He spun around, his voice taut with a sharp urgency. "They're holding us here. Caggo's main force has likely already gone to strike our stronghold."
Jorah's face went pale. Lynesse was still inside Torturer's Deep.
"Torturer's Deep is easy to defend and hard to storm. Could they really take it?"
He forced himself to steady, his tone turning analytical. "There are only a thousand men guarding it now. Caggo must believe we've emptied our nest, leaving it hollow within."
Lo Quen's words came fast. "Turn back at once. Full speed!"
He barked the order toward Roro's fleet ahead. The signal flagman instantly raised the urgent retreat signal.
The fleet wheeled about in the night, heavy oars thrashing the sea, carving frantic white wakes as they raced back toward Torturer's Deep.
The ocean lay smothered in black ink. Sparse stars pricked the sky, the moon smothered by heavy clouds. Only the lanterns at the bows flickered faintly in the vast darkness, like drifting fireflies.
Distant reefs loomed like ghostly shadows, rising and falling with the waves.
Lo Quen stood on the stern deck, forcing calm as his mind raced through every possibility of Caggo's design. The defenses of Torturer's Deep… Jaelena holding command… Caggo's cunning… Then a darker thought surfaced.
"No!" His voice cut through the tension. "Caggo may not be aiming for Torturer's Deep at all. Even with just a thousand men, Jaelena could hold them for a time behind our fortifications. If they attacked and we returned, they'd be trapped in the Crack Channel, crushed from front and rear. That would be suicide."
A flash of understanding lit Jorah's clouded eyes. "You mean… their real target is us? An ambush along the way back?"
"Exactly." Lo Quen's gaze slashed across the black sea like a blade. "Roro, the fastest route home—where's the best ground for an ambush?"
Roro had already bent over the sea chart. By the faint lamplight, his finger stabbed at a mark. "The Tidal Reefs, my lord. We passed them earlier today… By day, when the tide's high, the waters are deep enough to pass. But at night, when it ebbs…"
His voice broke off. His old, clouded eyes widened as he sucked in a sharp breath. "At low tide, vast reefs break the surface—perfect cover for hiding ships."
"Just so."
A cold smile touched Lo Quen's lips. "Clever, Shipbreaker. Not as stupid as he looks—waiting for us to sail straight into his jaws. Order the helm: hard starboard. Abandon the main channel. Take us wide, swing around, and I'll strike him from behind."
Under Roro's sure guidance, the fleet slipped ghostlike through the night, circling wide to creep upon the Tidal Reefs from the rear.
...
The Tidal Reefs.
The night lay ink-dark. With the tide gone out, the reef bared its jagged teeth.
Black rocks jutted like the fangs of some ancient beast, piercing the waves, gleaming faintly wet and cold under the thin light of the moon.
Dozens of oared ships of all sizes lurked like venomous snakes, silent in the reef's shadows.
Five great double-decked war galleys squatted like sea monsters. On the towering stern of one, the massive figure of Caggo the Shipbreaker melded with the night.
Bare-chested, he gripped a heavy double-bladed axe, its edge catching now and then with a glint of cold light.
"Caggo, shouldn't they be here by now?" muttered a gaunt, leather-armored captain at his side, his voice laced with impatience.
Caggo's single eye flared in a glare, but his mouth split in a cruel grin, showing yellowed teeth. "What's the hurry? Those pups are still tangled by our ships at Razor Reef, running like headless flies. Wait. When they're desperate to get home and sail right into our arms… heh…"
He hefted his axe. "I'll make oars for our fleet from their ship planks."
The gaunt man chuckled darkly. "That's the brilliance of it. They'll think we've gone to raid their den, and rush back in panic. Never dreaming we're lying in wait along their only way home. Once we sink a few, the rest…" His grin widened. "The rest will be ours to carve."
Even as they whispered, savoring the slaughter to come, a vast shadow stirred from the deep waters beyond the reef. It moved like a phantom, silent and immense.
It was Lo Quen's main fleet.
Shielded by reefs and night, they had finished their encirclement.
"Fire!"
Lo Quen's cold command rang from the stern deck of the Nest of the Crab. The flag bearer snapped his signal flag downward.
"Woooo—thrum!"
A shrill whistle tore through the silence of the night.
The catapults, long primed, bellowed with a thunderous roar. Massive stones screamed through the darkness, smashing into the dense knot of enemy ships nestled within the reef.
At the same time, the heavy crossbows loosed bolts as thick as a man's arm. Carrying terrifying force, they shrieked through the air, striking true at enemy masts and waterlines.
"Boom! Crack! Splash!"
Disaster fell in an instant.
A Jawbreak Island vessel's mast was split clean in two by a stone the size of an ox. The collapsing sails and rigging crashed down, crushing the men beneath into pulp.
A heavy bolt punched through the waterline of a double-decked galley, seawater surging into the hull in torrents.
The reef erupted into chaos—shattered hulls groaning, timbers splintering, dying screams rising and merging into a nightmarish chorus.
Caggo reeled for a heartbeat under the sudden onslaught, then rage consumed him.
"Enemy attack! Torturer's Deep dogs! They've flanked us! Warriors, hold fast! Ram them—sink them!!"
His lone eye blazed red, blood vessels bursting as he roared like a beast. The raw savagery of Jawbreak Island's pirates exploded forth.
"Shipbreaker" Caggo's name had been forged in the ram.
Every warship under him bore a reinforced prow, its bronze-tipped ram sharpened like a spearhead, the hulls specially braced for impact.
At his bellow, the surviving ships lunged like wounded sharks. Oarsmen roared in frenzy, their blades churning the sea like whirling wheels. The galleys twisted free of the reef, ignoring the danger of rocks, and surged forward with terrifying speed—mad with a suicidal ferocity—straight for Lo Quen's fleet.
Their aim was clear: strike the weaker oared ships, tear the formation apart with brute force.
On the stern deck, Lo Quen's hawk-like gaze swept over the onrushing enemy fleet, hunting for Caggo's flagship.
The Dragonbone Bow was already in his grip, the cold weapon thrumming with a hunger for blood. One arrow—if it found that massive figure—could end this battle.
But then, a thick cloud swallowed what little moonlight there was. Darkness deepened. Enemy outlines blurred, indistinguishable shadows on the sea.
"Damn it!" Lo Quen spat.
The black arrows of the Dragonbone Bow were priceless; he couldn't squander them on blind shots.
The enemy fleet surged nearer, rams glinting with lethal promise even in the dark. Lo Quen knew there would be no avoiding it now. The clash would be steel on steel, blood on deck.
"Jorah! Roro! Prepare to board! Fight to the death!"
His roar cut above the howl of the sea wind.