Under Fallen Stars - Mel Odom [95]
Sabyna heard Tynnel's shouted commands to Malorrie. She glanced up and saw the young sailor in the stern, fighting the rudder, then she spotted the two pirates climbing the starboard steps to the stern castle. She knew he couldn't handle them and steer the ship.
"Skeins!" she called, running for the ship's mainmast. She knew she'd never get through the men fighting across the deck in time.
The raggamoffyn sped across the deck, leaving oily black residue in its wake. It reached her by the time she got to the mainmast. She extended an arm down and Skeins curled around it. The creature was already partially dried from exposure to the fire and the wind.
As the raggamoffyn spread its weight across her shoulders, Sabyna climbed the mainmast. Her feet slipped in the rigging twice as Breezerunner rocked from side to side, but she kept pulling herself up.
When the two pirates reached the top of the stern castle, the ship's mage stopped halfway up the mast, hoping she had enough room to maneuver. Holding onto the mast with one hand, she slipped the leather whip from her side. She uncoiled it with a flick of her wrist. Drawing the whip back, she cracked it forward, aiming for the rear mast rigging.
The whip snaked across the distance and curled around a yardarm. Pulling it tight and saying a quick prayer, fully aware of the twenty-five foot drop that might land her on the ship's deck or in the river with the way Breezerunner was swinging, she grabbed the whip handle in both hands and leaped. Her father, Siann Truesail, had never approved of her mode of travel in ship's rigging, considering it not only risky but too showy as well. Her brothers were envious because none of them had ever quite mastered the skill.
She dropped almost three feet, then the give in the leather and the yardarm played out. She arced toward the stern, pulling her feet outward and forward to gain more momentum. At the apex of her swing, practiced in the maneuver, she popped the whip and relaxed the hold on the yardarm. The whip came loose immediately.
Sabyna somersaulted in the air, letting her momentum carry her, and gained an extra two feet that placed her securely on the stern castle. Still, she'd missed her chosen mark by a good eight feet or more.
The pirates closed on Malorrie, who still hadn't given up his death grip on the rudder. Only the young sailor knew she was there.
"Attack," she told her familiar.
Skeins uncoiled from her shoulder, breaking apart into a swirl of pieces that glided toward the pirate on the left. The creature was on the man before he knew it, wrapping around his upper body and stripping his self-control, reducing him to a zombie state.
The other pirate raised his arm to strike the young sailor, who ducked around the rudder for protection and set himself to attack. Sabyna cracked the whip, coiling it around the pirate's sword wrist. Grabbing the whip in both hands, she pulled it taut, then yanked the pirate from his feet before he could react.
The pirate's face darkened with anger as he pushed himself to his feet again and cursed her. He tried to shake the whip from his arm, but Sabyna yanked on it again, pulling him off-balance. Jherek took one step forward and kicked the man in the head, sprawling him unconscious to the deck.
"Sandbar!" someone shouted.
"Where away?" Jherek yelled, getting a fresh hold on the rudder.
There was no time for an answer. In the next instant, Breezerunner ran aground. Forced up and out of the river by the current, the wind, and the magic that pushed her, the cargo ship heeled over hard to port. Men tumbled from her deck, some into the water and some onto the long, quarter-moon shaped sandbar.
Sabyna tried to grab the railing but missed. She fell only inches, dangerously close to getting pulled under the stern section as it whipsawed around. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist, tightening and halting her fall.
"I've got you, lady."
Looking up, Sabyna saw that Malorrie had grabbed hold of the railing with one hand and her with the other. She watched helplessly as Breezerunner