“He has a point,” Jaya said. “I saw the flames on theLord. They moved like hers.”
Daz shook his head. “Forget the killdoms. We can’t win. We must make for Tsuana in haste. Rhumia, set a course for the south to outrun these bastards, then send a distress signal to—”
“But Elena needs us!” Samson interjected. “It is her! I know it. She is on that ship.”
“Our priority now is getting to Tsuana, safe and sound. Elena may be gone, but I can still push our cause when I take my seat at the council—”
Daz yelped in alarm as a blue flame snapped forth, biting his wrist. Rhumia whipped around, her hair rippling, hardening, as Afira lunged for him.
Samson dodged her, his urumi singing as he snapped it forward. Flames roared down the blade.
“Daz,” he called over the inferno. “I don’t want to harm you. Turn us toward theRelentlessor give me command of the ship.”
Rhumia swiped, and the edge of her hair caught his forearm, cutting through his skin. Samson hissed in pain. He brought up a flame, forcing her back.
“Daz! Turn back or surrender this ship.”
But then Afira struck, swift and silent. He had not heard her creep behind him, but he felt her now as her hair dug into his shoulders. Samson cried out, his sword falling. She slammed him into the wall, and he crumpled to the floor.
Shadows ringed his vision. Faintly, he heard Jaya screaming, and then a wet, gurgling sound.
“I’m sorry, Sam,” Daz said, his voice pinched. “But we must sail straight to Tsuana now.”
CHAPTER 52
JAYA
A fight is won not by the strongest fighter, but the cleverest one. Think like your enemy, and you will defeat him long before he tastes the sword.
—fromThe Gamemaster Manual
You asshole,” Jaya said, wincing against her bleeding tongue. It had swelled in minutes. Blood dripped down her chin, her hands bound behind her back.
Daz said nothing. But Rhumia smirked as she guided their ship forward, her hands floating above the panel, palms limned blue. Flecks of red still dotted her hair.
“Save your tongue, girl, and I might spare you once we reach Tsuana.”
Jaya began to speak again, but Samson nudged her with his knee. His hands were tied painfully tight, skin already turning blue. Afira kept watch, his urumi in her lap, and would not meet Jaya’s gaze.
Coward.
What Yumi ever ran from battle? Abandoned their friends?Proud warriors my ass.She had seen the ghostly glow of the fires on theLord. She hadstudied Elena’s Agni well enough to know it was hers. The queen was alive. And that meant she hadn’t failed.
She could still measure their Agni. Div could still live.
Jaya studied the sensors. They only had the two, their comms dead. She wished she could hail Akaros’s ship, let him know of the Yumi’s change in course. She glanced at the locked door of the bridge. Maybe she could call for Visha. Or—her eyes cut to Rhumia—anger the warrior into moving toward her, striking her. Maybe then Samson could rush forward. Tackle Afira, grab his urumi, call his Agni, or—
Jaya stilled. Her gaze landed on Daz, who stood with his back to her.
“Are you king of the Yumi?”
Daz jerked back, as if slapped. Rhumia and Afira stiffened, eyes wide, incredulous.
“We do not speak such blasphemy,” Afira said.
“I’m going to cut off that tongue,” Rhumia snarled.
“But you are, aren’t you?” Jaya continued. “I mean, you killed your sister. Took her throne. You are king.”
