Yazwa lay in the dirt at the crest of the hills overlooking the beach, oar at her side. The others lay beside her, all of them gripped by a grim mood. Ji and Saiyun waited at the bottom of the hill with Jado to watch the path up. Across the lagoon the mystery ship had weighed anchor, floating close to their own. It had a narrow hull made of black wood and three tall masts hung with a multitude of small sails, all of them now rolled up. At its current distance, she could just barely make out men in blue-and-white striped shirts moving around. “Are you sure that’s the ship that chased you?” she asked Ru Talas in a whisper.

“I’d never forget that ship,” the old fisherman said through gritted teeth. “It’s the same.”

“Or at least the same type,” Bill said. “But you don’t see many cutters like that alone or so far from shore.”

“Look, there’s something going on on our boat,” Yazwa whispered, resisting the urge to point. Bill told them all to keep low, which meant there were probably people on the mystery ship watching the island with telescopes. Their crew that stayed behind were brought above decks by the crew of the mystery ship and made to climb down the side of the ship into waiting longboats. They were brought the short distance to the other ship and climbed up until disappearing into the hold of the mystery ship.

“You’d think Cai would have at least put up a fight,” Batro said, peering around a tree. His chainmail shirt and gorget were fastened tightly, but his helmet lay in the dirt next to him. “He gave up the ship without firing a shot.”

“He did the smart thing,” Bill said, crawling backwards from the top of the hill and sitting up. “He was taken completely by surprise with nothing but a skeleton crew. Surrendering was the right call. I just wish I knew what he’s told them.”

“He probably kept it simple,” said Aven, keeping his eye on the ships. “We’re a merchant ship that stopped here to top up our water supplies. The crew wasn’t killed so they must have believed him.”

Yazwa swallowed, gripping her oar tight. “But what does that mean for us? They have our ship, do we surrender to them or something?”

“Bad idea,” Bill said, shaking his head. “That ship belongs to Azun’s navy.”

“What?” Aven hissed, crawling over to Bill. “Are you sure?”

Yazwa looked back to the lagoon. It was too far to read the nameplate and no flag or banner flew from the mast. “How can you know? It’s just a ship.”

“I’ve seen those ships before, they’re made in Azun’s shipyards,” Bill said, stroking his beard. “They’re mostly used to run down smugglers along the coast. Someone could have stolen it, but that crew is too disciplined, too orderly. They’re even wearing uniforms. It’s not smugglers or pirates or even mercenaries. That’s a proper navy ship, and that means we won’t be able to talk our way out of this one.”

“So, what do we do?” Aven snarled.

Yazwa blinked, shocked at the murderous look in his eye. “What can we do? We’re stuck here.”

“We take back the ship, obviously,” Batro said, sliding away from the crest of the hill to join Bill. “Our boats are still on the shore. I say we pile in and go after them.”

“We’d be cut down before we got halfway there,” replied Aven. “A navy ship will have plenty of guns on board.”

Visions of the wall of muskets she faced at the temple surged in Yazwa’s mind, but she put them aside. “Yeah, that sounds like a bad idea. But we can’t just stay here and do nothing.”

“That is exactly what we’re going to do,” Bill said, climbing to his feet.

Aven stood with him and pointed towards the lagoon. “But they’re right there. The boats are a dead giveaway that someone is on the island. It’s not like we can pretend we’re not here.”

“True, but they don’t know how many,” Bill said. “That’s the only advantage we have right now. I doubt anyone on the crew spilled their guts, since the truth would get them killed.”

Batro looked pensive, lying on the ground and staring up at the sky. “You want to set up an ambush.”

Bill grinned, patting Batro on the back. “You have good instincts. They have to be here for the Emerald Arrow, so we know where they’re going. That’s a small ship, so they can’t have many crew. When they send out a shore party, they’ll need to leave behind enough people to protect the ships and the boats on the beach. Precious few to go looking for a wrecked ship. If we can take them hostage we can learn something about who they are. A swap might be our best chance at getting out of here with our ship.”

“You’re forgetting one thing,” Ru Talas scoffed. “You know that ship is built for speed. Even if we get ours back there’s nothing stopping them from chasing us down again.”

“One problem at a time,” Bill sighed, rolling his shoulders. “Yazwa, Ru Talas, you stay here and keep watch. When they send a shore party, come back down the path and tell us how many are coming. Batro, Aven, you come with me. We need to find a good place to set up an ambush so none of them make it back.”

“I think we should do it by the creek,” Aven said.

Yazwa crawled forward and peered over the crest of the hill. Nothing had changed. The two ships were still bobbing peacefully in the lagoon, crews barely visible from so far away. The crew that they’d be ambushing before the day was out. A thrill ran up her spine and she gripped the oar at her side. These would be proper soldiers, not summons or raiders. If she could get close enough to them their guns wouldn’t even work. She could probably take them out on her own. Yazwa bit down on a giggle and cleared her throat. Bill would set up the ambush not her. She needed to focus-

A loud thump to her left nearly made her jump out of her skin. She turned to look for the source and spotted a silk doll laying on the ground. “Summon!” she shouted, scrambling to her feet.

The summon doll flashed, and a cloud of dust flew up, blinding Yazwa. She rolled down into a crater in the ground and bumped into something at the bottom with far too many legs. With her eyes watering, she activated her sight and beheld a giant summon. Its bottom half was a centipede longer than she was tall, with rows of needle-sharp legs scuttling against the ground supporting its thick body. Its upper half was a long, sinuous neck topped by a lizard-like head with a mouth filled with wide mandibles. Yazwa grabbed at her oar to defend herself, but the summon ignored her, scuttling out of the crater and out of sight.

Yazwa rubbed the dirt from her eyes and climbed up to the edge of the crater, peering over it. The giant centipede-thing skittered towards Aven, Bill and Batro, who bolted in different directions to get out of its way. There was another flash and a pair of trees collapsed with a groan as two more summons joined the fight. They were humanoid, but their skin was made of leathery, overlapping plates. They had two sets of arms---one bulky pair at the shoulders ending in big claws and one smaller pair coming out of their sides, ending in hands. Yazwa jolted as she felt something jump into the crater. She spun and raised her oar, ready to bring it down on her attacker.

“It’s me!” Ru Talas yelled, holding up his hands. “Chuxa save us, what’s happening?!”

“They’re summons, but I don’t know where they came from!” Yazwa said, looking around. Her sight showed her no hidden Vao, only three summons converging on her friends. Without another word to Ru Talas, she leapt out of the crater and charged into battle.

The centipede-thing tensed, and its head snapped forward at Bill like a snake, jaws wide. He couldn’t get out of the way in time, and the jaws snapped shut on him, but he turned to water and flowed away, reforming just out of reach. Batro lunged forward and swung his sword at the summon’s head, but it pulled away before he could make contact.

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Yazwa leapt over the centipede-thing’s body and attacked the clawed humanoid that was coming up behind Batro. Her charge caught it by surprise, and she landed a sharp thrust with her oar that knocked it off balance. She followed up with a hard blow to its left side, but she missed. A frustrated shout left her lips as the summon regained its balance and came after her. The oar was the closest thing she had to her broken staff, but it was too short and the weight was all wrong. She would be at a disadvantage until she got a new one.

The summon came at her with its claws raised. Yazwa deflected the clumsy strikes, but a wave of pain rippled through her body as a flurry of light blows impacted her stomach. The smaller arms sprouting out of its sides struck rapidly until she darted left and put some distance between them. Her sight faltered, and she got a good look at the summon as she steeled herself through the pain. Its head was tall and thin, with bulbous, bug-like eyes up and down the sides. Its mouth was covered by a multitude of tiny, twitching mandibles that chattered as it spun to face her. A quick glance to her left saw Aven fighting one on his own, dancing around it, long knife dripping with black goo. New energy surged into Yazwa, if Aven could land a hit so could she! She launched a furious attack, slamming the blade of the oar into its head and shoulders. The summon blocked with its claws but Yazwa only hit harder in hopes of breaking them.

Behind the summon, she caught glimpses of Batro and Bill in their battle with the centipede thing. It only had eyes for Bill, darting and snapping at him, forcing him to liquify to avoid being split in half. Batro swung again and again at its head, but each time, the summon was too fast for him. Yazwa considered going to help, and her moment of inattention cost her. The summon she was fighting clamped its claw down on her shoulder and squeezed. She dropped her oar to try and pry the claw off, but she had to use her free hand to stop the other claw from seizing her head. The smaller arms pummeled her torso as Yazwa desperately tried to stay on her feet.

There was a flash of movement and the summon shrieked as Jado’s beak clamped down on its leg. It released Yazwa to face the new threat, but Jado pulled hard and sent the summon crashing to the ground, dragging it backwards. “It’s a Krishaka!” Saiyun’s voice rang out through the trees. “It’s weakest in the middle, where the neck meets the body!”

Yazwa took a moment to breathe as battles raged around her. Jado grappled with the clawed summon, hard beak holding its foot tight. Ji leapt into Aven’s battle with a flurry of punches aimed at the wounds Aven had opened up. The centipede-thing, the Krishaka, had its back turned to her and was still trying to bite Bill in half, and Batro was having no luck swiping at its head. Yazwa activated her sight and pressed her hand against the pouch of obsidian shards tied to her belt. Sharp white light glowed on her hand and she sprinted forward gleefully. With one blow, she’d turn the tide and save Bill and Batro. She let out a feral scream when she closed distance and swung her palm at the base of its neck.

The sharp white light flickered away and she smashed her hand into its side. Pain radiated up her arm. The Krishaka let out a deafening screech and slammed into her. Yazwa flew through the air, the landing driving the breath from her. Straining to push herself up onto her knees, her Sight flickered away. The Krishaka loomed above, beady black eyes locked on her as it opened its mandibles wide. Yazwa scrambled backwards but before the blow came down Batro’s sword bit into its neck. An agonized shriek ripped through the air as green blood spurted out of the wound. The Krishaka twisted around to find its attacker, but the movement only opened the wound more. After letting out one last screech it turned to a mass of dirt that slumped to the ground in a heap.

Yazwa staggered as Batro rushed by her to bury his sword in the chest of the clawed summon Jado was wrestling. Ji and Aven had already cut down their enemy, reducing it to a pile of green wood. Dull, throbbing pain radiated through her body as Yazwa fought to stay standing.

Then Bill was there, grabbing her shoulders. “Is there anything watching us?” he demanded, squeezing her tight.

“What?” she grunted, forcing his hand off her bruised shoulder.

“Use your Sight. ” Bill demanded, taking a step back. “Look all around us and up in the trees.Can you see any other summons watching us?”

Yazwa took a deep breath, forcing the pain to the back of her mind as she opened her glowing golden eyes. All around her she saw the faint outlines of trees and bushes, but the unnatural glow of a summon was nowhere to be seen. “Nothing’s watching us,” she grunted, blinking the glow away.

“Good. Everyone back to the Emerald Arrow!” Bill shouted, running for the trail they had trampled down the day before. “Whatever you do, stay under the trees! Meet up on the ground at the stern of the ship!”

Yazwa bent over and grabbed her oar, cradling it in her arms as she ran back toward the enormous ship. Each step sent jolts of pain through her body, but it was slowly diminishing. She wasn’t bleeding, and nothing was broken. All that was left was to endure.

Ji and Aven quickly outpaced her, disappearing around a curve in the path. Saiyun rode past her on Jado’s back, hanging on for dear life. Behind her, she heard the clanking of armor as Batro closed the distance.

“Did you see that thrust?!” he shouted as he pulled even, keeping a hand on his sheathed sword. “All it took was one swing!”

“That was my kill!” Yazwa snapped. “I had it dead to rights!”

“Should have followed through then!” Batro replied, speeding up and jumping into the creek.

Fury bubbled up as she watched him hurry ahead, splashing through the shallow creek. It should have worked! She had the light in her hand and she had the perfect opportunity. If it hadn’t faltered, she would have cut the things head off with one swing. What was she doing wrong?

Yazwa dwelled on the question until she reached the others in the shadow of the Emerald Arrow. By then she was too tired to speak and slumped to the ground and drained her canteen.

Aven knelt down beside her after she finished. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she snapped, pulling herself into a sitting position. The pain had faded to a throb in her shoulder and ache in her stomach, nothing more. “I’m fine.”

“You took some pretty hard hits,” Aven said with a frown, reaching out to her shoulder.

Yazwa slapped his hand away. “I said I’m fine!”

Aven backed up, but then Ji stepped forward. “He’s trying to help you.”

“I don--” Yazwa said before she snapped her mouth shut. She was right. Aven was just trying to help, why was she so mad at him? Why was she mad? Had she really told Batro that the Krishaka was her kill? They had all survived a frantic battle with three summons. She should be happy, what was wrong with her? Yazwa hung her head and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. My…shoulder got grabbed by one of the claws.”

Aven pulled down her sleeve and gently touched her shoulder, making her rotate it in any direction it would move. “I think it’s just a bad bruise. Nothing serious.”

“Good,” she muttered as Ru Talas jogged up, crashing through the undergrowth.

“We’re all finally here,” Bill said, getting up off the ground. “Now let's get into the ship. Saiyun, have Jado jump up into that low cabin window and pull us all up.”

“Can’t we just climb up the side?” Yazwa asked as Jado leapt up into one of the open windows.

Bill shook his head. “We’re being watched from above. We had perfect cover from the ship, the only way anyone could have seen us was from the air. We can’t let ourselves be seen from the sky.”

After a little back and forth with Bill, Saiyun ordered Jado to wrap his tail around a support beam and reach down with his front legs. One by one each of them was pulled up into the ship. Bill led them up through the ship until they were in the second highest cabin on the sterncastle, just below where Tsen was still at work.

Bill took a seat on an ornate table that creaked under his weight. “Well, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I didn’t think it was going to be easy in the first place,” he said with a chuckle.

“There’s nothing funny about this,” Saiyun said, sitting down on Jado’s back. “We’re not just up against a few soldiers now. They have at least two Vao with them, maybe more.”

“Two?” Yazwa asked as she settled down on the floor. “Why two? I remember you saying there are a lot of Vao that can handle three summons at once.”

“Those summon dolls were dropped, and I doubt it was a trained bird,” Saiyun replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “One Vao had flying summons that spied on the island and dropped another Vao’s dolls when they spotted us. If he formed them while still on the ship, that means we’re dealing with someone of considerable skill.”

“No wonder they kept finding me,” Ru Talas said, glancing out the window. “They had eyes in the sky.”

“Getting off this rock just got even harder,” said Bill. “Flying summons are almost impossible to deal with unless you take out the Vao or have flyers of your own. We can do neither.”

“Wait, what about Tsen?” Yazwa asked, raising her hand. When everyone stared at her she slowly lowered it. “I mean, we know he has flying summons. I rode on one. We can get him to help.”

“He’d call in his favor,” Bill said, shaking his head. “I’ve come too far to burn it now. Besides, we don’t need his help. We can get out of this without him.”

“How?” asked Ru Talas. “It was bad enough when we were only dealing with soldiers. Now there are monsters popping up out of the ground!”

“By convincing them that we don’t want to escape,” said Bill. “If they think we’re willing to defend this wrecked ship to the death, they’ll put everything they have into taking it. When they come, we have to drive them away. Then that night, we sneak out to the shore, pile onto Saiyun’s turtle, and slip back to the ship under the cover of darkness. With any luck, we’ll be on our way before they realize what’s happening.”