The portal.Elation and dread warred within Desi.They were so close to the place she might go home, yet so near to where theSentinelwould meet her doom.Her stomach soured.
Was Caleb’s destiny sealed for all time?
Liam stormed forward, his voice cutting through the din.“Saints and angels, we’re done for!Two frigates on our tail, and half our crew in their graves!We’ve not men enough to haul a brace, let alone trade broadsides.We’re done for!”He slammed a fist against the bulwark.“The Devil’s Mouth indeed.It yawns to swallow us whole!”
“Enough, Liam!”Alden barked, planting a steadying hand on his shoulder.“We’ve faced worse odds.The Almighty hasn’t failed us yet.”
“Saints preserve us, He’d best wake soon,” Liam spat, pacing away.
From the main hatch, Brandt emerged, pallid and unkempt, one hand on his cane, the other gripping the coaming for balance.His coat bore fresh blood, his eyes hollow with exhaustion.When Caleb’s gaze found him, the surgeon gave a slow shake of his head.
Desi’s heart dropped.The sick men no better.
TheSentinelheaved beneath her feet as she peered toward the horizon.Two French frigates, their sails full-bellied, cut white scars through the blue expanse.Gunports yawned wide as sunlight flashed along the rows of black muzzles like death waiting to roar.
The wind carried the sharp tang of powder from their enemies’ decks.A low, rhythmicboomechoed across the water as they fired a warning shot.
Desi gripped the rail.Was this it, the moment theSentinelwas fated to fall?Would Caleb be lost to the deep, bound to history’s silence, forgetting she had loved him across centuries?
Chapter 32: Crossroads
Wind—harsh, heated, and thick with salt—blasted over Caleb, lashing his coat against his legs and whipping hair into his eyes.
“Orders, Captain?”Alden asked from beside him, voice steady as an anchor in the squall.
That calm only stoked Caleb’s fury.How could the man stand so tranquil when death itself bore down upon them?Montverre would never grant mercy.The marquis might spare them long enough to seize the Ring, aye, but once he held it, he’d send theSentinelto the depths without a blink.
After all, was that not where Desi had found her, in ruins at the bottom of the sea?Mayhap his fate was already chiseled in stone.Yet… Desi had found the Ring with the wreck, not in Montverre’s hands.
“Lay aloft and loose all sail!”he bellowed.“I want every inch o’ canvas to the wind!”
Liam scowled but repeated the order, his brogue rough as gravel.“Aye, Cap’n!Hands aloft!Brace up, ye dogs, or we’ll feed the fishes afore noon!”He leapt for the shrouds, joining the four topmen who swayed like ragged ghosts against the billowing sky.
Canvas cracked and thundered overhead.TheSentinelgroaned under the strain, her masts singing as the sheets snapped taut.Without the sick men at the braces, they could not hope to match the frigates’ speed, but perhaps they could buy time.
Caleb vaulted down the quarterdeck ladder, boots thudding on soaked planks.“Think,” he muttered.“Think, man!”
Then he felt it, heat blooming in his pocket, pulsing like a heartbeat.The Ring.
He drew it forth.A shaft of sunlight speared the jewel, setting it afire with red and gold.Power.Promise.Salvation.Could it heal the crew?Or summon storm and tide to their favor?
Alden’s hand clamped over his, startling him.“Do not.”
“I’ve no choice.”
“You’veeverychoice.”
Desi descended the ladder, her skirts snapping in the wind, curls whipping across her pale face.Fear and faith warred in her eyes.He could not let harm come to her.Nor to his ship.Nor to the men who’d followed him through hell and storm alike.
“You can call on Almighty God, Caleb,” Alden said, his tone firm yet gentle, like a rope cast to a drowning man.“He is mightier than any cursed trinket.There’s naught impossible to Him, or to them who believe.You know this.”
The words struck like thunder through his heart—sharp, clarion, divine.Were they not engraved on the wall of his cabin?
Trust Me, son.
ThatVoice.The One he’d longed to hear these two bitter years.
But trust?An elusive anchor he’d sought to regain.Too oft had he cast it into the deep, only to find the chain unmoored when tempests came.
