Saffazi raised defiant eyes to her choice-mother. ‘I’m warrior-trained. This is where I should be.’
‘We’ve lost so many initiates, we can’t afford to lose you.’
‘If the ship falls, you lose me. You lose everything.’
Running footsteps on the high rear-deck above made the empowered lads duck their heads and eye the ceiling uneasily.
Imoshen grabbed Saffazi’s arm, pulled her close and gestured towards the lads, skittish as colts. ‘Safi, I need you to put some steel in their spines.’
Saffazi nodded and brushed past her choice-mother. ‘Watch the windows, lads. If the sea-vermin force the shutters and try to get through, poke their eyes out!’
The lads took heart. Aged thirteen and fourteen, they were used to taking orders from the sisterhood’s hand-of-force.
‘Don’t tear the veil…’ Tancred slurred his words. ‘Something will come through. Don’t… too late. Watch out. It’s hungry!’
Egrayne grew pale. ‘He’s not on the higher plane, he’s on this one. And I think he’s found the power-worker.’
Imoshen dropped to her knees beside the geldr. ‘What’s hungry, Tancred?’
There were different classes of empyrean predators, some more dangerous than others. Some hunted in packs, some could be tricked or evaded and some not even the most skilled gift-warrior could escape.
The geldr’s eyes darted about behind his closed lids. ‘Here it comes…’ He whimpered.
Imoshen looked over the geldr’s body to Egrayne. ‘I’ll try to bring him back.’
‘No. I’ll see if I can do it.’ Egrayne placed her palm on his bare skin and closed her eyes.
Imoshen waited anxiously.
‘The god of the sea,’ Tancred mumbled. ‘Pretty, blue fire. So pretty…’
‘A fiant!’ Egrayne pulled back as if burnt, eyes springing open. ‘It’s not the sea god. It’s a fiant. It’s casting illusions on the higher plane.’
Imoshen took the geldr’s hand in hers. ‘It’s an illusion, Tancred. That pretty image is what the Mieren power-worker sees. The fiant has plucked the image from the power-worker’s mind so it can get close to him. Don’t let down your guard. Don’t let the fiant see you, Tancred!’
The geldr smiled. ‘He’s going to let the sea god ride him –’
‘Foolish Mieren!’ Egrayne lifted horrified eyes to Imoshen. ‘The power-worker thinks it will make him powerful, but it will consume him.’
‘Come back, Tancred,’ Imoshen whispered in his ear. ‘Come home before the fiant notices you.’
No response.
She dropped her defences and reached for him just as the geldr arched, eyes rolling back in his head.
Egrayne grabbed Imoshen, dragging her away.
‘He needs me.’ Imoshen twisted, trying to escape, but Egrayne was stronger.
They both gasped as Tancred went still.
Imoshen gasped. ‘Is he…’
Tancred gave a grunt of pain and woke. He sat up, blinking. For a heartbeat, the geldr looked startled. Then he doubled over, dry retching.
The instant Egrayne relaxed her grip, Imoshen darted over to kneel and rub his back. ‘You did well, Tancred. You –’
‘Leave him, Imoshen.’ Egrayne pulled her to her feet.
On the deck above them, they heard running footsteps, shouts, thumps and the clash of metal on metal.
Tancred lifted his head, eyes red-rimmed with tears. He frowned. ‘What’s that?’
‘Raiders,’ Imoshen said.
The geldr’s eyes widened. ‘The sea god’s coming!’
He scrambled away from them. Flipping open a chest, he tossed everything onto the floor, then stepped in and tried to make himself fit, but he was too big. Next he ran to the changing screen and ducked behind that. It fell over.
The empowered lads laughed.
The geldr whimpered.
In frustration, Imoshen strode across the cabin, grabbed a staff and shoved it into Tancred’s hands. ‘Use this. Hold them off.’
‘Nothing can kill what’s coming.’ The geldr stared at the staff, then dropped it. ‘It’s going to devour us all!’
Imoshen slapped Tancred’s cheek. But it didn’t clear his mind; the geldr dropped to the floor with his arms over his head and began to rock back and forth as he sang a nursery rhyme.
The lads didn’t laugh this time. They shuffled their feet and looked away, terrified.
Imoshen spun around to confront them. ‘Ignore him. The geldr’s lost his wits again.’ But this time he hadn’t. ‘It’s your job to hold the windows. I’m relying on you. Safi’s in charge.’
Then she strode to the cabin door, where Egrayne waited.
They stepped into the passage.
‘Tancred’s right,’ Egrayne whispered. ‘Only a gift-warrior can force a fiant back to the empyrean plane. If it comes aboard, I’ll deal with it.’
‘You’re my voice-of-reason.’
‘I was a gift-warrior before I was anything else. I took the vow.’
‘No.’ Only the greatest gift-warriors from the sagas had killed fiants and returned to tell the tale. Banishing the fiant would kill Egrayne. ‘But I need you.’
‘Need me? I’m out of my depth. I feel useless, have done since I left the Celestial City. Nothing makes sense anymore.’
‘We’re all scrambling to keep up.’
‘True, but you thrive on it.’ Egrayne looked pale. ‘I hate it. I know I can do this. Anyone weaker will be consumed before they can drag the fiant back to the higher plane.’
Imoshen didn’t want to lose Egrayne. The big woman had befriended her when she first joined the sisterhood, had guided her and advised her these last thirteen years.
The hinges screeched as a shutter was torn loose. The sound of breaking glass followed.
They both turned. Through the half-open door they saw Saffazi drive her staff into an attacker’s face. The lads leapt to her aid and cheered when they drove the sea-vermin back.
‘Someone must do this, Imoshen.’ Egrayne was implacable. ‘The fiant craves our power. How many T’En will you sacrifice before you let me deal with it?’
Imoshen’s heart sank. Egrayne was more than her voice-of-reason. She was her friend.
Hand-of-Force Kiane thrust open the door from the deck. ‘We need you, causare.’
‘I’ll be right there.’
‘We need to entice the fiant onto this ship,’ Egrayne said. ‘We need a display of power.’
‘I know just the thing. The air is rich with the foretaste of lightning. I’ll call the blue flame. It’s wild power. It’ll attract the fiant.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
RONNYN JUMPED AS something thumped against the exterior wall of the cabin. They all turned to face the shuttered windows.
‘Lower the lamp, Parnia,’ Sarodyti whispered.
They stood silent, in the dim cabin. Waiting.
Ronnyn glanced to Sardeon.
Another soft thump and scuffle. Ronnyn’s heart pounded uncomfortably.
‘They’re climbing up the ship,’ Sarodyti whispered. ‘Let’s hope they pass us by.’
A thud interrupted her, followed by the creak of wooden panels being prised apart.
‘Those shutters won’t hold for long,’ Sarodyti muttered.
Shouting from above told them the raiders had reached the foredeck.
More wooden shutters creaked in protest. There was a grinding of wood as the first shutter’s hinges were torn loose. A fierce, strangely-painted face looked in through the window. For a heartbeat, the sight was so incongruous, no one moved.
The sea-vermin punched in the window’s glass, smashing the fine wooden frames.
Vittor sprang forward, driving the makeshift spear into the man’s head. The empowered lad was a little clumsy with his right arm, but the sea-vermin grunted and fell backwards. Immediately, another appeared in his place.
Two more shutters were peeled away and the windows shattered, quickly follow
ed by a third and fourth.
Sardeon froze.
The gift-tutor and her devotee dashed forward, driving the Mieren back before they could come through.
More windows filled with strange, fierce faces painted with savage designs. Ronnyn was kept busy driving the raiders back, but there were so many and they didn’t stop coming.
One of the Mieren got his shoulders through, another slithered like a snake onto the bunk below the window and rolled to his feet. Sarodyti and her devotee closed in on them.
With a cry Sardeon sprang forward to protect the gift-tutor. Hacking and slashing at the nearest Mieren, he drove the man to his knees. Ronnyn should never have doubted him.
‘To me, Ronnyn!’ Vittor cried.
He spun around to see the big lad trying to keep three sea-vermin from climbing through the windows, and him with one arm strapped to his chest. Ronnyn thrust the makeshift spear into the face of the closest raider. The Mieren’s scream was drowned by the screams from the deck above. The sea-vermin fell backwards, taking the knife from the end of Ronnyn’s staff as he went, and pulling Ronnyn off balance.
Sardeon caught Ronnyn around the waist and hauled him out of reach of more Mieren as they forced their shoulders through the windows. Now there were half a dozen painted faces trying to break in.
Ronnyn’s heart faltered. So many… How could they hold them off?
‘Only six?’ Vittor jeered, his gift surging. ‘That leaves none for you two boys!’
Sardeon laughed. Ronnyn could feel his choice-brother’s gift, sharp and intense.
Ronnyn looked around for another weapon. He would have liked an axe like the one back home, but he spotted a brazier poker and grabbed it. With no time to think, he lashed out at the nearest raider, hitting the back of his head, then attacked another as he appeared in the next window. The foul smell of burning hair filled the cabin. The Mieren screamed and fell back, only to be replaced by another.
Ronnyn stabbed and jabbed at heads as they appeared. Sardeon joined him with the brazier tongs, a live coal clutched in its claws. Grimly, he thrust it into the face of an attacker who already had his shoulders through the window. Ronnyn followed up with a blow from the poker that knocked the man out. He remained wedged in the window, blocking it.
‘Help!’ Sarodyti called, struggling with an assailant. Parnia leapt to her assistance, stabbing the raider in the back. A burly sea-vermin pulled her off the dying man, swung her around and stabbed her in the stomach.
Sarodyti screamed, clutched her own belly, and toppled to her knees.
Vittor skewered the burly man on the end of his makeshift spear, driving him into the wall. The empowered lad had to plant a boot on the sea-vermin’s body to pull the weapon free.
Sarodyti crawled to her devotee’s side, rolling her over. Dark blood blackened the front of Parnia’s robe. Blood frothed on her lips. The gift-tutor rocked back and forth, repeating her devotee’s name over and over.
‘Gift-tutor?’ Ronnyn called.
No response.
Someone collided with him and he found himself dodging a blade. It was only Ronnyn’s reflexes that kept him ahead of his attacker’s knife.
His choice-brother leaped on his assailant’s back. The Mieren pulled Sardeon over his shoulders and slammed him down on the deck, raising his knife to plunge the blade into Sardeon’s chest. Ronnyn shoved the descending arm, diverting the knife so that it sank into the deck next to Sardeon’s head.
Vittor caught the Mieren by the hair with his injured arm and cut his throat. Sardeon scrambled away from the fountaining blood. As Vittor threw the dead man aside, Ronnyn saw that his injured arm was bleeding again.
Three screaming sea-vermin sprang through the windows. Sarodyti remained on the floor, beside her dying devotee.
‘Ronnyn.’ Vittor grabbed his arm. ‘Get help from the empowered lads in the next cabin.’
Ronnyn ran to the door and down the passage. When he threw open the next cabin door he found the lads grappling with more raiders. Bodies littered the floor. It was the same in the cabin opposite.
Desperate, he ran down the hall to the mid-deck. Chaos greeted him: a frenzy of hand-to-hand fighting. For a moment he thought Nerazime had left her post by the door, but he saw her over near the steps, trading blows with two Mieren. Dodging struggling combatants, Ronnyn covered the distance and brought the poker down on one of her attackers. The man crumpled to the deck. Nerazime dealt with the second and turned to Ronnyn, weapon raised.
For the moment they found themselves in a pocket of quiet as the fighting eddied around them.
She blinked, then laughed. ‘What’re you doing here?’
‘We need help,’ Ronnyn said. ‘Sarodyti’s devotee is dying.’
Nerazime winced. She glanced around, grabbed the nearest empowered lad and told him to hold the passage door. They ran into the cabin, where they found Sardeon and Vittor struggling with the Mieren, while Sarodyti knelt, keening over her devotee.
‘Leave her, Saro, we need you,’ Nerazime yelled.
No reaction.
A raider had Sardeon boxed in the corner. Ronnyn slammed his poker across the man’s back. The raider spun around, his sword arcing for Ronnyn’s throat. Ronnyn deflected the blade with the poker, but his bad arm spasmed and the poker flew from his hand. He dropped, and the blade whistled over his head. Ronnyn scuttled back. The man stepped in for the kill.
Nerazime caught him from behind and snapped his neck, then sent him flying into another raider. As a third came at her, she kicked him in the face, breaking his nose. Then she smashed their only chair over a fourth.
Vittor and Sardeon dealt with the injured Mieren.
They’d bought a moment’s respite. Sardeon bent double, trying to catch his breath.
‘What about Saro?’ Ronnyn asked, gesturing to the gift-tutor.
‘She’s trying to hold Parnia’s life force in her body.’ Nerazime strode across and dropped to her knees beside the old T’En woman. ‘Let her go, Saro.’
The gift-tutor shook her head. ‘She’s been my devotee for seventy years. I can’t abandon her!’
Nerazime took Sarodyti’s arm. ‘You must let her go. We need you.’
‘She needs me. I can hold her until Ree can save her. I know I can.’
‘We need you now. The boys can’t do this alone, and I’m needed outside. I –’
She broke off as one of the fallen Mieren reared up on his knees and tried to drive his blade into Ronnyn’s belly. Nerazime shoved Ronnyn aside. She deflected the strike and snapped the man’s arm bone across her thigh.
Ronnyn lay on the cabin floor, gasping for breath, amazed that he was still alive.
Nerazime dispatched the raider, then found Ronnyn’s poker and handed it to him.
‘Saro?’ he asked, scrambling to his feet.
‘Grief has clouded her judgement.’
‘Here they come,’ Vittor warned.
‘Hold them off!’ Nerazime handed out fresh weapons, some taken from the raiders. They’d only just turned to face the windows when the next wave of attackers tried to get through.
With Nerazime and Sardeon at his side, Ronnyn raised the poker. And it started all over again.
IMOSHEN FOUND HER hand-of-force rallying the defenders on the mid-deck. She grabbed Kiane and drew her close.
The hand-of-force stared at her in astonishment. ‘What’s that?’
Imoshen glanced down and realised the blue stone on Sorne’s neck torc was glowing. ‘A fiant has possessed the sea-vermin’s power-worker. This means it’s nearby.’
Kiane blanched. ‘Fiant take them.’ Then she heard herself and gave a short sharp bark of laughter.
Attackers forced their way onto the deck, screaming, striking and dying. But even as they fell, more took their place, in a seemingly endless wave. Imoshen realised her people were falling back across the mid-deck, congregating at the cabins to each end of the ship as the sea-vermin overwhelmed them.
Egrayne grabb
ed Imoshen by the arm, swinging her around. ‘Call down the blue fire. You must lure the fiant to me, so I can drive it back to the empyrean plane. There’s no other way.’
Knowing she was right, Imoshen nodded. ‘Watch my back.’
Lifting both arms, she called down the power that had been building all day. Eagerly, it came to her.
So much restless, untamed power.
Blue flames clung to her raised arms. Nearby Mieren gasped in fright, even as her own people backed away.
Imoshen laughed and turned on the nearest raider. He scrambled away from her, screaming in fear.
If just one sea-vermin was brave enough to strike her, they’d discover blue fire was harmless. But they backed off. Two of the raiders even took shelter behind the T’En warriors they’d been fighting, calling on the sea god for protection.
Imoshen had a flash of inspiration. ‘Behold! The sea god abandons you. He favours me and my people!’
With a moan, half a dozen of the Mieren staggered away from her. She veered towards the raiders on her right and they surged back. She advanced, driving the sea-vermin before her. Her ship fell silent.
All the while she wept inside for there were no gods to bless anyone, only mindless predators hungry for power, and her success meant Egrayne’s death.
She advanced on another group and they fled, only to be forced towards her again by more attackers clambering on deck. As soon as the new attackers saw her, they fell silent.
Striding along the mid-deck, towards the foredeck cabins, Imoshen drove the sea-vermin before her. A circle cleared around her as everyone drew back.
From the way Sorne’s torc was glowing, the fiant was close. But where?
Any of the sea-vermin she confronted could be the power-worker that the fiant was riding. The problem was, she had no idea what the dead power-worker looked like.
A scream of horror came from up near the foredeck cabins.
It had to be the fiant.
RONNYN CAUGHT HIS breath. When he lifted his head, the windows were still empty of raiders. He lifted a trembling hand to rub his face.
Sardeon glanced to Ronnyn. Nerazime and Vittor waited, weapons raised. Still no attackers.What was that strange noise?
Silence…
‘Are the sea-vermin in retreat?’ Sardeon whispered.
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