“Aye.” She disappears casually through the hatch.
I make a show of thinking over Father’s offer, but all I can think is that I never really knew this man. I thought I did. I thought I knew just how fierce and cruel he was, thought I was all right with it, since that cruelty was mostly directed at our enemies. But now that it’s directed at my crew, it is something I cannot forgive.
“Let me tell you what I think of your offer,” I say.
That’s when the first cannons fire.
The Ava-lee rocks from the blasts. Wood rips open in the opposite ship. I have only four cannons below. Two were aimed at the deck of the opposing ship, one blowing apart a group of men huddled together while the other nicked the mizzenmast. The other two cannons tear holes through the starboard side, one lodging into the wood while the other cuts clean through.
Father turns and bellows orders to Tylon’s men. I smile at the little weasel’s put-out face as my father takes control of his men, and dole out orders to my own crew.
“Fire the muskets!” I shout. “Aim for the gun ports. Take out the men at the cannons!”
Tylon’s ship has more than double the cannon fire of mine. If we don’t focus fire on the men operating the cannons, they’ll obliterate us in no time.
Niridia appears back at my side. “Musket,” I say, holding out my hand, and she places the gun in it. I sight one of the gun ports, narrow my gaze on the man loading the ball into the cannon, and fire. He goes down, and Niridia trades me a loaded musket for an empty one.
Riden veers around me to take his own shot, aiming for the gun ports as ordered. His mark goes down.
“Very nice,” I tell him.
He grins before trading muskets.
Gunfire ripples through the air on both sides. My girls are well protected behind their barrels, crates, rowboats, and other hiding places, but the men on Tylon’s ship fall like hail from the sky, some tumbling off the edges of their ship, hitting the water.
I only get out one more shot before the first cannon fire reaches us. The ship lurches back from the force of it, but there’s no time to assess the damage.
Instead I reach out with my voice. I know that if Father is hurtling out orders, his men must not have their ears covered.
I find three men at a cannon, pull them under my spell. It’s not hard to project a new image into their minds, make them think the bottom of their own ship is actually mine. They start to pull the cannon away from the gun port, aim it at the base of their own ship.
But then I lose one. He was killed by his own men once they noticed what he was up to. I grab another man, have him help with the task. One finally manages to clean out the carriage, another reaches for a cannonball, but I lose all three of them. Someone is putting up a good fight over there. Luckily, though, it’s pulling the rest of the gunmen away from their own cannons as they try to stop their fellow men from blowing holes in their ship. I keep them busy, seeking out live men when the previous ones die, just like I did at Vordan’s inn.
Sorinda races toward me, ducking behind the barrier we’ve fashioned. With four of us, we’re all pressed shoulder to shoulder.
“Acura eels have surfaced,” she says.
I smile. “How many?”
“At least two. One is enormous.”
“Perfect.”
I switch tactics, singing to the men on the top deck, enchanting them to jump into the water. As soon as they leap, I release them, searching for men still aboard the ship with my voice.
“Keep firing,” I tell Riden and Niridia. I grab another loaded musket and an extra pistol, then race with Sorinda over to her previous position, blocked from attack by barrels storing freshwater.
I peer into the sea.
Men shriek as the eels circle them. The eels like to toy with their food first. It’s when they dive below the surface that one needs to worry. That’s when they’re readying to charge. They’re deadly carnivores that spend most of their time on the sea bottom, sensing for disturbances in the water.
Their nostrils stand out prominently, giving them an even fiercer look. They’re navy blue on the top half, white on the bottom: the perfect camouflage, not that they need it.
Acura eels are far worse than sharks. Sharks only kill when they’re hungry. But eels—they don’t leave anything alive, whether hungry or not.
One of the eels currently in the water must be at least twelve feet, teeth twice the length of a finger. Tylon’s men swim desperately for the ship, clinging to its sides—before they’re dragged under.
I can’t sing and fire at the same time, and the men at the gun ports are back to loading the cannons. I reach for them with my song once more, and I finally enchant one of the men to light the fuse at the cannon pointed downward.
I hear the blast seconds later, and it brings a smile to my face. That’ll keep the gunmen busy as they try to stopper the hole.
My father is visible from this vantage point. His voice bellows over the sounds of my ship’s cannons firing again.
I spot one of Tylon’s men right next to him. With my song, I promise him riches lie in the water if he’ll only jump. My father watches as the man tosses himself overboard.
An eel circles him, spinning the current around him, before diving. Seconds later it drags his scream under the water.
Kalligan searches my ship. When his eyes land on me, they narrow.
I wish I could take Father out, but he’s too skilled of a fighter. He’d only be momentarily distracted if I sent men to fight him. And it would take all of my focus just to keep him busy.
A breeze ripples across my forehead as I utter one last note, sending three more men overboard, and my song officially runs out.
But my father doesn’t know that yet, and I hear one word rise out of the chaos.
“Retreat!”
He’s done playing with us. Now we’ll face the fleet as soon as he and Tylon’s ship are out of the way.
I wipe the sweat from my forehead, shoot my musket at another man through a gun port, just as another comforting breeze wafts over my heated skin.
The breeze …
“Riggers! Get those sails down!” I shout.
The girls leave their safe places to race for the masts. Riden hurries to join them.
“Not you, Riden! Keep shooting!” I tell him.
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.
The Ava-lee jerks 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.
But my ocean is full of disturbances.
Men scream from far away, their cries cut off by eels tearing into them. What wonderful beasts. Another comes pelting in this direction, after the women whose legs kick to keep them above the surface. One of them is bleeding, sending the eel into a frenzy. I stay right where I am, ready to watch the show. Until something kicks me.
I hadn’t even noticed I was holding on to a man. Though the salt water must sting his eyes, he manages to glower at me thoroughly.
I laugh at the silly creature. Watch him struggle against me. We’re below the water’s surface. It won’t be long before his lungs give up. But then, he stops fighting. He can’t have drowned so quickly. No, he draws himself nearer, places his forehead against mine, noses bumping.
The heat from him—
This sensation. This lack of fighting. It’s—
It’s—
A memory pushes itself to the surface, words fluttering into my mind on wings. Your enchantments last long after your song fades, he said before he kissed my skin.
Suddenly, peace and eagerness are gone, replaced once more by fear and urgency. I throw Riden toward the ocean’s surface before launching myself toward the oncoming eel. The largest one yet, perhaps fifteen feet—all teeth and muscle. Its tail rippling through the water so quickly I can barely see it.
But I’m faster.
I may not have been born in the sea, but I was born to rule it.
I am the daughter of the siren queen.
The eel has already finished its circling of Niridia and the others. It’s far below us now, surging up, up, up, mouth gaping.
I reach for the dagger in my boot, launching myself at the eel from the side. Dagger connects first, then my legs wrap around the creature’s body, just barely long enough for my feet to connect on the other side of the massive water beast.
It wriggles at the pain, sending us shooting in random directions. I pull out the dagger and drive it in again. And again and again. Finally the creature stills, and I release it. A quick glance shows me that someone lowered a rope for the girls and Riden.
But Death’s Secret still pulls us in.
A harpoon dislodges from my ship; one of the girls must have tossed it over after cutting the line. An idea hits me, and I grab the harpoon before it can sink to the ocean’s bottom. I swim down, down, down—as far as I can get while still traveling toward the opposing ship.
Then I propel myself toward the enemy ship, all muscles straining, swimming as fast as my siren nature will carry me, angling the harpoon so the tip will hit first.
It pierces the wood, and I rip it back out. I pull at the boards in the opening, widening it as water gushes into the hole. They must have patched up the cannon hole I made the men launch into their own ship.
Let’s see them patch this up.
I repeat the action, swimming down and then striking the ship with the harpoon three times more.
Death’s Secret is rapidly sinking.
I am underwater, fully in control of my mind, and the ship holding my father is sinking. I should be a mindless beast right now, lost to the sea forever, my crew and ship disappearing into the deep.
Instead I am more powerful than I’ve ever been before in my life.
The realization is intoxicating.
I don’t want to leave the water. As soon as I do, I know I will have the same weaknesses as before. Unable to replenish my abilities without losing my mind, useless to everyone.
But what is the alternative? To stay underwater with my human mind forever? Never living life as a siren or human. Trapped somewhere in between.
I swim back toward my own ship, watching the lines from the harpoons fall into the sea. The Ava-lee is free, beginning to sail away.
I don’t breach the water’s surface until I’m on the port side, where the fleet can’t see me.
I don’t want my father knowing I beat his ship by destroying it from under the water’s surface. This will not be the last time I see him or his fleet, and I don’t want him knowing I’ve found an advantage.
Chapter 15
“ROPE!” I SHOUT UP from the water.
Sorinda peeks over the edge of the ship once before tossing me one. I haul myself up with her help.
The ships in the distance fire their cannons, now that Tylon’s ship has gone down. Holes ripple in the water near us, but we’ll soon be out of range.
We need to get our lead back.
It’s too much to hope my father went down with the ship. He would have been the first one off it.
I expel some of my song so I can absorb the water drenching my clothes. Once I am dry, I will no longer be able to restock without losing myself. I know this, somehow. I can feel the siren part of me just waiting to come back out.
I plant myself on the aftercastle with Kearan. He steers us while I keep my eyes on the fleet. I can’t see the faces of the men from this distance, but there is one figure—bigger than all the others—that stands out. The king. He will be furious. His men will be terrified of him.
They must already be exhausted from rowing all this way, because they are unable to keep pace with us.
I stay up top with Kearan for maybe an hour, just long enough to determine we are still gaining a lead and are long out of range. The fleet is still in sight. It will be a while before we no longer see them on the horizon. But it is safe enough to check on other things.
My first stop is the infirmary. I find Mandsy wrapping Niridia’s hand in gauze. My first mate is covered in a large blanket, water pooling below her on the floor.
“How bad is it?” I ask.
“The ball went clean through the middle of her hand. It’s hard to say how the bones will heal.”
“It’s my left hand,” Niridia mumbles. “I’ll still have a sword hand. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’ve tried to give her something for the pain, but she won’t take it.”
I raise a brow at Niridia.
“You need me sharp. Our enemies are far too close.”
I place a hand on her shoulder. “I need you well. We’re okay for now. Get healed up. You’re to take whatever Mandsy gives you. That’s an order.”
Niridia purses her lips, but she doesn’t refuse the bottle Mandsy passes her.
“Niridia is the last to be patched up,” Mandsy says. “I’ve taken care of the others. They’re already resting below. A few of the girls took balls to the legs and arms. Mostly nicks as they were veering around their hiding places to take shots.”
“I heard someone fall from the mast as I ordered the sails unfurled,” I say. “No concussions?”
Mandsy’s face turns grave. “No, a casualty, Captain.”
I swallow. “Who?”
“Haeli. She took a bullet to the back. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. I left her on the deck so we can put her to rest as soon as we have enough of a lead on the fleet.”
Haeli. One of my best riggers. I picked her up off Calpoon—one of the Seventeen Isles. She was in a traveling band of performers. Half the time she played the lute during performances, the other she was out in the audience, stealing from their pockets. I was one of her marks. After she robbed me, I offered her a job. Told her I paid better than thieving.
Now she’s lifeless out on my deck.
I force a deep breath through my nose. “Any other casualties?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I leave them. The weight of this journey presses down on my shoulders, physically exhausting me, despite the nourishment I’ve just received from the ocean. How many of us will be left once we reach the siren island? How many of my loved ones will I be forced to lose in order to make the rest safe?
I can’t stand the pressure of my own thoughts. I need to keep busy.
I seek out Radita belowdecks.
“She took a few hits, Captain,” she says once I ask after the status of the ship. “A cannon struck through the galley. It took out most of the water storage, and all the water barrels on the deck were riddled with holes during the battle. We’ve lost most of our drinkable water.”
Daughter of the Siren Queen Page 16
