The enchanted seashell let off a slight coral glow in Zora’s trembling hand. It was quite beautiful. The bleached shell gave off a soft light. It was taking all of Zora’s willpower to not just allow her frightened self to just stare at it until the trouble had passed.

  Late in the night, Tidus had arrived unannounced. Three golden vessels were just over the horizon, and as soon as Tidus described them, Zora knew what was coming. The Church of the Will’s coastal dispatch, usually a joke of a navy made of three ships that routinely travel from one side of Talnorel to the other. They make goodwill port visits, get involved in ceremonies, and send healers to tend to the ill.

  They never go to deep water and they never engage. That is not to say they are not well armed, but they have a proclivity to show up when one side was weakened as opposed to taking on their opponents in full force.

  “They are going to attack us!” one of the rookie seamen had cried.

  “No,” Zora had to explain. “They are just delivering fortifications for the city.”

  “Then we should stop them,” Johnston had urged.

  A full fleet against fleet engagement was out of the question. For some reason, Zora’s crew could not see the beast circle like a vulture between the two teams of ships. Even with the additional two vessels Zora had picked up from their assault on Scott’s secret shipyard, she knew she had no chance against the creature.

  Her ship would splinter.

  Her crew would drown.

  And she would be the one to blame.

  But the crew, namely Johnston and Tidus, cried out with frustration when Zora expressed her unwillingness to attack. They had a point. The whole crew was becoming restless. The messages had been sent two weeks ago. They were ready to begin the siege. Why could she not get over this? After all, no one else seemed to acknowledge the monster.

  But her fear proved to be too much. And so Zora compromised. “Send the Heather,” she said decisively.

  Johnston instantly moved, knowing better than to challenge or check. If Zora was going to have second thoughts, she would have to hurry. Tidus, though, looked incredulous.

  “By themselves?”

  “Yes.” Zora simply watched the hull of her newest vessel. Down the deck, Johnston signaled with a ball of flame for the Heather to attack. And just as he did, the crew of the ship asked no questions. In the morning twilight, Zora and Tidus watched the seamen pop salutes as they pulled up anchor and began to move.

  Slowly at first, but Scott’s interred crew had brought with them a group of water-specialized shamans. Controlling the currents beneath the ship, they got their vessel moving with a shocking speed.

  “What are we going to do captain?” The of the chief of the Heather’s crew poured through the glowing shell, as if it rode on a wave. The further the ship moved, the clearer it became.

  “Engage the enemy. We will gauge their reaction, move forward, and then the siege will have to begin.” Zora said the words into the shell, never pulling her eyes away from the shadow. Suddenly, the creature banked, flinging a huge, fluked tail into the air.

  “Yes, Captain.” The waves continued, carrying the chief’s orders over the shell, but they were distant. He was no longer holding the device to his mouth.

  “You’re killing them,” Tidus hissed quietly. “Dreamer, Zora. What are you doing?” The Heather was speeding up, but Zora could not look away. She had to know.

  Was this beast capable of hurting her? That creature had commanded her life for a year. It was time to see what would happen. Zora was disgusted with herself, but these men and women? Frankly, they were not her crew.

  Zora’s crew were her siblings and her children. She had been traveling with Johnston and a handful of others for nearly six years. They loved each other. The Heather and the other ship? They were orphans. Adopted. They could eventually become family, too. If they lived.

  “Zora, the sun is coming up, and I swear,” Tidus pleaded. “I have no damn idea what you are planning!”

  “Shut up and watch.”

  “Are,” Tidus suddenly sounded concerned. He leaned forward. “Are you crying?”

  Zora could not bring herself to look at her god. She remained silent, watching the leviathan surge in front of the Heather.

  “Are you okay? Please. Tell me, Zora.” Tidus looked up at Johnston. He was busy watching the Heather. The other crew members were at work, knowing better than to accidentally eavesdrop on their Captain when the Laughing Buccaneer was on board.

  The vessel met the shadow.

  It was a sound Zora could not describe. It arrived at the vessel just a moment after the flash of pale, yellow light. A needle-like line of pure gold rushed from the Church’s fleet, too miniscule for anyone on the ship to tell which vessel launched the attack. But the sound it gave off was like a choir striking a chord at the end of a hymn inside a grand cathedral.

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  The Heather was ablaze in an instant. Shouts and commands spilled from the shell as they attempted to save their ship. And Zora watched without surprise as the shadow responded. It seemed happy. There was a second choral chord but Zora did not even notice the shot, because the creature breached.

  It tore up from beneath the Heather, easily ten times larger than the ship itself. It towered up over the mast. A massive blue eyeball opened on the side of the beast and stared straight into her.

  A third shot from the Church vessels. This one missed the Heather at first, sending water splashing in every direction before it carved back on target.

  For Zora, though, the massive creature fell onto her allied ship. Ripping it beneath the sea. Her question was answered. She turned back from the gunwale to see the crew, looking in horror as the rest of the flotsam drifted about, still on fire, where the Heather went down.

  “Chael’s scruff,” Tidus cursed. “What was that?”

  “Some new paladin weapon it seems,” Zora said, with a renewed seriousness. The fear had abated with the confirmation of danger. Her mind was suddenly clear. Her dread, in Zora’s eyes, had finally been validated. And now she could get to work. “One that we will not be able to face off against. Scrap the entire damned siege plot as written.”

  “Ma’am?” Johnston seemed worried.

  “It’s not too troubling, Johnston. We have options. Hopefully they don’t come near us.” The crew looked out to see where the Church’s ships were. They did not even seem to slow from the Heather’s approach. They were continuing along the horizon. They watched for some time, waiting for the lookouts to announce a change in course.

  “They’re still going to Dawnbreak?” someone asked.

  Zora looked at Tidus. Not angrily, just seriously. “Did your wife snitch?”

  “I have not been with you in the light of day, Captain Zora.”

  “They may have found out you were with us, though,” Zora thought aloud. “Even with that weapon, they don’t stand a chance against the god of the sea. And if they are dropping off reinforcements, then that will be their priority.”

  Zora went silent, looking around her ship for inspiration. “This is not a good situation. We can not fight them without risking our numbers too much. And I’ll be damned if we throw away all this preparation.”

  The crew members responded with nods. Some of them responded unintentionally with the rumbles of their stomachs. Zora looked over them with concern. There was more than pride on the line.

  “With that thing in the city, how will we besiege them?” Tidus asked. There were small gasps that a god would defer to a mortal, but these were extenuating circumstances.

  Johnston chimed in. “The dockyard is walled in. They control entry to the city with a waterlock. If Tidus,” suddenly, Johnston paled. “Uh, the Laughing Buccaneer. My apologies. If you could enter the city, you may be able to destroy the weapon?”

  “You’re on to something, Johnston. Tidus?”

  The god shook his head. “Since I left that note for the paladins, they’ve blocked the waterways beneath the city. And the dockyard is too close to the chapel. I will not be able to form my avatar inside.”

  “You’re kidding.” Zora looked annoyed. “Now you decide to follow other gods’ rules?”

  Tidus rolled his eyes. “Zora, the Dreamer is a different situation entirely. You do not cross an elder god.”

  “Fine. So you are out completely for attacking the docks?”

  The god sighed. “I did not say that.” He shrugged. “I could move into the city. Just not form within it.”

  “So we just need to get him inside,” Johnston said. “But we need to get into the city for that.”

  Suddenly, Zora was smiling. “Oh, you idiot!” She playfully struck the ocean god. “I can’t believe I had not thought of it before! We can use the old sewage catacombs on the beaches north of the city.”

  “Never heard of them,” Johnston said with curiosity.

  “The nun that sewed our flag told me about them. They are years out of commission now that they have man-made sewage systems in the city, but way back when, they just dumped their shit and piss into the caverns under the city and let it run off into the ocean far enough out from the city that you could not smell it. They bricked it off, but nothing some gunpowder and red magic won’t fix.”

  “Then, from inside the city, you open the gate and let me in?” Tidus asked for clarification.

  “Exactly. And we could probably shake things up even more with some light attacking on the wall. Not quite enough to warrant that weapon of theirs, but enough to keep them looking in sewers for a pirate queen.”

  “Wait, ma’am,” Johnston paused. “You’re going into the sewers?”

  The Captain looked stalwart. “Of course. After I sent the Heather to their death, I owe it to them.”

  “No.” Tidus was just as stalwart. “That is asinine, Zora.”

  Zora starred the god down for a long moment. Then, over toward the horizon. A light pink glow was beginning to appear.

  “Zora, you will not go. You are valuable.”

  “The sun is rising, Tidus.”

  “Zora. The Church will not be jesting when the Sea Witch shows up to burn their city. You have gotten them so nervous. They will skewer you!”

  “How much time till sunrise, Johnston?”

  “Zora, listen to me! After that Heather stunt, you are just going to punish yourself? Die because they did?”

  “Sunrise proper still has a while, ma’am, but Solanna’s Time should begin any moment now.”

  Tidus screamed in fury, sending water surging up over the gunwale. “Do what you want, fool. Let me know when you want your dog to bite!” Tidus leapt over the side of the boat, diving into the ocean. Zora watched him as he went over, and saw the twinkling jewel left behind by his avatar sink into the darkness.

  She stood up straight, took a deep breath, and turned to see the crew, still standing around. “What are you all looking at? Get the row boat ready! We have until later in the morning when my team gets underway.”

  In the cathedral, Cayd sat in his room. A plush, warm chamber with a window over the sea. The lumineer hovered in the center, over a huge carpet of gold and red. The sound of the coastal dispatch opening fire on Zora’s ships had woken him, and he had been unable to sleep again.

  For some reason, he found himself worried. His days of checking in on Zora had made him respectful of her attitude. Her snippy remarks and her ability to command the Laughing Buccaneer had stolen his heart.

  After being calmed by finding Zora very much alive, he became enraptured with watching the restructuring of the siege plan. This had been precisely what Boldbounty had wanted.