The Shattered Islands: Part One: The Rakam Read Online Free PDF Page A

tipped spear pointed at my chest. She makes it three steps, and then she is pulled into the sky. My drakruu carries her high, shredding her body with sharp teeth, and once she no longer screams and jerks, her body falls into the water like a bloody rock casting red ripples over the dark sea.
    "Everyone to me," yells Han'Ruu. "To me." His crew rallies around their captain, and that is when my crew draws their daggers, surrounding Han'Ruu and his men. My drakruu lands behind me, her sapphire scales catching the moonlight as she roars.
    "How?" asks Han'Ruu. "The wine—"
    "We changed the cask," I say.
    "But how did you know? We had the ship of a Great Family. We knew their customs and their speech."
    "Even the greatest of Ruu ships do not carry thrice thickened nets, nor stone tipped arrows. They are traders, not warriors. That is for the Ra."
    "How would you know this? Who are you?"
    My eyes drift to the rest of Han'Ruu's crew. "I am the one who has taken this ship. I am your captain now."
    Some of the men and women glance at the bodies behind me. "What if we join you?" someone calls. "What then?"
    "Then your lives will be spared."
    Han'Ruu spits. "Spared only to be branded traitors and tied to a rock by the sea." His crew look to him, they look to me. Their faces shift from fear to anger, to curiosity and fear again, fitful as the wind.
    "He is not wrong," I say. "Those who surrender will be given to the Ruu. You have dishonored them and done far worse, and they will deal with you as they see fit."
    The crew recoils, and in their frightened eyes I see that I have lost them. Better to have a chance at life here, then a promised death soon after. They begin to shuffle forward, but I will not let them. There will be no glorious battle, no triumphant last stand. I have let too many die for my cause already.
    I pull the sapphire, the one I kept in my box, from my pocket, palming it in my grip. It is almost too big to grasp. I put the thread that holds it over my neck, and the stone gleams and burns against my skin. I remove my gloves, revealing my bright azure nails, and I draw the heat of the sapphire within. My black hair turns blue, my eyes glow in the night.
    Both crews stare at me with shock and wonder. Stormborn, they call me. Stonebearer, they whisper.
    One of Han'Ruu's men breaks from the group and runs to the side shell. I do not follow, instead I sprint to the edge of the kiasheen and dive into the sea.
    There is no splash, no cold shock, no dampness as I hit the water. I slice through the waves, the sapphire burning against my chest, allowing me to move through water easier than I move through air, allowing me to speed up faster and faster with nothing to stop me. I glide under the kiasheen faster than a rakam, faster than an arrow, and I burst out from the water toward the fluke of the ship. I fly through the sky, a trail of water still following me as I curve around onto the ship, and smash myself into the fleeing man. He crashes into the ground as I land on my feet, my breath steady, my clothes dry.
    Women scream. Men cry. The false crew drops their weapons. Han'Ruu runs.
     
    ***
     
    He is on the other side of the ship now, so I jump into the water, spiraling under the kiasheen's belly. The sapphire burns but it is no longer as hot as before. It must bathe in the sun and absorb its rays to be of use to a Stonebearer, and the more it is used the more heat and light are drained, until the stone must be charged once more.
    I explode from the water and curve myself to follow Han'Ruu as he reaches the door of the great shell. Someone—Calla—attempts to fight him off. They exchange a blow, but Calla's blade slips, and Han'Ruu's finds purchase in flesh.
    Calla falls, her hands covering her bleeding chest, color draining from her face. She will not live from such a wound. She glances up, her gaze meeting mine for a brief moment. She smiles a bloody smile before the light in her eyes fades forever.
    I take a breath,