God’s truth, they had to reach safety before the next wave hit. With the staggered rocks now but an arm’s length away, Rónán guided her atop the rail. “Jump!”
Wind battered her as she leaped. Her feet hit the wet rocks; she slid, then steadied herself. She whirled back to him, eyes wide with fear as she glanced behind him. “Hurry!”
He slashed free the length of rope they’d used to climb down, held on to one side, tossed the other part to her. “Tie the end to the rock behind you.”
Fingers trembling, she secured the line.
Water thundering behind him, Rónán tightened his hold on the rope, climbedatop the rail.
A swell blasted the ship.
The rail snapped beneath the force. With the roar of water rushing around him, Rónán plunged toward theviolent churn.
Chapter Four
Pain shot through Rónán as he slammed against a boulder. Icy water streamed through the rocks above, poured over him as the hull splinteredto his right.
The swell retreated as he clung to the woven hemp; he gasped for breath.
With a shuddered groan, wood scraped as the wreckage began sliding back, creating a gaping hole below him that was quickly filling with water.
“Rónán!”
Muscles burning,he glanced up.
Face raw with fear, holding on to the line, Lathir lay on one of the oddly flat stone leaningover the edge.
“Stay back!” Ignoring the pain, the cold wracking his body, he braced both feet against the rock. Hands fisted on the rope, he began to climb.
Another swell crashed over him.
He tightened the rope around his body seconds before he was jerked downward. Sodden, his hands numb, through sheer will he held on as he again slammed into the rocks, the large section of the broken hull splintering against the rocks paces below.
Blackness threatened. A sharp tug hadhim looking up.
Lathir’s hair whipped around her face as she pulled on the rope.
“Get back!” Wind ripped away his warning as his body was again hurled against the stone.
The rope snappedtaut. “Rónán!”
He gasped for breath, sensation in his body fading, his teeth beginning to chatter uncontrollably. Vision blurring with cold, he fought to remain awake. Another wave battered him, the icy slide of water draining his strength.
The rope lifted a degree.
“Hold on!” Lathir’s voice came as if from far away, and he closed his eyes, the urgency to remain alert dwindling as he succumbed tothe blackness.
* * * *
Fear tore through Lathir as Rónán’s body hung limp below her. Only the line wrapped around his waist held him paces above the vicious rush ofwaves. “Rónán!”
Like a cloth doll, he dangled as the spray buffeted himover and again.
Saint’s breath, she couldn’t lose him!
“Move aside, lass!”
The deep, raspy voice had her tightening her grip on the rope as she grabbed hersgian dubhand whirled.
