Adelia moved with her usual catlike grace. Her movements were almost liquid and absolutely silent. Connor relied more heavily on matching his movements to the guard to hide any sounds he might make.

  The guard passed without incident but Connor and Adelia waited until it sounded like he’d moved far enough away not to hear them unlock and open the door.

  Then, they moved. Connor unlocked the prison door and he and Adelia disappeared inside it, shutting the door behind them.

  Again, Adelia knelt at the keyhole, while Connor checked the cells.

  More goblins and grych as well as a pack of hygar.

  They looked something like malformed wolves. With thick, matted fur, large misshapen teeth, and disproportionately big heads with enormous jaws. They looked remarkably similar to grych in many ways and Connor could understand why some speculated they were perhaps distant relatives.

  More importantly, however, goblins liked to use the creatures as mounts. The Syndicate had the ingredients for goblin and grych warbands. Connor doubted that was simply a coincidence.

  He pressed his lips into a thin, grim line. Whatever the Syndicate’s ultimate plans were… it was his duty to stop them. But first… they needed to get off this accursed ship.

  “More monsters?” Adelia asked as Connor returned to her.

  He nodded. “We’ll head up. If we don’t see any more obvious prison sections, we’ll continue up to the deck and find a boat. But, before we leave, I need to find where they kept our gear. We’ll try the captain’s cabin first. Provided it’s where I’m assuming it is.”

  He half expected Adelia to protest and push for them to leave as she had with his desire to inspect the prison cells but she simply nodded.

  They left the prison section and took the nearest stairs up to the deck above, the same ones he’d been brought down before, Connor was sure. The crew had done an excellent job of patching up what had no doubt been Adelia’s handiwork.

  He remembered those inhuman roars and avoided looking at Adelia lest she see the thoughts turning over in his mind.

  Connor’s breath caught and his eyes went wide as they stepped out onto the deck above. The vast, relatively open expanse of the deck was choked full of hammocks. Hundreds of them. Filled with men in various states of asleep and resting.

  The light here was dimmer even than the decks below. Barely enough to navigate the tightly packed deck.

  At the front of the deck were canvas partitions, several of which were open to expose cabinets of medicine and medical implements. The sick bay, no doubt.

  Lining the length of the ship were ballista positioned in front of closed shutters that could no doubt be opened to fire a relentless stream of enchanted dark iron bolts from the long chests beside them.

  At the rear of the ship were two doors of solid dark iron that gleamed in the light of the lanterns hanging beside them.

  The runic script engraved upon the doors seemed to flow like rivers of smoke filled with the occasional spark of flame.

  Connor’s curiosity as to what lay beyond those doors flared… but they were well guarded by large, clearly magical creatures that stood patiently in the pools of light cast by the lanterns around the doors.

  They were bulky, muscular creatures with the head of a boar and the body of a man. Their bodies appeared to be made of a kind of liquid darkness like thick smoke with eyes that smoldered a deep orange like burning coals as embers drifted around them.

  Each held a large axe made of the same swirling, black, smoky substance as their bodies.

  They seemed a strange choice for guardians aboard a wooden ship given their somewhat fiery nature… but Connor supposed the clearly magical beasts may have some ability to control the effect of their embers upon the wood.

  Either that or the ship was simply so heavily enchanted that it mattered little.

  As much as Connor wanted to learn what lay beyond the heavily enchanted doors, it seemed unwise to challenge creatures they knew nothing about.

  Particularly when they were surrounded by hundreds of Syndicate men.

  Thankfully, the creatures gave no visible reaction to Connor and Adelia. Either because they lacked the intelligence or because their eyes struggled as much with the gloom as Connor’s did.

  I hope that’s not the captain’s cabin. I can’t leave this ship without my codex, Connor thought.

  He didn’t bother exploring the deck and brushed lightly against a hammock as he and Adelia walked around to the foot of the stairs up to the top deck of the ship.

  Connor glanced at Adelia at his side. His lips still tingled from the memory of her kiss. He wondered what it’d meant. Then, he steeled himself and they walked up together.

  They lifted the hatch and a roar of howling wind and driving rain greeted them.

  They scrambled up onto the deck and shut the hatch behind them before they disturbed anyone more than they already had.

  The instant they shut the hatch, Adelia was gone. She vanished in a breeze of wind that was rendered almost unnoticeable in the swirling chaos of the storm.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  It was dark on the deck with not even moonlight to go by and Connor found himself essentially blind.

  No doubt there was a night watch on the deck, but he doubted they could see any more than he could.

  He heard a soft shhtuck noise. Almost lost in the driving rain and flapping canvas.

  Lightning split the sky, lighting the world like the sun for an instant that burned into Connor’s eyes. He saw the enormous ship before him. Protective canvas tied over ballista and boats alike. The waves around them were enormous. Large enough to swallow even this huge vessel, yet the ship rolled as though the storm were only a mild one.

  If he’d known how bad it was, he would’ve delayed his escape. But, it was too late now. The guards would discover damaged locks sooner or later. He couldn’t take the risk. They had to get off this ship. Despite the towering waves.

  Strangely, the waves shrank before they reached the ship, as though there were an aura of calm about them. But, even so, he felt the salty water wash and spray over the deck, sloshing around his feet and pulling at them on the slippery deck.

  Lightning flashed again and he saw a dark shape with a whipcord tail approaching a mountain of a man. Another flash and both were gone.

  Waves hit the side of the ship and fountained upward, drenching Connor in salty droplets. Another flash showed him a man approaching where Connor stood, rushing down wet stairs straight for him.

  Connor drew one of the knives from his bandoleer and moved toward the man.

  Another flash and they were face to face. Without hesitation, Connor drove his knife into the man’s neck and dropped him.

  Another flash lit the world, capturing it in a frozen moment. Adelia stood with blade in hand, in the middle of throwing another kill overboard like the burly man weighed nothing.

  A man between Connor and Adelia spotted her, his mouth open in the act of yelling something. But his voice was swallowed by the deafening roar of thunder.

  Connor charged toward the man, desperate to prevent him from raising any kind of alarm.

  He slammed into the man in the dark and they tumbled to the floor as Connor drove his knife blindly into the man again and again. Hot red blood and icy cold rain sprayed over him as they landed in a tangled heap.

  Another brilliant flicker of lightning showed the man’s fear, surprise, and terror. A wave washed over the deck coming up over Connor’s knees and Connor shoved the man’s face down into it, forcing his screams to be lost in the water as Connor drove his blade into the man’s neck.

  More flashes of movement as Adelia scurried up the ratlines like a demonic cat.

  Seconds later, a body went flying over the ocean, thrown from the tallest mast on the ship. For a moment, Connor was stunned that anyone had been up there in the middle of this storm.

  Thunder rumbled like an avalanche rolling through the sky as Connor got back to his feet.

  Freezing rain dripped from his nose and chin as another wave broke upon the ship, bathing Connor in the salty spray.

  His clothing was so utterly saturated with water that it hung heavy on him and clung to him like a second skin made of wet ice.

  It was all over in moments. Less than a minute or two at most to dispose of the night watch on the deck. Though, most of that was down to there not being very many to begin with and Adelia slaughtering them with casual ease.

  Everything suddenly felt still despite the rolling ship and the titanic waves and Connor felt a sense of pity for the men he’d killed. That’d been one of the many reasons he’d wanted to avoid this life.

  He’d killed many times before, but he certainly didn’t enjoy it. But, the Syndicate had stolen that option from him. If it had ever been there.

  Lightning flashed and Adelia appeared beside him like an apparition flickering into existence. Her violet eyes seemed almost to glow in the dark. Her light blue cheeks were splattered with flecks of blood, and her face was filled with a sense of absolute exhilaration.

  He felt no surprise at the sight. Adelia had always had a fondness for murder and mayhem that he’d never been able to match.

  Adelia’s breath was hot in his ear. “I’ll dispose of the bodies,” she said.

  He nodded, unsure if she saw the motion, and looked toward the poop deck, below which he hoped he’d find the captain’s quarters behind the large wooden sliding door.

  He dearly hoped his codex lay within as he had no idea how they could possibly defeat the magical creatures below without raising the alarm.

  It was one thing to kill a handful of those on night watch and an entirely different matter to face the entire crew. There’d be hundreds of them. Too much even for Adelia, Connor suspected. Especially with magic users like Erik in the mix.

  Not to mention the air elementals and whatever those peculiar smoke creatures were.

  Adelia was back at his side before he’d made it halfway to where he thought the captain’s cabin would be.

  Connor tested the sliding door. It was locked. He wiped his knife clean on the leg of his pants and sheathed the blade in his bandoleer. He pulled out the bits of fork that served as his lockpicks and knelt down at the lock as cold rain fell upon them like a frigid hammer and the firefighting buckets secured above their heads rattled in the wind.

  The lock gave no resistance as he inserted his makeshift picks. He took that as a sign the lock wasn’t magical and got to work.

  His fingers were almost numb from the freezing rain and biting winds, but despite that and the unwieldy nature of his makeshift picks, he unlocked the door in a few seconds. He slid it only partially open. Just enough for him and Adelia to slip inside before they sealed it behind them.

  It only partially dampened the sound of the raging storm outside.

  It did a much better job of blocking out the light, however, and Connor found himself standing in absolute darkness.

  “Wait here,” Adelia whispered in his ear.

  Connor did so as he felt her brush against him and move deeper into the darkness.

  A moment later, the dim glow of a lantern in the binnacle faintly lit the room they stood in. Beside it rested a pair of magnetic compasses and behind it, the ship’s wheel. The large sliding door at their backs acted as a light blocker in case the ship needed to be steered at night.

  There were four doors around them. One on either side leading to relatively small cabins and two ahead of them that no doubt led into the captain’s quarters.

  Connor smiled slightly. It was far too soon to celebrate, but he began to hope he’d soon be reunited with his codex. Being without it felt like he was missing a limb.

  He nodded in thanks to Adelia for alleviating the darkness. He stepped around the ship’s wheel and up to the left door of the two before him.

  He tried peering through the keyhole, but it was pitch black inside. He tried the door gently and it resisted him. Locked again.

  He brought his picks to the lock and seconds later, the lock gave a satisfying click, barely audible with the storm raging outside. Connor stepped back as he stood and Adelia slipped into the lead. She opened the door and slunk inside.

  Connor heard soft, struggling noises followed by a muffled scream that cut off before it could truly begin.

  He stepped into the room and closed the door softly behind them.

  “Stop moving. Don’t even try to call for help, or I’ll rip out your throat,” Adelia hissed.

  Metal clattered softly and a lantern sparked to life, revealing Adelia holding what Connor hoped was the captain by his throat, with the knives he’d given her earlier in her other hand. Her fingernails pressed so tight against his skin that a trickle of blood ran down his neck.

  She loosened her grip ever so slightly and the man sucked in a choking breath between strangled coughs.

  The man’s eyes stared wide and terrified at the demonic markings upon Adelia’s light blue skin and his already-panicked breathing intensified.

  “If you make a sound more than a whisper, I’ll kill you. Understand?” Adelia said.

  The man gave just the barest of nods, wincing against her iron grip as his large, ornate hammock swung lightly. Connor pitied the man. No doubt Adelia had wrenched him from blissful sleep and straight into a nightmare.

  https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07DG9H6CV