That said, despite what Ethan felt was a fantastic ruse, his heart sank when he realized the Fortune was still in pursuit. The ship kept on the same heading it had always been, and for a moment, Ethan worried her captain wasn’t convinced the Victory would sink on her own.
“Zoey,” Ethan called out, coughing. “They’re not buying it. I’m up for suggestions.”
“Dump the barrel,” she said. “We’ll have to—” The vampire cut herself off as her eyes lit with excitement. In a flash, she disappeared into the thick of the smoke, and two breaths later, a skeleton came staggering out, completely ablaze. It ran aftward, leaving a fiery streak for all to see. The moment the Victory crossed the bow of the Sea Storm, it hit the railing, flipped over, and left a fiery trail as it plunged into the waters below.
Ethan jumped, throwing a clenched fist high in the air as he realized what she was doing. “Three more!” he yelled.
He’d barely gotten the words out when a trio of skeletons dressed in fiery rags bolted across the deck. Like the one before them, they went over the railing.
Ethan staggered under the onslaught of smoke but kept his gaze shifting between the Sea Storm and the Fortune, the latter of which now had her choice of targets.
“C’mon,” Ethan said. “Work. Work. Work. Work.”
And it did.
The Fortune suddenly opened up with a broadside that ripped through the Sea Storm with devastating results. Ethan brought up his spyglass to inspect the damage. Chaos ruled the Sea Storm’s deck. Men lay strewn about, or portions thereof, and more than one of her cannons had broken free of its carriage or anchors. While a few sailors took to small arms, including two in the masts, and returned fire with muskets, the peppering had little to no effect on the Fortune or her crew.
“Tar overboard!” Ethan shouted as he dropped the spyglass.
Within seconds, three more skeletons grabbed the flaming barrel and hoisted it over the railing. The air quickly cleared on the Victory’s deck, but before it did, Ethan was already grinning from ear to ear.
“Clever, Ethan,” Maii said, sounding genuinely impressed. “Mind telling me how you came up with the idea?”
“Card trick 101,” he said, chest swelling with pride. “Little misdirection and cultivating a lot of faulty assumption. It just happened to be a card trick with a ship, is all.”
“And what do you plan on doing with the two of them now? Leave them be?” Maii asked.
Ethan raised his spyglass, unsure of the answer himself. The Sea Storm was still in dire straits, and it didn’t look like the Fortune had much to worry about. The sensible thing would be to turn two points and get back to the race.
“They did fire on us first,” Maii pointed out, cutting into his thoughts. “I suspect, given the opportunity, they’ll fire on us again.”
“Then we’d best not give them that opportunity,” Ethan said before issuing his next set of orders. “Mister Potts. Four points, portside. See us completely turned around.”
“Four points, aye, Captain.”
“Jean, are the carronades ready on that side?” he asked.
“Ready on your command,” he replied.
Ethan glanced at the deck where the gun crews waited eagerly at each carronade, the look of vengeance in their eyes and slow matches burning and ready.
“Aim slow and true,” Ethan said. “I want the Fortune dead in the water with a single volley.”
He gave the order to fire right after, with not even fifty yards separating the two ships. The series fired in slow succession, each gun crew taking a moment extra to ensure their aim was on target. For the most part, they were. Shot after shot tore up the sails and split lines. The last two, however, bar shots from each, took down the Fortune’s main mast, first about halfway up, and the second knocking out another four-foot section.
The giant piece of timber groaned as it came down, falling heavily toward the bow, nearly toppling the foremast, but managing to rip through the jib sail in the process. The crew of the Victory erupted in cheers, leaving Ethan thrilled, especially when Narrator chimed in.
The Victory attacks!
The Sea Storm is moderately damaged!
The Sea Storm is crippled!
Maximum speed reduced!
You feel more experienced.
“Damn right I do,” Ethan said, blowing out a sigh of relief.
Zoey came to his side and patted him on the shoulder. “You did well.”
“Thanks to you,” he said, turning to face her and toying with her hair.
Zoey shrugged. “Eh. Only following your lead.”
Ethan stole a kiss, and she stole one back. As they parted and the Victory sailed away from the entangled ships, Ethan forced himself to part with her so he could take one last look at them with his spyglass.
The crews from both the Sea Storm and the Fortune continued to fight each other in the confusion, and Ethan suspected that by the time it was over, either ship would be lucky to still be afloat. A handful of cannon blasts from the Sea Storm at point-blank range only reinforced that idea.
Ethan put down the spyglass, convinced the ships were now out of the race. “Katryna!” he called out to her. “How much lead does the Griffin have on us?”
The swashbuckler leaned over the crow’s nest, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun. “Half a league at most,” she said. The ship rocked from an unexpected surge, causing her to fight for balance. “Something else, Captain,” she called back as she pointed off to the east. “There’s a storm brewing. Judging by its color, it’s not one I want to be in.”
Ethan’s gut tightened, and he turned to Zoey for advice. “Something we should worry about?”
“Not yet,” Zoey said. “But if it builds fast, it could cause problems.”
Ethan nodded. “We’ll keep an eye on it, then. Right now, though, let’s go see how many holes we’ve taken on, and since no one is screaming, I’m going to assume no one is bleeding out.”
“If they are, I’ll be glad to assist with sending them on their way to the great beyond,” Maii said, joining the two as they walked. “It’s the least I could do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Talks
With the sun set, the race well underway, and the other contestants well outside of any sort of engagement range, Ethan left the main deck and slipped into his cabin with Katryna in tow. He wasn’t quite sure how he would bring up the discussion of turning Katryna with his better half, but he did know it was a conversation they needed to have sooner rather than later. So when she saw them enter, he did what any guy did critically fumbling his conversation roll would do. He started it off with one of the worst choices of words he possibly could.
“We need to talk,” he said. “About us.”
Zoey, who had shed her belt and her weapons at this point and was leaned back in her chair, feet propped on the table and bottle of rum in hand, turned her head and eyed them both with no small amount of suspicion. “This better not have anything to do with you hooking up with her. Or anyone else, for that matter.”
Ethan retreated a half step, his hands coming up defensively. “What? No. Why would you think that?”
“Because you just rolled in here with another girl and gave me the ‘We need to talk’ line,” she said, laughing and shaking her head. The vampire sighed and took a swig from her drink. “You really don’t see how awful that is?”
Ethan shrugged. “Maybe? No? I don’t know. I thought it was a fairly normal way to start a conversation.” He turned to Katryna. “Was it really that bad?”
“No, it wasn’t that bad,” she said, grinning. “It was much worse.”
Ethan’s shoulders fell. “Sorry,” he said. “Nerves from the race, I guess. It’s nothing like that. I promise.”
Zoey saluted him with her bottle and sighed with relief. “Good. So sit. Let’s talk now that we got the heart attack out of the way.”
Ethan motioned for Katryna
to take one of the empty chairs, and then he dropped into the other, but he didn’t say anything right away. Or even a few seconds later. It was only after Zoey gave him an expectant look and he drummed his hands on the table a few times that he decided being direct was best. “Katryna wants me to turn her,” he said. A half beat later, he blurted out the rest. “And I want to.”
Zoey froze, the bottle of rum brushing against her lips. After she finally put it down, she ran both sets of fingers through her hair and groaned. “I think I would’ve liked it better if you’d said you were cheating on me.”
“You haven’t even heard us out yet,” Ethan said.
“I don’t have to hear you out,” she said, her tone growing sharp. “I know what’s going to happen. I’ve seen it firsthand, okay? I’ve told both of you all of this already, and yet still you insist.”
“But—”
“But nothing, Ethan,” she said, slapping the table. “You promised me you wouldn’t!”
“Hey! I haven’t,” he shot back. Immediately, he hated how he sounded and how fast this seemed to be spiraling out of control already, and so he managed to hold his tongue for a few seconds while Zoey steamed. And when he continued, he did so with a much more even tone. “I’m not turning her without your blessing, or approval, or whatever it is out here. I promise, but just hear her out this time. Please.”
Zoey clasped her hands together and made a steeple out of her index fingers before resting her chin on them. She stayed like that, thoughts churning behind those dark eyes, and didn’t share a single one. “Fine,” she said before turning to face Katryna. “But if you don’t have something new to say, you might as well leave now. I don’t want to relive how we spent the tail end of our time together from before.”
“Look, I might have been…a little overzealous in asking before,” Katryna admitted.
Zoey arched her eyebrows. “Might have?”
“I was. I was,” Katryna said with a resigned sigh. “You know I’m terrible at apologies, so, I’m sorry. But this is more than all of that.”
“How so?”
“The short, short version is, you two have to beat Azrael not once, but twice,” she said. “First time for Ethan, and then again for yourself and the kids in the hospital. You might luck out now, but there’s no way you’ll surprise Azrael on a rematch.”
“And what, you becoming one of us is going to tip the balance in our favor? Is that it?” Zoey guessed.
Katryna shook her head. “No. Well, it’ll help. But the other part is Ethan becomes captain for The Duchess, and then we’ll be unstoppable since not only will we have incredible powers, but a legendary ghost ship as well.”
“Until we’re caught, tortured for a century or two, and then outright killed when our screams become a bore to the vampire lords,” Zoey said, folding her arms over her chest. “You left that part out along with the whole being slave to a ghost ship.”
“I didn’t forget,” Katryna said. “We’re going to hunt them down first.”
Zoey burst out laughing. “We hunt them down? That’s your grand plan?”
Katryna nodded. Ethan did, too, when Zoey looked to him. “The Duchess said she’d love to help, actually. Or is it The Duchess the one who talks? I’m still confused if the ghost is the ship or the ship is the ghost.”
“It doesn’t matter because either way, she’ll say whatever she needs to get you to sign!” Zoey said, throwing her hands up.
“I know. I thought that at first, too.”
“But?”
“But Katryna convinced me she’s probably not evil and might just be misunderstood.”
Zoey groaned and shook her head. “I’m not risking our lives, sanity, and souls on might.” The vampire drew in a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly before looking at them both directly in the eyes. “I can’t believe you two are running with this plan. It’s barely been a day since we all agreed that Ethan signing that deed was the worst course of action we could take.”
“I know, but I’ve had time to think about it more,” Katryna said.
“And since then, the Duchess did speak to me again,” Ethan added. “She wasn’t as scary as she was before.”
“And where’s she now?” Zoey asked, looking around.
Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. She disappeared at the start of the race.”
“Well, that’s convenient,” Zoey said with a snort.
“How’s that?”
“Because now she doesn’t have to answer any questions I might have you ask her,” she replied. Zoey drummed her fingers on the table and let out an exasperated sigh. “Did it ever occur to the two of you that maybe—just maybe—that your sudden reversal on signing that deed has zero to do with having a good idea and everything to do with this ship manipulating you?”
“No, but that’s not it,” Ethan said, shaking his head.
Zoey shot him a deadpan look. “How do you know?”
“I just do,” he said.
“Well, Mister I’m-going-to-channel-Aragorn, do you think those that picked up the one ring thought they were being manipulated?” she asked.
The cabin door flung open right as she finished her question, and Marcus came barging in. His eyes held a wild look to them, and his meaty hands gripped his staff so tightly that his arms bulged to such a degree, Ethan had no idea how the minotaur hadn’t already pulverized the staff with grip strength alone.
“Did she agree?” he bellowed with unbridled enthusiasm. “I can’t wait to get started!”
Zoey shot him an incredulous look. “No, I didn’t agree! Why the hell would I agree?”
“Why? Why not?” he retorted. “How could you pass up communing with such a powerful spirit on a daily basis? Why wouldn’t you leap at the chance to sail on the most legendary ghost ship to sail the eleven seas? On what realm of existence would you not infuse your soul with every ounce of power she’d grant you?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Zoey said, overly exaggerating her shrug. “Maybe because you don’t want to lose your sanity in the process? And that’s not even getting into the whole sending innocent men and women to a watery grave.”
Marcus shooed a hand at him. “Bah! You’d be mad not to! Think of the knowledge you’d gain! The abilities she’d grant! The places you could go!” The minotaur stopped his rant for a half second as he straightened, a new thought dawning on him. “Perhaps, Captain, in exchange for your service, she’d be agreeable to imbuing our skeletons with her power? Or granting a boon or two to your favorite necromancer? What ship, then, could ever stand up to us?”
“I don’t know,” Ethan replied. “Maybe.”
“Ask her!”
“I can’t. She’s not here.”
“Find her, then!”
Ethan shook his head. “I don’t think it works that way. She appears when she wants to.”
Marcus nodded thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. “I wonder if we need a sacrifice to summon her. Or maybe she wants a fresh body to possess? I’m sure we could use a prisoner from our next engagement.”
“And on that note, we’re done,” Zoey said.
“Wonderful!” the minotaur said, ramming the bottom of the staff onto the floor. “I’m eager to see the Captain’s transformation.”
“No, I mean, over my dead body is the captain signing that deed, and you two,” she said, circling her finger around Katryna and Marcus, “are leaving. This conversation is over.”
An awkward moment settled in the room, but thankfully, when Ethan agreed, Katryna did as told, excusing herself and leading Marcus out.
“I won’t turn her,” Ethan said after he’d waited for a few beats once they’d left.
“But you still want to,” Zoey said, sighing and then taking a drink from her bottle.
“I do,” he admitted. “I think we could pull it off, and she’s not wrong about needing more for Azrael after the race, either.”
“I know. But you two ho
nestly have no idea how strong these lords are,” she said. “They’ve lived for thousands of years, faced down armies and empires. We wouldn’t stand a chance. I don’t care what The Duchess says she can do. I don’t trust her, and I don’t think we’ll get to simply sail around the world in some sort of OP ship, doing as we please. We’ll figure something else out for Azrael.”
Ethan nodded slowly. He’d known this was a long shot, and truthfully, part of him wasn’t as optimistic about the plan as Katryna was. So it was a relief in that regard that Zoey stayed the course. “I know we will,” he said. “Thanks for listening, though.”
Zoey smiled. “No, thank you for listening.”
“I wonder what Marcus is going to do now you’ve popped his dream.”
“We popped his dream,” she corrected. “And honestly, I don’t care.”
“Does this count as our first fight?” Ethan asked. “As a couple, I mean.”
Zoey shrugged. “Wasn’t much of one. So, no?”
Ethan darted his eyes over to the bed. “I was kind of hoping it was.”
“You were, were you?” she asked, grinning.
Ethan nodded.
“Think we need to make up?”
Ethan nodded again. “The thought had crossed my mind.”
“Then yes,” she replied, setting the bottle on the table and folding her hands in her lap. “It was the most terrible of fights we’ve ever had, and I’m quite appalled at your behavior, Master Ethan. I believe consolations are in order.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Little Bargadine
Days came and went. The Duchess, or the ghost or whatever, never returned, which in a strange way both relieved and unnerved Ethan to no end. During that time, he and the crew kept the Victory moving swiftly across the waters without incident. Though they’d passed a couple more ships during that time, as well as several foundering wrecks of the defeated after not-so-cordial meetings, they still lagged far behind Azrael, who kept a sizeable lead on all.
The Crew (Captains & Cannons Book 2) Page 21
