She heard running footsteps from behind. Joshen snatched her hand and dragged her towards the boats. “Joshen, I can plant the Barbus! It’ll keep the sailors safe.”
“No time! They’ll be around the first barrier tree before you can even get the seeds in the ground.” He picked her up and swung her into the boat.
“Reden!” she cried.
He took up a position beside the boat. The other sailors spread out around him. “We’re almost off anyway.”
He was right. Mistin’s group was already rowing for the Sea Witch. Two others weren’t far behind. That only left two boats on shore—Senna’s and the craft meant to carry Sunny. The sailors were struggling to get him inside. All four of his feet were stubbornly planted, as he refused to get in the boat. Two men linked arms behind his rump, while two more lifted a front leg over the sides.
Joshen grunted. “If the two of you hadn’t been so stubborn, we’d be off already.”
She ignored him. They were going to make it. That’s what mattered.
Sailors shoved Senna’s craft towards the ocean. The gritty sand scratched the bottom before they dropped in the water. They drifted while the sailors jumped in and pulled out their oars.
Senna startled at the sound of musket fire. Like blood pulsing from an open wound, dozens of soldiers on horseback broke from the dead jungle. Senna didn’t have time to wonder where they’d come from. Balls whistled through the air and hit their boat with a thunk. She ducked as splinters exploded around her. Water poured through the holes.
Soldiers splashed into the water. The sailors and her Guardians aimed their muskets and fired.
Senna had potions and songs, but they would hurt her friends as much as her enemy. She moved before fear could change her mind, grabbing one of the heavy muskets. She swung it up and aimed for a soldier looming over them. But a cry made her look past him.
Soldiers had swarmed Cord’s vessel. A soldier lifted his knife to draw it across Cord’s neck. Holding her breath, Senna adjusted her aim and squeezed the trigger gently. The musket bucked in her hands, throwing her back.
The soldier fighting Cord staggered backward before falling into the water and sinking. Cord gaped at Senna for a split second before leaping into the boat.
There wasn’t time to process what she’d done. Soldiers were all around them. The sailors fought them off with bayonets. Senna reached for her ball and powder.
From behind, hands snatched her, hauling her away from the boat. Joshen shouted and thrust his bayonet up, but the soldier was already out of reach.
Reden grabbed her legs and braced his feet against the boat.
Stretching forward, Senna grabbed one of the pistols from Reden’s holster, aimed it blindly at the man behind her, and fired. Suddenly she was free, and Reden dragged her back into the boat.
Muskets fired and one of the Tartens fell from his horse. Still in Reden’s arms, Senna saw Mistin standing steady, a musket in her hands, blue smoke dissipating in the rising wind
The other boats started firing on the Tartens. A moment later, the sailors with her opened fire. A handful of sailors abandoned the fight to start rowing. Though their boat was rapidly filling with water, they finally made it out of range.
Shaking, Senna grabbed another pistol. While loading it, she checked Cord’s boat. They were rowing for the Sea Witch. The Tarten soldiers were firing their muskets, but they were too far away to do much good.
They were safe.
The gun slipped from her fingers and fell with a splash into the water rapidly filling the bottom of the boat.
“Senna—” Joshen began.
“Just row!” She shook so badly she could barely stay upright. Three men in the boat were wounded. Her mind numb, she started tending to them.
It started to rain. The water seeped through her hair before dripping down her face.
One of the men was bleeding out. She pressed a cloth to the wound in his side, but the blood soaked through it. His eyes locked with hers before slowly going unfocused.
Their boat bumped into something. Senna looked up to find herself in the Sea Witch’s shadow. Dark clouds had finally reached shore. Sailors attached ropes to the boat and began pulling it up.
She felt a hand on her arm, easing her to her feet. “I’m sorry, Senna.” Joshen helped her onto the deck of the Sea Witch. He wet a cloth and gently wiped her face. “There was nothing you could have done.”
She shook her head. She’d been in battles before, but never this brutal, where she’d had to kill a man point blank, where another man had died in her arms.
By this time, most of the other boats had reached the ship. The sailors had managed to load Sunny, his legs splayed skyward. The remaining crew had already loaded the stern cannon and aimed it for the Tarten soldiers, who were staring up at the sky as the rain ran down their faces.