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I hear the cannon fire first, sounding far away and muffled, coming from the other ship, and I grab the bars bracing for impact.

There’s a loud CRASH and the ship sways and I hold on tightly as Aerik falls to his knees, the commotion upstairs increasing and I hear the captain yell, “We’re broadside! Fire roundshots!”

Cannons go off inside the ship. We must be on the gun deck because it sounds like it’s happening right next to us; I can feel the ship shudder as the cannons roll back, the smell of the powder, and fire, followed by the manic laughter of the gunmen.

BOOM!

Another loud shot, this one sounding closer and when it hits this time it feels like it’s done some damage to theNightwind, the ship tipping violently and I’m thrown to the ground beside Aerik. Screams sound out from below, not much different from the ones we heard earlier but I know this is because we’ve been hit. And if it hit close to the waterline, where the hold is, there’s a chance now we could sink.

I’m about to voice this to Aerik when I hear Daphne’s scream coming closer and closer to us, followed by footsteps and the screams of others.

“Daphne!” I shout out, hoping she can hear me among the chaos.

“Princess!” she yells back from somewhere on the deck.

“The prisoners are escaping!” I hear one of the gunmen cry out.

“Let them,” growls another one. “Boy, swab the barrel and load!”

Suddenly Daphne appears at the doorway. With the light coming in from behind her she looks the same as always, her silhouette familiar.

Then she stumbles inside and I gasp in horror. She’s covered in blood.

“You’re hurt!” I cry out, my heart breaking to see my longest companion in such a state of disarray. Her hair is matted, her wrists bandaged as if all she’s been through has led her to attempted suicide.

“Monsters!” she howls, her voice raw and she grabs the bars of the cell, her eyes looking positively mad. “They’re monsters, the whole lot of them. You must get off this ship, Princess, you must! They’ll do to you what they’ve done to the rest of us!”

“Calm down,” Aerik tells her. “What happened? Are we sinking?”

She only blinks at him like she doesn’t know who he is. “This isn’t a normal ship. This isn’t a normal ship. She can’t sink if she was built in the bowels of hell!”

Her words make my stomach flip with terror.

“Get a hold of yourself woman,” Aerik snipes, “and get us out of here!”

She opens her mouth to say something when suddenly there’s another explosion, so loud and deafening that it feels like it’s coming from inside my brain and blowing out my eardrums. Through the sound of splintering of wood and twisting of metal I’m thrown backward against the other side of the cell, smacking the back of my head against the bars before I collapse to the ground in a heap.

Everything goes black and my ears are ringing, the world beyond that is muffled. I can hear my heartbeat in my head which at least tells me that I’m still alive. I pry my eyes open but my vision is a little hazy, my head feeling full of cotton balls.

What just happened?

I cough and push myself up onto my elbows and look around. Aerik is groaning on the ground beside me, though he looks no more injured than he was before. The cannon ball came in hard enough to destroy the corner of the cell, knocking out two of the bars, right in front of where I was talking to Daphne and…

Oh my goodness, no.

Daphne!

She’s lying motionless on the ground, face down, blood pooling around her.

“Daphne?” I say softly, my voice shaking.

She’s alright. She’s going to be alright.

Shehasto be alright.

“Daphne?” I say, louder now, so terrified that she might not answer me.

Oh please gods, don’t let her be dead. Please, please, please.