Her responding smile was mature, thoughtful. 'I am a wife and mother, with a family and friends to defend. And I am the best shot on all of Isla Fiero. Any mercenary who comes after me and mine will pay the ultimate price-'
'The ship's moving!'
As they were talking, the skies had grown dark, until the stars shone brightly on a pitch black moonless night. A few smudges of smoke marked the remains of Port Haven in the darkness, but all else was a guess. A throb came to their ears, emanating from the ship's engines. Eventually the ship's throbbing cut out, and they could see the dim shapes of launches being lowered over the sides.
'Here they come!'
It was dark out. Kara was cautioned to silence, was untied, except for her wrists, which she was told to conceal in the front pocket of her dress, and helped out of the wagon. They were close behind where the defenders watched the doings in the port below, and could see everything from their vantage.
'Be ready,' Kara's brother whispered to Camilla and the others. 'We will watch the fighting and wait it out, and see how it goes before acting. If there's enough confusion, we should be able to make our way to one of the boats without mishap and make our escape.'
A throbbing noise came to their ears then.
'Ship's moving in closer,' Kara's brother said to no one in particular. 'There! They're getting ready to lower the launches. Hear that? The engines have stopped. That means . . . there they go! They're lowering the launches into the water. It's begun.'
Kara felt as though her worst dreams how now become reality, that the nightmare world of her father's evil aspirations and imaginings had finally taken over.
'We are in Hell,' she breathed, feeling as though she were on the verge of losing her mind. 'We are in Hell.'
Her brother seemed to consider this seriously a moment. At last, he said, 'You know, you might very well be right about that.'