The dock at the top ridge wasn’t much — just two worn piers, a crooked crane arm, and a wide platform of timber wedged into the cliffside. But it was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Thessia moved in low, her eyes sharp and her sword sheathed at her hip. Lirah followed close behind, hands wrapped tight around her satchel. The older teen elf scanned the ridgelines.

  There were no guards.

  No banners.

  No signs of movement.

  Thessia squinted toward the open sea — and there it was.

  A black-hulled cargo ship gliding toward the dock like a shadow with sails.

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  The same ship Rell had overheard during captivity. The fallback vessel. Their one shot.

  Thessia dropped to a crouch behind a crate near the dock’s edge. Lirah joined her, and the teen elf moved to a higher vantage point among some rocks.

  “We wait,” Thessia said. “Five minutes. If the others don’t show—”

  BOOM.

  An explosion echoed across the jungle, so loud it shook dust from the trees above them. A plume of black smoke rose behind the treeline.

  The girls froze.

  Then chaos.

  The cargo ship, just now pulling up to mooring range, suddenly jolted. Pirates on board began shouting, gesturing wildly toward the jungle.

  “Get us out of here!”

  “We don’t have clearance!”

  “We’re leaving—NOW!”

  The mooring lines never got tied.

  The ship began pulling back, its sail shifting hard with the wind.

  Thessia’s jaw clenched. She looked at the girls.

  Then bolted.

  She dashed from the crates, across the pier, and leapt toward the moving ship.

  A grappling hook arced past her head — one of the pirates had seen her. She ducked under it mid-air and slammed onto the edge of the deck, gripping the splintered rail with both hands.

  Two pirates charged her instantly.

  She pulled herself up in one fluid motion and spun, her stolen sword flashing in the late sun.

  The first pirate went down without a sound.

  The second drew a knife and lunged — only to be kicked square in the chest and thrown into the mast rigging.

  Thessia was on the ship.

  But alone.

  And the ship was turning.

  Down below, Lirah screamed her name, reaching up.

  The teen elf held her back, eyes wide in fear.

  Thessia turned once, locking eyes with them — then faced forward again as more pirates emerged from below deck.

  Five of them.

  Armed. Ready.

  She raised her sword.

  “Let’s dance.”

  Chapter End.