All around them stretched endless gray-green waters. Off their port side a flock of kittiwakes were bobbing on the water, watching the ship slide by. She could just make out the coast of Islay in the distance to the south, while a line of rocky islets was appearing out of the hazy horizon to the north.
Jamie was standing by the aft rail with the captain. She picked her way carefully over to him and he raised an eyebrow as she approached.
“Elise. Ye are looking…better.”
A sudden shout went up from the stern. “Ship ahoy!”
Jamie spun, a hand going to the hilt of his sword. Elise’s pulse ratcheted up a notch. A ship? Had the pirates found them?
But none of the crew seemed concerned. They were staring at something in the distance and as Elise followed their gaze,she made out a darker shape against the waves. As they moved closer, the shape resolved itself into a ship.
Jamie let forth a string of curses in Gaelic. What they were looking at was the remains of a large, three-masted ship. It was listing badly and how it was still afloat was anyone’s guess. One side was blackened with fire, and the main mast had burned and then snapped off, leaving a jagged point sticking up from the center of the ship like an accusing finger. There was no sign of life on the ship’s canted decking. No faces at the rail, no calls for aid.
Elise shivered, suddenly cold. Beside her, Jamie tensed, his grip on the rail going white. His nostrils flared in sudden fury and Elise saw a tiny vein throbbing in his temple.
“TheSea Star,” he breathed. “I had hoped against hope that the reports were exaggerated.”
It was clear that whoever had attacked this ship had been brutal and efficient. Elise didn’t even want to imagine what had happened to the crew.
Albie came to stand next to Jamie. The big man’s face was pale with anger and shock beneath his beard. “By God, they’ll pay for this,” he breathed.
Jamie nodded. “Aye,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous, throbbing with the promise of dire retribution against the perpetrators. “They will. Send out the launch and a search party of twenty men. Scour that ship. If any of our men survived, I want them found. And if you find any raiders aboard well, ye know what to do.”
Albie nodded tightly. “Aye, my laird.”
“There’s no point!” Elise blurted. “You’ll be risking people for nothing. There are no survivors aboard that ship.”
“How can ye be sure? We owe it to our people to discover—”
“I just know!” she snapped. She suddenly didn’t want to be here. Something tingled against her senses, some premonitionof danger. This felt like a trap, like jaws were about to snap closed around her neck. “There is nothing here but misery. We need to get out of here—”
She trailed off as something else suddenly intruded on her senses. Something different to what she felt coming from the ship. Something…alive. She closed her eyes and tried to shut out everything around her: the low voices of the crew, the drumming of feet on the deck, the sound of Jamie and Albie’s breathing. There was…something. It brushed against her MacFinnan senses. Something that felt like…
She spun and pointed at a tiny, rocky islet on the horizon. “There!”
Jamie’s frown deepened into a scowl. “What are ye talking about, lass? There’s naught there but a few rocks.”
“We have to go there right now!”
“Why?”
She turned to face him. How could she explain? She didn’t understand it herself. All she knew was that her senses were thrumming and an implacable urgency filled her veins. They didn’t have much time…
“Just trust me! We have to get over there this instant!”
Jamie stared at her for one, two, three heartbeats. The muscles in his jaw flexed and she could see her was debating whether to put his faith in her untested abilities. Then he whirled to the helmsman.
“Take us towards that islet!”
The helmsman knuckled his forehead. “Aye, my laird.”
The captain came stomping over, looking none too pleased at Jamie issuing orders on his ship. “What in God’s name, man? You know how treacherous the waters around those rocks are. It isn’t called the Devil’s Cut for nothing! Have you lost your senses?”
Jamie glanced at Elise then back at the captain. “Aye, Roger, I know how dangerous that straight can be, but I also know I have the best captain in the Isles to see us safely through. Ye have yer orders. I suggest ye see to them.”
The captain’s expression darkened, his chin jutting with annoyance. But he didn’t argue further and began bellowing orders to the crew.
Slowly, the ship began to come about and move towards the Devil’s Cut. They moved excruciatingly slowly and it wasn’t long before Elise realized why. The water was shallower here and she saw great gaping rocks just below the surface, razor-sharp teeth ready to rip out the hull of any ship stupid enough to get too close.
