Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Tell me more about the creature. All may not be as it seems.
Isprinted to the small cabin below deck, strapping on the double leather scabbard and gathering my bow and quiver.
My hands shook as bloody images of Odessa flooded my mind.
I squeezed my palms shut as the Obscura raced through my veins, pounding for its release.
My stomach dipped at the thought of letting it loose in a battle once again, putting our own soldiers at risk as I remembered the piles of ash and unintended lives I took.
I wouldn’t allow that to happen again. I’d fight without this power as long as I could.
Elven sailors took up positions above deck with lethal efficiency. Vienah found me a moment later, and I ushered her and Carina below deck.
Carina wholly ignored me and moved across the deck to converse with the captain at the quarterdeck.
The three crow’s nests held two archers each, and twenty more lined the prow rails of the deck.
The remaining crew members took up positions below deck, taking aim with the dozens of air cannons on board.
Elven mages spaced themselves out in the center deck, strengthening the shield as we hurtled toward the ship.
Vulcan moved to the foremast crow’s nest, earning an earful of rumblings before he silenced them with a look. He took aim, two arrows already nocked. I found Ronan and the others near the stern, armed and ready for whichever Lord of Marisarma sailed toward us in the approaching ship.
I squinted, trying as best I could to make out the ship. A carved, wooden female broke through the fog, framed by six hideous serpentine creatures that sprang from where her legs should have been. The Scylla.
The monstrous figurehead ripped through the waves as the captain shouted, “Hold!”
Nerissa loosed a breath beside me, glancing to Ronan. He nodded, his mouth forming a thin line.
“We need to play this carefully,” Ronan muttered a warning. “If Lord Astraeus has been in touch with the captain of the Scylla, he’ll know.”
His eyebrows raised at Nerissa as she pursed her lips. Shit. My stomach sank at the thought. Lord Astraeus knew exactly what power Nerissa wielded.
The Scylla cleared the fog, and the looming Marisarma flag flapped into the misty light. The crimson M rippled like blood against the black fabric as the mages’ blasts of wind careened into its shield.
A deafening boom echoed as the Scylla fired three air canons at our ship. We rocked as they bounced off the shield, our mages standing with legs braced and brows furrowed in concentration. A volley of arrows followed, their metal tips bouncing off the complex elven shield.
“Fire!” the elven captain commanded from the helm.
Canons erupted from below, shaking the deck. I widened my stance as Ronan caught my elbow, steadying me. A volley of arrows followed the cannons, aimed at the precise location where the cannonballs met the Scylla’s shield to weaken it.
My thoughts scattered as Vulcan shouted, “FIRESHIP! Starboard!”
My gaze shot to the right, where a raging fire blazed through the waves. A foreign wind pushed the burning ship toward us. The center mage flung his hands up toward the sails, sending us flying the other direction.
I lost my balance at the maneuver, scuffing my knees against the smooth wooden deck and scrambling to get upright as the Centurion barely skirted past the approaching Scylla.
The burning ship careened into the shield behind the stern, sending a ripple of damage up the invisible defense.
A barrage of cannons and arrows rained down from both ships.
“Fix that!” the captain shouted at the rear mage, but the elf had been knocked unconscious.
The remaining mages were red in the face as they poured energy into repairing the shield that had been damaged by the flames.
Shouts erupted from the starboard side of the deck as I struggled to my feet. I staggered, thumping back on my knees, as all attention moved to the Scylla, now a mere twenty feet from our ship.
Another volley of cannonballs rocked our ship, and a second mage fell limp, passing out from the power needed to sustain the shield against the attack.
“Your Highness!” the captain shouted in warning.
Carina strode past the unconscious mage in the center of the deck and steepled her hands.
A massive shudder of wind ripped through the Centurion as the young princess locked her own shield into place.
Nerissa’s eyes widened as she took in her cousin, power rippling from her small frame.
The third mage, still standing, shook his hands out in relief as he moved to the rail, sending blasts of wind against the Scylla.
I reached the port side of the deck, clinging to the rail as the two ships continued to pummel the others' shields. I scrambled up the side of the rail, ready to brace for the inevitable impact.
My eyes briefly scanned the small islands in the distance before my stomach sank, and I bellowed, “Hydra incoming!”
There was no doubt in my mind it was Lord Astraeus’s blue coat that flashed at the prow of another ship approaching from the west. Vulcan echoed my cry, and then quickly corrected it.
“Marisarma ships! Kraken and Cetus from the south. Hydra from the west!”
My heart lodged in my throat. Three more ships. I threw a glance to the south, where two more ships stalked us in the distance.
Trap. This was a trap.
The attacking Scylla’s shield finally cracked with a deafening rip. The elven mages below deck wasted no time firing cannonballs into the side of the ship.
The elven captain of the Centurion turned his attention to the three approaching ships closing in, forcing us to stand and fight or attempt to flee.
“Port cannons!” he called to the mages below deck.
Flames erupted from the sails on the Scylla as the elves peppered them with blazing arrows. The pirates scrambled to put out the fires as the ship slowly retreated from us.
Attention turned to the three approaching ships as they rocked their own cannons at us, but Carina’s shield held, unwavering.
Astraeus’s ship, the Hydra, cut across the path ahead of us as the remaining two Marisarma ships approached from the right, forcing us to sail directly to the coast of the Death Dunes.
Carina jerked her head to the side as the crew of the Scylla shouted their pleas and dove overboard as flames engulfed the ship.
Screams echoed over the water as she flung a hand behind her and sent a current of lilac-scented wind to the shattering Scylla.
Her wind snaked around the crumbling ship and snatched up the main mast as it snapped. The blazing mast and sails soared through the air and crashed into the Marisarma ship nearest us. The Cetus’s shield shuttered before a following blast of cannons ripped through it.
Nerissa glanced at her cousin. Carina’s wind slammed more flaming debris at the defenseless ship. The second Marisarma ship went up in flames.
Two down.
Ahead of us, the Hydra turned sharply, angling its bowsprit at us.
“What in gods’ names—” Ronan yelled, motioning to the monstrous figurehead of the Hydra.
The jaws of one of the Hydra’s scaled, serpent-like beasts opened, and a wide, iron tube extended from its throat.
“Get down!” Vulcan screamed as a glowing red cannonball soared toward our ship.
Carina flew backward, body cracking against the main mast as the strange cannonball ripped through her magic, shattering her shield as it smashed through the chest of Queen Antares’s figurehead and into the hull. A blast of icy cold air filled the space left behind by the shield as chaos erupted.
The Hydra and Kraken flanked us. Their crews readied grappling hooks as they neared our ship through icy waves, their eyes dancing with wild murder.
Kresida paced like a wolf behind the front line of elves, flipping her blade between her hands, eager for bloodshed.
Nerissa and Ronan rushed to the starboard side, positioning themselves beside her.
Flaming arrows hit our sails, and I ran to the stairs, shouting for Vienah.
She sprinted with me above deck, where she sent small streams of water into our blazing sails.
A mast cracked overhead as fire ripped through it.
I spied Carina’s body through the chaos and scooted past the soldiers running about.
Carina was pale. I lifted her head and slapped her cheek to wake her.
“Get up, Carina,” I urged, still reeling at the display of magic she’d shown. It came close to her mother’s. A mystic…
Carina groaned.
“Get up,” I yelled, shaking her shoulders.
Another crack overhead, this time from directly above. My heart thundered in panic, and I gripped her under the arms and heaved. My boots slipped on the deck, slick from the water Vienah desperately spread throughout the sails.
I scrambled, lifting Carina by the torso and throwing us both to the side as the crow’s nest crashed down in flames. I slid Carina against a stack of crates before Vulcan’s shout drew my attention back to the fight.
He signaled to Aquila, picking off the remaining soldiers clinging to floating debris from the destroyed ships. Aquila banked, angling toward us when he let out a panicked shriek of warning.
A spine-tingling bay sounded from deep beneath the waves as grappling hooks flew from both sides of the ship.
Soldiers from the two remaining Marisarma ships boarded ours as their lethal-looking hooks latched onto the ledge and remaining masts.
Only two, I realized, as our Lotrennian ship began to shatter.
The metallic scent of blood filled the air as battle broke out on board the Centurion, hurling me back to those horrendous hours in Odessa.
Adrenaline, driven by self-preservation, curbed the dread, and I unsheathed two blades, ready to launch into an attack, not trusting the small bit of aim I’d gained with the Obscura power.
Too many lives here… I shook my head. I wouldn’t let this be Odessa.
I launched into the chaos as that deep baying groaned once more, this time closer. I reached Vienah, ready to guard her back as she put out the flames, when the milky white jaws of a massive sea beast yawned out of the dark sea. They closed around the Centurion’s hull, sending elves screaming.
My jaw dropped at the monstrosity emerging from the depths, but as I prepared to summon my own darkness, I was in Lotrennia.