Timoth's chambers beckoned with the setting of the sun. I knocked on the timber.

'Ah, Saemara,' he said. 'Close the door behind you.'

I closed it, and noted with some satisfaction that he’d had two more chairs brought into his sitting room. One was empty, and I sat upon it. The other was occupied by Gentleman Fraedwin, and I pretended not to feel intruded upon by his presence. I hoped that I only imagined the disapproving look he gave me out of the corner of his eye, though what Timoth had said about how the soldiers had interpreted my speech made that seem less likely.

Fraedwin was talking about something to do with the defence of the city. Timoth's eager nodding told me that he considered it both important and fascinating.

'An onager is a weapon of mere fear against a target as narrow and nimble as an oared longboat. A ballista is far more accurate and, correctly made, can do almost as much damage to any vessel shallow enough to travel up the Haelling. We can fire the bolts as we do the longbowmens’ arrows.'

'A ballista would be more expensive and difficult to maintain than the onager,' Timoth pointed out.

I seemed to remember Father saying something along the same lines years earlier, though I had been paying even less attention then than I was paying now. I found my thoughts wandering as they discussed the merits of spending the County’s limited coin on the construction of a ballista. It seemed unfair to me that a simple pair of lady's shoes were unaffordable but money could be found for a siege engine. Timoth obviously cared not for appearances, but very much for all things warlike. Was this what Ebonreach was going to be like now? Had we become uncivilised barbarians?

Suddenly they were looking at me. I’d missed something. My blank stare caused Timoth to stifle a sigh and repeat his question.

'Sister? I was telling Gentleman Fraedwin that you intended no disrespect to the guardsmen of Haelling Cove when you noted the presence of the Prince's Guard in your coming of age speech.'

I was thrown by the abrupt change of topic and didn't respond immediately. Thankfully, I was spared the ignominy of grovelling to this most minor of noblemen – and a mere guardsman at that – by the telltale ringing of the monastery bells. The rhythm of the bell-ringing indicated that enemy longboats had been sighted. The two soldiers in the room were already on their feet and out the door, and it was all I could do to maintain the barest grace of a lady as I followed them down the stairwell and into the castle courtyard.

'The raiders return down the Haelling!' one of the guardsmen shouted to Timoth and Fraedwin from the southeastern tower. All around me servants and soldiers scrambled about chaotically. Archers sprinted up stone steps to man their posts. Torches were lit atop the walls to provide vision for the guardsmen who manned them, and to provide a source for the fire arrow braziers. I could hear panic in the city as mothers gathered their children and made for the castle.

'We should open the gates, Count,' Fraedwin advised Timoth as the three of us strode towards the gatehouse.

'No,' Timoth said. 'The raiders may pass us by. I instructed the workers to repair the portside buildings last. It may appear that we are not worth raiding.'

'With permission, Count, that is an unnecessary risk. We can simply expel the townsfolk in the event that no raid transpires,' Fraedwin said I heard the logic in his words, though I would certainly have been annoyed if Timoth filled the walls with peasants now after declining their attendance at my ceremony.

'There are beggars aplenty beyond the wall. I will not open the gates until we know the intentions of the Tokuans. My decision is final,' he said. His authoritarian tone could use some work, but his seriousness was obvious nevertheless.

We ascended the gatehouse stairs and I found myself in the same place I’d been during the Tokuan raid almost two years ago. It had been mere weeks after Timoth's own coming of age ceremony, and the raiders had performed no acts of looting or pillaging. We still didn’t know what they were up to that day, and I couldn’t help thinking that this sudden change in circumstances was somehow related.

Today, however, the Tokuans' vessels were loaded to the brim with coin and treasure. Their upper decks were stacked so heavily with crates, barrels, and even loose jewellery and ornate furniture that there was barely room for the crew to get from bow to stern.

My first guess put their number at about thirty. A sizable fleet. A guardsman called that there were twenty. I counted manually and found myself agreeing with him, though even now I could barely make out the furthest longboats. They dared not travel more than two or three abreast down the mouth of the Haelling for fear of grounding their heavily-laden vessels against coastal rocks unearthed by the dangerously ebbing tide.

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Our onager lay in pieces as a result of the previous raid, and as such our only opposition to the passage of the longboats lay in the hands of our longbowmen. I was heartened to see that they appeared as well-practised as two years earlier. Their movements were practised, uniform, and relaxed. Their braziers were lit by men-at-arms and their arrowheads set alight at Timoth's command.

'Archers, alight!' he commanded them as the first longboats passed into the tentative range of the longbows. 'Archers, draw!'

I hoped that the Tokuans would not land. It seemed unlikely considering that their already low-lying vessels needed to be light enough to make the journey across the vast Western Sea, but I could not vouch for their motives. They’d never looted the castle, after all, which contained all of the royal treasures of the County, though it would be nigh impossible without specialised siege equipment.

'Archers, loose!' Timoth commanded, and the first volley was launched into the air. The arrows were as shooting stars in the night sky and their descent was as rainfall upon our enemies. At this distance, they thudded into wooden deck frames silently. 'Archers, fire at will!'

Several small spot fires emerged and were quickly smothered by the Tokuans. Several pierced bodies were also thrown overboard, but our arrows were unable to prevent the vanguard of the longboats from passing through the river mouth and into the sea. They travelled much more swiftly westwards with the current than they had against it, and in only a few minutes they were beyond the effective range of our longbowmen.

A mainsail in the second group of escaping raiders caught fire. The flames spread swiftly up the length of the sail, and loose scraps of burning canvas carried by the wind disseminated the flames among the vessels' other sails and those of its neighbours. Olive-skinned men flocked to the oars as the longboat meandered dangerously close to another vessel, no longer guided by the gentle push of the breeze. Their rudderman had fallen overboard, pierced by a flaming arrow, and a new man stood briskly to take his place.

The fire spread to the timbers of their main deck, alighting much of the cargo contained in wooden crates and barrels. Timoth and Fraedwin shared a whoop of exhultation, and I briefly remembered Timoth’s suggestion that the Tokuans simply wanted to carry their newfound riches back to their homeland. He was correct, and it was now apparent that none of the vessels would be making a move to land upon the banks of the Haelling.

Men leapt from the flaming vessel into the water, taking their chances in the current rather than face being burned alive or suffocated by the cloud of smoke that was enveloping their ship. One Tokuan summoned a portal and grabbed the arms of two of his fellow sailors, dragging them into the safety of his portal which vanished into nothingness immediately thereafter.

Soon the ship was unmanned and floated haphazardly with the current and wind. The following longboats were forced into a narrower formation in order to give the burning ship a wide berth. The ship’s aft was already entirely underwater, and with the fire still raging at the stern it wouldn’t be long before it was entirely sunk.

It took almost a full hour for the twenty ships to leave the Haelling. Sadly, only the one vessel was destroyed, and its sailors were pulled into other longboats. The three men who’d disappeared into the portal reappeared after a few minutes; a disembodied head peering up the river. The portalmancer waited for a longboat to pass under his portal before he and the two other sailors leapt onto its deck, caught in the waiting arms of their rescuers.

The Tokuans did not linger unduly at the river mouth. Nineteen vessels, heavily laden with Halivaaran wealth, began their journey across the Western Sea to Tokua as soon as the last was clear of our archers.

'Archers, cease fire!' Timoth commanded.

The longbowmen exhaled in unison, exhausted from the efforts of drawing the six foot bowstrings back in repetition for such a length of time. The men-at-arms who attended the archers had been required to restock their deplete quivers on several occasions. Timoth and Fraedwin split briefly to clamp their hands on the weary shoulders of the longbowmen, spreading gratitude and good cheer among their ranks. A free flagon of ale at any tavern in the city was to be their reward for a solid day’s work. I rolled my eyes. Timoth and his soldiers.

Once the revelry no longer needed his personal encouragement, Timoth addressed Fraedwin directly. ‘Organise a retrieval party. Soldiers, in case some of those thrown overboard have survived, but sailors too. Fishermen, merchant sailors; whoever you can find that has knowledge of boating. Quench the longboat's fire and bring what remains of it ashore.'

'Yes, Count. Very good, sir,' Fraedwin replied. The boat was still afire, its masts fallen and several burnt lengths of wood scattered in the watter around it. Most of its cargo had dropped into the Haelling after sliding down the deck into the submerged aft of the vessel, and the subsequent lightening of its burden had kept it from sinking entirely. 'Do you intend to float it?'

'I intend to salvage the wealth in its hold, Gentleman,' Timoth replied. 'Bring any coin or loot immediately to the treasury. Ensure that the couriers are well-guarded. Sadly, thievery has become a more common profession of late.'

'Then we sink the vessel? Or refloat it and take it to the sea?'

'There are no funds to spare refloating the longboat. Salvage from it what is not too badly burned to be of use. Perhaps Tokuan timber will build our ballista!’

'Very good, Count,' Fraedwin repeated excitedly.

He signalled to a handful of men-at-arms and descended the gatehouse in a hurry. Timoth stuck his arm out such that I was expected to grasp it. As we were all in good cheer I obliged him. We walked, arm in arm, down the stairwell and back to his sitting room. Timoth had a boy's grin spread across his face. It was refreshing to see him such, after the sorrow we had been subject to of late. I even think that I forgot my misery for a few minutes that evening.