might, if we're quiet. This time of the day, they come up to the warm waters at the surface to bask. Provided people don't start shouting"-he gave Tavi a deliberate look-"and that we don't actually bump into one of them and wake him up, the witchmen should let us tiptoe past."