Andrea Holt tossed a coiled rope ladder over the rail. Fengel clambered immediately overboard. The others followed suit and shortly it was Lina's turn to go.
She glanced over the rail to the ground below. They were close enough to the smoke column that errant winds wafted the plume to brush against the ship. It smelled of burning wood and pungent sap. Its origin was a small clearing with a fire pit built in the center. It was otherwise unoccupied.
Lina checked the knives at her belt and gripped the ladder. She clambered over the gunwales and tried to ignore how it swung as she began her descent. Instead, she focused on the east, past the clearing and the nearby pyramid. Like the captain had said, there were other ruins. From her vantage they seemed to poke up from a space on the horizon several miles away, where the canopy disappeared down a ravine or past a cliff face.
The ruins were of the same stepped-pyramid design as the one nearby. They were wider, though, and unless the jungle played some trick, much, much larger. There was something about them, the way they were built, that plucked at the back of her brain. Lina felt as if she knew something, some distant memory, and it just wasn't coming to thought.
She descended down past the canopy of the jungle. The space darkened almost instantly, lit only by the flickering flames of a burning bonfire. Lina reached the bottom of the ladder where it hung a few feet off the ground. She dropped, moved aside, and turned to survey the area with her dagger at hand.
The clearing was not wide. Maybe three dozen feet across, most of it was dominated by the fire pit and the stacked bonfire that burned within it. Unlike the others they'd come across, this one was still live. The sky-pirates spread out, weapons drawn.
"Fire's still burning, Captain," said Sarah Lome.
"Your perception is keen as always," said Fengel. Their captain hefted his sword and gazed about the space. "No one here, but I do not think that they have gone too far this time. Keep a wary eye about for the locals. I still suspect a trap."
Runt rolled around Lina's shoulder, curious. She was suddenly, acutely aware of just how far she was from anywhere civilized, and how vulnerable they were in the small space of the clearing. The wood smoke of the fire covered the jungle smells she'd grown used to, and in the fading light she couldn't see more than a foot or two. Something howled, far off in the distance. Aside from the fire pit, there was nothing to indicate anyone had been here. No food, tools, or even a cleared space for a tent or suchlike. Lucian was right. This is a trap.
Something caught her eye near the edge of the clearing. It was a mark, pressed into the loamy earth. Lina crept forward and examined it.
"Captain," she called. "I've found something."
The others quickly joined her.
"That looks like a footprint," said Henry Smalls.
It did. Though not like any that Lina had ever seen. It was smaller than that of a man and had only three long toes, almost like that of a bird, or a lizard. There were divots in the soil at the tip of each toe, as if they were clawed as well.
"Gunny Lome," said Captain Fengel. "It may be wise to get everyone back aboard the ship."
"Too late, sir," said the gunnery mistress.
Something in her voice raised the hairs on the back of Lina's neck. She whirled along with the other pirates to see the huge woman hefting her cutlass towards the opposite end of the clearing.
They were no longer alone.
A figure stood there, man-shaped but inhuman, just within the far edge of the clearing. It was shorter than a man, thin and wiry. Fine green scales covered it from the tip of its sinuous tail up to the lizard-like maw of its face. Lighter-colored scales covered the skin around its eyes, almost like a mask. Its hands had only three long fingers with a thumb, but long talons grew in place of fingernails. Its legs were backward-canted below the knee, and terminated in the long-toed feet that likely made the footprint she had found. The creature wore a loincloth, and a golden torque around its neck. It carried a simple wooden spear in one hand, tipped by sharpened crystal.
"Blades up, lads," cried Fengel. "Miss Stone, you're up the ladder first, everyone else cover the retreat!"
The lizard-creature held up a hand. Then it spoke. "Stay your blades, manlings," it said, voice raspy and unused to the cadence of human tongues. "I have been waiting for you." It took a step forward, lowering its spear in a non-threatening posture. "I have a great need, and only you may save my people from destruction."
Lina blinked.
Chapter Seventeen
Fengel stared at the reptilian creature. Too late he remembered his composure. Fortunately, the rest of the crew were surprised as well. Never let them see you stumble.