“Lie down on the deck, Colonel,” Ionkovo said. He looked down at Andy. “You, too, unless you’re eager to see your friend get a red smile.”

“If you hurt her,” Andy said, “I’m going to paint the deck with your brains.”

Marcus was trying to count heartbeats, but his pulse juddered so wildly he couldn’t be certain. But it can’t be long now.

“Colonel?” Ionkovo cocked his head. “What are you waiting for?”

In the hold, a tiny piece of clockwork went click and made a spark.

The blast sounded like a cannon going off, and the Rosnik lurched as though a giant had kicked it. Ionkovo staggered, but his grip didn’t falter. He flipped the knife in his hand and drove it up, through the soft underside of Raesinia’s jaw and upward into her skull. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the deck as Ionkovo let her hair slip through his fingers.

Andy screamed and charged the Penitent Damned, only to be intercepted midway there by Marcus, running in the opposite direction. He grabbed Andy by the waist and lifted her bodily off the deck, heading for the bow rail. Ionkovo was saying something, but it was drowned out by a much larger blast, this one from the stern. Bits of flaming wood pinwheeled through the sky, and the rear mast began to topple with a groan like an enormous rusty hinge. The shock slammed Marcus and Andy against the bow rail, which snapped under their combined weight. Marcus kept a firm grip on Andy as they went over the side, splashing into the water a few feet below.

Marcus did his best to keep Andy’s head above water as she thrashed and swore, but she got a mouthful in spite of his best efforts. This quieted her a bit, and by the time she’d coughed it up she was composed enough to tread water on her own. Rosnik was sinking fast, with a hole across her keel by the bow and the whole of her stern blown out below the waterline. Before long, only her foremast was visible above the surface of the water.

The water was bitterly cold, and Marcus could feel himself losing feeling in his fingers already. He kicked, his boots slowing him, and turned in a circle. Without Rosnik’s lanterns, the water was dark, but Patriot Guards were still milling about on the pier, and their lights gave him a brief glimpse of one of their boats, not too far away. He grabbed Andy’s arm and pointed, and she gave a convulsive nod and started to swim.