Page 15 of Rebel in the Deep
Morrigan leaps for me, fingers morphing into long, vicious-looking claws, but Lizzie gets there first, intercepting the captain. “Go!” she yells as she ducks a swipe and kicks Morrigan in the stomach, sending her staggering back. “I’ll take care of her.”
Lizzie is one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever met, and I still hesitate. Morrigan is on another realm entirely.
“Go, Nox!” Lizzie takes a hit that opens a long line on her arm. She doesn’t hesitate to pull the blood from her own body and coat her hands with it, forming claws similar to Morrigan’s. With her longer reach and similar speed…she might stand a chance.
I can’t afford to hesitate. The faster I get to Bastian, the faster this whole fight ends.
The crew is taking an interest now, rushing forward. Damn it. I sprint at them, and there’s no time for finesse. I yank the air from their lungs as I approach. There’s a way to do it withoutcausing damage to the person I’m knocking out, but I’m not being careful right now. The force of the pull crumples their lungs in their chests, physical damage on top of suffocation.
They die.
At least some of them. Elemental magic is tricky, because it can get through some shields but not others. It truly depends on the person casting the shield. I can’t get through Evelyn’s shields, for example. Most of the Cwn Annwn crews don’t have the magic, control, or interest in that level of protection. Sadly, Morrigan’s crew seems to have a disproportionately high number of people capable of repelling me.
A short gnome with purple skin and a truly impressive beard leaps at me, wielding a sword. My brain unhelpfully provides his name and role in the crew: Bull, the quartermaster.
Only to be stopped short a few feet away as if an individual hand reached out and grabbed him. We stare at each other in confusion—he certainly isn’t responsible, and I didn’t have a chance to even attempt an elemental shield—before he is flung backward and into the sea.
It takes my adrenaline-laced brain a second to understand what just happened. “Thanks, Bowen.” I sprint the rest of the way to the hatch and muscle it open as pure chaos erupts around me. Despite my orders for the crew to remain out of sight, they’ve opened fire. Water and fire streak across the night sky to strike the enemies around me. Defending me. Protecting me.
I drop down through the hatch and into relative quiet. This warship is larger than theAudacity, but I’m familiar with the layout. There are only so many options when it comes to buildingships, even magical ones. No one wastes pocket dimensions on the brig.
I suffocate the person running at me before I even register what I’m doing. The fight is barely audible overhead, but itisaudible. A reminder that I have to hurry, that for every moment the battle continues, the greater the chances of someone on my crew being hurt. Of them dying.
Focusing on that isn’t going to do anything but distract me when I can least afford it. I have to move. “Come on, Nox.Focus.” I step over the dead body at my feet and make my way down the narrow hall into a darkness that seems to have a strange weight against my skin. I almost make a small flame to see by, but that feels dangerous in a way I don’t entirely understand. What the fuck does Morrigan do down here?
There are no answers. Just more uncanny darkness. I sigh and keep moving, following the increasingly rank smell of an unwashed body and chamber pot that hasn’t been emptied anytime recently. Which just goes to show that Morrigan is too smart to be underestimated. I don’t know if Bastian would break under traditional torture, but the man I knew fourteen years ago loved to be clean. From the scent currently trying to trigger my gag reflex, he and clean haven’t been on speaking terms since he was taken.
I refuse to feel pity for him.Refuse.Even when I reach the first cell and reluctantly summon a small flame. It barely pushes back the darkness. The small hairs on the back of my neck rise as I begin to understand. He’s huddled in the corner of the cell, hands tied behind his back, blindfolded and gagged. The magical darkness dampens sound and ensures that even if he got theblindfold off somehow, it wouldn’t make any difference. It’s fucking nefarious.
Bastian looksawful. His expensive clothing is filthy, dirt and things I refuse to contemplate cover his skin, and his dark hair is so greasy that it shines against my small light.
“Oh, Bastian,” I whisper.
He flinches. He catches the response immediately and straightens, but it’s too late. I want to tell myself that he’s expecting an enemy, not flinching because ofmyvoice, but even I don’t believe that stretch of logic.
“I’m getting you out of here.” I hurry back to the guard I killed and search their body—something I should have done before walking past them—and come up with a key that must be to the cell.
When I return, Bastian is on his feet, tracking my footsteps even though he can’t see me, can’t speak. I ignore the shaking in my hands and unlock the door.
He’s even worse off than I first realized. Bastian’s body naturally favors a slighter build than someone like Bowen, but he’s absolutely gaunt under his clothes. “Close your eyes.” I barely wait a second before pulling off his blindfold and carefully untying the gag.
The key won’t fit the bindings on his hands, but that’s a problem to worry about later. The ship rocks violently enough to send Bastian tumbling into me. “Fuck. We’re running out of time if Bowen is in the fight.” I barely keep Bastian on his feet. There’s no way he can get up the ladder and across a deck of battling crew members. If we try, we’ll have done all this only for him to die violently.
Damn it, I need tothink.
“Nox?” His beautiful voice is so raspy, it’s almost unrecognizable. “Is this a trick?”
I ignore his question and avoid his deep brown eyes. Maybe it would have been better for Siobhan to do this part. Surely he’d be happy to seeher.
The thought is so absurd in the face of what we’re dealing with, I huff out a laugh. “Okay, change of plans.” Siobhan told me the details of how they attempted to sink theCrimson Hag. We’ll just do that in reverse and hope for the best. “This will do for a secondary signal to retreat.”
“What—”
I suck every bit of moisture from the wood wall in front of me. It should lead out to the starboard side of the hull, which puts the bulk of theBone Heartbetween us and my ship, but once we’re in the water, no one will be able to catch us. “Behind me.”
Bastian doesn’t exactly obey, but I don’t give him a chance to argue. I grab a fistful of his filthy shirt and jerk him behind my body.
The sea is always eager to comply with my magical demands. It’s chaotic and violent, and the less finesse required, the more likely it is that things will go perfectly. “Take a breath and hold it.” I wait for him to clutch my shoulders before I tug on the water sloshing against theBone Heart’s hull. The boards in front of us creak ominously. “Once more should do.”
