The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [80]
It’s on the wrong side of the ship, he realized. The waves are moving against the tide.
Pierce made his way up from the stern. His bow was drawn, and he maintained his footing with surprising grace. “There is motion in the water,” he said, as he reached Lei and Daine, “but I see nothing solid. It is as if the water itself has chosen to attack.”
“I’d say that’s exactly what’s happened,” Gerrion said.
Another wave slammed into the boat, and the deck tilted precipitously. Pierce stumbled, but kept his footing while Gerrion clung to the wheel. Daine managed to seize one of the loose lines with one hand, grabbing hold of Lei with the other. She glared at him but clasped his wrist with both hands.
“Care to explain that?” Daine shouted over the crashing surf.
“There’s always been angry water across the coast, ever since the disaster that shattered Xen’drik,” Gerrion said, struggling with the wheel. “I’ve never heard of troubles this close to the coastline. It’ll make a great story, if any of us live to tell it.”
“So what do we do?” The boat shook again.
“Sink, apparently, unless you think you can kill the sea with your sword.”
“Elementals,” whispered Lei, barely audible over the crashing waves. “Daine, I need stability. Tie … tie the rope around my waist. Quickly!”
At least someone has an idea, he thought. She let go of his wrist and wrapped her arms around him, and for a moment he forgot the crashing sea and the angry words that had passed just a moment earlier. Then the ship shuddered from another blow, and he quickly turned his attention back to the task at hand.
As soon as Lei was lashed to the line, she reached back and opened one of the side pockets of her backpack. A sheaf of long arrows leapt out of the pocket in response to her mental command. She knelt down on the shaking deck and laid the arrows across her legs, her features contorted in deep concentration. Daine could see her lips moving, but he couldn’t hear the whispered words over the thundering waters.
The water surged, and the deck tilted sharply. Daine clung to the rope, almost hanging in the air, and even the surefooted Pierce stumbled and needed to steady himself with one hand.
“If you’re going to do something, do it quickly!” Gerrion called.
Blue fire played around the arrows in Lei’s hands, and her eyes snapped open. She thrust the bundle toward Pierce.
“Strike the waves!” she shouted. “Whatever moves against the current! There can’t be many of them—look for the motion and shoot into it!”
Pierce snatched the glowing arrows without comment. He held his footing atop the shifting deck; fitting an arrow to the string, he made his way to the side, sighting into the raging surf. As the next wave rose up against the tide, Pierce released the shaft, loosing a second arrow before the first had even struck. There was a burst of blue light as the arrows struck the water and a deep, low moan like the creaking of old wood—and as the light faded, so did the wave, dissolving into the sea. Pierce launched a second volley into the water, tracking a blur of motion, but if there was anything in the depths it escaped his aim. His third strike bore fruit, and another inhuman groan rose up from the water. He drew back the last of the enchanted arrows, searching the water for any sign of motion, but the moment of violence had passed. The water was calm again, with only the slow motion of the tides and the sound of the wind on the water.
Daine let his breath out slowly. “So … just another day in Xen’drik?”
“A parting gift from our friend Hassalac, I imagine,” Gerrion said. “He never was one to leave a debt unpaid. I suppose it took him some time to find the boat.”
“I studied elementals in my first visit to Sharn,” Lei said, as she worked at the rope knotted around