The remaining warriors hurried to their ship. Once the last man climbed aboard, one of them severed the lines.
* * * *
Choking on the stench, Lathir clung to Rónán as thick flakes of the charred sail tumbling within soot-laden smoke engulfed her. She tugged her cape over her mouth, tried to make out her father on the enemy ship through the billowing rolls of foul murk.
With the next swell, theAodhlurched upright.
Rónán hauled her back. “Look out!”
A strip of the flaming sail swirled past, landed a hand’s length away, slid in a fiery trail down the angled deck.
Tears clogged her throat as the ship disappeared into the fog. “They are leaving!”
His grip on her tightened as she instinctively fought his hold. “They are, and we canna stop them now. ’Tis imperative you be calm.”
“Calm?” Riotous emotion burning in her chest, Lathir took in the horror of the bloody bodies strewn about the deck, men she’d trained with, had grown up with. Not a single one lived. She wanted to cry, but anger won out. Grief had no place now. “My warriors are dead, theAodhis ablaze, and the small boat, our only hope of escape, is destroyed. Once the ship goes down, we will die!”
As if mocking her, the cog groaned, then gave a violent shudder. The deck dropped a foot and buckled, exposing the hull, the fire creeping up large portions of the damaged wood.
A burst of wind hurled past. Yellow-red flames clawed skyward on a growing roar, consuming wood with merciless disregard as fire swept across the deck.
Heat built around them.
Lathir coughedinto her cloak.
“Help me shove the small boat overboard,” Rónán yelled. “Mayhap we can keep it afloat untilwe reach land.”
Charred planks clung to the small craft, and flames spurted from the side. Regardless of her doubts of the vessel’s seaworthiness, she gripped the side,shoved, prayed.
Another gust buffeted her. Then, as if the heavens were granting an unspoken wish, a cold droplet pelted her face, then another.
Relief welled in her throat as beads of rain and ice pinged off the deck. Beneath the torrent, bursts of whitish-gray smoke spewed in the twist of black with an angry hiss. “’Tis raining!”
Covered in soot and blood, with ferocity a stamp on his features, Rónán stood on the deck gazing skyward. At this moment, to her, he seemed invincible.
The next swell rolled beneath them; surrendering wood groaned as the cogwas shoved up.
Charred decking broke free, plummeting into the smoke-filled hull in anawkward twist.
“Saint’s breath,” Lathir gasped, stumbling against him. “The ship is breaking up!”
Rónán caught her as another shudder wracked thecog. “Hold on!”
Timber cracked.
The sodden planks beneath them collapsed.
A scream erupted from deep in her throat as they fell, the smoke billowing around them a macabre backdrop to the blur of flames and the stench of charred wood.
Pain raked her as she slammed against the knight, and then thevessel’s hull.
Another loud crack sounded overhead.
Heart racing,she looked up.
An ember-laden chunk of the upper mast broke free, spiraled toward them.
Rónánshoved her aside, then dove to join her.
