“Lir did.” Caledonia chased the thought that had been bothering her since learning of Decker’s death. “He tightened the reins on his own people, and I don’t think it’s because he feared the other Fivesons. It has to be more dangerous than that.”

“So, he’s shortening the chain of command?” Pisces asked thoughtfully.

“Exactly.” Caledonia stood to pace the short length of the room. “And if he’s shortening the chain of command, then he’s consolidating power. Getting rid of anything that threatens that power.”

“Like us,” Tin said, anger already tinging her words.

“Maybe.” Caledonia shook her head. “Probably.”

We can close the harbor, Hime signed with a furrowed brow. We can’t beat him ship to ship, but if we cut off access to Cloudbreak, we can defend it.

“Not indefinitely. Not without access to outside resources. So, let’s call that a last resort.” Caledonia didn’t relish the thought of letting Lir barricade her on top of this mountain, but Hime wasn’t wrong. They could survive up here for a while, but with nothing to threaten him on the seas, all Lir would have to do was wait her out.

“If our main problem is the size of his fleet, then why don’t we just, ya know, sink a bunch of his ships?” Nettle asked.

Pisces narrowed her eyes. “You mean . . . the way we’ve been trying to sink a bunch of his ships?”

“No, I mean, not in battle, but get a bunch of tows and blue lungs and also bombs and slip into his harbor like a bunch of sneaky fish. We could plant the bombs and get gone before anyone knew anything, then boom! Half his fleet in a heartbeat.” She bounced, hair ribbons and all. “There won’t even be full clips on board every ship if we do it right. Lets us sink ships and save lives.”

“We’d have to put our people in the water more than two miles out,” Caledonia countered. “That’s too much distance for them to cover with only a blue lung and a tow, especially if they’re hauling enough explosive to sink a ship.”

Nettle deflated a little as she considered the problem. After a quiet moment, she added, “What if it’s the tows themselves, then?”

“What do you mean?” Pisces asked, leaning in.

“What if we fill the tows with explosives and our people only have to get close enough to set the course and let them go? Maybe it doesn’t take down as many ships, but it’ll take some, and they’ll never see it coming.”