Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,38

couple of them scouting around the cave entrance, and we couldn’t get close. Dak was about to turn Turgonian on them, so we could come in and look for you, but we could see all the lanterns coming up the river and knew the rest of the pirates would be there any minute.”

“Turn Turgonian?” Yanko asked mildly.

“The way he did at the beach, yes. It involves fists, a sword, and a lot of grunting.”

Dak gave her a flat look. “Only the pirates grunted.”

“As your fists and sword struck them, yes. There was crying too.”

“Sounds lovely,” Lakeo said.

“I thought so,” Arayevo said.

Yanko wondered how he had ended up with such bloodthirsty women in his life. He started to smile, but then he remembered his mother and the sound of those gunshots as he’d been led away.

“We’re almost out of the coral,” Dak said. “We’re staying more than ten feet below the surface. I’m keeping the light at the minimum for navigation, but if we get close to one of the ships, they may see us. Yanko, can you see if—”

“Just a moment.” Yanko closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, hoping he had the range to sense where the ships were—and if any pursuers were coming.

As before, when he had tried this from within the water, the incredible amount of life below the waves almost overwhelmed him. Crab, fish, worms, clams, and jellyfish were all active, hiding and feeding in the coral maze. He tried to block out the small life and to look for the ships full of people. This time, he did not sense any krakens that he could ally with if the pirates found the underwater boat. He wouldn’t want to do that again, regardless. The utter destruction the last time had unnerved him. He’d just wanted to make Sun Dragon leave him alone; he hadn’t wanted to destroy an entire ship full of people. He knew Sun Dragon had survived, but he did not know if others had.

“The three ships are still there, but they’re anchored,” Yanko said slowly, analyzing the situation. The third ship was at the edge of his range, but it felt much different from the others. He was tempted to ask Dak to veer closer, but if there were more mages on board, that could be a bad idea. The underwater boat could be sensed, even if nobody saw the light. “We’re coming up to the left of them. I guess that’s south. It’s hard to keep track of direction down here. More rowboats are out in the lagoon, but not all of them. I can’t sense that far, but I’d guess Pey Lu is still hunting for the lodestone. Uhm, I think the boats in the lagoon are searching for us.”

Yanko opened his eyes. Dak was staring at him. It reminded Yanko of the look Dak had given him when he had first donned his mother’s robe and said Yanko looked like someone he should kill.

“I was just going to ask you to use the periscope.” Dak pointed to a contraption that hung from the ceiling behind Yanko’s seat. It looked like it could be pulled down.

“Oh.”

“Maybe we can sneak close later if we turn off the lights,” Arayevo suggested. “After the pirates are back and most of them have gone to sleep—the mages, especially—we could sidle up to their ship, board them, and search for whatever treasure they found and took. And for our belongings.” She touched her hip where a sword usually hung. “That would be an exciting adventure.” Her eyes gleamed as she shared the idea.

Yanko thought it would be a deadly adventure, not an exciting one. “I bet Pey Lu will keep one of the mages awake for the night watch. Even if she doesn’t, it would be hard to board under the noses of the regular crew, especially right after we’ve escaped. They’ll be alert.”

“We sneaked past them before,” Arayevo said. “When it was clear we wouldn’t have time to search the cave and look for you, Dak had us get into the Kyattese boat. We took it underwater to hide, then went down the river and out to sea without being bothered, even though the pirates were all over the place.”

“Actually, we were bothered,” Dak said. “When I had the periscope up to watch the pirates, thinking the shadows out in the pool would hide us, a woman looked right at it and launched a mental attack at me. She might have just been