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We’re taking as many of those bastards down as we can.
“Aye-aye!” He dives back behind the companionway with Niridia. Sorinda fires her own musket from beside me, and I raise a newly loaded gun.
Something launches over the distance between our two ships, striking my deck, ripping up the wood, before catching against the railing. Another soon joins it. Then another and another.
The harpoons.
Father must have changed his mind as soon as the breeze picked up. He knows we can outdistance him now.
“Cut those lines!” I shout to the crew. Niridia, Teniri, Athella, Sorinda, and Deshel rush to the railing and lean precariously off the deck to reach the ropes tied to the harpoons. Cutlasses hack and saw at the taut lines. Two go down, but another three harpoons quickly replace them.
Damn it!
I cease aiming my musket toward the men at the harpoon guns to join the girls.
Shots rain down on us, now that the men aren’t afraid I’ll pick them off. Riden continues shooting, but several enemy shots hit their marks.
I hear a scream and thud as one of the girls up in the rigging falls. Mandsy is already ducking out of her hiding place to reach whoever it is. Teniri hisses through her teeth as a shot skims her arm, but she doesn’t stop sawing at the rope in front of her.
And then Niridia—
Niridia falls into the water.
Time seems to slow as my mind tries to work through so many things at once. Even if we get the sails down, we’re locked in place by the lines connecting us to the other ship. The shooters are picking us off. And I’m sure it won’t be long before the men are back at the cannons. If they manage to reel us in with the harpoons, the men will outnumber us at least two to one. My abilities are drained. We’ve faced worse odds, but my father is on that ship.
He’s as good as ten men. Not a single person on this ship could take him, save perhaps me. When I’ve sparred with my father in the past, I only win about half the time. We’re too evenly matched.
But Niridia.
She’s going to die if I don’t get her out of the water.
One of my girls goes for a rope, but an eel near Tylon’s ship breaks away to investigate the disturbance near ours.
TheAva-leejerks to the side so violently, I barely catch myself on the railing, but Teniri, Deshel, and Athella fall into the water. Only Sorinda manages to keep her hold.
The harpoons have started to reel us in.
My mind spins. I need to go after them. Sorinda needs to tie me with a rope. I’ll need a dagger if I’m to face an eel. But if I have something sharp, the siren will cut through the rope and follow her own agenda.
They’ll die, and I’ll be lost to the sea.
Unless…
Riden fires off yet another shot.
Every time I’ve managed to keep myself in control of the siren, Riden has been there. Somehow, he keeps me human. I don’t know why. I don’t know how, but I need him if I’m to do this.
I rush at him as iron balls pelt around me. He releases another shot just as he notices me.
“Come with me now!” I tell him. I grab him firmly by the upper arm. He doesn’t hesitate to listen, though he can’t have any idea what I intend.
“Run!” I tell him, so I’m not dragging him quite so much.
He does, until he realizes we’re heading for the edge of the ship. He tries to stop, but by that point, there’s already enough momentum for the two of us to go over.
My grip on him is like a vise as we fall. I cling to him as though he’s the key to my survival. In a way, he is. If this doesn’t work, my girls are dead, and I will be a mindless beast forever. Every muscle in my body tenses at the splash, and I really hope my grip doesn’t break Riden’s arm—
All fear and tension drain away. It’s like waking from a good night’s sleep, fully rested. Full of energy. Full of power. Ready to sing the day away.
