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Briar was not about to per Circle’s defenders were He sank into the earth, drawing on the link between hirow his brambles

Daja circled a galley Where to start? The

She thought back to that ht before Frostpine had raised the chain she had felt a thin shiver in the air, like a razor cutting a bone She called that shiver froth of her link to the other three in it She invited dull metal to fly

Wood squeaked as nails fought to escape it Weapons rose, yanking fros worked themselves off the ship and soared into the air She drew all of it over to the ship’s lee, then let the metal drop into the water Section by section, she went over the ship, leaving ruin in her wake

Suddenly she had to catch her breath Opening her real eyes, Daja squinted to see through the white light of their barrier Only a couple of soldiers re one nervous eye on the four and the other on the shore below The south gate ainst a pirate landing party Other initiates had ave a view of the invaders They knew the fleet’s ical barrier was down As Skyfire stalked to and fro on the wall, shouting orders and calling out targets, everyone who could throw fire or make ropes or chains come to life or pop lanterns from holders was at work Invisible hands shoved raiders overboard Oars on neighboring ships fouled one another

A galley exploded with a roar Soed to fire its load of black powder

Daja returned to her part of the battle Afire bolts away fro he could hold onto the shield

When the pirates’ball that she’d left near her body on the wall Waiting for it, she looked the fleet over Where was Enahar? Wouldn’t their boss est ship? He’d be close to the pirate leader, surely

She exaalleys Each carried ical fire, so that was no clue The droes than the others Beneath the scarlet pennant flown by every ship was a s, with crossed black swords for a device Since no one else fleo banners, she was ready to bet that was the flagship

This is for Ay in her hands into a long strip For the carpenters, and the soldier who liked dogs! This is forwith all heras it flew, it ship dead center

The ship blew up in a spray of flaical body couldn’t be hurt by flying debris Burning corpses flew by,wood and red-hoth its aftercastle That ship exploded

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Tris fled back to her body Served theht They’re just a bunch ofthieves

Reaching into her pocket, she drew out Ayic to her eyes That ship, where was he?

“Sandry?” she asked

The other girl opened her eyes and coughed Clouds of smoke from the brambles thickened the air around them “Tris, that was horrible”

“They wanted to do it to us,” Tris pointed out

“I know I know, you’re right” Sandry shook her head Pirates were vermin and had to be crushed; she knew that as well as she knew her own name It was just hard to remember when they screamed

“Enahar wasn’t there” Tris showed her the earring “I need to find him, Sandry This is his fault He ordered Ay to its source?”

Sandry nodded Both girls closed their eyes and sent their reen fire, where Briar and his thorns fought landing parties for possession of the cove Under his direction the vines lashed like whips, forcing the invaders back as the smaller thorny plants stuffed thes

In the sea Tris’s waterspout prowled, clipping oars, sweeping people fro rope as it swept to and fro A copper blaze hanging over a dromon was Daja She had called the anchor to her and it ca inch by inch as it dripped seaweed and brine Drawing it over the ship’s h deck and hull as hard as a catapult-stone Water fountained through the hole as the ship began to sink

Tris looked everywhere, seeking the silver points that were hts joined to forli them

What kind of pattern is this? Sandry wanted to know What’s it for? It’s huge, whatever it is!

What pattern? asked Tris, confused

You don’t see it? Back on the wall, Sandry put an arm around Tris How about now?

The her over the fleet Now that she was in physical contact with Sandry, the pattern was clear, even with ships drifting out of line or e They were thin in places where the gap was extra-large because they had lost n still held

The pattern ended in a small ship at the rear of the fleet Other threads led away froes in the fleet at the harbor were on the other end of those

Sandry touched the thread of Ayreen, until Tris saw it clearly against all the other ics It, too, led to that ship

All right? asked Sandry

Thank you, Tris replied

On the wall, Sandry took her ar at the pirates and slaves who struggled in the water of the cove

Tris raced away

Sandry dropped, wanting a better look at the shapes created by the threads Soht She drew closer still until she hovered over a ship where three erly, she touched their joining

Blackness wrapped around her eyes, hertowed herfree In the distance, she felt the collapse of her protective barrier on the wall Now anyone could approach their bodies She could only pray that someone would, soon

Picking a fresh dromon to work on, Daja sent her power in search ofelse familiar: a quantity of fine charcoal, like that she and Frostpine used in the forges Booht joyfully

This ship appeared to be a stockpile for it She narrowed her senses until she found the door the stuff lay behind Silver light flickered over it, but there was nothing on the metal latch If she just opened the door and bellows-blew a laerly she touched the latch

An invisible net wrapped around her, bundling her up like a caterpillar in a cocoon Her strength flooded fro her ic? She tried to screaone

They were running at last, the scuh a brale, wrapped a thorny vine around one of the slower invaders Her boat, and shoved off Briar let the in the cove would grab their oars Let them sit out under the sun, without water, until they burned like his poor vines had

He drifted aed plants, wonder

ing what to do next So his eye In the rush to escape his living needles, a pirate had dropped what looked like a gold uessed it was a protective amulet; at least, it looked like other such amulets he’d stolen If he hid it, he could lay clai that would be soon Their fleet didn’t look so good anymore

Reaching down, he prodded the medallion

A sound unpleasantly like the slam of a jail door pierced his skull Suddenly he was locked in place, unable to move or call out for help Worse—h a handful of once-invisible threads that ran fro Without it, his plants withered They collapsed The way to Winding Circle was open to anyone who chose to row back, as the eight longboats were doing now

Tris’s flight toward the ship in the rear ca up, she inspected it Soic She twirled like a cyclone, narrowing her power to a fine point Leaping at the barrier, she drilled her way through and continued on She met another such barrier, and a third They took even less time to penetrate than the first

Once she was over the ship, she reached back to her body and called the sparks in her hair She spun theth The bolt had alical voice spoke in her mind

Most iht look around, if I were you Throw that bolt at me, and you will not like the consequences

She had heard that cold, metallic voice before Where?

Bit Island Niko had beenher lenses, and a conversation had reached her ears This speaker had told another, Do your part, and your debt will be paid

The other’s voice had been faht to have known all along that her cousin was in trouble