single sail, the color of bone. Marroc and I broke into a run. My feet pounded the rocky ground as I sprinted toward it. We were almost at the boat—almost to the wooden dock that led out to it. By the sinuous twists of the dock’s wood, it looked like it was made out of Yggdrasill’s roots.
Marroc reached it first, and I followed close behind him, climbing onto the roots. They stretched out into the red sea, fifty meters away.
Marroc leapt onto the ship, and I followed. My lungs burned.
“Help me cast off,” Marroc shouted. He pointed at a line in the front of the boat. The bow, I thought. I hustled over to the rope.
But the sound of moans turned my head. Just behind us were two hungry draugr, rushing for us.
I untied the rope and threw it onto the dock. “I’m clear,” I shouted, turning back to Marroc.
He was at the other end of the boat, still working his way through the rope.
A sinewy draugr wearing a barrister’s wig charged for me. Instinctively, I called Skalei. I threw the blade. The steel flashed in in the air, and I hit my mark. The dagger hit the corpse’s stomach with a thud. He fell into the bloody water.
“Skalei,” I said, and the hilt returned to my palm.
The second draugr was reaching for me, but my blade stopped him. It plunged into his neck, and he fell backward off the roots.
Not terrible. But there were more draugr where those came from.
I turned to see Marroc tossing the line onto the dock, and we were free.
“Let’s go!” I shouted.
Except… the boat wasn’t moving. There was no freaking wind here.
I gripped the sides. “We need a motor. The oars and the sail won’t get us moving fast enough.”
“Help push!” shouted Marroc, leaping onto the dock, and I figured out what his plan might be. Give it a strong shove, then leap in.
I leapt over the side, mirroring Marroc’s position on the dock. I shoved with all my strength. Slowly, the boat began to move, and Marroc hoisted himself back up into the boat. Before I could join him, a bony hand started digging into my flesh.
I whirled to find a draugr bellowing in a British accent, “You have committed an offense against my person when you threw your knife into my stomach!”
With my nerves sparking, I punched the draugr in the jaw so hard his neck bent back at a ninety-degree angle. He fell backward into the red sea.
When I turned to look at Marroc, he stood at the edge of the boat, and it had drifted away from me. Dammit. Black smoke swirled around him like a maelstrom. His eyes glowed like embers.
My stomach clenched. The boat was now nearly thirty feet from the dock. Safe from the draugr, but too far for me to jump to him. I was on my own.
Then, from the bloody sea below me, a pair of sinewy draugr arms clutched at my elbow. The draugr in the barrister’s wig rose from the sea. “Maritime salvage law is clear. You have injured me; I am entitled to fair compensation in the form of your flesh.”
“Skalei!” This time, I slashed at his neck so hard I nearly severed his head. “I can do this all day, bitch.”
Problem was that he didn’t stay dead.
I kicked him hard in the chest, and he sank under the surface once more. Then I reached for the vergr stone in my pocket and turned to Marroc.
“Catch!” I shouted, tossing the crystal toward the boat.
It sparkled in the dim light before landing gently in Marroc’s hands.
“Fara!” I shouted.
Chapter 49
Marroc
I was still holding Ali’s crystal when she teleported, so instead of reappearing next to me, she popped into existence with her feet at about shoulder level. She started to fall, but I caught her, wrapping my arms around her waist and legs.
I stabilized the rocking boat with my feet and breathed in her scent. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
She pushed away from me, and I realized I’d been holding her tightly. Slowly, she slid down my body, standing in the boat. Her stomach grumbled, and the sound made my gut clench. I needed to get her out of here, back home as soon as possible.
“I’ll get you home soon,” I promised. “Once we get the wand from Nidhogg.”
I glanced around, thinking of the mission. While the boat was clear of the dock, it was simply drifting. If we didn’t get moving, the