Chapter 14 #3
I turned to see four skiffs launching in pursuit, their crystal engines glowing bright as they pushed to maximum speed. Each carried three or four elementals.
"Can we outrun them?" I asked, rushing to Cypher's side at the helm.
"Not with a full crew and cargo." His jaw clenched as he adjusted our course. "We need to make the portal before they get within firing range."
Ahead, the familiar shimmer of a portal beckoned, our gateway to the Gallery and relative safety. But the skiffs were gaining, their lighter weight giving them an advantage.
"Everyone to battle stations!" Cypher barked. "Prepare for pursuit through the portal!"
The crew scattered to their positions. Kora climbed to the highest point on the ship, her hands already glowing with air magic.
Tor moved to the port side, palms pressed against the deck as he readied his terra abilities.
Zoya and Knives took up defensive positions with weapons drawn, while Jask manned the ship's limited weaponry.
"Hold on!" Cypher shouted as we reached the portal.
The transition hit me hard, that momentary sensation of being everywhere and nowhere at once, my body stretching and compressing simultaneously.
Then we were through, the Gallery's familiar darkness enveloping us.
But we weren't alone. The skiffs followed, bursting through the portal one after another, their pilots skilled enough to maintain formation even through the disorienting transition.
"Gideon didn't send amateurs." Cypher gritted out.
A projectile whistled past my ear, embedding itself in the mast with a dull thunk. I ducked instinctively as more followed—small crystalline darts that glowed with volatile energy.
"Return fire!" Cypher ordered, spinning the helm to put us into a defensive position.
Kora moved first, her hands cutting through the air in precise gestures. Wind howled in response, gathering into a concentrated funnel that she directed at the nearest skiff. The vessel wobbled dangerously, its pilot fighting to maintain control as the unnatural gale battered them.
“Scavenger, I need a current!" Cypher shouted over the chaos. "Find us something they can't follow!"
I closed my eyes, extending my rift senses into the void around us. The Gallery currents flowed like invisible rivers, some gentle, others violently fast. There—to our starboard, a powerful stream that would carry us deeper into the void.
"Forty degrees starboard!" I called. "There's a deep current!"
Cypher spun the helm, angling us toward the current I'd sensed. The ship lurched as we caught the edge of it, picking up speed.
Behind us, one of the skiffs attempted to follow our maneuver but misjudged the current's strength. It spun wildly, throwing two men overboard into the void. Their screams echoed briefly before the Gallery swallowed them.
"One down," Jask growled, firing a burst from our stern cannon. Crystal energy blazed across the darkness, striking another skiff's engine. The vessel didn't explode so much as disintegrate, its pieces scattering into the void.
The remaining two skiffs pressed on, closing the distance despite our increasing speed. A barrage of darts peppered our hull, several piercing the deck near my feet.
"Tor!" Cypher shouted. "Now!"
Tor's eyes glowed as he channeled his terra magic. The wooden deck beneath him rippled like water, then small sections of it tore free, forming into deadly projectiles that he launched at our pursuers with a thrust of his hands.
One skiff's control panel exploded in a shower of wood and crystal shards, sending it veering wildly off course. The last skiff managed to dodge most of the projectiles, still gaining on us.
"They're too close!" Kora yelled, summoning another wind funnel.
I felt something building inside me. That same power I'd touched in Nytheris, the connection to the void itself. Without thinking, I reached for the First Anchor at my throat, channeling its energy through me and into the Gallery around us.
The void responded, darkness coalescing into something almost solid.
I shaped it with my will, forming a barrier between us and the pursuing skiff.
When their vessel hit it, the impact was audible.
It was a sound like thunder as the skiff's front end crumpled.
Men went flying, tumbling into the Gallery's embrace.
The barrier dissolved as quickly as I'd created it, leaving me gasping and weak-kneed. Cypher caught me before I could fall, his arm strong around my waist.
"What did you just do?" he demanded, eyes wide.
"I don't know," I admitted, still shaking. "It just... happened."
Around us, the crew stared in stunned silence. Even Kora looked shocked, her wind magic forgotten as she gaped at the space where the barrier had been.
"That was pure fabric manipulation," Vic said, adjusting his eyeglasses as if that might change what he'd seen. "Without crystals. Just... raw will."
I pulled away from Cypher, steadying myself against the rail. The power had left me drained but exhilarated, but most of all, it left me terrified.