Page 27 of The Searching Songbird

Draven's voice, low and concerned, distracted her from questioning Suzu further. He walked across the deck, closing the distance between them as he watched her with cautious eyes.

He knows.

She fidgeted with her hands as she watched him approach, crossing them over her torso before clasping them behind her back. His eyes flickered down, noting her nervous movements, before returning to her face and staying there. He lifted his hand toward her face, and she flinched, the memory of the woman hurtling over the railing flashing through her mind. He let his hand drop to his side with a sigh.

“Are you alright?” He repeated his question with a hint of resignation, as if he knew how anxious his presence was making her.

“You... you threw her overboard...,” she stammered, glancing past him toward the churning waves of the sea. I can't even imagine how cold that water must feel.

“I did,” he replied in an even tone. “And your phoenix tore her face apart.” He raised his eyebrows, and she felt herself go pale. “And she deserved it all. She would've killed us both if we'd given her half the chance.”

She swallowed, at a loss for words. He was right, of course. The woman was dangerous. What's wrong with you, anyway? It's not like you haven't seen people killed before. Stop being such a ninny. He was protecting you.

“You're right,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “It was the right thing to do,” she added, louder this time and with a nod, to show she truly meant what she was saying. He was silent for a minute, a million questions running through his eyes before he finally spoke, a hint of wonder coloring his voice.

“Who are you?”

“I...”

BOOM!

Her response was cut off by a loud explosion coming from the bow of the ship, and she fell forward from the impact. Her face hit Draven's hard chest, and his arms wrapped around her protectively.

How could I have forgotten about the other pirates?!

She cursed, turning her head to the side in time to see two men carrying a chest heave it over the railing. Instead of falling into the sea it simply... vanished. The men climbed up on the railing and jumped, and they, too, disappeared into thin air. They were followed by a tall woman wearing a long, black jacket that billowed out behind her as she leaped into the darkness.

Silence followed. No shouts, no men charging after them with swords. A haze of thinning smoke was the only evidence that anyone had been there at all.

“C'mon.” Draven grabbed her hand and led her toward the bow, his head turning from side to side as he scanned the area for possible threats. When they reached the smoky front deck, he stopped, pulling her behind him. He sniffed at the air, then cursed.

“Hag's Breath. A lungful of this stuff will knock you out, paralyzing you for up to an hour.” He pulled her away from the smoke. “Unless you've already taken the antidote before inhaling it, which is probably what our visitors did before coming aboard.”

“You think everyone's been paralyzed?” Lily's grasp tightened around Draven's rough hand. “You don't think... they wouldn't have killed them, would they?”

When he didn't answer right away, she felt a wave of nausea roll through her stomach. With a pained cry, she made to run back to the front, only to be jerked back by Draven's strong grip. She spun around to face him, panicked tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

“We have to help them! Kenny and Dom and all the others... they could be lying half-dead for all we know! We have to check!”

Draven squeezed the hand he was still holding and gave her a sympathetic look. “If we go charging in there now, there's a good chance we'll both end up paralyzed as well, and then we'd really be of no use to them. Give it a few minutes. The smoke will clear eventually.”

The tears that had been threatening to spill now rolled freely down her cheeks, and she rubbed at them with the back of her hand. Get a grip, Lil. You're a Shendri warrior, for crying out loud. You should be stronger than this.

She took a ragged breath in as she tried to get herself under control. Crying like some kind of shrinking violet, it was downright embarrassing.If Josselyn were here, she and Kella would probably have taken out the entire pirate ship by now, and what had she managed to do? Give a single pirate a few scratches to the face?

And that wasn't really me, either, it was Suzu. All I did was cower by the wall. Pathetic.

“Hey, it's going to be okay.” Draven's fingers brushed against her cheek before tipping her chin up so that she was forced to look at him. “They'll be okay,” he repeated in a soothing voice.

Like I'm some kind of scared child, about to fall to pieces.

She straightened her shoulders and took a step backwards, leaving Draven's hand to fall limp by his side. “I'm just anxious to check them for injuries, is all. Let me know when you think it's safe.”

He studied her face for a moment, worry still evident in his gaze, but then he simply nodded and turned to face the front. “Yeah, sure.”

They stood side-by-side, keeping one eye on the bow, the other watching for pirates, neither one of them speaking as they waited for the smoke to clear. Eventually Draven declared it safe, and they made their way over to the main deck.

Right away, Lily spotted several figures lying face-down on the deck floor. Hurrying to the nearest one, she dropped to her knees and tried rolling the man over onto his back – a surprisingly difficult feat, given his petrified state. Succeeding, she scanned his front for obvious injuries. Aside from a few nasty-looking scratches on his forearm, he seemed fine, and she quickly moved on to the next person.