The catapults fired. Lit barrels passed through our second cloud of arrows toward us.
But before they could reach the ships, the Dags leaped forward and speared them out of the air. They exploded safely away from the ships.
Everyone cheered.
“Brilliant idea, brother!” Maz shouted.
I’d thought of it while watching the Dags spear fish off the coast. But the barrels were only the first problem.
I turned back to the warship just as they released their own swarm of arrows. “Shields!”
Everyone ducked under their assigned shield-bearers. I took cover under Maz’s. Jek covered Ruru and Daire. Arrows thumped down around us like hail.
Lightning flashed, and the sky growled again.
Fucking Four, if it rained, our fire would be useless. But so would theirs.
I yanked on Ruru’s arm. “Signal Skelly to circle now.”
He nodded and grabbed another flag we’d made, a red one threaded with a black triangle in the middle. He waved it back and forth, the cloth snapping in the vicious wind.
Skelly shouted orders, andMynastra’s Wingsveered off to cut around the warship. Roark, the bone-rattler from Skelly’s crew, spun the wheel of our ship. The wood creaked and groaned beneath my feet as the ship turned broadside in the waves.
The warship slowed as the soldiers readied all four of their catapults to aim at the tempting target we presented.
“Come on, Mynastra, come on,” I muttered, gazing up at the black clouds.
“Aiden,” Maz growled, gripping his axe.
The other warriors readied their spears again. The roaring waves crashed into our ship, pitching the deck at a steep angle.
“Aiden!” Maz shouted.
The catapults flung their burning barrels. Just as sweet, glorious rain flooded the sky. The barrels lost speed, their flames sputtering out before they crashed into the sea.
Everyone cheered again, thrusting their weapons into the downpour.
“Right us, Roark!” I bellowed.
The sailor was already battling with the wheel, his neck straining. Our ship slowly turned with the waves. But the warship was too close.
I grabbed the deck railing. “Brace!”
Everyone latched on to something.
The two ships crashed together in an explosion of wood. The force of it nearly threw me overboard. Cries sounded from both sides.
The ship shuddered and groaned as it swayed against the warship.
“Our hull’s cracked like an egg, Aiden!” Yarina shouted from the other side of the deck. “We’re taking on water!”
“Board the warship!” I roared. If we were to survive, we needed at least two working ships. Theirs would do just fine.
I yanked our flag from its line and tied it around my waist.
Jek handed out grappling hooks. The soldiers seemed to have recovered from our collision as they began shooting arrows down at us.
Cries of pain tempted me to turn around, to save whoever it was, but I stayed focused. I flung my grappling hook over the warship’s railing and started climbing up. A dozen other warriors did the same—Maz and Ruru on either side of me.
