Page 89 of Hot Zone

The terrified captain shook his head, but Artemesia answered, “My hunting bow is below.”

“Get it. And several arrows,” Tessa ordered. For once, the queen didn’t stand on ceremony but nodded and raced below. Tessa turned to the nearest sailors. “Grab these amphoras of oil and pour their contents overboard. All the oil you’ve got. Hurry!”

In short order, eight giant urns were emptying into the sea. As she’d hoped, the water was generally calm enough for the oil to float in a single slick on the surface.

Artemesia thrust the bow into Tessa’s hands. Tessa reached down and tore a long strip of cloth from the hem of her tunic. The Greek ships were getting close now. Close enough to make out individual faces and the fury burning in their eyes.

Frantically, Tessa wrapped the cloth around the end of an arrow and then used it to sop up a puddle of oil that had spilled on the deck. “I need fire.”

Everyone looked around, perplexed. Tessa’s heart sank to her feet. Surely somebody had a lantern or something lit on this ship. She couldn’t believe they all could die for lack of a freaking candle. Her kingdom for a match, dammit!

Rustam stepped forward. He pulled out a small penlike object from his pouch. He muttered an incantation, summoning forth fire, and then he flicked his thumb. The mechanism looked similar to a modern cigarette lighter. A small triangle of blue flame erupted from the end of it.

The sailors around her took a step back, oohing and aahing while she held the cloth-wrapped arrow tip to the flame. It lit instantly. She turned quickly, nocked the arrow and pulled the bowstring to her ear. Murmuring a quick prayer, she loosed the arrow, aiming for the center of the oil slick glistening on the surface of the sea.

The oil caught fire. Not with a spectacular flare, as she’d hoped, but the blaze spread quickly enough; and in moments, a line of flame stretched across the water between them and the Greek ships. It was only a few feet tall but was growing steadily.

The Greek captains shouted frantically. Their oars reversed direction, digging furiously into the water to slow the ships and turn them away from the now deck-high fire before them.

Slowly, slowly, Artemesia’s ship completed its turn and began to creep away. Tessa looked behind them. Smoke rose from the fire, and through the wavering heat waves, the Greek ships ground to a standstill, frustrated in their efforts to destroy Artemesia’s craft.

Tessa became aware of their own ship beginning to pick up speed, heading back to the safety of the Persian fleet. They’d made it! Artemesia’s crew began to cheer, and the queen basked in their adulation.

“Take me to Xerxes,” she ordered. “Let him know that a woman struck the first blow at the Greeks and gained the glory of the day. Let the gods see me and know my name!” she shouted.

As the crew celebrated, Rustam stumbled beside Tessa.

“Let’s get you below,” she murmured. “You need to lie down.”

She guided him into the hold, appropriating Artemesia’s bed without hesitation. He stretched out with a sigh and closed his eyes. The crisis past, Tessa became aware of the draped gauze curtains disguising the ship’s rough timbers, of the smell of sandalwood incense, the gentle slap of water on the hull.

And then she became aware of something else. Something hard and hot digging into her palm. She looked down. At long last. The Karanovo Stamp. Or at least a pie-shaped piece of it. The energy flowing through it was incredible, healing and empowering and strengthening.

In sudden inspiration, she pressed the disk into Rustam’s hand. His eyelids fluttered briefly. As she watched, the gray cast to his skin faded, and color returned to his cheeks. His aura turned blue again, then cobalt, then the brilliant royal-blue it usually was. The sunken hollows in his cheeks and below his eyes disappeared, and in a moment, his eyes opened, as alert and aware as usual.

He smiled up at her.

“Welcome back, handsome.”

“Thanks. How are you?”

“I’ve been carrying that thing around for the past few minutes. I’m fine.”

He glanced down at the bronze piece in his hand. “Do you know what this is?”

She looked up at him sharply. “Yes, I know. Do you?”

He laughed shortly. “It’s one of the main reasons my kind came here. We’re under orders to find these pieces—”

He broke off, but she finished quietly for him, “And take them away from mankind. Right?”

He looked up at her bleakly. “Right.”

Their gazes met. She’d been sent here to find the medallion, and he’d been sent here to steal it. There was no way both of them could succeed in their missions. One of them had to fail.

She frowned. “You said one of the reasons you came here was to find this object. What are the other reasons?”

He actually flinched. She mentally braced herself, but nothing could have prepared her for his next words.

“I was sent here to kill you.”

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