Nibo growled deep in his throat at the creature’s annoying timing. “Is there no privacy on this damn boat?”
“Not really.” Thorn slapped him on the shoulder. “One of the reasons I’m not fond of traveling by sea.”
He growled out loud. “What doyouwant?”
“The Malachai in chains. My father’s head on a platter and a willing woman in my bed. But at the moment, I’d settle for something as easy as you telling me what the hell are those?”
Nibo didn’t understand at first what he meant. Or that unwarranted hostile tone.
Until he looked up to see what had caused the stress in Thorn’s voice.
“Oh my God,” Valynda breathed.
“Not exactly.” Nibo cursed the sight of a million seagulls headed for them.
Granted, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but from his vantage point …
It looked like a million.
Maybe more.
As in a million had a million babies and brought their cousins, along with a few dozen friends.
“Thorn!” Bane called.
“Yeah,” he said in a dry, cold tone. “I got nothing for this, old man.”
Nibo was feeling that emotion. Especially as he saw their condition and realized that those birds weren’t alive or “normal.” These were Carrion Gulls let loose from Agiwe’s personal closet. More than that, they were soldiers in the petro army and used to frighten their enemies and those they wanted to drive toward madness.
Or those they wanted to destroy utterly.
Inside and out.
“Strixa!” Nibo summoned the water witch as a thought came to him. “Simon!” The Exú priest would be every bit as helpful as Nibo moved forward.
He turned to the water witch first. “Can you summon your Strykyn?” Black war owls, they were her children who served the god Apollo in his army. “Keep them distracted.”
“To what purpose?”
“Long enough for me and Simon to summon Exú and get a strong enough wind to drive them back and us forward.”
While they made ready for his spell, the rest of the crew threw what they had at the birds … fireballs, spears, even shoes.
Nothing daunted the skeletal gulls. Not until Simon and Nibo were able to get their chanting fired into high gear. The Strykyn appeared as bursts of lightning, out of the blue, to attack each of the gulls. They would swoop in and grab one, but for every one they took, it seemed as if there were at least four more.
Valynda watched in horror as there was nothing to be done for the mounting terror that was quickly descending on them.
Nibo’s and Simon’s deep voices circled around and around, lifting up toward the birds that shrieked as if they were in agony.
Thorn breathed in relief, as it looked like between the Strykyn owls and chanting they might be safe.
Until the chanting opened a glowing portal over the ship’s mainmast.
Nibo glanced up and winced. “Shit,” he breathed.
Valynda’s stomach churned at the sound of that single syllable.
“Shit?” Thorn repeated. “Oh hell no, Nibo, there better be no shit in this!”
