The ship beached.

  I hadn’t been expecting that because I knew just how difficult it would be to get the ship back into the water. Men began jumping off into the water, then running up the beach with ropes that they tied off to trees. I began to wonder how difficult it was going to be if they were tying off the boat. Torches were lit, which made keeping track of them from this distance very difficult.

  “How many do you see?” Theo wasn’t trying to keep his voice down.

  “We’ll see them all if you aren’t quiet!” Fyga hissed as she turned to glare at him.

  “It’s a Brigantine.” The excitement in his voice hid any fear that her icy glare should have inspired. “One hundred feet long, twenty five feet wide, and twenty feet deep.” There was almost reverence in his voice as he started talking about the ship. “Two masts, three swivel-harpoon launchers on either side.” He blinked. “There should be around twenty people on it.”

  I just stared at him. I hadn’t expected that he’d pay attention to anything, let alone specs.

  The blonde man swallowed. “I like ships.”

  I turned to Fyga. “Does that seem right?”

  “There are eleven on the beach right now. Four more on the deck, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more…” She twisted around and blasted ice over Theo’s shoulders, freezing him to the tree behind him.

  “MUPF!!!” Ice covered Theo’s mouth as he tried to speak.

  “They’ll hear you before we get within a hundred feet of them.” The black-haired woman looked at me, scanning me up and down with her bespectacled blue eyes. “You’ll work.” She pointed her finger at me. “Be quiet and don’t try to keep up with me.”

  I realized she was about to take off. “Why the urgency? Shouldn’t we wait for more of them to get off?”

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  Fyga sighed. “They went into the woods empty-handed.” She pointed north through the woods. “Which means they’re going to the bunker.”

  My eyes widened. They were going to get supplies. Supplies that we needed for the survivors.

  “Go!” I motioned for her to move. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  The smaller woman took off through the woods. It wasn’t long before she disappeared ahead of me. I was able to see almost as well as if it were daytime, but avoiding leaves and twigs and low branches was almost impossible to do at the speed she was moving. If we’d been running up the beach, I would have been faster than her, but here, we were in her element.

  I wanted to take out my sword, but not only would the glowing purple blade give me away, it would also make way too much noise. So I moved the branches out of my way and avoided most of them that I could.

  Someone started a bonfire on the beach, so I slowed down even more. I was close enough that I could hear voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The good news was that I couldn’t feel any Zombies anywhere close, so if they were Touched, then they didn’t have an army with them.

  I began to wonder if they might be honest sailors who had a run-in with the Revenant Ship and were just stopping here for repairs. It did look like there was damage to the back of the ship. I couldn’t see their flag from where I was at, the details at least. All I could see was a very dark canvas.

  As I got closer, I saw more men patrolling the beach. Each one of them had a crossbow in their hands and a sword on their back. Their eyes were scanning the beach like they were expecting trouble, but since they were looking at either side, I gathered that they weren’t looking for us.

  “Tell the boys to hurry up!” A burly man on the deck of the ship yelled down. “And bring that traitor too! I bet I can get him to talk!”

  I didn’t know what traitor they were talking about, but the joy that had been in his voice sent a shiver up my arms.

  I watched one of the men take off into the woods with a torch, which left seven men on the beach. Even with my fire magic that was too many to take on. I had been trained to fight Zombies, not dodge crossbow bolts.

  The moon peaked out from behind a cloud, casting light over the ship and switching my vision over to normal. I looked up at the moon and got a perfect view of the black flag flying high at the top of the main mast.

  My heart sped up as I recognized the flag. Different cities had different flags so that their traders could announce themselves. I didn’t know many flags, but this was one that I had seen hundreds of times.

  A black flag with swirling purple lines on the edges and a large capital B in the center.

  This ship belonged to the Bokor.

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