Dinesh shrugged.“That will only worry them.We’re going to do this.If your attempt ends badly, well, there’s nothing we can do about that.I’m betting you’ll succeed.”
“You’re betting I’ll succeed!What about me?”
“I suppose you’d better hope I’m right.”He stood and came toward me, standing directly in front of me, his gaze boring into mine.“Look, Rooster.I have confidence in you.”
“At least one of us does.”
He was right though.He was asking me to do this.I should be able to do it.I was scared, and that was understandable.But at some point, I needed to take responsibility for this strange ability of mine.I needed to learn how much control I had over the magic, if I had any at all.
Only I didn’t know how to begin.In all the circumstances so far in which I’d called upon my powers, I’d been stressed and horrified and worried that either I was going to die, or someone close to me was going to perish.Or both.So I’d been in a state of agitation.Perhaps I needed to summon anger or unease as a first step.
I straightened my back and took a deep breath.Dinesh stepped away and watched me with caution.I closed my eyes.
I tipped my head to the sky and brought to mind the swirling storms I’d summoned in the past.Dark clouds and lightning, a maelstrom of violence.I thought back to watching the crew of an attacking ship shoot Donatello at close range, with Dinesh nearby.
The outrage was immediate.I recalled how upset I’d been, how worried about the life of the captain, and the rest of the crew.But mostly the captain.We’d only recently come together, but he’d already made a significant impression on me.I hadn’t as yet been aware of the impact I’d made upon him.
I recalled the desperate feeling when we’d escaped from Cayonne.And then the fear of the violent storm that had assailed us after we’d thought ourselves safe and away, when I had been able to call down my powers with some intention.
And most recently, the ambush on the Eloise.
How frightened I’d been at the docks in Cayonne, and how enraged that the memories of a wonderful evening at the Turnkey with Domingo had been besmirched by a violent attack.The fear as well, of my friends being hurt or killed, as we tried to row the skiffs away.
An invisible flame coursed through me.The magic was there, inside me, ready to be summoned now.I visualized the power flowing along my limbs and into the palms of my hands.
I opened my eyes.
A storm gathered above me.Purple and cobalt clouds, swirling directly overhead.
I looked at the captain.
He stood there, his hand on the mast, gazing at me with something like awe.He nodded and tried to smile as if he was unable to say the words I needed to hear.
That’s right.You’re doing fine.
So I pretended he had said them.
That’s right.You’re doing fine.
I closed my eyes and tipped my face upwards.I lifted my palms and splayed my fingers.I remembered the words to the chant, and spoke them:
“Bring me the fire and the flame,
O’er the ocean, in my name.
Give me the lightning and the storm,
From the heavens, let it be borne.”
I recalled the next part of the verse spoke to wanting to smite my enemies, and we were not being attacked at the moment.What might occur if I only spoke the first verse?
The energy swirled inside me—a warm glow in my belly, radiating outward to my limbs, not completely unlike the sensations I experienced whilst under Dinesh’s erotic spell, but stronger and without any lustful component.
I opened my eyes again and gazed upwards.The storm raged directly over me.The wind whipped my hair and assailed my skin.I caught the scent of imminent rain and a coming deluge.A drop of rain landed in my eye, making the lid squeeze shut and causing me to turn my face down.After a moment, I looked at Dinesh, blinking the rainwater away as the torrent coursed down my face.
The captain stared at the roiling clouds over my head without distress, his expression one of fascination instead.
The rain fell on him, but he didn’t appear to mind.He lowered his gaze to mine and we stared at each other for several moments, until the heat in my palms became too much and, instinctively, I doused the flame.
