Page 7 of A Siren of Beasts

He just looked at where I pointed and let out a hysterical laugh. “You are out of your god damn mind. How the hell are we going to do that?”

“First, we need to find some rope or something to attach to it so we can pull it out,” I answered.

Crates and barrels had been broken open displaying gold, jewels, silks, seeds, and other various items that I was sure Barnaby had demanded be brought along. Digging through the wreckage I found a knife along with a belt and strapped it around my waist. Continuing the search, I noticed that water was sloshing around in the space. We were running out of time faster than I’d hoped. Then I stumbled upon a bunch of crates filled with various weapons and there lay a grappling hook with a rope attached.

Letting out a shout of victory, I snatched it up and fumbled my way back to the cannon. “Finn,” I yelled. “I’ve got what we need.”

A shuddering groan echoed through the ship and fear zinged up my spine. My gut told me we’d taken on too much water and the ship was beginning to be dragged under. I’d also noticed the swaying had lessened now that we were in the water’s hold. By no means was the ship steady, but it wasn’t as violent as it had been. Finding a spot I felt gave me the best angle, I let out some of the slack on the hook end. I’d never used or seen these used before, but I’d read about them. The theory of what to do sat in the forefront of my mind but now it was time to see if I could put that into action.

It took me a minute to figure out the method of getting the hook in motion but once I figured that out I gave a test throw and failed miserably. It hardly made it up in the air or far from where I was standing. Panic made my hands shake, but I gritted my teeth and tried again and again and again.

This had to work.

I wasn’t fucking dying here, and that was that. Using my fear, I turned it into anger and screamed as I hurled the hook as hard as I could fucking manage. This time it flew high enough to catch on the cannon and I could have wept with joy when I tugged and it didn’t slide loose. Looking around, I found Finn slumped in the water with a large jug of what I guessed might be wine from the trail of liquid running out of the side of his mouth. Tears ran down his cheek and he looked utterly defeated.

“Finn,” I barked. “Get the hell up and help me.”

“What’s the point?” he wailed. “We die in here or out there, either way, there’s not a fly fuck of a chance we live through this.”

“Get your ass up and help me, or I’m going to strangle you myself,” I growled.

Something in my expression must have convinced him because he got up and stumbled over. I knew he didn’t really want to die, he just didn’t have the same determination that I did to claw for any chance I could to get out of this fucking situation. I had him wrap the rope around his wrist a few times so it wouldn’t slide through his fingers. The water was rising higher and more was leaking in through the hole where the cannon was. My hope was the pressure of the water would help us get this thing out.

“Now, pull,” I ordered and put my whole body weight into it using a crate for leverage. Finn wasn’t much help as he stumbled about but it shifted. “Keep pulling!”

Like a cork popping out of a bottle, the cannon came loose and dropped into the water, splashing us. Not like it mattered, we were already soaked from head to toe. Just as I feared, the water flooded in from the hole we’d opened up. Then again, that might be just what we needed. As the water level rose the opening became closer. Grabbing a plank of wood that floated by, I grabbed Finn and he latched onto it.

Kicking my feet, I moved us closer to the opening. “Grab hold of the edge so I can get a hold on you as I let the board go.”

“What? Why are we letting go of the board?” Finn asked in a panicked voice.

“It won’t fit through the opening,” I pointed out. “Now get a firm grip and don’t you fucking let go.”

Finn did as I demanded, using all his strength to hold on as the water flowing in was trying to push him away. Using the current, I let it pull me to the other side to grab the edge opposite him. “Go.”

He shook his head, panic filling his eyes, and he seemed almost paralyzed in place. Hooking a foot through the hole, I used it as leverage to get outside the ship’s hull into the open water. It had been so much calmer inside, whereas now I was being buffeted by wind, rain, and waves slamming me into the wood.

“Give me your hand,” I yelled, reaching for Finn. He just kept shaking his head, and the water got higher and higher. “Do it,” I screamed, begging him to just try.

When he reached for me, a massive wave crested and came crashing down. It’s almost as if it picked me up and launched me into the open sea away from the ship. The last thing I saw of Finn was him getting blasted back into the ship as it was starting to be taken under. As much as I wanted to fight to get to him I was swept up in the waves, clawing to get air, only to get a lungful before being pulled under. The ability to even know where the surface was had been taken from me. Everything was dark, and all I saw were bubbles and churning water.

I got tossed into something that resembled a mast and it sliced into my body down my back to my hip. Blood bloomed in the water and I wanted to scream at the pain but that would cost me valuable air. A flash of light appeared to my right, and I struggled toward it as fast as I could, praying it had been lightning. When my head broke through the water to the surface, I gasped and sobbed, begging whatever gods that might listen to save me.

This couldn’t be my end, I’d made it out.

The sea raged on and I did everything I could to keep myself above water but my body grew cold and tired. If the blood still appearing around me causing pinkish foam in the moonlight was any sign, I was losing a lot of blood. My eyes searched the waves for anything that could keep me afloat but there was nothing. The sea had truly decided to claim each and every one of us that night. Everything hurt, my eyes struggled to stay open, and my limbs grew heavy. Each time I’d dip under the water I would thrash until I was once more breathing air. Then when it happened again, my body had no more strength to give me as I slowly sank under the waves.

It would seem I was going to be like the minstrel’s song about the sailor and the sea. Had she decided I was going to be hers? Would I never be free of being owned or controlled by someone?

I watched as bubbles made by the air leaving my lungs made the journey to the surface. My last breath in their care.

“Don’t give up now Little Siren, we’ve been waiting for you to return.”

four

The waters were restless around me as I slept in my cave at the depths of its embrace. Over the unknown length of time that I’d chosen to sleep,, they’d gotten more and more agitated. Humans became greater in number over the centuries and learned how to use ships to sail across the open water that once kept us free of them. When they started to make our home theirs I knew it was time for me to slumber. There was no need for me to guard our land anymore, it was infested with humans and more were being born each time I blinked.

Some tried to live in harmony with them, learning their speech and teaching them things about our lands. The more comfortable the humans got, the more they took from us and I couldn’t stand to watch. Our queen felt it was best to welcome those who found their way to our lands. She would say the magic called to them, luring them to where they needed to be. I wanted to believe her up until the day they took her, ripping her from our lands, cursing us to a fate of madness.