Enigma by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online Page B

chance that having him in charge would make a difference, but she was the one who’d told him— implored him—to hide out down there.
    “We just have to hold them for a while,” the captain told the mate. “We’ll reach Port Malevek by dusk.”
    By dusk was three hours away. Those ships were in firing range now. Another cannon boomed, and the ball splashed into the water a few meters behind the schooner. The next one might very well crash into the ship.
    “Need another idea,” Tikaya muttered. “Something better.” She still had the flute, but she doubted the Nurians would hear her over the sea and cannons even if she knew what tune to play. Garchee stood by the railing, watching the approaching ships with that same resignation on his face from earlier.
    She jogged over to him. “Any chance you know a tune that would convince those captains to turn around and go home?”
    He smiled sadly. “The flutes aren’t that powerful. Especially that one. It was made by a novice.”
    One of the galleons was inching closer, trying to come alongside the schooner. A forward cannon fired, and Tikaya’s heart nearly stopped. The black ball arced straight toward them.
    She grabbed Garchee and pulled him to the deck. The cannonball smashed into the hull of the ship not three feet below them. Wood shattered, hurling planks and splinters into the air. The deck trembled as the cannonball ripped through the ship’s innards. She didn’t know if it crashed all the way through to the other side or lodged somewhere in the middle.
    Tikaya sat up, concern for Rias rearing in her mind. He was belowdecks. What if—
    As if her thoughts had conjured him, Rias burst up the stairs and onto the deck, his eyes round with surprise. “They’re firing at the ship?”
    “That surprises you?” Tikaya asked.
    Rias’s gaze latched onto Garchee, who, still on his knees, was also blinking in surprise. “Yes.”
    “I thought they’d surround us and board us,” Garchee said to himself in Nurian. “Maybe they don’t know...”
    “They shouldn’t be trying to hit us unless they don’t know that more than an artifact is on board.” Rias extended a hand toward Garchee. “Come.”
    He helped the boy to his feet, then pointed toward the closest mast. Not sure what he had in mind, Tikaya followed them.
    “Up,” Rias pointed toward the yards.
    Garchee nodded once and climbed. Rias headed up after him.
    “What are you doing?” Tikaya asked. The firing of a cannon—one from their own ship—drowned out her words. “Rias, they’ll see you,” she called. “They’ll recognize you.”
    “I know,” Rias said grimly. “But they need to see... their thief.” He looked up to where Garchee had reached the lower yard and crawled out onto it. The boy’s face was bleak but accepting.
    “Rias, you can’t...” Tikaya didn’t know what to say. Did he truly mean to risk himself and to offer up the poor boy as sacrifice to save the mangy crew of this schooner? She couldn’t believe that of him. He had to be up to something else.
    Before crawling out onto the yard himself, Rias looked down and met Tikaya’s gaze. Trust me, his eyes seemed to say.
    “What are those idiots doing up there?” the captain bellowed.
    He didn’t have time to follow up on the question. The two galleons were gliding closer, hemming in the smaller ship while the frigate closed from behind.
    On the yard, Rias and Garchee stood. The boy inched out to the end and lifted an arm toward the frigate.
    The galleons drew even with the schooner. The Nurians were close enough that Tikaya could hear their orders, shouts to disable the enemy ship in preparation for boarding. Then a panicked shout erupted from a man in the frigate’s crow’s nest. That ship was too far back for Tikaya to make out the words, but more shouts arose on the deck. She thought she heard a “cease fire” order.
    “Grappling hooks,” someone bellowed from the nearest galleon.
    A Nurian sailor lifted a