Chapter 33
A Dread Tide Rising by Walt Shuler
Something something Monday something something new ADTR.
Previously: Pax pulled Hax out of his self-pity and set them a course.
Currently: Kye and Molly encounter hardship on route to the Fingers.
A Dread Tide Rising is a serialized, pulp-flavored, epic fantasy novel that follows the Talon, a group of mercenaries, thieves, and smugglers, as they come face-to-face with an ancient enemy intent on the destruction of the Rakkian Empire.
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Chapter 33
The ship lurched and groaned.
Kye fought down a wave of nausea. She had never spent much time on ships before joining the Talon, and they had weathered most storms in port. The captain of The Ocean’s Daughter had other plans.
“Apparently to drown us all,” Kye muttered, trying to keep down her rising gorge.
“What was that?” Molly asked. The older woman looked pale, but she managed the rough waters gracefully, like everything else. Kye envied her poise for a moment before another wave of nausea hit her.
“Nothing,” she managed to reply, before grabbing the nearby bucket and being noisily sick. When she was done, she took it to the stern window and dumped it into the heaving sea. She stared at the waves, heart hammering, transfixed by water towering almost as high as the ship.
“Two points on starboard!” a sailor cried faintly from the deck above. The ship turned slightly, and Kye fought to stay on her feet as the prow rose into the air. She caught a brief glimpse out the stern window of the water rushing away into a deep, black valley, and then she had no more time. It was all she could do to keep her feet.
A flash of lightning turned the inside of their cabin as bright as noon, and the thunderclap that followed deafened them. Kye fell to the floor and rolled toward the back wall as the ship climbed the wave. Cries of fear came faintly from the deck above, followed by a wrenching, tearing sound and a tremendous crash as something struck the deck.
Molly helped Kye to her feet, then turned the girl to face her. “So much for a boring voyage,” she said. “I think that was the mainmast breaking.”
“What happens now?” Kye asked, adrenaline born of fear chasing her nausea away.
“It depends on the storm and the captain’s nerve,” Molly replied, biting her lip and glancing upward. “We may be able to limp out of this with luck.”
“And if not?”
Another massive crash came from above, and the entire ship shuddered from prow to stern.
“Let’s get rid of these mourning clothes, shall we? I think they might make for difficult swimming.”
Swimming? For a moment, Kye could see herself treading water amongst the wreckage of the shattered ship, unknown creatures waiting below in the black water, ready to drag her down. She shuddered, pushed the thought aside, and joined Molly in hurriedly changing into her traveling garb.
Moments later, they were both dressed in lighter clothing. “Should we lend a hand?” Kye asked.
Molly thought about it, but shook her head. “You said yourself you’re no expert sailor. I know my way around most ships, but we’d ultimately be underfoot. I think staying here is our best option.”
Something clanged down the ladder from above, thumping hard into the passage outside their cabin and then rolling away. Kye bit her lip, imagining Rory tumbling headlong down the ladder or the confident captain swept away by a towering wall of water.
“So, how did you meet Astra?” Kye asked, more to occupy her mind than anything else.
“She was the College’s ambassador to the imperial court many years ago. I was fresh off the boat, still wet behind the ears.” Molly grinned, remembering. “I’ll never forget. Old Lady Amarys was showing me the ropes. She’d just introduced us, and some high-strung lordling’s wife from the South Reach burst into the room and demanded to see Astra. She had to see her right then and there and wouldn’t be put off.”
“When Astra asked her what was wrong, she immediately launched into a tirade. Her youngest son had been sent home from the College without so much as an audience with the headmaster. It was absolutely unacceptable for someone of high birth to be treated in such a fashion, the woman screeched.”
“Astra calmly replied that she’d met the young man in question and that he lacked even the merest hint of magical aptitude. Without that, he had no place at the college. The lady didn’t appreciate Astra’s honesty and said that her son deserved whatever place his father wanted for him and that Astra had seen her last day as an instructor at the College.”
“Astra’s plenty courteous most times, but this lady got under her skin quickly. ‘Your ladyship, the decision is final,’ she said. That truly set the woman off. Just as she launched into a blistering diatribe in which she described how her powerful husband would destroy the College and leave no stone atop another, Astra lost her temper.”
“All the heat fled the room, and you could see electricity crackle at the corners of her eyes. The other lady stopped, mouth agape. Astra took a step forward and raised one hand. ‘Your son has no place at the College,’ she said, her voice just as calm as you please. And then she blew the lady through the door and out of the room with the wave of a hand!”
Kye laughed, imagining the sight. If even half of it was true, she was looking forward to meeting Astra after all.
A loud crack from above ended her mirth. A massive boom sounded, followed by the sounds of men screaming. Slowly, the ship began to tip, stern sinking toward the waves.
“Right,” Molly said, opening the window and grabbing one of Kye’s hands. “It’s time to go. Out the window and then swim as hard as you can away from the ship.”
“What?” Kye asked, confused.
“The ship’s breaking up. In a moment, this cabin will be underwater,” Molly replied, urging Kye toward the window. “When she sinks, we need to be well away or the water will suck us down, too.”
“Shit,” was all Kye said, and then she was clambering out the window. Whitecaps crashed below, but they were much nearer than they should have been. Taking a deep breath and saying a silent prayer to Mali for safety, she launched herself from the cabin. Kye hit the water with enough force to knock the air from her lungs, and icy seawater tried to force its way into her mouth. For a moment, all she knew was cold and darkness. The shock of hitting the water drove everything else from her mind. She almost sucked in a breath, but some instinct stopped her. I’m in the sea, she remembered. Breathing is death. But where to go?
She struck in the direction she guessed the surface was, acutely aware that somewhere nearby, the ship was sinking. She had to get away, but she had to know which direction away was first. The darkness all around did not help matters at all. Which way was up? Inspiration struck suddenly, and she allowed herself to float, not fighting the water.
Slowly, she released a little air and watched the bubbles rise to the surface, then followed the stream upward. Her lungs burned, and lights danced in her vision. All she wanted in the entire world was one brief breath of air. The pain was becoming unbearable, and then her head broke the surface. Wind buffeted her and sheets of rain beat against her face, but she gasped in a great lungful of fresh air. She also managed to suck up quite a lot of seawater, so what should have been a life-affirming breath turned into a coughing fit that almost sent her back under the waves. Then strong hands held her, keeping her above the wash of water.
“It’s all right, Kye,” she heard Molly say over the coughing. “You’re safe now, but we must swim. The ship is sinking faster.”
Kye looked and saw that The Ocean’s Daughter was all but done. Her aft end was almost lost under the waves, and her prow pointed toward the sky.
“Are you ready?” Molly asked.
Kye was not, but she had no choice. It was swim or be sucked down with the wreckage.
“Yes,” she replied, but it came out as a croak.
“This way.” Molly swam away from the sinking ship, and Kye followed. The older woman was a strong swimmer and could have easily outdistanced her young charge, but Molly kept within a few feet so that Kye would not lose sight of her in the storm. Even so, Kye fought to keep her eyes on her companion. The waves, rain, and wind made it all but impossible to see more than a few inches in front of her face. Somehow, she kept up.
One flailing arm struck something hard. Kye jerked back, half convinced it was the thing that haunted her nightmares, but that could not be. She reached out again and found it. Something hard and round, wood by the feel. “Part of the mast!” she gasped. “Molly!” she called. “Molly, grab hold!” She felt the shattered spar dip as the other woman grabbed hold, and then it bobbed to the surface again.
“Thank the gods,” Molly breathed, holding tight to the piece of shattered mast. “At least we don’t have to swim.”
“But where are we?” Kye wanted to know.
“The captain said it would be three days to the Fingers,” Molly answered between breaths. “We were almost that at sea. We must be somewhere near our destination. Maybe when the storm breaks, we’ll be able to get our bearings.”
Kye looked around at the dark expanse of white-crested waves, and her heart sank. There was nothing beyond the heaving water, she felt suddenly certain. They were lost to the sea.
“Yeah, maybe,” was what she said.
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Sorry but I don't believe this was a random storm. I really loved the action in this chapter. Love Molly 🤍