Up ahead, the ship glided back into view. There were several new figures on the deck, including the familiar form of Selene, his mother-in-law.
Then he saw Brynn.
She was dressed exactly as her corpse had been in his foretelling—in a tattered shift and bound with ropes. She stood between two men, her arms lashed in ropes from her wrists to her elbows. Something that had not been in his vision was locked around her neck—a locking band made of dark metal not unlike a thrall’s collar.
Fury burned in Cenric’s chest at the sight of her bonds, washing out the relief he might have felt at seeing her alive. How dare they. Howdarethey.
Cenric adjusted his grip on the rope one last time, looking to Olfirth. The old man lifted his hand.
If they raised the ropes too quickly, the people on the ship might be able to cut them before the cords hooked the front of the hull. If they were raised too late, the ship could sail past.
Cenric cracked his neck, a shiver of anticipation went through him.
The ship glided to the mouth of the inlet. Olfirth shifted, then his fist dropped.
As one, Cenric, Edric, and Olfirth’s thanes yanked the ropes taunt. They leaned hard to the left, bracing around the trunk of a large pine as the ship jerked into the lines.
The horseman sprang into action, looping his rope over the prow of the ship and veering his animal back into the trees. With a line connected to the vessel, the horse jerked it sideways, pulling the craft partway onto the shore.
Cenric spotted the shapes of men and sorceresses knocked against the deck of the ship. Several appeared to be recovering, drawing weapons and shouting in alarm.
But he’d lost sight of Brynn.
Armed men leapt from the ship, several rushing to try and cut the vessel free, but Olfirth’s thanes charged to meet them.
With the ship immobilized, Olfirth’s men swung their shields from their backs onto their arms and Cenric did the same. Battles cries split the air as the first of Olfirth’s thanes clashed with the sorceress’s men on the riverbank.
The spear wasn’t going to be much use in such close quarters, so Cenric drew his sword. He rushed toward the ship, Edric at his back.
Olfirth let off a war cry and leapt into the fray.
Cenric made it to the edge of the trees before the air itself seemed to crack. There was a sound that was not so much a sound as the absence of sound, like the silence before the crash of thunder.
A blast of power burst from the ship. Everything exploded into golden light, blinding and disorienting.
Cenric went weightless, hurling through the air. He smacked into the earth onto his back. Air was forced out of his lungs and everything in his vision turned white. His ears rang with a high-pitched shriek.
For a moment, he blinked and gasped at the sky, blind, deaf, and unable to breathe. It felt like forever, but air slowly filled his lungs again and he made out the shapes of trees overhead.
Cenric!Snapper’s panicked cry flooded Cenric’s thoughts.Cenric hurt? Cenric!Snapper hovered over him, licking his face and pawing at him frantically.
Edric’s voice filtered through the ringing. “Cenric? Cenric! Are you alive?”
“Alive,” Cenric grunted, ruffling Snapper’s ears to reassure the dog.
Edric lay a few steps away. Around them lay the shapes of Olfirth’s thanes. The men stirred, groaning as they struggled to rise.
Rolling onto his side, Cenric clawed his way to all fours.
The blast of power had pushed back the nearest trees, bending great trunks like reeds for a basket. Several of those nearest the bank had been flattened entirely, pushed out by the force of that spell.
The surge had gone in all directions, forcing up water, silt, river plants, and rocks. The ship was gone, or more accurately, it lay in pieces. Boards scattered among the mud and broken trees like the feathers of an unfortunate wooden bird.
“Brynn.” Fear rose in Cenric’s chest. She had been on the deck of the ship. Where was she now?Stay away from the strangers,he ordered Snapper.
Strangers?Snapper cocked his head, tail stiff.
Stay back.
