“Cut away, Mr. Kit!” barked the captain from the pup.
The ironmages were on deck with him, robes whipping, court shoes sliding, and I cursed under my breath. They were powerful mages, but they could still be swept over the side like the rest of us.
“Captain said cut away!” Fahr now, hands sparking as he stood behind Smoke at the sunswheel.
But the mizzen topgallant was still abreast, her canvas acting as a rudder and dragging us broad. It was dangerous, as theTouchstoneneeded to be close-hauled to the wind. In this weather, a roll could cause us to take on water and either crack the hull or sink us outright. After the horror of theDawn Watch, I knew I wouldn’t survive a wreck in this storm.
Buck and his men moved swiftly along the cannons, securing them three times over with cable and line, but I could see the guns straining against the ropes. If one of them frayed, if one of them snapped, someone could be crushed under a ton of rolling iron.
My knees buckled as the ship plunged into a trough, slamming me to the deck before I could catch hold of the capstan. I scrambled for footings, but a massive wave broke the wale and carried me leeward under a rush of furious sea. My lifeline yanked, and the air rushed from my lungs, but what came back in was water. I was underwater. I was on deck, but Iwas underwater, and I thrashed frantically against the crushing weight. Then, the water was gone, sweeping windward now as the ship rolled to port. Flailing, my gloved fingers found a plank. I pulled my knees under my chest, forced myself aright, and retched out an ocean’s worth of sea back onto the deck.
I scrambled to the capstan, clung like a wet rag as I coughed and sputtered and fought for breath. My legs were shaking, my arms barely able to hold, but hold I did as another trough brought a second wave to swamp the main deck once again. This time, the leeward roll was so deep that I swore the yardarm went in, and it was then that I reckoned we were done for.
She rolled back, however, the hands on the yard clinging to her still, and I heard the captain order all hands to port. To port. I could get portside before the next trough, but it was then that I saw the funnel.
Sheets will destroy. Stormshears will kill.
“Stormshear ten degrees to port!” I cried as loud as I could.
“Stormshear ten degrees to port!” someone echoed beside me.
The first one was almost upon us, and I could feel the spray biting my cheeks. I lashed my line to the capstan twice over, tugging it tight, and peered around to watch.
“Spinners!” cried Fahr. “Mr. Neale, take the helm!”
“Aye, sir!”
Buck struggled to the sunswheel, where he, Smoke, and Fahr leaned in and began to cast. The ship groaned as the first shear chewed up the staves, but I could see runes dancing in the currents as they spun around and around and around. It was the sound of lightning and thunder and shrieking wind as the funnel churned across our bow, snapping lines and stripping timber. Suddenly, she shattered from within, and ice pellets sprayed across the decks like cannister shot.
Seamages cheered, and I wiped sleet from my eyes as I scanned the sea. One down, two to go, and they were spiraling fast towardus. My heart sank, however, when I saw what was behind them.
“Beat to windward, Mr. Neale!” shouted the captain, and the master’s mate hauled to on the wheel.
Her lover will kill.
It was a wave higher than the ship, higher even than the ramparts of Port Corvallan’s city walls.
“Did we do that?” cried Fahr.
“Bells, I hope not!” said Smoke. “Can we undermine her?”
“Take her out!” said Buck.
But the two shears were almost upon us.
“Mr. Kit!” called the captain from the pup. “Where are we with mizzentop?”
I couldn’t hear her reply over the howl of the winds. It was clear they were still struggling, and I saw two seamages swinging by their lifelines from the rigs. A fall from that height would kill them instantly, if they weren’t swept over the side before they hit the deck.
“Cut loose the lifelines, Kit! Let fly!”
And he pulled off his captain’s coat, turned, and took three long strides and dove over the side. It was hard to see through the pelting rain and the pitching ship, but I knew that, within a heartbeat, I would see a flash of white.
The winter hawk swept around and up, up, up to the top gallant, catching two of the flailing men in his talons. Kit lunged forward and cut their lines, and their weight combined to pull the great hawk down. His wings beat wildly, and the descent was clumsy, but the men hit the deck with a force far less than if they had fallen. They tumbled away, and the hawk swept up once more.
For her part, Kit had cut the rope of a junior rigger, and he clung to her as she descended awkwardly to the deck. She also sprang back up once released and joined the captain at the mast.
The second stormshear was upon us, pelting ice daggers andchewing up planks as she went, but Fahr spun runes into the shear, and Buck sent them deep. The great funnel constricted, shrinking in on herself like a squeezed fist.
