Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,45

her newly acquired machete. “There was a first-aid kit with a scalpel in it.”

“That should cause hardened pirates to wet themselves.”

Arayevo hesitated, then flipped the utility knife in her hand and offered Yanko the hilt.

“Just focus on helping us with magic, if we’re forced to fight,” Dak said, coming up behind him and gripping his shoulder briefly. “I’ll watch your back. Let’s try to sneak in without a fight, though, and get out quickly. Yanko, how about some smoke?”

“Is something burning?”

“It could be.” Dak gave him a significant look, then stepped past him and turned the wheel on the hatch.

Lighting fires on a ship that already had a fresh hole in the bottom seemed harsh, and he wasn’t sure how wise it was to make his mother think of him as an enemy, not just a competitor who had been in her way. Still, Dak had just offered to watch his back. It made Yanko want to help him.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.

“We can’t all fit in at once,” Dak said. “Yanko and I first, then you two follow. Arayevo, you remember how to cycle the lock?”

“Yes, but promise you won’t kill all the pirates without me.”

“That shouldn’t be a difficult promise to keep.” Dak pulled Yanko into the small chamber. “This will flood when I open the outer hatch. The hole is to the right. Swim to it, and we’ll hope to get in before a bunch of men are sent down to find out what’s going on.” He nodded to Arayevo, then shut the hatch behind him.

Yanko took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

Dak pulled a lever on the bulkhead instead of turning a wheel. Clanks came from within the wall, then the hatch opened of its own accord, groaning as it pushed against water, water that flooded into the chamber. Yanko took a last deep breath, then swam out.

Chapter 11

The sea outside was brighter than the airlock. Yanko followed Dak to the right, running his hands along the barnacle-dotted hull of the pirate ship. They had farther to go than he expected, and Yanko realized that Dak had clamped to the vessel in such a way that the underwater boat should not be visible to someone inside the hold looking at the hole.

Cannons continued to boom, the noise louder now that they were outside. Flashes of light filtered down through the water. Yanko’s senses jangled with all of the magic being hurled around up there. It wasn’t just his mother now.

Dak slipped through the hole, and Yanko hurried after him. His senses told him that the hold was empty. Good. The longer they could go without being discovered, the better. They wouldn’t have much of a shot of searching Pey Lu’s cabin if they were being chased by the crew.

The hole was partway up the side of the hull, and Yanko almost fell as the water carried him in and down to the bottom of the hold. It was a large space, and only about a foot of water filled it so far. A bilge pump was set up at the far end. He snorted, doubting that would be sufficient for holding back the flood, not when Dak had cut a hole more than two feet wide.

“Smoke,” Dak whispered. He needn’t have kept his voice down. The shouts, booms, and bangs from above drowned out everything, and Yanko barely heard him. “While we wait for the women,” he added.

Yanko did not see anything to burn unless he lit the ship itself on fire. Burning the ship they had just boarded seemed unwise.

“You just want the area obscured?” he asked.

“So they have trouble finding the hole and noticing how perfectly shaped it is, yes.”

Since the water was more plentiful than flammable material, Yanko used it instead. He chilled the air and created a thick fog. It would not remain indefinitely, but it ought to linger in the enclosed space.

Above them, a hatch opened, and light spilled down the stairs leading into the hold. Yanko did not move, but he created more fog, thickening it further, until he couldn’t see who was coming down the stairs. He only heard the footfalls on the wooden steps. Two sets of footfalls. He lifted a hand, thinking of an attack he might use to knock them down, but he sensed Dak charging up the stairs, amazingly quiet for a big wet man sloughing water.

A grunt sounded, following by two thumps. The men on the stairs tumbled off into the water.