“Fire!”
The deck of theTouchstoneshook as our cannons thundered, the guns packing a short but mighty wallop when they connected. And they did, hammering the shots home.
Kill it. Sink it. Make it bleed.
No direct hit, and we were moving swiftly past her. TheRhi’Ahrwere reloading, and I began to lose hope.
Teeth from the water, iron from the Tree.
I leaned onto the rail.
“Touchstone,”I breathed. “I need your help. Take me to the water.”
Aro’el.
And I climbed over the side.
“Aro’el!” barked the captain.
“What the suns?” cried Dev.
I climbed down her hull to the waterline. I had no rope to steady me, no cable, but she gave me the steps from her battered,shattered plank and stave. I twisted above the surface, braced my back against her hull.
Aro’el, bite.
And I turned my face to theEndorathil.
“You made me,” I growled. “Now, I unmakeyou.”
I leaned down and dipped my fingers into the sea. Immediately, chimeric raced across the water toward the cruiser. It crackled up her hull to stop at the gleaming mark where I’d laid my hand.
“Now, Buck!” cried Dev.
“One lucky shot,” I whispered. “Just one.”
The cannon boomed, and I watched the single shot cross the gap between the ships, homing in on the beacon that was the chimeric. Deep called to deep, rune to rune, and with the accuracy of an arrow, the ball struck home.
A wave of light rippled across theEndorathil’s hull, and rune shimmered from prow to stern. I could read this new pattern, could read the flaws in her design and cracks in her integrity. But it was only for a heartbeat, for following the pattern came the fire.
Like the lighting of a cannon’s wick, fire sparked along the runelines, cracking the hull from the inside out in perfect, patterned symmetry. Soon, her entire hull was a sizzling puzzle, and sheburst, sending a wall of heat and flames toward theTouchstone. I turned my face away from the blast, my back scorching in the fiery wind. Sections of the great ship’s hull tore away, sliding from her very bones into the sea. And the sea rushed in.
TheEndorathil’s groan roared over the chaos. She was riding low amidships but higher at prow and stern. Her foremast and mizzen began to tilt toward each other, and a deafening crack echoed across the waves. Within moments, she had fully split, cleft in two by the ocean and me, and both parts began to slideinto the sea.
Swabs leaped into the water, desperate to be free. Sinking ships sucked hapless crew down with them, and I remembered with horror the feel of the void, the blackness of the deep, and the eyes of Corwen the powder boy. This was for him.
A line dropped down by my cheek. I grabbed it, and they pulled me up.
Thanavar was at the rail now, and he looked down at me.
“Well done, Aro’el,” he said, his eyes beaming with pride. I wanted him to throw his arms around me, but I settled for the praise.
Echo and Tek joined us at the rail, along with my mother. In silence, we all watched as theEndorathilslowly slipped under the waves, leaving only a few dozen seamen to splash helplessly in her wake.
“Convention would have us save them,” Thanavar said after a long moment. “But we have suffered these events precisely because, years ago, I showed mercy to Kinrath Ilvalour.”
“Captain,” warned Echo.
“And what would we do with them?” It was my mother, her face bloodied, her long black hair filled with splinters. “Return them to Nethersea? And by what vessel? I don’t think you want this ship found inRhi’Ahrwaters.”
