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“One of the perks of having a smaller ship!” I shout back to him. The sails flap frantically in the wind, no longer doing us any good. They’ll only shred if we leave them up.
“Niridia, get those sails down!”
She rushes down the companionway and cups her hands around her mouth. “Riggers, to your posts! Bring down the sails. No one is to climb the masts without a secure line!”
Riden and the others attach ropes to their waists and tie off the other ends to notches near the feet of the masts. The rain comes down hard, making everything slippery almost instantly. The ship turns sharply, the current below sending her in unpredictable directions.
I spin around. “Kearan, relinquish the wheel.”
“I can hold her steady, Captain. I’m a seasoned helmsman.”
“You don’t know theAva-leelike I do. Now move over!”
He scowls but does as I say. Rather than stomping off belowdecks, he hovers behind my shoulder. Another violent jerk starts to move the ship, but I grip the helm and hold her still. Even then, one girl slips from the mast and dangles from her line. The rain is too thick for me to tell who it is. But her handsfind the rope, and she pulls herself up. Another girl hurries to her along the beam and helps her to get her feet on solid wood.
“Niridia!” I shout. “All unnecessary crew are to go belowdecks!”
“Aye.” She races around the deck, shouting to everyone holding on to the railing, masts, and anything else to keep from being tossed into the ocean. Calmly, yet quickly, they head for the hatch. Enwen is the first to reach it. He hauls it open and hands the girls into the hole one by one before traveling down himself.
All the sails are tied down save the topmost square-rig on the mainmast. A larger body that can only be Riden climbs upward with a couple of the girls to secure it.
“Kearan, join the others belowdecks,” I say.
“I’m needed, Captain. I’ll stay.”
I look over my shoulder. “How are you needed?”
“If you should fall, someone else will need to take the helm.”
“You no longer care for your own safety, is that it?”
“The only person I trust at the wheel is myself. Iamwatching out for my own neck.”
I go back to ignoring him after that. If he’s going to start being as difficult about following orders as Riden, then he can get dragged to the ocean’s depths and I’ll say good riddance.
Wallov comes running out of the trapdoor a second later, rushing for the mainmast. A struggle up at the top drags my attention to it. Riden wrestles in the crow’s nest with something.
Another sudden pitch and the ship veers left.
Two bodies, one large and one small, fall from the mast and flail over the edge of the ship, plummeting so quickly, if I were to blink, I’d miss them.
I’ve left the helm and made it halfway to the port side when the ship starts spinning wildly in a circle, sending me down to my hands and knees. Wallov ends up plastered against the ship where the railing connects to the deck, and the force of the spinning prevents him from standing.
Another sharp twitch and I’m flung onto my back. I crane my neck to see Kearan getting the helm under control once again. I’d leapt for Roslyn and Riden before even thinking of the consequences.
The rope is stretched taut against the lip of the ship. Wallov finally finds his feet and starts pulling at the rope. Once I reach his side, I add my strength to his. We pull little Roslyn’s form back on board. She’s conscious, but she’s groaning so loudly I can hear her over the storm.
“It’ll be one hell of a bruise,” she says as she rubs at the rope under her arms.
“You watch your language,” Wallov says, but he gathers her to him in a crushing hug.
“What happened?” I ask. I grip the side of the railing tightly as my eyes search the roiling sea for Riden.
Roslyn pushes away from her father to face me. “I told him I didn’t need his rope! But he wouldn’t listen. He untied it from his waist and put it around my own.”
“You were supposed to be belowdecks along with everyone else,” Wallov says. “What were you doing?”
“I was keeping lookout. It’s even more important to have eyes on the sea during a storm. The captain needed me!”
