Chapter 18 #3
Lyneca stood in the open doorway that led below, two cleavers in her hands and fire in her eyes. Captain Larsel had her pistol drawn, and the rest of the crew hunkered down with what few knives, swords, and guns they had.
Reiven glanced between Calinia and Ashkade. “Can’t one of you two freeze them in time so we can get away?”
“It takes a great deal of energy to pause time, Human, even for me,” Calinia snapped. “I don’t think I could stop them long enough for us to get far.”
Ash chewed on his lip. “I could try to pull down a thread of time over their ship, but with a large surface area, it’s easier for me to lose control of the broken thread.
Might leave us frozen with ‘em…” Wisdom glimmered in his seaglass-colored eyes.
He pursed his lips and called across the water, “I don’t parley with men like you.
But I’ll accept your surrender, preferably without any bloodshed. ”
Captain Tynedall guffawed. His men jeered along with him from their places hanging from the ratlines or standing on the deck with grappling hooks, cutlasses, and flintlock pistols at the ready.
Their main flag painted with the symbol of the Eventide Brigade snapped in the gusting, briny wind.
One pirate gleefully raised a smaller red flag to fly beside it.
Captain Larsel cursed under her breath, and Reiven drew his cutlass.
“We give no quarter save for my pet then, Timebreaker boy,” Vaetrik shouted.
Ash wrinkled his nose. “What’s that mean?”
“They’ll spare none of our lives,” Captain Larsel said.
Cannons boomed in quick succession, cracking against the hull.
War cries erupted from the Ocean’s End as the pirates flung their grappling hooks and swung across the thin gap of water between the two ships.
Captain Larsel backed away from us and rejoined her crew, firing her pistol with deadly accuracy as she took cover behind a crate.
“You three need to go below–”
A cannon ball colliding with the railing of the ship cut Reiven off, throwing him and me away from Ash and Calinia.
The wood splintered, and if Rei hadn’t covered me with his body, my face and chest would have been peppered with the knifelike shards of wood that exploded away from the impact.
He brushed off the pieces that embedded themselves into his back and shoulder without so much as a grimace.
Our Druinn friend growled under her breath and shot to her feet.
She held both of her hands out, and through the shattered hole in the railing, I could just see the dozens of cannonballs that had just been fired at us, suspended in midair.
With a soft grunt of effort, she flung them right back to where they came—inside the openings in the gunwale where the cannons themselves were manned.
The cannon fire stopped.
Vaetrik's men clashed with the crew of the Maiden.
Someone took a shot at Calinia that Ashkade yanked her out of the way of, but at least the two of them were near Captain Larsel and Lyneca and the rest of the crew to help protect them.
Smoke filled the deck between me and Rei and the chaos, obscuring our vision of the fray.
I could tell from Rei's tightening grip that he was eager to get over there to help fight off the pirates, but he just stared down at me with concern.
Vaetrik's voice carried over the battle, though he remained at the End's railing. “Pet! Make it easier for all of us and come here.”
“Rei, I-I can’t,” I gasped, my eyes darting towards Vaetrik.
Reiven put himself between me and the Ocean’s End, mostly to block my view. “Don’t look at him, look at me.”
Ash shouting Calinia’s name made me pause.
The Druinn girl lay on the deck, blood splattering the planks of wood around her.
Not a lot of blood, but enough to worry me.
A cannon ball rolled away from them as Ash stood in front of her, brandishing his crutch like a club at the pirates who had them surrounded.
He blocked a cutlass strike, and Captain Larsel blasted a shot into the attacking pirate’s stomach, shouting curses.
Reiven swore and pulled me behind a stack of barrels at the stern of the ship when a stray bullet whizzed past us.
He glanced at the battle, where Ash and Lyneca and Larsel were still fighting for their lives.
Luckily, Vaetrik’s pirates hadn’t paid us any mind since they were so engaged with the Maiden’s crew and Ashkade.
Maybe they didn’t notice us through all the gunsmoke.
“Go. Go help Ash,” I said.
He nodded. “And you go below decks for me. Hide in our room, lock the door, and don’t open it unless it’s me or Ash.”
I bit my lip. “Be careful.”
Reiven touched my cheek for a moment, then whirled and dashed into the skirmish.
He cut his way through the pirates like a madman until he reached Ashkade, jumping in front of him protectively.
I had kept him from his job of guarding the Timebreaker, and I didn’t want to let myself read into exactly why he would do that. The door that led below was nearby—
“Well, I thought he’d never leave.”
I froze at Shaddan’s silky voice.