Krinny sucked in a breath. “By the gods, this looks like the lower half of a siren.” She traced the shape of a fin with her slender finger.

Rylander nodded. “That it does. No one has ever seen it up close. At least, no one who returned to report.” He pointed to the rounded shoreline, rumored to be lined with treasures the sirens used as bait for voyagers who ventured too close, and the human bones and broken timbers that remained from their folly. “This is where most believe the siren’s citadel sits, but it’s actually in the opposite direction, on the far end of the island, in the inlet of the fin.” He pointed to the indented center. “The back wall of the ivory castle hovers above water so that the sirens can swim in and out.”

“Ivory castle?” Krinny asked.

I had heard horror stories of the material used to create the siren stronghold. The way Rylander described it, the rumors were true.

Rylander looked up, and a sad smile graced his face. “The palace is made of human bones.”

Krinny’s mouth dropped.

Smitter tossed Rylander a miniature vessel fashioned to resemble The Freedom.

“We start here.” Rylander placed the model on the map an inch north of Cava’s port. “We sail past Sottom, and then”—he moved the toy ship with a finger—“we circumvent the western side of Eloqua and continue north. When we get to the outer perimeter of the siren’s island, we sail up and around it. They don’t monitor these waters since sailors never have a need to navigate this route.” He moved the figure in a wide semi-circle around the island. “This will be the best way for us to go undetected.”

Rylander tapped the outskirts of the caudal fin twice. “We drop anchor here. It’s as far as The Freedom can go. We will release the tender, and Smitter and I will row into the tail’s inlet. He will stay with the boat while I kill the Siren Queen and her school of fanged fish.”

Krinny chuckled at his joke, but I found no humor in his plan.

“Wait a minute.” I slammed my palm onto the map. Pain ricocheted up my wrist and forearm. “You are not going onto the island alone.” I gestured to Smitter. “And you will definitely not take a man. He will, no doubt, fall victim to the song.”

Rylander’s gaze lingered on my hand before his shrewd glare met my eyes. “You think you’d do better?”

“Yes. Their song doesn’t affect me.”

Smitter held up his pointer finger. “Well, actually, I’m…”

The door flung open, and Dara and Lanard fell through it, flushed faces wild with fright. I couldn’t help but notice their mussed, stumbled-from-bed looks, with untamed hair and wrinkled clothes haphazardly pulled on.

“Captain, we are under attack,” Dara shouted. “Well, we will be.”