The boat they’d use for the landing was mostly packed. They’d each pulled aside their personal belongings to make the trip to the Isle of Stone more comfortable. If they’d not run into New Rosanthe problems, the voyage was supposed to take roughly a day.
They jostled and bumped as Caelan switched places with Eno and the two bodyguards disappeared in opposite directions. Caelan shut the door behind him and turned to find Rayne bent over a ridiculously tiny desk with a laptop. His hair was standing on end from pulling at it while he worked.
“Problems?” Caelan shrugged out of his coat and tossed it across Rayne’s bunk. He moved to look over the man’s shoulder to see him rapidly typing instructions to Morgan and some other ministers. “Ruling Erya without me?”
“Not funny, Your Majesty,” Rayne grumbled, his fingers flying across the keys. “I’m relaying to Morgan and the agricultural minister your last thoughts about the crop reports we talked about this afternoon before we passed through God’s Throat.”
“Does Morgan know about the Empire battleship that was spotted?”
“Yes, additional members of the north fleet have been dispatched to this area, but it will be several hours until they reach us. If all goes well, we’ll have already landed on the Isle of Stone by then.”
Caelan grunted. They were on their own. “At least Admiral Christie will have assistance dealing with the ship after he’s offloaded us.”
Rayne finished his message and sent it. He shut down the programs that were open and initiated the security protocols. The laptop would be left behind, but the only people who could access it were Rayne and Caelan. If anyone even tried, all contents of the laptop would be wiped clean. The hope was that after they were done on the Isle of Stone, Admiral Christie would be the one who picked them up off the coast. They had a couple of other options lined up for leaving the isle inhabited by dragons, but they grew progressively riskier and more difficult.
“How bad is the situation?” Rayne inquired, closing the computer.
Caelan took a step back, giving Rayne some room to rise from where he’d been awkwardly bent over the computer. “It’s one battleship, but the admiral doesn’t seem convinced that it’s alone. We’re making a run for it while one of the destroyers runs interference.”
“How long until we reach the drop?”
“A few hours.”
His advisor glanced at his watch and nodded. “At least it will be dark when we hit the water. That will help us avoid the notice of the Empire should they reach us.”
Navigating black waters at night while massive ships fought around them did not feel reassuring, but Caelan knew Rayne was right. Their best shot at getting to the island safely was in the cloak of darkness.
Now, all he could do was wait and leave things in the hands of the experts.
He barely lasted two hours.
When the battleship’s cannons boomed for the first time, Caelan was on his feet and charging for the door. If the battleship was firing its rear cannons, it meant the Empire ship had closed the distance between them. Adrian and Eno had joined them a while ago, Eno taking up position as Caelan’s guard while Rayne and Adrian remained together. His advisor headed for the deck while Caelan moved for the bridge.
The admiral didn’t seem surprised by his sudden appearance. The older man nodded, his mustache giving a little twitch.
“We’ve picked up another Empire battleship and a destroyer. The Candor has taken some damage and been cut to half speed. She’s still causing ample problems for the Empire, though,” Christie explained.
“The Evrain?”
“Gone to help the Candor. Last report, the Empire destroyer has been crippled and one of the battleships has lost its starboard guns. We’ve got one battleship that’s closed the distance. It’s about ten minutes from being able to fire on us, and we’ve got to start slowing for the drop in five.”
Caelan’s heart was pounding hard and his hand trembled. He wanted to set Kaes loose on the Empire. The God of Storms was begging to shower the New Rosanthe ships with lightning and giant balls of hale, but whatever the Empire suffered in the rough seas, so would Erya. It would slow them too much. There was nothing Caelan could do with his power that would give them the advantage.
“Sink them,” Caelan snarled. “Order the Candor and Evrain to turn all their attention to the closest battleship and sink them.”
A sickening feeling uncoiled in his stomach. How many people had he ordered to die? Possibly good people who were simply following the commands of their mad Emperor.
Christie smirked at him. “Already have.”
He grunted, trying to ignore the sick chill in his blood. The view before him was unrelenting blackness now that the sun had set. There was no sign of land, no lights on the horizon. Just the occasional flash of explosions coming from behind them as the two Erya destroyers hammered the New Rosanthe battleship.