Reyna leaned on the railing in front of her and stared out at the open sea. She should have been nervous, but she wasn't. Reyna knew there was only one way this day was going to end: with Damon's head on a pike and his pirates used as kindle for the fire that burned down the Mistveil base.
It had taken almost another week for Reyna to recover enough to lead the fleet. In that time, her captains made sure everything was in order and had been preparing the plan for the assault. Reyna didn't have to help them much there. All she needed to do was approve the final plan, which wasn't difficult.
The only difficult part was convincing her captains that Nico needed to come along. They had all tried to argue, but Reyna shut them down at every turn. She trusted Nico, but if he did decide that now was the time to get revenge and betray her, she deserved it.
Nico also told Camp Half-Blood that he was going. Reyna wasn't sure how it went, but she was sure they weren't too happy. They were not that far removed from Reyna threatening to kill Piper and forcing Nico to move the island.
A tired sigh left Reyna. Part of her still thought Nico was only pretending to forgive her. Then, he would strike when the time was right and destroy Reyna's entire world. Why else would he have forgiven her so fast? Reyna knew that wasn't true though. Maybe, she wished it was, so she could justify her actions to herself.
She suspected that Nico truly saw her as a friend. They started this quest off together already having a solid foundation from delivering the statue to Camp Half-Blood. They opened up to each other and bonded during the quest. Nico didn't want revenge on Reyna. He just didn't want to let their friendship go.
"I can smell the magic in the air. We are near," Filinore stated. Reyna snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head. While she would have been more comfortable with Isabella, it was agreed that they had no clue what the Mistveil base held for them. Filinore was the only one properly equipped to handle any magic that came their way.
The bulk of Filinore's crew was on her ship, but her best magic users were spread across the four ships on the fleet. It would give them the best chance at combating magic if there was any. No one knew if the Mistveil would defend themselves using magic or more traditional means.
Reyna moved her hand to one of Hylla's knives that was strapped to her chest. The other was resting on the side of her leg. Reyna lowered her chin enough to rest it on the knife. She closed her eyes and let thoughts of vengeance swirl in her brain.
They knew how many members the Mistveil had left, and Reyna's fleet was three times larger than that. The Mistveil had already shown they could use magic to turn the tides though, and numbers didn't mean a damn thing when compared to magic.
The founder of the Mistveil had given her the location of his followers and a layout of their base. They would do a two-pronged assault. Half of them would go to the docks and destroy any ships that were there. The other half would land on the beach and make their way up a large hill.
"Anything you want to say to the crew?" Filinore questioned. "I can project your voice."
"They already have my orders. Kill everyone and save Damon for me," Reyna answered. She watched as a low mist filled the area. Filinore relaxed against her ship, and Reyna reached into her pocket. She pulled out the picture of her and Hylla and carefully unfolded it.
"I will avenge you," Reyna swore under her breath. A hand gently gripped her shoulder. It took Reyna a moment to look, but Filinore was already withdrawing her hand. Nico appeared on Reyna's other side and looked ahead to the island. Reyna carefully folded the picture back up and placed it into her pocket.
"Do we have to worry about the mist?" Nico asked as he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"This part of the mist is all theatrics," Filinore answered. "I can't sense anything yet. They will be here soon though."
Reyna glanced around and saw that pirates were already on standby at the cannons. A few leaned against the railing and had both hands holding onto it. They would use magic to disrupt any Mistveil ships, but Reyna wasn't quite sure how. Filinore mentioned that the Mistveil used magic to man a ship with a fraction of the people required, so were Filinore's pirates going to stop the ships where they stood?
It didn't take long for her answer to come. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Filinore tense up. Filinore pushed herself off the railing and raised her hand. Her pirates all seemed to tense. Reyna gripped the railing with one hand and her cutlass with the other.
Through the Mist, Reyna saw two ships forming. Filinore spoke something in Ancient Greek, and her magic users lifted their hands. Reyna watched the mist slowly drag itself towards their ship, leaving the other two exposed. Filinore placed a hand to her throat and spoke in a booming voice, "Gillsworth!"
The ship to Reyna's left did a half turn to point their cannons at the two ships. Reyna watched the twenty cannons fire all at once, peppering the two Mistveil ships with a scatterblast of cannonballs. On her right, Hill's ship began flanking around. Reyna watched Gillsworth's ship fire its cannon only twenty seconds after the first barrage.
Reyna leaned against the railing and tried to calm her nerves. She almost jumped as the third barrage slammed into one of the Mistveil ships, and it lit up with a series of explosions. That was one down. Reyna watched the other ship try to return fire, and while it did hit the target of Gilsworth's ship, it seemed to bounce off of the hull.
It disgusted Reyna to watch how one-sided this damn battle was. The entire time she had been worried about the Mistveil when the bastards relied on magic and cheap tricks to win. Ambushes were the only way they could win a fight, and in a fair battle, the Mistveil were getting destroyed. Reyna wished she had pushed the issue of the Mistveil earlier and convinced Hylla to annihilate them. Would that have avoided all of this?
Reyna blinked away her bitter tears and tried to focus again. She watched the first Mistveil ship begin sinking beneath the surface of the ocean. The second one wasn't firing back anymore. It wasn't even moving. Isabella's ship sailed forward to sweep up the survivors.
Reyna glanced to her right and saw Nico studying her. No. He wasn't studying her. Nico was looking past her. Reyna turned her head to the left and saw the founder of the Mistveil leaning on the railing. Did Nico know he was there?"
"They put five men to a ship. Their best magic-user," the founder informed. Reyna frowned. The Mistveil could run a hundred-man ship with just five people that used magic? It took months for one of Reyna's crews to be able to run a ship like that with thirty people. Modern technology made life a lot easier, but five men doing all of that seemed impossible.
"The rest will be on the island," the founder stated. Reyna pushed herself off of the railing and turned towards Filinore.
"Let's get moving," Reyna ordered. "The rest will be blockading and giving fire support."
Filinore looked at her and tilted her head. Then, she closed her eyes. After a few moments, her eyes opened, and she nodded. Filinore turned and started giving orders to her crew. Reyna leaned on the railing again and tried to calm down. They were so close.
Their ship moved past Isabella's ship and the wreckage of the two Mistveil ships. As they made it closer to the island, the mist grew heavier. It was to the point where Reyna couldn't see two feet in front of her. It would be the perfect place for an ambush, but considering Filinore stood next to her and seemed completely relaxed, Reyna wasn't worried.
The mist suddenly parted, and Reyna almost gasped as she saw the island in front of her. It was not like anything she expected. The side that they were heading towards was where the beach was located. The beach itself was made of grayish sand, as if someone had mixed ash with the coarse grain. There was nothing on the shore to greet them. No spikes to puncture the ship or anything that would impede them from landing. If there was something buried in the sand, they wouldn't know until they stepped on it.
Reyna looked up at the Mistveil base. The mountain that stood in the center of the island had been encircled by the ashen sand. Reyna could see where parts of the mountainside had been carved out and made into makeshift huts and buildings. Her gaze focused on what looked like a statue on the top of the cliff. There was some kind of building behind it, and that was where the coffin of the founder of the Mistveil was. It was where the members of the Mistveil offered their tongues, and that was where Damon would be.
"Be careful," Filinore warned. She directed her crew to dock the ship. Reyna wanted to waste no time marching up the beach to claim her rightful vengeance. Instead, she waited for Gillsworth to pull his ship around them, pulling close enough to toss Filinore a lit cigar.. Then, he made his way towards the docks on the other side of the island.
After a minute, Isabella's ship docked next to theirs, and Isabella jumped over. She spoke, "There were no survivors. We checked all of the bodies and slit their throats to be safe. Are we ready?"
"We are," Reyna answered. She watched two pirates drop the plank. Reyna turned towards the crew. "We're going to avenge not just my sister; but everyone that the Mistveil tortured and killed on Hylla's ship that day. Keep Damon alive but slaughter the rest."
"Make them suffer," Reyna ordered. She turned and grabbed her coins. Reyna flipped them in her hands, and her dogs appeared. "Search the beach for traps."
Aurum took off towards the beach and started to sniff. Argentum ran in a zig-zag formation, trying to seek out any mines. Reyna's gut twisted as she expected an explosion to ring out and injure her dogs. Instead, nothing happened. Reyna waited another minute and then whistled. The two dogs ran back to her side, and she placed her hands to their head.
As the dogs turned back into coins, Reyna slipped the coins into her pants pocket. She rubbed her fingers on the blade of Hylla's knife and then stepped onto the beach. Her gaze moved towards the large stairs that had been carved right into the face of the mountain and up towards the temple. Reyna moved forward, and when she was halfway to the stairs, she heard the sound of something firing.
Filinore yelled and threw her hand out in front of her. Reyna watched a fireball slam into something from the sky, followed by an explosion. Reyna stumbled and saw something else flying from her other side. She had no chance to drive away as something slammed into the ground in front of her and exploded.
Reyna was thrown a few feet backward and hit the sand hard. She slid back another foot and groaned in pain. Her ears were ringing, and everything was spinning. Reyna gasped and slowly tried to sit up. Her ribs ached in protest, and someone grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her up.
"We have to move!" Isabella ordered. She shoved Reyna forward. "Filinore's magic users can only do so much!"
Reyna glanced at the sky and watched as Filinore's magic-user shot beams of light at what looked like falling boulders. Then, she realized it was cannonballs. Reyna knew it wouldn't be too long before their magic users would be overwhelmed by the meteor shower of cannonballs.
"Take your crew and get them to safety. Nico and I will handle Damon." Reyna ordered her second in command.
Isabella nodded and relayed the order to her crew. Reyna pulled away and made a break for the stairs. She tried to run left and right at random times to make it harder for her to be hit. As she made it to the bottom of the stairs, a cannonball impacted the area in front of her. Reyna threw herself to the ground to avoid being thrown, but that didn't stop her ears from ringing.
Reyna dragged herself to her feet, trying to shake off the shock and awe. She glanced back and saw that some of her crew had suffered a similar fate. Most were disoriented and trying to stand. Reyna blinked a few times and saw their ships were trying to return fire on the Mistveil. Nico stumbled to her side, and she steadied him.
"Just the two of us," Reyna said. Nico looked at her and nodded determinedly. The two of them climbed up the steps, but nothing else shot at them. Reyna didn't know if they were so focused on the beach or if they were in a blind spot. The two of them made it up the seemingly massive stairs and Reyna collapsed to her knees.
Both hands moved to her ribs as she gasped for breath. Most of her injuries weren't fully healed, and being thrown by the explosion had only made everything worse. Her gaze moved up to the large pair of doors in front of her. It was the kind of doors that giants would struggle to open. Reyna caught her breath and made it to her feet. She slammed into the door and tried to force it open. Nico did as well.
"Shadow travel," Nico wheezed.
"Can you make a jump that precise?" Reyna asked after a few moments. Her ears were still ringing, and it was frustrating her as Nico's voice was garbled. She placed a hand to her ear and felt a small amout of blood.
"I can," Nico assured. Reyna grabbed his arm and started to share her strength. Nico positioned them in the shadows that the doors casted. He took a deep breath, and Reyna closed her eyes. Her stomach twisted as the shadows around her screamed, and when her feet hit solid ground, she quickly caught Nico.
Reyna allowed Nico to collapse to his knees and then gave him a sip of nectar. She looked at the temple and then froze. The temple was just like it had been in her dream, but the only difference now was that Damon stood behind the coffin like it was a sacrificial altar. His face flushed in fear at the sudden appearance of the pirate he humiliated.
Then, Damon turned and ran towards the other end of the temple. Reyna began to bolt after him, but she suddenly stopped and looked at Nico. The son of Hades struggled to his feet and then nodded. Reyna nodded back and turned to run after Damon. She heard Nico following behind. Reyna focused ahead. She wasn't going to let Damon get away. Not when they were this close to finishing it.