I can’t break the connection. The queen’s hand is like an endless weight on top of mine. I try to redirect it. I feel around with my mind, desperate to find anything to ground me. The Seaguardians are untouched and therefore useless. I consider the queen, but she’s holding Raina, and I can’t risk what might happen. I spark my energy around the Mothers; they are surely powerful enough, but my bond with them isn’t strong enough to be sure. There is only one Temple Sister who would be close enough to even have a chance. I feel her then, Malostra’s energy in the library amongst the other girls. I disperse the energy, letting it flow in as many places as I can and absorbing what my body will take. Malostra is my grounding point, my anchor.
The others are moving around me, trying to pull me away, but I am rooted in place. I cannot break the chain. I try to gulp down the energy, but it keeps coming from the Tree. It overwhelms me and we’re all pulled under.
chapter forty-four
finlyr
Ris and I takethe helm, steering portside to face the oncoming vessel. Now that it’s closer I can see their ship is smaller than ours, with fewer sails and the length of three trees stump to stem, but it is crewed by more living than dead. They will be nimbler, more reactive. We have heft, that’s all. We can’t risk another ship getting to the Maelstrom before us. They’re right ahead of us, moving into the ideal position to take full advantage of the wind, trying to force us into their wake.
Isagani stands at the ballista, sight-testing the range of the arrow. I fear they might get catapulted into the sea from the weight of the recoil.
‘We don’t have many arrows,’ I counsel. ‘So we fire a warning shot first.’
‘And if that doesn’t work?’
‘It would be a great time for Sinigang to show us some more of those particular skills Narra promised.’
Sinigang hisses. ‘You’ll thank me when the time comes.’
‘Aim for the crew. Loose the arrow!’
Isagani strains, trying to pull back the string. They don’t have the strength to give it the tension needed. The arrow lands halfway between our deck and the other ship.
Ris curses, jumping to the ballista, and I barely have time to steady the helm alone. She stands behind Isagani, letting them aim again.
Isagani lines it up carefully, tongue poking out of the corner of their mouth. Ris slowly pulls back the string, sitting into the tension with a smooth and mighty squat.
‘Now!’ Isagani yells, and she lets go.
The arrow finds its mark. It does less damage than I hoped, but it’s certainly got the other crew’s attention.
‘Take cover!’ I command as their returning arrow finds its mark. I can hear the sloshing in the brig. I can only hope they are taking on water faster than we are.
‘Ris, get down to the bilge pump!’
‘The what?’
‘Below the keel. Pump the water out, or we’ll sink!’
Paranish, they can somewhat make their way around the ship but only just. Ris nods, hurrying down to rid us of some water.
I keep us steady as Isagani climbs back up the rigging. Sinigang and Biba stay on deck, Biba holding the spyglass and both of them relaying what they see happening on the other ship.
‘Going again,’ Biba yells.
Saltsweptgives a low painful moan, a creaking in the hull of wood catching and disliking what it finds.
The ship lurches, and we try to stand. We steady our balance as the vessel rolls one way and then another. A huge spray and the deep otherworldly wail. It hums and vibrates, like someone blowing across an empty glass bottle. I dare not turn around, but I dare not miss it. I glimpse a huge tentacle slithering back beneath the waves, dark, livid purple suckers on mottled orange skin. Across the way, I hear the other crew screaming and cursing. I don’t blame them. I felt my spirit leaving my body the first time I saw it.
‘What in Paranish is that?’ Ris yells from below.
‘Is that a—?’ Isagani asks, in disbelief.
‘It can’t be!’ Ris counters.
He’s much as I remembered. He bobs towards the surface, almost a curious spectator. Translucent save for the streaks of red across his tentacles. Sailors have often mistaken whale penises for kraken, but there’s no doubt here. He looks at me with his dark glassy eye, triple the size of a porthole, surveying me like a fish in a bowl. Now that he’s here, I feel a strange calm wash over me. Like being in the eye of the storm. Or in the eye of a kraken.
The kraken reaches for us, huge appendages striking the water around us. He catches the edge of the deck. The taffrail splits and tumbles into the water.
