Under Fallen Stars - Mel Odom [135]
Sabyna lurched to the top of the stairs leading up to the stern castle, holding on again as Black Champion slid across another water wall. To Jherek, it felt like the ship had suddenly hit a patch of ice. The caravel seemed determined to race to her doom.
This time the ship's prow pointed straight down into the black water at the bottom of the next trough and the wall of water rushing up from behind her seemed destined to push her end over end. The young sailor felt certain they were going to plunge into the unforgiving heart of the dark sea like an arrow finding its mark.
There'd be no survivors.
Jherek lacked the wind he needed to straighten her up and he wanted to cry out in frustration, knowing there was no way he could save Sabyna from the harsh death that lay before them all.
Then the cold, powerful voice filled his mind. Live, that you may serve.
A wind blew hard and clean from behind him, coming from a different direction than it had only a moment ago. The surviving sails filled, twisting Black Champion from the deadly course she was on.
Jherek pulled the ship into the wind, guiding her with an unforgiving hand. His injured arm burned and ached and felt numb all at the same time, hardly giving him any strength at all. But Black Champion came around into the wind, her holed and flaming sails capturing enough of it to pull her on course, turning her to face the oncoming waves. She met the next wave with her prow and cleaved it cleanly. The new wind stayed with her, pulling her out of the wallows, and it seemed as though less debris struck her.
An awestruck look filled Sabyna's face as she gazed around.
"Who are you?" Jherek shouted into the wind. "Who are you and what do you want?"
He felt scared and mad all at the same time. Despite all the good the voice had done over the years, he felt certain he was at risk and had taken his friends there with him because that voice wanted him there. Whoever owned that voice had saved him only to take a firmer hand in his destiny. Was he pawn or prisoner?
Only silence answered him above the creak of the rigging and the crashing waves.
Then an answer did come. Soon, my son.
"Tell me who you are!" Jherek shouted again.
"Who are you talking to?"
Jherek glanced to port and saw that Sabyna had joined him at the stern castle. Her short-cropped hair lay plastered against her skull, and a half-dozen bloody scratches covered her left cheek. Her eyelids blinked tightly against the salt spray continuing to come over the railing. The young sailor only shook his head, having no words-only the frustration that filled him.
Skeins coiled protectively around the ship's mage, barely holding its pieces together.
Jherek gazed at her, taking in the wounds he saw.
"I'm all right," she told him.
Black Champion continued to pitch and plunge across the uneven ocean, but the supernatural wind that had captured her guided her safely through the troughs. Startled shouts rang across her decks. The sailors cheered as they felt the ship come about under her own power despite the duress she was under.
Without warning, sails punched up into the sky, cresting the next roiling wave that was spurred on by the volcano. At the top of the mainmast, the skull and crossbones on a field of black crowned the pirate ship as it continued its pursuit. The cheers turned to dismay.
"I'll take the wheel," Sabyna said.
Jherek stepped back, breathing hard. He drew the cutlass from his sash and pulled the hook into his free hand. Pushed by a full complement of sails, the pirate ship closed quickly. Red-eyed pirates clamored for blood as they stood at the railing. They clanged their swords together and sang a sea chantey. Jherek only heard a few words, but he recognized it for what it was.
"They're ensorcelled," Sabyna yelled out to be heard.
Jherek nodded. No sane man would take the risks those dozen pirates had lined up for. The young sailor set himself, pushing the pain in his injured arm from his mind as well as he could.
In the next moment, catching the