hunter crouched in the rocks, half hidden by the shadows. How had she gotten her weapons? He’d last seen her in the brig.
Yanko sneered and prepared another attack, one that would shake the earth at the hunter’s feet, but gunshots blasted through his concentration. They came from the direction of the beach. The pirates?
No, the pirates were taking cover, all except for Gramon who had seen Pey Lu get hit and was racing across the boulders as fast as he could. Dak, Arayevo, and Lakeo charged down the beach toward the rocks, all three armed with swords and pistols they hadn’t had earlier. The pirates ducked down behind the boulders and fired back, though their attention was split between Yanko’s comrades and the mage hunter.
“Get back,” Gramon snarled at Yanko.
He had been protecting Pey Lu, not hindering her, but the Turgonian ripped her out of his arms. He carried her back toward the other pirates, barely noticing when he slipped and stumbled over the jumbled boulders.
Out on the beach, Dak shot anyone who dared to aim at him, somehow anticipating their attacks and launching his first. When he ran out of bullets, he simply tossed the weapon to the side and yanked another from his belt. Arayevo and Lakeo were more cautious, using the bumps and bulges of the cliff face for cover as they advanced, shooting when they weren’t being targeted themselves.
Yanko was torn between running toward them and watching the mage hunter, who had ducked behind the cover of a stunted tree, but who seemed to be looking for another opportunity to strike at Pey Lu. Yanko kept a barrier of air between the mage hunter and the rest of the battle, not wanting any more throwing stars to surprise people in the back. He didn’t know if Pey Lu could keep up her own defenses—even if she was still cursing and giving orders, an alarming amount of blood stained the shoulder and sleeve of her shirt.
When Gramon reached his allies, only two of the pirates remained standing. The others lay crumpled on the rocks, bleeding from bullets that had struck with deadly accuracy.
Dak dropped to one knee and aimed at the Turgonian, or maybe at Pey Lu. Yanko couldn’t tell from his angle.
“Stop,” he yelled, using magic to augment his voice, to be certain it would be heard. In case Dak wasn’t inclined to listen, he hurled a blast of energy at his hand.
He jerked in surprise or pain, and the pistol fell from his fingers. Before it hit the sand, he was pulling a second weapon out, but he looked toward Yanko before raising it.
“Let them go back to their ship,” Yanko said.
He hoped Pey Lu had someone on board who could stop the bleeding, heal her wound before... Yanko swallowed. She was his enemy—his people’s enemy—and he couldn’t deny that, but he also couldn’t deny that he no longer wanted her dead. Maybe he never had. All he ever wanted was to redeem his family’s honor, however that could be done.
Gramon did not look back at Yanko as he collected his other two men and carried Pey Lu through the boulders and to the beach. Several moments passed as Dak held his pistol, not raised and aiming at them, but not lowered, either.
Yanko glanced toward the mage hunter, worried she might target someone else if she couldn’t strike at Pey Lu. But she had disappeared again. When he checked the area with his mind, he sensed her already a hundred meters or more away, climbing the cliff since her section of beach had ended at a rock wall. Trusting the climb would keep her busy, Yanko picked his way toward Dak. Arayevo and Lakeo had joined him, their weapons aimed at the two pirates trailing Gramon and Pey Lu. They were still armed, though one carried an injured comrade over his shoulder and would not be fighting anyone. The three other pirates who had come with the group had died due to Dak’s expert shooting.
Yanko knew they were pirates and accepted that they had probably killed innocent people—they had certainly been ready to shoot him, had Pey Lu given the word—but he couldn’t help but be upset by the carnage. He and his comrades kept whittling away at his mother’s fleet—men and ships—even though she had not treated him like an enemy. Even when she had come for the lodestone, she had chosen attacks that would not kill him. If she had been more forceful,