I almost cheered when I found a dinghy hanging from iron davits beneath a weathered canvas tarp crusted with salt. It was small, looked barely seaworthy, and was secured by frayed ropes, but I’d found our escape plan.
Making a mental note of the dinghy’s location, I turned to head back to the sick bay and stopped dead when a feminine voice caught my attention.
Someone was singing.
Not the raucous shanties the crew belted out to power the ship, this was something else entirely. The high-pitched melody drifted through the air like smoke, brimming with so much sorrow and loneliness that I didn’t need to understand the words to be sucker-punched by her emotions.
Every word hit me in the feels.
Against all instincts begging me to return to safety, I followed the sound toward the bow, slipping through the shadows on the deck. The melody grew clearer with each step, weaving between the ship’s groans like a thread of gold in a pile of rust. Approaching footsteps drove me to cover twice, but I patiently waited for the fishmen to pass before continuing.
I crossed to the small door at the center of the bow and paused to beat myself up for being neither smart nor responsible. But something inside me couldn’t walk away. I had to see the person responsible for yanking on my heartstrings. The handle was warm to the touch and unlocked, basically inviting me to enter.
I pushed the door open and froze.
An iron cage roughly the size of a dog crate was built into the bow, suspended half in and half out of the ship. Runes had been etched into the bars, glowing a faint, sickly orange.
Inside the cage, a pair of blazing eyes found mine.
Oh. Wow.
The fishmen had somehow caged fire. Human-shaped fire. From the tips of her pointed ears to the bottom of her bare feet, the flaming creature wasn’t much bigger than my hand. Her skin flickered between the deep red of embers and the pale orange of a candle flame, never settling on one hue. Surprise at my appearance danced in the flames of her face.
My own shock wore off, and sanity returned. Intenton pretending there was no fiery woman in a cage, I leaned away from the door, preparing to make my escape, but panic flooded her eyes.
“Istanni.”
Looking around to make sure the coast was still clear, I shook my head and whispered, “I’m sorry. I don’t speak fishman.”
Her face lit up. “Then I shall switch to English. Please come in and close the door so the sons do not capture you.”
She seemed genuinely worried about that, and I was too, so I slipped inside her closet-sized room and closed the door behind me. The ceiling was so low I almost had to duck, which made me immediately uneasy. Or maybe it was the way I realized I’d just shut myself in a closet with some sort of fire pixie.
“Do not fear me.” The sorrow in her tone tugged at my sympathy. “You seem quite lovely, and even if I wanted to harm you, I am under an enchantment that prevents me from attacking anyone on this ship.”
Ah. Which meant she wouldn’t be able to help us take out the fishmen, if it came to that. But outside the boat….
“You’re the one who fought off the giant snake monster,” I observed.
She frowned. “Oannes is not a monster. His children are.”
“The fishmen?” The captain had introduced himself as Oannes. She’d called them the sons, so…. “That snake thing is their dad?”
“Oannes was not always in that form. He was like his children before they employed a witch to cast his soul into the great serpent. The sons are oath breakers and tricksters.” She paused, tilting her head as if to weigh her words before speaking. “I heard them plotting. They plan to betray you, too.”
Shit. A bolt of energy flew through my nervous system, putting it on high alert. This was exactly what I’d feared. I leaned forward. “Did you happen to hear how?”
Flames danced as she shook her head. “Unnecessary, since I have seen this before. The pigeon has flown ahead. It deliversa message to their Somalian contact.” She glanced at the door again, then back at me, and lowered her voice. “You are the first person to speak kindly to me since Oannes was defeated, so I will give you a warning you did not request. The contact is a buyer. Of… people.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “A slaver?”
“Yes.”
“But… the alpha would never allow that to happen.”
“He is only a wolf. They have taken bigger and stronger. An alpha will fetch a high price. The males will be sold. You....” She trailed off, but the look in her eyes filled in the rest.
I swallowed my anxiety and horror, replacing it with anger.
